A Name Change for Hershey

I've only changed the name of one of my foster dogs previously (though I have thought about it for lots more). Hershey just sounds like a name for a male chocolate lab to me, and not for a grey sled dog mix.

So, since she wasn't on petfinder yet, she is going by the new name "Luma", which is short for Luminous. She's a little piece of sunshine -very cheerful dog. Super affectionate, nice and gentle, just needs to learn not to jump in excitement. Nice and active outside, really nice off-switch in the house. She is velcro'd on to Jerrad now, follows him wherever he goes. Dog social, but she loves people more. I think she'd be really happy with a jogger dad or even an active semi-retired couple. She's definitely going to end up being one person's dog though.

Both her an Emmett slept through the night  in their crates last night, although getting them originally in was a bit of an obstacle. On the bright side, they didn't budge until after 8:00am when I finally rolled over to look at the clock. How we lasted that long is beyond me, as I'm usually up at 6:00 on the nose. A good sleep in was a nice thing though -especially coming off a pretty nasty cold-.

A couple walks, a homecheck that didn't really pan out for Emmett (too soon after the lost of their previous dog), and some play time and the pups are tuckered out. I didn't get the camera out for Emmett yet as he has good pix, but here are some for Luma.

A little bit of a goofy side.

I really like this one. She really is this devoted to her person!

The only not overly blurry body shot I could manage.

She's a bit of a serious, 'old soul' kind of dog. She really seems like a shepherd
with a husky streak, despite what her outward appearance says.

To a full week ahead. Oh, and on a side note, Suhki has figured out the best way to deal with the silly puppy is to hang out with Lemon -cause the puppy no longer bugs Lemon-. Veda likes to play with him!

Wow, Now THIS is a PUPPY -and other things

The best laid plans often go astray, but usually things end up okay in the end. So, Josh went home as I was playing phone tag with Denise to figure out when the ride was getting on the ferry, Jerrad got our new TG fosters, albeit a little on the late side, and as per usual, who I'm fostering got changed last minute (this time for a medical reason). Such is rescue.

So, I bid farewell to Josh, and I came home to...

ONE HUGE PUPPY!

Emmett is a 5 month old Black Lab, Pyrenese, possibly Newfoundland mix puppy who is already bigger than Beckett (Beckett is about 50 pounds). Oh what gangly legs he has, and such a big head and paws. But he still hasn't lost most of his puppy teeth! He is so friendly and soft and is content to chew on his nylabone by our feet. He's a puppy, but he isn't as high strung as many lab puppies are, and he's oh so loveable. Still, I'm glad I started networking him early -he's got applications already! We will hopefully hit up the first one tomorrow :).

Emmett the Colassal Puppy

I was supposed to be fostering Rumi, who's a border collie mix, but due to eye infection she got swapped out at the last minute so she could be treated at Dr. Ubi's. So instead, I get a dog Jerrad is goo-goo over... yep, a HUSKY mix... (a sled-dog mix...) I have the feeling I'm going to have to pry him from his hot little paws. One husky is enough for me!

Hershey's TG pic. 10 month old, 50 pound Sled-dog mix.

Pictures over the next few days, but for now, lots of rest. Both are good dogs, probably on the medium, possibly medium-high energy level once they settle in from their transition period.

Lemon is playing the 'what to do?' game. She wants to tell Emmett off cause he's a big goofball, but she knows he's just a baby, at the same time she doesn't want to be squished by paws bigger than her head. Emmett is fairly respectful, he's just being a puppy. Lemon's response is now just to stay out of his way. He likes Beckett better anyway -Beckett is always ridiculsouly cheerful for new foster dogs. It's almost as if he lives to be a foster brother. Sometimes I just think he's a weirdo.

Veda and Suhki who are here are having the opposite response as I thought they would. Veda is very happy for visitors after she gives the little 'raw raw I'm Veda, the only one above me is that Lemon dog' to which of course Lemon gives her a little tell off and she shuts up. Suhki isn't quite sure about the big visitors but they're being respectful so he'll get over it in a few hours. I totally thought it would be been social butterfly Suhki and Veda with her nose in the air all fussed about it. Stranger things have happened I suppose.

Hopefully both pups sleep through the night. Just coming off a cold and would like some peace and quiet. At least with the TG pups I know they are used to being mostly calm inside, so I shouldn't have to worry too much :)

To whatever adventures await.
Emily Out

Happy Rescue Birthday Lemon!

It's hard to believe it's been a year and a day or two since Lemon has been in our lives. She was with us a month before we adopted her, so her official birthday is Oct 27th, when we signed the papers, but I wanted to mark it anyway.

And today, covering all our basic skills in my training class -in order to teach them, we have to teach our dogs-, I'm pleased to say Lemon kicked some border collie ass. Miss flying colors! The "Rescue" dog. AMAZING recall, and she can down right in the middle of a zoomie. My little girl is growing up!

I'm hoping to get her PATS certified soon so that she can visit the hospitals. She's a people social butterfly, and a very confident dog. Who would have thought she'd have turned out so well. I thank Beckett buckets and buckets as really, he's the one whose behaviour she's copied.

To my young, smart, beautiful girl, to many, many more years together!

Adopting Pending due to Overflow of Applications

Josh, a good dog, but not what you would expect applying to adopt an adult golden retriever. He's pushy, has an edge to him, at the same time has incredible potential. Josh is learning to be 'a pet' and not a street dog, or not in a group of dogs, or not leading a group of dogs. That's it ... just "a pet", a pet that listens when he's told to do things, a pet that follows, a pet that is relaxed and happy. Each day, I see more of his edge go away, more of the typical retriever coming out. Still, he's not all the way there. Whoever adopts him -not like there isn't an endless supply of applications at this point- needs to realize he needs a whole lot of polishing.

On Josh's naughty list:
1) Guards toys quite badly from other dogs
2) Horrible on a leash without firm, assertive corrections followed by reward for correct behaviour
3) Leash reactivity with other dogs in a dog park environment. He is fine on the trails, it's the chaos of the dogs running every which way that gets him to overload. To be fair, he's never really been leashed until he's come to Canada.
4) Doesn't fully understand how to relax. We've accomplished great strides REALLY quickly with this, but it'll need to be maintained and reintroduce in a new environment. He came in a ping-pong ball. He's turned into a foot warmer.
5) Mouthy with the treats. Again, great strides. Needs to be maintained.

To be fair, Josh has really good qualities, and he's a good boy, but he's not even close to being one of the easiest dogs I've fostered here. But, because of his face, he gets all the apps. It is slightly annoying knowing it's pretty much just that face getting all the attention. Again, to be fair, he's a good looking dog. He's actually got a face a movie would love!

(Especially if they remade homeward bound and needed a Shadow!)

SEE PICTURES

So we'll see where Josh ends up. His first draft pick is a single lady who owns her own home in Vancouver and who has had three different retriever type dogs throughout her life. I really believe Josh would enjoy being an only dog with someone to really bond with, with no competition from anyone else. Unless it's with someone really dog-savvy, I can't see him doing his best in a multi-dog household. He is fine here, but I severely limit the toy play, and any and all toy play must be closely supervised with him and another dog even in the general area. He is learning he'd rather have the toy more and that means sharing, so there is definitely improvement. Just not to the point where I would feel comfortable sending him to someone who doesn't understanding guarding behaviours and has another dog around to bear the brunt of it. He's quite lucky he hasn't dared touch Beckett yet. Him and Lemon have had a good scrap about one kong.

NEVER count Lemon out of a scrap even if a dog can fit it's whole mouth around her head... she's a finisher she is!

Hoping Josh can head to his new home this week. The more work I can put into him is good, but it won't help him respect or perform for someone else. Very quickly I will become 'his' person, and to me, that isn't what it's about. I could work this dog through many things, in MY environment, but he's a dog that needs to be trained in whatever will become his forever home. I can just help take some of the edges off before he gets there.

Is Josh a bad boy ---most definitely not. But Josh isn't what that angel-face would have you believe. He's work! If his forever mum or dad or family puts the work in, he will be one AMAZING dog.

A Note About Stairs

My dog training program is going really well, we've capped off our obedience section and the next three weeks will be moving into reactive behaviours and more problem behaviours, as well as practicing on real life clients.

Though I learn a ton every day, I think one of the best realizations that has hit me is the practice of 'playing stairs'. I see far too many people playing stairs with their dog(s), and I must admit, although I haven't played stairs with Beckett -I've always been his 'leader' once I figured out what that position entailed-, but I have done so with Lemon.

What "Stairs" are. The idea stems that both the dog and the person are on the stairs. Sometimes the dog gets to a higher stair first, and sometimes the human does. So, some days you have a really great day, you are in charge, the dog walks perfectly, obeys perfectly, is the follower you want them to be. Next day, you are cringing, shouting, not getting any respect. The dog has jumped up a stair and is looking back at you. This goes on and on for weeks, months, possibly years. You don't have a bad dog, cause most days are good days, but there's no true consistency. You have more of a buddy-buddy relationship, than one of leader, and one of follower.

A buddy-buddy relationship seems like a nice thing, but there are side effects from it. You are never truly happy with the relationship -the "bad" days-, your dog develops small annoying behaviours, the list goes on.

Dogs who have been brought up with this throughout puppyhood can have a really hard time understanding true leadership, but reality is, in order to get the follower/leadership position, we can't play stairs. The leader ALWAYS has to be four stairs up, the follower ALWAYS has to be four steps behind. It's been hard for me with Lemon. She's a good dog, she doesn't have a lot of faults -she'll finish a fight if someone starts one with her, she barks at the door, and she's a bad cat-food thief, but otherwise I have no complaints-. However, it became fairly clear quite quickly, because I give Lemon pretty much everything she wants -the dog sleeps in bed with us-, without asking her to do much in return (to be honest, as long as she comes when she's called, that's been enough for me until now) she doesn't feel she has to work, or that she has to listen beyond a basic recall. And to be fair for her, why should she? She already gets everything she wants based solely on the fact that she has a good recall and that's all I expect. So, I had to take away a lot of her priviledges. She's gone back to sleeping in her crate, no snuggles whenever she wants them -we still snuggle in the evenings, so she's not deprived or anything-. Suddenly, she wants to work for me. After three days, the 'stairs' disappeared, my dog wants to work for my affection. Actually, she'll do just about anything for it. Learn at the rate of the border collies in class -okay, I will for snuggles. My little dog who we labeled "Capable, but not willing" is suddenly very willing. In some ways, I think she's happy she has to earn her keep. She barely barks at the door anymore, she heads to her crate to sleep, and she's ready to work at class. And really, all because I don't play stairs with her anymore. I am her leader, she's to do what I ask of her. When I've finished all the training I want to put into her, then she can come back to sleeping in the bed some nights, until then, we have work to do.

Some dogs need to be 'snapped' back into the follower role, if they are a more pushy, willful type (there's a little aussie at class who sometimes has to learn the hard way, and take the road less often travelled), but with Lemon, you take away what she thinks is hers and then she wants to work for them. I think she understands they are priviledges and not her 'rights'.

And Beckett, well, we've had a good understanding for awhile. Though every once in a blue moon he goes 'husky' on us and decides the recall just isn't worth it. It usually happens just before we leave the park. Like yesterday, when he and a big older yellow lab just had to have a senior romp around for 15 minutes, both ignoring their people. Semi-seniors I tell you! I can't tell if he's getting wise to me, or I'm getting slack. To be honest, it was kind of nice to see him jettison himself around the field for that long.

Bummed Camera, Josh Update

Hopefully it's just the memory card, but the camera has been acting up, so unfortunately no pictures of Josh. That's probably for the best though, as he's had a staggering amount of applications with 0 networking. The perks of being a golden retriever I guess.

He has a meet and greet tonight, through the grapevine of Tucker's adopter, who is a vet here in Victoria, and my first adopter ever :). I will get to see Tucker too. :) :) :) If it's not Josh's match, he's got a line-up, so I doubt he'll make it to next weekend here. He might not even make it to the end of this weekend.

A very good boy, his only real fault is that he's 'aloof'. He's never had a person before, he doesn't understand the whole 'following' thing. He's kind of on a mission to do whatever he pleases, but within a few days we've at least got the 'calm in the house' rule down pat. He's slowly getting used to his gentle leader -what's that thing on my nose!-, and is starting to understand who walks who.

I had some initial reports that Josh was a high energy dog, but I don't see that here. I see a dog who has never had a 'home' or a 'person' and is naturally a playful guy who has never had 'rules' 'boundaries' and a real connection with a person. He LOVES people, just not in the 'attached and bonded' way. I see more of a medium energy dog who needs to learn how to bond, needs somebody who will take him through an obedience class, that will love him lots, but also expect a lot from him. I see a great therapy prospect, and also a dog that could be good at agility -he's got a good lot of drive on the toys-. Loves to tug, fetch (not really great on the returning with the fetched item front yet). He doesn't exactly have a want to please, but that'll come with work. He's a good boy. I'm just worried people see 3 year old golden retriever and have the idea of the 'perfect dog' coming into their house. He's far from the easiest dog I've had come in here. He'll find his home. I just have the feeling a lot of the applications will have more to do with looks and assumptions than who Josh really is.

Fingers crossed for tonight.
Emily Out

Tomorrow's Incoming

Ah, the joys of dog travel. You think you're getting one dog, for a plane or bus run to be delayed, or somebody else sent, or the days changed. They kind of come when they come.

After a weird sequence of events Josh is arriving tomorrow. He came down on the weekend, to an adoptive home with a previous adoptive family from the same rescue who had just lost their golden. Unfortunately, the combination of Josh's energy level, and the very recent loss of their last dog, was too much for the adoptive family. They realized within two days they didn't have the inner strength yet to have a new dog. Josh was walking over them. They need time to grieve. So, Josh will come here, where he will learn if he needs to, what it means to be calm inside, what it means to walk respectably on a leash, and also, to have lots of fun. I doubt very much he will be a problem at all. Most of the time these dogs fresh off 'the plane' have a hard time adjusting for the first few days, and can be kind of wild seeming because they haven't learnt really good indoor manners.

Not to worry my handsome golden retriever friend, we'll fix you up in no time, and I'm sure you will find an awesome home on the island that wants to go for lots of swims and beach time with you.

Here's Josh's ad:

 If you know anyone who might be interested, pass it on. Ideally I find him someone through the grapevine before I get a whole whack of applications. My guess is he won't last a week -unless he really needs the dedicated time with me to work on something.

My next TG foster(s) over the weekend as well. Not sure if it'll be one or two yet. Time will tell :)

I Come with Baggage -A Rescue Realization

In a perfect world we wouldn't need rescue. Everyone would keep their beloved pet, and think of them as beloved. In a perfect world we'd only have good breeders, who would take their dogs back if at any point their owners didn't want them, and it would be mandatory. In a perfect world, we would rely on amazing breeders to screen adopters and place puppies in well-matched homes. In a perfect world, all we would have is great quality breeders. We DON'T have a perfect world, but it's not for the fault of the responsible -those dogs never end up in a pound, or in rescue.

'Now', you say 'But there are lots of purebred dogs in rescue'. I'm not saying they're aren't, but where do you think those purebreds in rescue are from? They are from backyard breeders. Quick buck people. People who don't pre-screen their dog for illnesses, genetic issues, and those who don't temperment test their puppies to see what kind of a lifestyle they are suitable for. Maybe the odd 'good breeder' dog ends up in rescue without the breeder realizing it, but that would be maybe one in a thousand of the purebreds that end up in the pound due to backyard breeding. Suffice to say, don't blame those with good quality purebred dogs for the rescue suitation. They might not take away from the situation (by adopting), but they definitely don't add to the problem. However, if you're interested in getting a purebred dog, make sure you do your homework! And realize, purebred dogs are expensive. If you're going away with a less than $800 purchase (most of the time, under $1000) question the quality. You have to ask loads of questions too.

Which comes to the next realization. Rescue pets have baggage. If you're doing a good job, raising a puppy should yield you the pet you want because they are a completely blank slate, you train everything (good or bad) into that dog. A Rescue dog for good or bad, is not a blank slate. They come to your house with a couple of bags packed already, and some of those bags you'd like unpacked and thrown into the garbage.

Some Less-Severe Examples:
Migo (Young Whippet mix): never knew how to be calm indoors. He was a flying ping-pong ball indoors. NOT desireable. Of course, it wasn't a difficult transition for him to make, but that behaviour was already ingrained him before he arrived. He KNEW in his head, he could have an indoor party and be a complete animal. Not a big deal, but that was one bag of luggage I promptly ejected from the house. It took him about 3 weeks to truly relarn the behaviour to the point that he completely understood indoor time was for relaxing, nice gentle play, and sleep. Could you imagine if he went directly to a home. Those owners would have had some work to do!

Alvin (Purebred Chihuahua): First off, Alvin didn't know he was a dog. He had probably been carried absolutely everywhere. This made him have such a lack of independence. Was he a scared dog, no way, he just didn't know any different. He couldn't even climb a stair at first without pitching a fit. He didn't know how to interact with other dogs, so he was kind of an annoying git. So, I had to reshape the behaviour. I had to let him struggle so he could succeed, become more independent, make some mistakes -you can't learn if you don't make at least one mistake while trying-, become 'a dog'. By the end of his stay here he was running up and down the stairs, figured out how to get on the sofa himself when he was called, became understanding of the space of other dogs and how to interact in a non-annoying way. Alvin turned out to be an AMAZING dog honestly, but he did come with baggage which I had to toss out and give him some need luggage I could work with. It took time, patience (I admit, I wasn't overly patient with him at times), and a 'whole new world' for him to integrate into.

Dickory (Husky Corgi Mix): My sweet, latest foster at only 7 months had already developed some behaviour I wasn't too fond of. The biggest one was her jumping up. Unless invited, this shows a lot of claiming. "You are MY human, I control YOU." Oh no you don't. It was harder to break though than a pup that just came home. This behaviour of hers had been reinforced, and all behaviour that gets reinforced gets repeated. So, for one full day everytime she put her paws on me she got a correction (followed quite quickly by asking her to do something I knew she knew, and rewarding that behaviour instead -in her case, a sit-). So, by day three when she came to me, instead of putting her paws all over me, she would sit politely and wait for me to give her some attention. Perfect, that's what I want. I didn't want to get the snuggly girl out of her, or the fun-loving girl out of her, I wanted her and I to understand each other. Me, foster mum, is on the top, you, foster dog, are on the bottom. By day 4, she had total respect for me, but of course, on the learning curve, there was the odd jump up. We still had a bit to go for her jumping on other people, but very quickly with proper correction and redirection we were meeting new people and Dickory was calmly sitting to say hello. You know how good your foster dog looks when instead of mauling people they are calm and polite! Of course, she wasn't yet completely respecting other people, but there was a lot of progress. Dickory I might add, was only 7 months old, so her habits were easier to break. She had been rewarded for them previously, but not enough that he was super hard to break the overall habit.

This isn't to say whatsoever that you should go get a puppy instead of adopting an older dog, just a realization that a rescue -however good- has some baggage you will probably have to reshape. I've had AMAZING fosters here, but every single one of them needed to relearn something -walk on leash, jumping up, barking, where you stand in the pecking order, etc-. They don't come in perfect. And that's just too much of an expectation. Also, just because they're foster mum might have them under good control and have their respect, doesn't mean you don't have to earn it!! Respect doesn't transfer just like that. It's earned, and it can be earned very quickly for most dogs. Some are a little pushier :P

And then, unfortunately, beside the nice mutts that are kind of reserve type setting or given up cause kids got bored, or ridiculous reasons like "I got a girlfriend instead" etc, etc, your 'easy' rescue dogs there are dogs in rescue for what we call "A Reason".

The dog that is nipping at the child, the dog that is lunging at the mail-man, the dog that is getting into fights with other dogs, the dog that chased and killed wildlife, the dog that is wild -that needs a job and hasn't been given it, so is going neurotic-, the badly bred dog who just has something off in his head that makes him harder to deal with, the dog with extreme seperation anxiety, the extremely fearful dog. The list goes on. There are LOTS of nice dogs in rescue, and lots of AMAZING dogs that just need some tuning up, but realize too, when you're looking at the SPCA, or you're looking through a list of a rescue's dogs, not all of them are NICE. Some of them have ended up in rescue for a good reason.

For example, a friend of a friend just adopted a middle-aged Shitzu-mix, had already been through two families. She got a bad resource biter. "I thought I was adopted a Shitzu! Someone who will just putter around the garden and like backrubs" she said. My response: why would someone give up a dog like you described? (Of course there are silly reasons one might give up a dog too, but if you really think about it, a family who owns their own home, who are settled, who have bought a purebred shitzu, if it was a nice dog, why would they give it up. If it puttered around the garden and didn't have issues? They probably paid a good lot of money for that dog. Obviously there must be a dark underside to that dog).

Now, the situation is a bit different in California, as SO many people are having to move into rentals that don't allow dogs, so there ARE lots of nice little purebred dogs coming out of the shelters there too due to unfortunate circumstances. But just locally, you do have to wonder.

And then, you get the dogs with LOTS of baggage. My big two:
Allie (spaniel mix): Truly fearful. Not just shy, but hide in the corner, petrified. Could have turned into a fear biter if I'd have applied the wrong pressure. She was a puppymill survivor, fearful of hands which makes me lean towards probably beaten at some point. No trust in people. Fear is a much harder behaviour to rehabilitate than jumping for example. It not only deals with a physical behaviour that is taking the owner over, but a complete mindset. It takes a lot of time. There were times when I thought I could never adopt her out, that she would be mine because I would be the only one willing to work on the issues she had, all that baggage clumping in my livingroom. Most dogs come in with a bag or maybe three, Allie came with a room full. She found an amazing home, and underneath the fear was a happy, bouncy spaniel mix that I was so grateful I got to see, but Allie was a rescue dog for a reason.

Jasmine (Formosan Mountain Mix): Truly Aloof. Jasmine was a little fearful, but mostly, she was aloof. She'd spent 7 years not living with people so she had no idea how to form a bond, and to her, she didn't need one. Never living in a home, she was super anxious for months, and we never completely got that anxiety under control. She was flightly, off in space, not connected to the world. And because she was older, so much of that mindset had been formed, I don't think you could bring her all the way back. You had to deal with who she was and work on what you could work on. Jasmine was a real learning curve for me, and a realization that when a dog gets older, all they really have is their baggage. You can teach them a new trick or two, but rewiring their understanding is a whole different scenario. It would be like taking a 50 year old man and changing everything about him. Some things come down to the basic nature. She was never BAD -she never jumped, barked, pulled her leash (she was quite a gem to walk), or tried to claim an alpha position. She was always a follower, probably the most so of any dog I've had. Any human was above her. Any dog too. There was just something a little 'off' with Jasmine and I'm so amazingly glad she went with Zephyr to her new home and to her mum and dad for accepting who she is with all her baggage, even if it's hard to sometimes. There's a special place in the world for people who are willing to deal with so much baggage.

I've had lots of middle-of-the-road dogs too, which need some rehab, but not lots. Chowmein, DimSum, Trunk, Zephyr, Honey, Toast, Truffle. All need a little extra push, or an extra something in their environment to have the awesome dog they are truly shine. These would be the 'somewhat experienced' people looking for a dog, whereas Allie and Jasmine were dogs that needed someone who didn't mind LOTS of baggage.

SO, when then about Baggage...

Should you seriously think about rescuing a dog instead of buying: YES!! But do realize you aren't starting with a completely clean slate, that you will have to train some things out, reshape behaviour to a new environment. It might take a couple of weeks, and it might take a month or two, but a dog doesn't come perfect. I've stopped taking Lemon to many of my homechecks as adopters seem to just want to take her "Is she for adoption?" (Actually, I hear this a lot with Beckett when I go out with the adopt-me vest on another dog).

Beckett came in pretty wild husky kind of dog. He has always been an exceptional house pet, quiet, lazy, and then outside a real go-getter. He was perfect for us, but we did put a lot of work into him (especially on the damn recall). He came 90% of what we wanted, we needed to put in the other 10%. He came with everything we needed in a dog, the 'bones', we just had to shape him to our environment. Beckett, despite the energy level, was always a 'easy' dog, or what I would label 'good for first time dog owners' dog. 

There are AMAZING dogs in rescue, be beware, when you bring home a rescue dog, you also get some baggage. Patience, training, love and expectation play fundamental roads. If you want somebody with no 'issues', get a puppy. Realize too though, if they have baggage down the road, it's all your own fault. ;)

Also, if you have an issue you don't really know how to deal with, get help before it gets worse. Remember, your rescue landed in rescue before, you don't want it to happen again. Puppies are work in the housetraining, sleeping at night, "Baby" kind of way. Rescues are work in the reshaping behaviours department. Regardless, a dog is work, if you don't want to work on anything, get a fish.

Dickory Heads Home

Sometimes you find a dog and person just 'mesh' together. Like they are built from the same stuff. Although I ran around a lot for Dickory, and she had applicatons out the ying-yang, I knew it would take someone silly, but also at the same time able to be strict too. Someone adventerous, active, but at the same time likes a good snuggle after the party is over. Dickory was a great dog, but she was indeed a pushy dog.

This afternoon she jumped into her new Dad's BMW and headed home. He's a young guy who is a project manager for a computer company, works mostly from his condo and wants a good active partner and he's willing to work to make a good companion. I'm sure Dickory will give him a good run for his money to start with! She's fearless that one! She'll totally walk all over you if you don't give her leadership and DIRECTION.

Fosterless for at least a few days. The golden retriever they wanted to send me is being adopted, but apparently they have another golden -female this time- that they would like to send instead. Sure, why not. Not like they are going to be around long enough to get annoying :P Another TG foster or two on the 22nd.

For now, I should probably get a move on cleaning my house. The furballs are gaining ground. And I might just be fosterless for my birthday. Hmmm... that might mean I you know, have to DO something instead of having a really good excuse of 'well, I need to exercise all these guys, and then I need to cuddle them all, and then in need to feed them all, and then I need to pee them all'.

If anyone wants to know how to stop spending lots of money on random stuff, get yourself a foster dog! They keep you home more often. It's good on the wallet!

Where the Heck do all These People Come From?

In order to give my fosters the most exposure I can, I post them almost everywhere I can, which includes usedvictoria, Craigslist, etc. Most of the time it is Victoria Adoptables that is where we get the best apps from, but we have had some AWESOME apps generate from Usedvic and Craiglist too. The two I can think of right off the top are Chowmein and DimSum. Both got their furever homes that way. There is something to be said about the sheer amount of seemingly weirdos out of the woodwork though. I think I've had at least 10 replies from Dickory on her usedvictoria ad along. It ranged from 80 year old lady wanting a companion to keep her grandkid busy when they were over, to someone who wanted a good hunting dog, to a fifteen year old who wanted to get their own dog.

Sometimes I just want to butcher some of these people, but I send the same generated response to everyone, and any bad points the dog might have that might turn adopters off. I don't believe I've got a single APPLICATION from any of the responses so far. They want to see her, they want to see her now. Too bad, no application, no luck.

We had an amazing homecheck for Dickory last night, but it was decided the family really wanted a retriever type personality -that kind of dog that likes to stay close by-. Understandable. Sometimes you don't know what you want until you meet a few dogs. Another application I had to unfortunately say no to, as though it was a good application, Dickory has been tested on cats and will definitely chase (with intent) a moving cat. Big barn cat, no worries, so she could still live with a REALLY dog-savvy cat.

So, she's here for a bit yet. Doesn't phaze me though. She is an amazing dog and needs an equally amazing home. One that will appreciate her stubborn streak, and have a stubborn streak themselves. (Just a little one).

On a bit of an ironic note, the last usedvic response was for a family who wanted a companion for their older Alaskan Husky, and their younger chihuahua mix. I think I have a clone somewhere out there! I kind of hope they put in an application, but I never get my hopes up.

Fact is, she'll find them when she's supposed to find them. I'll just keep up the networking until then.

Pictures soon. I have a new foster coming from Taiwan on the 14th -a purebred 3 year old golden retriever named Joshua. If you know anyone who has always wanted a golden, but would like to rescue, or would like an adult dog, point them this way. He is apparently a big sweetie :) I give him... a week. I'm seriously going to get mauled with applications!

Willingness to Train

As I'm going through my course on becoming a Dog Trainer, it's hitting me more how many bad behaviours we create ourselves. Of course there are some things nature (genetics) leave us imprinted with, but we all adapt to environment. Jumping, bolting from doors, seperation anxiety, barking, pulling -all things we reward without thinking about it.

As I screen my applications now, and at my homechecks, I am going to put more emphasis on an obedience course right out of the gate. Even the best adopters of mine have challenges as they go, and a lot of them would be rectified quickly if only they went through one set of courses and followed the homework diligently. Put it this way: a $150 -approx- course is going to save you heaps of time in reworking bad behaviours that have already had a lot of reward to the dog, so are more difficult to address. Of course they are addressable, but preventative always works better than correcting after the fact.

I would also question that if you didn't want to do some training right away, if you would want to do some training later. We don't live in an idea world though, so many of us (myself included) wait until we have a problem to get some training. If we got the training first, we might not have the problem at all, or at least have the tools quicker to address it.

A little bit of food for thought, but I definitely have a preference -especially for the young dogs- that they go to a home where I know they will enroll in an obedience course quickly. After all, a GOOD obedience course is helping teach them (in the end, YOU have to do the homework though) all the skills they need to be a well-rounded companion who is fairly easy to live with.

Thoughts?
As I get my afternoon off, I'm starting to make preliminary lesson plans for the first obedience courses I will run myself, after 'graduation'. I might need some guinea pigs for that down the road!

Oh... and one of Lemon, cause she's special like that:

Not cut out for 5 hours of training a day....  exhausted, and stomach is too full with treats.

Yep, she's a pretty lame dog to take through this course. She'll do stuff, but she isn't eager. Dog wants to cuddle, and dog wants to go for her hour walk and has a good recall. That'll do Lemon, that'll do.

Quick Daisy/Honey Update

Daisy (previously Honey of the sisters Honey and Toast) and her housemate Hani have been hanging out with me the last almost two weeks now. Although Daisy can still be shy to people, she has grown leaps and bounds. She is a dog who is very sensitive to pressure! She does not want to displease you. She has also mellowed out a lot from the dog that I fostered about a year and a half ago. She is sure living the yuppie-puppy life, and has a great role model in Hani, who is a true Alpha dog. You only meet them once in awhile, but once you meet them you KNOW who they are. A truly dominant dog is not a problem dog, they are never too harsh, but are indeed harsh, strong, opinionated dogs. They are only pushy when it is required of them. A truly dominant dog who belongs in a dominant position (among their pack) is the most stable and confident one there. I couldn't have picked a better dog for Daisy to learn from.

Here are a few pics from around the house.

Cutest little bedhead around.

Slight mad-scientist look.

Windblown

Hani sleeps with one eye open...

Dickory has a few applications already, so it wouldn't surprise me that her forever home is just around the corner. Time will tell. :)

Dickory Seeks her Forever Family

Dickory has been a great little girl the last few days. She hasn't had an accident inside (granted, I'm very thorough in my crate-training, and don't leave her out unsupervised, so it might not be fair to say she's housebroken), she has been a good girl at daycare playing with all the dogs, is super friendly to everyone she meets and seems to be okay hanging out at home in her crate for a few hours. She puts up a good whine for a few minutes until she realizes it's getting her absolutely nowhere and then settles right down. We're still working on the leash manners, but she'll get there.

Give her a good obedience class and she'll shape up just fine.

I see a lot of Shiba in this girl, with something else to soften her up.

Happy Girl

Miss Long-Body

Couch potato after a run around.

What do you mean I'm not allowed past the baby gate unsupervised??

She's kind of a rare type of foster in that she seems quite fine with absolutely anything. You can handle her any way you want and she just kind of goes limp ragdoll mode. As an only dog or in a pack, with kids or without, with active people or with medium-energy people, she'll do just fine. Whoever adopts her just has to realize she's still a young girl and needs some training and a lot of leadership (just like EVERY puppy as far as I'm concerned) to be the best dog she can be. Not to say she's an 'easy' keeper or anything, but she definitely doesn't have any issues to get over and manage. She'll be a lot of fun for whoever is lucky enough to adopt her.

New Dog in the House: Dickory

It never fails, I don't stay fosterless long. So, welcome Dickory, a spayed seven month old Collie?? mix who found herself too much puppy energy for her new family.

I'm pretty sure there's some husky, and probably some Shiba Inu in there as well, possibly with a basset or a corgi to make the legs slightly shorter -she's a little long and low, but not drastically-. She's a sweet little thing, very friendly with a medium-high energy but so far, not a really high energy. She doesn't have a thing on Beckett when we first got him. Mostly, she's just a curious, busy puppy! She is probably about 30 pounds, should stay under 40.

A photo from her previous home (until I get some later today).

As of right now, she is doing her crate time for not peeing or pooing outside on her 7:00am pee break. At 8:00 we'll try her again. The key to good housebreaking is not to allow them the opportunity to fail for the first while. If you go pee outside, good, you can come back in and play. If not, it's back to bed with you. Rinse and repeat. Chowmein and DimSum both gave me a run for my money though, as those two girls in the beginning would hold it until almost noon, sometimes later! Persistence and within about a week they understood the routine. No pee, no play. Simple. I'm sure Dickory will learn fast as well.

What I know from one night:

• She's very affectionate, very cuddly. She likes to nap on the couch with you.
• She is pushy and will try to run you, but isn't very stubborn about it and you put any rules in place and she gives in straight away.
• She has very good dog social skills. She left the older dogs alone and gave them space.
• She has poor leash manners, but is already listening to leadership. She is interested in everything, which makes it hard to get her attention sometimes. She is sensitive to correction and direction, so doesn't have that really stubborn streak of a husky or shiba. In that way, she's more of a collie type.
• So far she hasn't seem too interested in the barn cats. Granted, they are big, burly, mean Toms so really haven't had any dog want to pick a bone with them. My guess would be she could live with a dog-savvy cat that will tell her off, probably not on the scaredy cat front.
• Will be good with school-aged children providing good leadership from mum and dad. She tolerates handling very well, but is still a pup and needs to learn lots.
• She will bark when she's bored, but is easily corrected. I usually bark when I'm bored too :P

Looking forward to getting to know this little mutt. She seems like a fun, active, playful but at the same time very cuddly companion. She'll be a great addition to most any home that is ready to take on the task of raising a pup.

More soon,
Emily