So, flight came in for the first. What can I say, we're crazy.
On the bright side, Do-A is a super dog. No accidents, sleeps like a rock in his crate, follows me around the house and lays at my feet whenever I stop to do something. Fetches like a machine (especially being a hulk of a middle-aged yellow lab who doesn't quite know where his feet are), and is a gentlemen with the other dogs. He's what people imagine getting a dog to be like I think. Just a GOOD dog.
Here's Do-A, my camera found it's way out of the boxes, but the stick to plug it into the computer hasn't surfaced yet. So this is the only pic I have of him.
He goes for his meet + greet on Sunday. When I get too old to have a collie and all the work they require, maybe I'll just get a typical middle-aged lab like Do-A. So easy to have around!
Our journey into surburbia is also opening a new world for Jinks too, and unfortunately I don't have the means to introduce it to her slowly. Our cul-de-sac is very small, though very quiet, but beyond that are mostly busier roads. Her galloping in the field needs to be replaced by some form of other exercise, and unfortunately we don't have any good parks within a twenty minute walk, and the one there is, we'd have to cross a busy highway for. She's not ready for that. I'm also not prepared to ALWAYS drive her somewhere more rural.
So today we had a little adventure I didn't plan on taking. I don't know the roads around here very well, so we set off for a walk, with a pocket of goodies to sidetrack her from anything scary, and took a quieter road -IE: we'll see the odd person, but nothing constant. We did pretty good for the first twenty minutes or so, passing people, getting rewarded when passing men nicely (IE: no severe alertness or tension in the face/body). Unfortunately, because Jinks eats up almost all of my attention as we're walking, I kind of loose track of where we're headed, so just try to head to where I know I can turn myself the right way again. Of course, this means I have to head up to one of the main roads. Just before we hit the main road, I run out of goodies, and about two minutes before we get to the main road some idiot jogger with a big black hoodie and sunglasses almost clips Jinks as he passes. So she goes all squirrely, nearly rips out of her halti and is tantruming.
Joy. At this moment I wish I had of taken Beckett. But anyway, coral Jinks back to some form of thinking and not reacting, and have no idea how to get back home EXCEPT for along the main road. This is a road with a McDonalds on it, lots of busses going, we're going to have to almost constantly be moving around people. Great. But I know from here it's about 15 minutes home, and only 10 of those minutes will be along the busy road if I can somehow keep Jinks moving. So, before getting on to the road, regig the halti, loop the handle of my leash through her collar from some extra security, and find out it makes kind of a neat bridle thing.
It's a tough slog for both of us. Most of the time I can bring her in a wider arc around people but there are a few times I can't really arc, so she almost has to brush some people. She is tongue flickering away, lots of stress. She is a good dog though, she isn't being reactive even though I am flooding her now, overloading her learning. She is scared, but she is not a raging lunatic. She's close though. We do A LOT of sits with eye contact.
She evens out about 5 minutes in and starts to get in a good rhythm, starts to trust more that I won't let anyone come into her bubble, though her bubble is much smaller than she'd like. It takes longer to get home than planned. She drinks a whole bowl of water and is out for the count for the rest of the night. Pure mental exhaustion.
I am going to try a route with Beckett tomorrow that does much of what we did today, without doing the busy road. Which is probably what I should have done in the first place.
I have the feeling it will be a really tough few weeks getting Jinks on a totally new page. I have prepared her for the odd person passing us, for some odd traffic and bus noises, for cooling her jets, but until now I haven't put all the pieces (or even all combinations of the pieces) together. In the end though, if we can preservere and get through the problem areas, it will be in Jinks' best interest anyway.
She will NEVER be a "normal" dog like Beckett, EVER. End of story. She will never be the type of dog who is willing to meet a stranger walking towards her without any food or toy motivation. I do have faith though that she CAN be a dog who appears normal and can function in suburbia.
Some days it's amazing to realize just how much work I have put into her, and yet how much more I still need to put into her before she is the equivalent of most "normal" dogs. Dogs who don't mind people, or dogs, dogs who might pull on their leash and be inappropriate at at times, but dogs who aren't afraid of any new experience life throws their way.
--We have a TG foster coming this weekend. More on that soon. Do-A and him will be the only fosters until after we get married. With Jinks being a extra handful or two, we might have to slow down the fostering anyway. Not stop, but hey, at many points over the last year we've had 3-4 fosters at a time.
1-2 tops now! Preferably one.
Updates soon,
Emily Out
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