Christmas Foster Puppy

Well, it was feeling weird without having a foster dog in a few weeks, and since there are no flights from Taiwan over Christmas, and the TG bus isn't coming down for a few weeks, when I saw a picture of this guy... I caved.

This little guy has been through 3 "gift" homes in 2 weeks. He was given to someone as a gift, then given to someone else as a gift, and then yet again a third time given to someone as a gift until that person decided it would be best to surrender him.

Penny Stone (fired from SPCA) and her cohorts have just started up the Victoria Humane Society, so that is where he's surrendered to. And he has a ton of applications, so I'm pretty sure he must be adoption pending. No idea. If you really want to apply for him, send me an e-mail. No idea if I have any power of persuasion though. Actually at this point I'm not even really sure what the adoption procedure is. So I'm far removed from the loop.

Anyway, he needed a name so we decided Champ. It'll change soon enough I'm sure.

After 6.5 hours of going strong in the play department, he FINALLY sits still.

Champ is an independent, high-energy and high-drive Aussie mix. He's got energy out the wazoo! He's also got tug drive out the wazoo and is already showing class herding dog traits -wanting to chase anything or any dog in sight. So far hasn't been nippy, but I think he could become nippy if he lands in a home that doesn't set clear boundaries and structures his time. He's cool, a handful but has a nice overall temperament. He really shouldn't become a first dog owner's dog.

The most important thing that we're doing with him is turning freedom into a privilege and responsibility instead of an expected right. We're doing this with umbilical work. Which means he has to be within 8 feet from wherever I am, indoors or outside and has a leash on him most of the time (indoors or outdoors). Being so independent he has to quickly realize humans are his gateway to the things he craves. If he continues with the assumption that he gets whatever the heck he wants whenever he wants, he's going to be a puppy who you call and he runs the opposite direction. The value of everything else far outweighs humans.

Day three I'm just starting to take that leash off inside. The idea is that he needs to stay in my radius, if he gets away I call him (I just use "pup" or if he's getting a little too cocky a stern "you think so?"). If he decides to come back into the bubble he maintains the off-leash freedom. If however he gives me that "Eh, I think I'll see what's over this way" and doesn't return, it's a quick trip down the hallway or into another room and the leash goes back on for 15-20 minutes. If I can't trust him to stay close in the house, I would never be able to trust him to stay close outside, and even with a secure yard, I'd really rather not be chasing down a fast puppy. And besides, if I had to do that, he would be rewarded by me having to chase him. So nope, don't have time for that annoying stuff.

You learn inside, then we take it outside. He is most miffed that he doesn't get free access to the yard -before he was hear I doubt he even had a collar on, let alone a leash. I'm stepping on his leash way too much, or holding it when we're out to let him completely off yet. If his new owner wants to let him have all that freedom, that's their problem. I will try my best to give him a head-start.

Here is what is coming of that umbilical work though:

Eye-Contact!

After two days I'm pretty sure this is the first honest eye contact I've gotten from this puppy. Of course I could train and praise him to look at me with clicker training and all that good stuff, but I try not to do any command or food reward type training with my foster dogs. I just try to create good habits which will help a dog and new people start a relationship together. There's a lot you can do when freedom becomes it's own reward.

At this age puppies are so mouldable into what we require from them, as long as we can show them what that is and reward it in some fashion. Of course, we have each dog's individual temperament to deal with. They aren't all the same and a lot of them require different things from us to become the best they can be. Shy or clingy puppies need almost the opposite approach. They need to be endlessly rewarded for going AWAY from us so that they can build confidence.

Regardless, I hope someone smart-dog savvy (herding dog savvy better) is the one to bring him home, ideally with another herding dog or two to teach him. Unfortunately dogs with "potential" have potential in both directions. Champ has the ability to be a champion in sports, in off-leash hiking, in almost anything someone could do with him. At the same time, he has real potential to be a big pain the butt.

The longer a dog goes figuring they own freedom, the harder it is to break them of this belief, also the crankier they are when you take it away and start rationing it. So you get a lot of 7 month, 10 month, 1 year, 1.5 year, 2 year old teenage dogs surrendered because they don't give a darn about their people, and now they're teenagers and getting into some wicked trouble. All for lack of a week or two or some foundational stuff. To be fair,  they probably don't know that.

My guess is this little guy will go home before New Years. If he decides to sit still again, I'll try some other pictures. He sits still maybe all of 5 minutes a day except for the time he's crated (he whines for a minute or two and then is out like a light). That's the other thing we'll be working on... starting to create an off-switch in him. That however, is a few-month affair and I definitely don't have a few months to get a great off-switch.

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

PS: Thank you Kobi and Mika for the Christmas Present, and Tegan the pupy got the dogs an awesome assortment of toys. We're open for other Christmas presents too, but would rather get a picture update of any previous foster dogs and their new families. Those are the best gifts of all :)