Sunday, March 31, 2013

2 Adoptions for the Easter Weekend

They come, they go. The more we foster, the more the new fosters are networked before they even lay foot here. Sometimes it feels we're less of a foster home than hotel, offering a small blip of a vacation between wherever it was before, and forever. A teeny blip on a map.

Yesterday Suzie's people drove over from the mainland and met up with sweet but spunky Duke. Suzie and Duke hit it off right away, and Duke, being the adventurous guy he is, jumped up in the vehicle without a glance back. Suzie was a little put off, I think she thought she was coming back to stay at first. Poor sweetie. You are in your forever home. You will never have to come back!

Duke is both a rambunctious rascal, and a cuddle muffin. He is a ying to Suzie's yang. I'm sure at times he will be frustrating, but he'll make up for it in love.

Here is Duke with his new family:

GG left for her new home this morning. There was an explosion of applications for her, but she fell in love with her girl and picked her own family. It was obvious she needed a child in her life! She remembered where she was going this morning. I will get the pictures from their "paper signing" soon. She gave me a couple of glances back as I left, but walked away proud with her new family. It was very fulfilling to be a part of her journey, especially waiting so long without any interest and to come into a mountain of it.

Coleman AKA "Floof" will be going in this week to get his teeth checked out. For a young dog he has horrible breath and a whole ton of staining. Some of the smaller teeth look like they might be starting to rot :(. He continues to be a delightful little man. He is now allowed on a long-line when we're out and about, on which he can enjoy his freedom and bound through the fields. Lemon quite likes him now too. He is very much a puppy, likes to nibble on stuff. Has a way to go with the housetraining but at least he's small!

Not sure if they'll be someone coming from TG this run or not. It might be time for a little break. Though it will certainly feel weird if we take a bus run off, we haven't taken one in well over a year. I'm guessing we'll either cave and foster someone, or someone will show up that fits the bill right before the bus run is ready to go. For now, a week of enjoying the little fluffy guy.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Transport Required

We're looking for someone who is going to Vancouver this week, and returning to Victoria via car that could pick up a bunch of supplies to bring back with them. Mostly food for fosters. Any help much appreciated. We're hoping to avoid paying the $70+ dollars each way to bring supplies over.

Give me a shout or post, or e-mail and I'll put you in contact with the person with the supplies on the mainland.

Network this post please :) $140 on pure travel expenses takes a big chunk out of rescue's pocket.

Thanks so much,
Emily

Friday, March 29, 2013

Making it Obvious

Homechecks are kind of funny creatures. Sometimes you have a really good paper application, but you get to the homecheck and it feels wrong, or the dog just doesn't seem to be the match even though the people like them. Or sometimes you get one on paper that seems okay or good enough for a homecheck, but doesn't scream "THIS IS THE ONE". A lot of the time you either get one good screamer going "THIS IS THE ONE!!!" along with some subpar ones, or you get a bunch of good but not standout apps that are really hard to tell apart or rank.

GG's apps fall in the second category.

So being the "gut" person I am, I flick through app and get stuck on one. I get stuck on it because it's one of those weird apps that most people will throw away in favor of a screamer or one that looks better on paper.

In a nutshell:
Married couple, 7 year old girl and a cat, fenced in acreage that they share with mum's parents. Used to be a horse farm. Dad works a lot but mum is off, will at most work part-time weekends. They've had dogs in their past before their daughter, but a year ago they adopt sight-unseen a Chihuahua mix who turned out to be very aggressive with children. After seven months of training, they made the difficult decision to rehome him.

It feels like a dark horse application, what with a kid and a rehomed dog but there's just something about it. I can't explain "the gut".

It's going to go one of two ways: It's going to be "the one" or it's going to be a complete gong-show. They're close though, all of a 7 minute ride. So because of all the combinations, I decide to hit it up. It's worth a chance. Besides, GG will truly tell me all I need to know (besides the nuts and bolts).

After doing so many homecheck -I'm realizing just how many lately-, I can pick up on signs from the dog even if they're subtle. After all, this is potentially their home for the long haul, they should have at least a bit of say right?

So anyway, take the little trip to the dark horse home, walk in to a beautiful house, tidy but obviously lived in. GG greets the cat nicely. She is polite and tail-wagging with the mum and dad, but a light hits her eyes suddenly when she sees the daughter.

The weirdest thought crossed all three of our minds I think, mine, GG and the girl. Love at first sight?

GG proceeded to follow the seven year old around for the rest of the homecheck, glued to her heels or snuggling with her on the couch. We talked for awhile about the dog they had to rehome, the lifestyle they lead, etc. I was very surprised the daughter has such good dog skills, so many more than most adult dog owners. I was having such a good dog conversation with a seven year old. Cool! The family had worked really hard with their old rescue dog to get him comfortable around children. They succeeded in getting him to a point where he could be comfortable with their daughter, but not any other child. He got to the point where even if children entered the house and he was crated he would bite the bars of his crate until his mouth bled. Quality of life, for both him and for the daughter were called into question and they made the difficult decision to find him an adult only home. But man did they learn a lot from the experience.

But the strangest part was yet to come. It was already obvious GG loved the girl, but I was very surprised of what happened when I went to leave. She followed me out the door just fine, but when I loaded her up in the car she started to whine -a dog I've never heard a peep out of-. And then as I started pulling out of the driveway she started screaming her silly head off.

Way to make it obvious GG.

We'll be talking to the rescuers today, but when it comes down to playing matchmaker, this is a pretty obvious match :)

Abusing the System

I'm sure you're getting sick and tired of Jinks' antics taking up so much space on what is supposed to be a "foster" blog. But I find writing about her to be helpful to me, and to put into perspective why I don't have much time for high-demands fosters these days.

I find this quote on the BC boards -a place for people with border collies to come and chat, learn etc- to be quite helpful.

This sums up the teenage stage quite well:
"Some Border Collies will use submissive behavior to manipulate and control us. Others will bark and carry on like they're having a temper tantrum. Still others will use every expression and gesture you have ever found cute to get their own way. Living with a young Border Collie is like living with an intelligent toddler. It requires dedicated time and effort to survive the experience!"

For whatever progress we make, something else springs up. I do feel like I'm surviving and not thriving yet, but surviving we are.

As I'm sure any reader of this blog is aware by now, Jinks is quite people reactive, although she is managed well and if you passed her on the trail you probably wouldn't know since at this point she's been desensitized enough to function in public as long as it's trail like, and fairly wooded and she's moving forward, preferably with Beckett close behind. She has made great strides quickly in the being able to live with her world. The visual of people doesn't send her into a barking tailspin anymore. We're still working on people actually paying her any attention, but luckily when you are on trails, moving and with a pack, it's rare that people actually stop to chat. So most of our walks these days are fairly non-eventful, with only maybe a warning sign or two I can easily distract.

But at times, someone catches us out of the blue or the good management we have gets suddenly slammed to the ground and she becomes a barking, hackled-up tornado. She moves backwards so I'm not afraid of her lashing out at anyone in an aggressive way, but she can definitely look nasty. Besides, I don't want her to be afraid or worried about normal every day occurrences. So of course, any time that this happens, I immediately put her to work, I can long down her from quite a ways, so I put her to work in that, then find a distance threshold in which she will work more commands then that emergency ones. Then we treat closer and closer to the "issue", and eventually if we have the opportunity we get that person to feed her. Since they care enough to get her in face, they are usually pretty good about sticking around until I've got it under control. It helps that when I yell "Down" over the field Beckett and Lemon are suddenly down too. So it at least looks like I might have SOME form of control over my little barking tornado.

Today though, a light-bulb went off in that damn border collie's head. Barking at someone = work. Mum will give me work if I bark at that person. God forbid I have a walk with just a chucker, some lazy commands in order to throw the ball and am able to be at least a little on the lazy carefree side. Even with three hours of daycare under her to wear off her edges, when we passed a few people no problem and then we passed a man with a very nice dog. Jinks says hi to the dog, she sniffs the man briefly and leaves. No signs of stress on her part -I'm pretty good at reading her as I read her with every person and will reward recall at any minor sign of stress with someone-. As he turns his back -didn't say anything to either of us- she decides to start barking at him. But this barking is different. This barking is demanding, working brained dog, a manipulator at her best. This is not my fearful, people reactive dog. OH NO, this is a dog who knows exactly what she's doing and for what reason she's doing it.

Learning to abuse the system. What a teenager. Down right exasperating she is. Making an issue out of thin air just so I will put her to work. Too smart for her own good.

Of course it can't be as easy as desensitization to people, agility, working for her food by hand, it's gotta be trying to outsmart mum many, many times along the way. I don't know whether to feel glad that she's obviously in her right mind enough to think about such a thing with a MAN present, or if I need to go pull my hair out. Bah!

So, Jinks abused the system. So mum abused the system.

What can I do? I can't recall her, I can't just ignore her -it's such a self-reinforcing behaviour that I just can't-, I can't lie her down since that's what she wants. I'm all out of positive. The bad behaviour and cheekiness, it's all coming from wanting me to be positive with her.

Girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I've always got the smaller ball chucker on the trails and I've got pretty good aim, so instead of putting her into a down/to work, I take a well aimed toss at her cute little whirling backside. (Oh you should have seen the before and after face). Barking and tornadoing she was oh so pleased with herself -she holds her body so much different if she's actually cautious/nervous/reactive), "Mum is going to work me" she thinks as the guy just continues on his way without a care in the world.

So anyway, aim, fire, SMACK on the rear-end. First she looked to see where the hell it came from, and then, realizing it was from me and the evil glare I was giving her, she smartened her stupid-smart ass into gear and slunk back to Beckett. Oh the look of being outsmarted! I'm sure she had a bit of a pity party since I didn't throw her another ball, I didn't ask her to do anything, I didn't even talk to her, and I certainly didn't let her run like the wind for at least another fifteen to twenty minutes.

And she didn't bark at another person that walk. She was a very well-mannered, if not a bit subdued young dog. She raised her hackles once or twice when someone gave her a lot of intense direct eye contact but got over it as we moved along the trail. Not that I advocate throwing stuff at your dogs or anything, but it definitely smartened her up and didn't seem her "hurt" her. Her ego might be a tad bruised, but that ego of hers is getting bigger by the day so if it shrinks just a tad that's probably not a bad thing.

Like the quote says "Living with a young Border Collie is like living with an intelligent toddler. It requires dedicated time and effort to survive the experience!"

Keeping on surviving. Slight detour from the road of positive reinforcement, promise I will get back on track for tomorrow.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Making it Up in Cuddles

We usually have a 2 foster policy these days, as with Jinks and all her demands there just isn't enough time in the day to get to more than that, and I try not to drive Jerrad too crazy. However, these three are making my job really easy. Besides they're all small, they only count as two right?? Coleman is really only a third of a dog anyway. ;)

I've thoroughly enjoyed my morning writing at my computer with all three of the foster dogs curled up beside me. To my left is GG, the laziest 9 month old dog I've ever met. Tucked under my right arm I have Duke the incredible dog with the "switch" from high energy play to instant cuddle buddy. Then on my right elbow I have the sunshine boy Coleman curled up and smiling away. Ah, bliss. Three happy grateful dogs, one happy human. Why can't they all be so easy to live with!

In little updates:
Suzie's family is coming over from Vancouver this weekend to meet Duke and if everything goes well, adopt him! I'll get to visit with Suzie too :)

GG has an application in. We'll wait another day or two to see if more surface, and then move on to homechecks. I'm hopeful she might find her home this weekend, but we won't rush into anything. It's got to be right!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Fate is Pretty Cheeky

So, besides little mister floofy pants, IE: the ray of sunshine, the Prozac pill, the dog you can not be glum around, at the last minute I took on a short term foster for the same rescue. Just two or three days so his applicant could come meet him.

Enter Duke:
Duke is a gorgeous, happy-go-lucky gem of a dog. You couldn't ask for a more brilliant companion. But there's a glitch. With his pictures and bio Duke was labelled as a Min-Pin x, and his applicants have a strata for under 15 pounds, which any min pin mix really should be under. Duke is actually 21 pounds of tall lean dog. PLUS... Duke is no Min-Pin, Duke is a purebred Manchester Terrier. And a GORGEOUS one.

Stunning Guy
Posing like a Manchester.



Moving him to another foster home was offered as I had only really agreed to him for a few days, but why bother moving him when he's settled and he's absolutely no bother whatsoever. Poor guy escaped a high kill shelter and spent 4-5 months in a Californian rescue with no interest before becoming Canadian. Mostly I just like him a lot. He's charming, very good company. Manchesters are one of the most loving, eager to please terriers, and for the most part very quiet too :)

But, in a twist of fate, guess who is in the market for a 20-30 pound super dog and people social male dog? Well, Suzie's people are!!

Suzie is doing awesome in her new home, has been through lots of obedience and can go off-leash places now. Her parents take her sailing with them. They've built her up a lot from the shy girl she used to be. Now they are hoping to find her a good boyfriend but won't rush into anything. Duke is a couple pounds smaller, but Formosan Mountain dogs tend to be quite similar to Manchester Terriers -a lot of them are even labelled Manchester Terrier mixes in petfinder and such-. They'd indeed be a cute pair. So an app is in, and I believe we're going to move to a meet+greet. I hope the other home finds their match though. How sad!! It's really annoying too that whoever sent him up couldn't at least weigh him for a definite weight. There's no way he's under 15 pounds. But hey, it's looking up for Duke if he hits the jackpot with Danielle and crew.

Another new addition to the house comes in GG. GG has spent almost six months with no interest. She's a very sweet, low-energy Formosan mountain dog mix. A little shy sure, but not fearful. Give her two minutes and a piece of balonie and she's content to suddenly lay by your feet. An old soul for sure. She came yesterday -before I realized Duke was staying-. Funny thing happens when you land here though. A lot of the time you become instantly popular. Alas, such it is with GG.

From no interest in 6 months, to 7 responses in 2 hours. Of course not all of those will end up with an application sent in, and even if an application is sent in, it might not be one that fits. But still, 7 responses in two hours. All we need is one fantastic home.

And go figure, GG looks like Suzie!!

Fate can be kind of cheeky can't she!!

It might be a joy filled adoption Easter Weekend, but no counting those holiday chickens. I'm snuggling my floofy man. Maybe I'll wait a few days to put his bio up ;) I just gotta get my snuggles in. He's actually quite like Lemon. Not quite as smart as she is, but not as much of a diva either. Smaller and fluffier, and happy, happy, happy.

If you want a dog that will ALWAYS make you smile and have you wrapped around his cute little paws, this is the one. I'm a pretty tough cookie when it comes to maintain the rules, but he sure has me under his fluffy paw. SOOOOO grateful, I think he knows he's been plucked from the clutches of death.

What a nice bunch of dogs.

We will probably be skipping the next TG bus run, as the 'draftees' are mostly big and male and although they seem very nice, I've promised Beckett no more big males. He just gets bitter. Not a mean bone in him, but you can feel the energy change. He is more than happy with these little guys, or even crazy puppies, but big males is where he draws the line. It's his home first. I have to respect that.

I don't hold out on no foster just yet though. Someone usually slides in last minute. We've got a week and a half. Stranger things have happened.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Fluffy :)

Coleman has arrived, and all I want to call him is "Fluffle". He's such a sweetie, super cuddly, a tidbit shy of hands -it's possible someone handled him roughly, though I highly doubt he was abused or anything-. He has a ways to go with housetraining but he's all of 6 pounds, so deposits are nice and tiny.

Glad I saved him. Seems healthy too, the odd little residue hack of kennel cough, but just the odd cough every few hours. But he did come with four great big honking tics on the back of his ears. EW! Jerrad is an expert tick remover, as a kid he had a ton of them every year I guess. So ticks, with heads included, were removed and flushed.

He's nicely dog social, not intimidated by either Beckett or Jinks, though Jinks minds her business with the little dogs, they're no fun anyway she says. Slept through the night in his crate without so much as a peep. I think he'll fit in just about everywhere.

"FEARFUL AGGRESSIVE MY ARSE!" ---Funnily enough the one dog that I've had that truly had a lot of potential for fearful aggression wasn't labelled aggressive in the shelter. So the temperament testing they have or whatever they're using there clearly isn't working well.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the little Coleman.

After a bath, looking pathetic but he loves the towel.

Keep me warm.

Dainty little man.

SOOO cute and fluffy!

Face shot.
I'm going to enjoy him for the next however long I have him. I have sure missed cuddly little dog fosters! Lemon is a little miffed she's got to compete for lap space, but they're both small enough to share. :) She's already started to try to get him to play today. Unfortunately she plays like a big dog :S. Such a lemon... :P

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Lemon Look Alikes!


Have a look at the video of this dog Roxy -I assume she's in Victoria-, a 9 month old sweetie. Recently spayed (looks like a crap job to me!) but man the facial expressions and ears/face looks just like my little northern mutt. Part of me just wants to e-mail them to foster her!
http://ruffstartdogrescue.blogspot.ca/2013/03/roxy_20.html

But I'm going to be getting another Lemon look-alike sooner than later actually.

Coleman
Coleman is a 9 month old Chi x Pom. Him and his buddy were picked off the highway and deemed "aggressive, rescue only" as when they were caught they turned around and nipped the officer. His buddy was unfortunately put to sleep before someone could save him, but Coleman was saved in the knick of time. He has already spent some time in Canada -coming up on a week now, just in a quarantine home making sure he is kennel cough free and other things free- A good set up for these overseas pooches who don't have to go through official quarantine (you don't want to know how many tests Taiwanese dogs have to go through to even make it over here!).

I've tried to be a good girl and stay away from Californians and stick to BC dogs and Taiwanese dogs, but that face just killed me. Forgive me. No matter what the circumstances TG fosters always have Yvette and Dave to count on, but this little guy, at such a young age, he had only me. I had to at least give a him a chance.

One of my favorite quotes: "'Saving one animal won't change the world, but surely the world will change for that one animal.'' It should also read that it'll change the world for his adopter too, but that might get a little wordy.

Dear Coleman, you're probably going to get in me trouble as I promised I had sworn off California saves over a year ago (I've been so good since then), so you better be worth it!! Yours sincerely, the woman that saved your life.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Leila Goes Home/Jerrad Gets Work

Two happy occurrences over the last couple of days. Firstly, Leila found her awesome new home with active mum who can take her to school, and 13 year old daughter who will hit her out with 4-H obedience, agility and show classes. They even had an agility course set up in their backyard (can you say jealous much!!) Although originally I made the call of no for an adoption due to low fences (2 feet since canine sibling is a wienie dog), within 12 hours, mum and daughter fixed the fence to get it up to five feet all the way around.  Talk about gung-ho! So I was very pleased and sent her home. The people were awesome, I just didn't want her to accidentally get away. Safety first :)

Here is Leila with her new family:
Camera was unprepared for unusually sunny day.  
And Jerrad now has work! Thank you to everyone that sent different prospects our way. He will be working for an environmental company helping with clean-up. As a labourer to start but with potential to grow. He will still be hunting down an elusive job in his field, but this job should keep us here and stable for minimum a few more months. He starts tomorrow!

In the midst of that my computer had an Alzheimer's attack (IE: It's hard-drive died). It lives $200 later, but will probably be on it's last legs. Getting to be an old bugger. But they cleaned it's outsides as well as it's insides so it's feeling kind of new.

A few weeks until we get a new TG dog. We might be helping out another dog in the meantime that just hasn't been having any luck getting adopted the last couple of months. It always feels weird to have an empty spot someone could be using.

Oh, and a picture of Jinks for good measure:

WHATDYA MEAN I'M ADOPTED?!?!?


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Home-check and an Update

A really good application came in for Leila last night with a middle school teacher who has the ability to bring her to work half-days and a younger teenage daughter who is seriously into 4-H and would like a good training buddy. We are going for a home-check tonight. March break is this upcoming week, making it a good time to transition in a new puppy. Though to be perfectly honest she's a great little dog kicking around here. Off-leash on the acreage and now some off-leash privileges on the not-many-distractions trails. She is Jinks' shadow too much to go many places without her favorite foster sibling.

But as you can see, it's almost a party on Beckett's bed around here.

4/5 dogs in the house are occupying this bed...
on the bright side, Beckett's hasn't been kicked off his bed I guess.
In other news, an update from Chowmein (now Lucy). Hard to believe it's been a year since she's been here! Time flies. And she's gotten so big too!!! -She was only about 50 pounds here.


Hi Emily

I hope things are going well for you.  It has been just over a year since
Lucy joined us.  She has grown up to be a funny, feisty 70 lb bundle of
attitude.  She is a real delight and tolerates Midas' antics with the air
of a sister with a dim-witted brother.

We love having her as part of our family - thanks for bringing us together.

Miss Lucy posing. She looks so distinguished!



Friday, March 15, 2013

Petsmart Trip

Very rarely do I stop into Petsmart -and for good reason-, but today it had to be done. My nylabones were getting dangerously close to that 'choking on' stage, and the two cheapy tug toys from the dollar store which earned every penny of their price with Jinks, Leila and my board dog since the Cane Corso three-way tugging them for the last week. Cinder with his huge mouth and powerful jaws can't be trusted with some of the more expensive toys, they'd be destroyed too quickly. So, I was in need of some powerful chew toys to last me through the last few days of Cinder's stay here.

One Petsmart trip later -which was supposed to be just for a bigger nylabone or two-, I've got the hugest Nylabone I can find (it's literally almost the size of my arm), two erratic bouncing balls for Jinks -they are fantastic, they are balls that don't stop moving so they self-entertain her, three heavy-duty tug toys that look and feel like they should be able to stand up to lots of toy between tug-crazy dogs, a sharp black leather collar for Jinks (time she looks like a proper collie), and a big black EXTREME chewer kong that I'm hoping Cinder might not destroy. I got fantastic deals, but at the same time it definitely racked up.

So, I'm not going to Petsmart for at least a few more months! And I'm definitely not going just after I got paid for two weeks of boarding.

But right now I'm very happy as we're just settling down to a movie. Jinks has the nylabone and is happy as a clam, Cinder is zonked out in his crate after a long day of daycare, Lemon had a play with one of the erratic balls and is now cuddlebugging and Leila is deciding which toy she wants -though she almost always just wants whatever someone else has-. Beckett meanwhile is going "Oh, you just brought home toys. GEEZ, thanks."

PS: I've very proud of my previous very toy-guardy border brat. New toys and everything and she's sharing fantastically. You wouldn't even know she has/had an 'issue'.

In other small news, in the last three or four days she's finally started to notice our chickens (they've been here since she's come) and is showing LOTS of herding instinct over them. We have to pry her away from the corral sometimes. I have my fingers crossed her herding instinct is kicking in and in a few months we might have a successful go on some sheep. If not, agility it is!

To our movie!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Dear Forever Family, I am Not a Pitbull

Leila is a fantastic little dog to have around, despite the fact that she's foiling our best laid housebreaking plans on occassion. She's small -jack russell sized, but REALLY solid-, great with dogs, cats, kids, people in general. Lots of play, but lots of cuddle. Overall, just a nice puppy. So I've been a little surprised that there's absolutely no interest.

But, I think I've found the answer. I think her pictures make her look like a pitbull mix puppy instead of a tidbit miniature bull dog mix puppy. She is welcome for however long she needs, but someone is seriously missing out on a great SMALL puppy. I think I might have this one awhile.

Puppies are always cutest when asleep!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Gaining Wisdom

I've always heard the saying: "You don't get the dog you want, you get the dog you need."

Great, so I got Beckett, pretty much the epitome of "the perfect dog". Housetrained since we got him, hasn't really destroyed anything -that I remember or that was important anyway-, always the gentlemen with other dogs and so tolerant of people. Truly the perfect first dog any family could ask for.

Then we got Lemon, or more Beckett got Lemon -according to Jerrad he pines for her on Saturdays when she goes to training with me-, who is for the most part even-keel, kind of needy, always a make you smile or pull your hair out dog, friendly to a fault, a dog who I could take anywhere off-leash and not worry about. Sure she drives me up the wall the odd day and I can't get her to shut up if someone knocks on the door no matter how many set-ups we go through, but that's just knit-picking. She might not be all I want, but she is really all I could ever ask for. (Minus the barking ;) ).

But Jinks is a different story. Jinks is ridiculously even-tempered with it comes to other dogs, she has dog skills that are rarely matched by other pups so young. She can read body language from a field away, she's quick, smart, driven, highly talented, highly focused and eager to please but at the same time has enough of an off-switch to be a good house pet. However, Jink's achilles heel is new people.

She is getting better, she goes to Canadian Tire two or three times a week with Jerrad and gets fed by all the people there without an issue now. We started with people just throwing food at her, and worked up to her taking food from new people. On the trails she can pass people without issue now, where as when we got her she would freak out if a jogger came up behind us, or if one was coming towards us. Hackles would go up, the fearful bark would come out and she'd fluctuate between running full tilt in the other direction, or staying with us and fear barking some more. Now she will actively pull (slightly) towards joggers that come in either direction, she can handle bikes passing providing I set her up properly before they pass (bring her to the side of the reward and use commands to work through the stress). She can effectively go off-leash most hikes now, even if they include lots of people. She now has no problem with people in her space.

PROVIDING: They don't pay her any attention!

So of course, sometimes we get into a pickle. It doesn't help that she's a damn good looking dog.

Last night we had our first intermediate agility class. They never told me my footwork would have to be worked on harder than Jinks'. I have two left feet, I really should have thought about that before getting into agility! So anyway, now that we've worked on most of the equipment we're starting sequencing work.

Jinks does well throughout the class. Another border collie has a barking fit at a strange new computer somebody is holding to take some pictures of his wife. I can see Jinks thinking about barking at it too, but of course I'm on her like a dirty shirt. I've got baloney and I know how to use it! So we can work through scary new laptop.

"Okay mom," she says, and gets back in the groove, completing our exercise regardless of barking-it's-pants off collie. She gives the odd look at the laptop every now and again, but resigns herself to her "down" position. IE: the position of instant success no matter what under any circumstances. (We're even at about 80% of downing her from a distance now, so if she gets overwhelmed away from me I can snap her out of it). ---I use down as her stress-free command as very rarely do people want to disturb a dog in a down command.

So at this point I'm a little smug. My Jinks dog has issues -I know she's got issues-, but look at her go with this other (apparently non-issued) collie barking it's head off. Smug and proud I am. Look at all the training that is lining up!! She might just make me a good sports dog regardless of her issues yet.

And of course, like all things, smug leads to Murphy's law smacking you down at some point. So anyway, we lined up to pay for our course, and the barn where we have lessons is actually divided into two sections. The very first night of puppy agility (which we just finished with flying colors) has started on the other side and there's a great big collie -mix?- who is split faced like Jinks, just with his split on the other side of his face. His dad, who is a larger, older man with a booming voice starts hoofing it over to us on a mission.

"WOW! HE LOOKS JUST LIKE MY DOG. GOD YOU ARE GORGEOUS. WHERE'D YOU GET HER? HOW OLD IS SHE. WOW!"

Boom, smugness leaves, Jinks starts going stupid, I lose all "down" command since she's been pushed past her stress threshold since he came so quickly. She's all bark and growl and moving backwards (obviously fearful). So I do the only thing I can do. "Sorry, she isn't fond of new people in her space."

"Dogs love me. It's okay pup." (smoochy smoochy noises)

I want to hit him, I really want to hit him. GO AWAY. You're freaking her out. You're also really creepy.

Anyway, work through it as best we can, try to stay polite, pay fast and keep moving. Reward when we get far enough away that the commands start coming back into play. We both sigh, stretch and move on, but I'm a little pissy. Why does she have to be such a douchebag sometimes?

Get home, Jinks proudly chases some deer off the property and volunteers herself to go to bed for 8:00pm. I'm still grumping. I have two left feet, my dog is a douchebag and I obviously haven't trained her enough.

Grump grump grump. Grump grump grump.
Until...

I realize I wanted to hit the guy too. My social skills just kept me from it, but I DEFINITELY thought about it.

I suddenly realized if I was in her position and I was a dog, I would react much more strongly than she did. "Sorry, she isn't really fond of new men in her space." Perhaps I could be labelled people reactive too! Oh god, I'm like my dog with issues.

Beckett and Lemon haven't taught me much about myself. They've taught me lots about dogs, about training, about love, loyalty and family, but Jinks, Jinks will teach me about myself in ways I never thought about before. Jinks will push me to be a better trainer, a better handler and a better person. She will challenge me to face realities, have set-backs and have even greater successes. Perhaps then that is what I need from her. The realization to look in the mirror and look at my own strengths and weaknesses, and my own strength of character too.

I look forward to all the things Jinks will teach me in the many years to come.





Friday, March 8, 2013

Wanted: Full-Time Job, Victoria, BC


WANTED, FULL-TIME JOB
IN VICTORIA, BC

For: Hard-working, family guy with an education of MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIST. Fresh graduate, AutoCAD experience.

Also has background in, automotive mechanics (1st year apprentice qualifications, in Saskatchewan that didn't transfer provinces), security, dishwashing, lot attendant at car dealerships, etc. Good references, punctual and reliable. Not looking for a handout, just a hand up. Temporary or long-term. Doesn't need to be an engineering job, at this point any full-time position would be great.

---we're getting into the quite the pickle with only sparse casual work coming in the last few months and nothing turning up on the job market. We will have to consider a move if nothing shows up in the very near future. Reaching out to anyone and everyone that might have a connection. We love Victoria, fostering and I quite enjoy my job at the daycare, but we gotta keep making ends meet.

Feel free to hit me up at my e-mail: garlande@uvic.ca if you'd rather not leave a post. 

We've hit up almost everywhere you could think of, right now it's finding that elusive "in" with a live human being to get a foot in the proverbial door. 

Any help much appreciated.

Emily, Jerrad & the pack.



Thursday, March 7, 2013

Leila's Adventures

Ah puppies, gotta love them, gotta get frustrated with them, gotta have LOTS of good chew toys out with them. Leila is a great little puppy, quite mellow actually but boy is she a chew machine. Not to worry though, we're full of chew toys here, Jinks is a busy-body, and it's easy to occupy her with a wide variety of chew toys. Here are some pictures and video from her time in the foster front so far.

TUGGING WITH JINKS


Heavy Duty Chew Tug-Toy to the Rescue !

Face shot of the girl with the Asian eyes.

Profile

Glowing

Running around with Jinks

Finally still for a minute.

RUNNING WITH JINKS

RUN LEMON, RUN!!!

Turtle Gardens Alumni Lemon + Beckett (2/3 of the four-legged full-time pack)

Monday, March 4, 2013

Cute New Recruit

It was nice to have a long-weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday in Vancouver catching up with my parents and being stuffed with good food. I'm sure they pack a week's worth into me in two days. Today Jerrad and I took the very to Vancouver to retriever two new foster dogs from Ocean Dog Rescue -now renamed C.E.R.A. Dog Society. We transported Leila and Stephanie.

Originally Stephanie was going to foster with us, and Leila was going to foster with my co-worker Crystal who grooms at K9HQ, but as plans often do, they got shuffled around. Crystal's partner had a hockey accident and broke his jaw, so she'll have to take him in and out of the hospital a few hours every day the next few weeks. She didn't feel it was fair to have a young puppy at home for that long. So, we switched fosters. Leila is now home with us.

She is a cuddle-butt, really likes children, likes to give kisses. She's pretty darn mellow for a young dog. She's a bull-terrier mix, but is quite a bit smaller than your average miniature bull terrier. She is about 15-18 pounds at 7 months, so about 25 full grown. She's only a little bit taller than Lemon! She's also a whole lot sturdier.

Here are some pictures of Leila from the first night at the foster front:
"Tea-Cup Bull Terrier?"

Lazy puppy!
 Oh, and I don't photograph Lemon enough, or none of the pictures ever turn out. In Vancouver I scooped some sweet water-proof dog beds, and with a blanket on top Lemon is pretty happy to have a bed that Jinks doesn't bother her on. I'm just happy. Water-proof beds mean even if a dog decides to pee on them, it's not a task to get everything in the wash, and through the dryer without blowing up.

Lemon comfy on a new bed (once a blanket was added) 
We're actually a week and a bit away from our 2nd anniversary of fostering. Times flies!

Emily Out