The Lazy Life of Xena

One of the things I like most about fostering is challenging myself with different personalities, breeds, temperments and finding new ways of making things work. I enjoy finding new ways to bring dogs out of their shells, engage their minds, and become good house pets to find their new families. My dear Xena however, has proved to be a big fat zero in the challenge department ---which is rubbing off on me and making me lazy!

Xena is basically like me, in dog-form. She's lazy unless she has motivation not to be lazy, she likes hanging out and observing, she can be a bitch (an appropriate bitch mind you, no aggression whatsoever, just a 'you'll pay attention to me' attitude) and she gets random fits of crazy energy at weird times -usually right before bed. She also gets grumbly when supper doesn't go down around 7pm (I am notorious for becoming the biggest bitch when I'm super hungry). She's even-tempered, go-with-the-flow, will adjust to anything kind of dog. And hopefully she'll find her home soon :)

Some pics of Xena being lazy.










And a few of the girls being silly this morning. Since Sail has gone to Lisa they've been a lot goofier. Toast has started to play tug, and whenever the laundry is out Xena has to start a sock collection. I've gone through my socks and have hidden ones with holes around the house so if she gets bored and finds one it doesn't matter. She doesn't chew on them, just collects them and sucks on them -and throws them up into the air and catches them too.







And of course, after my ranty blog about Toast taking some things slower, she's decided she'll walk properly on a leash if I just tie the leash to my pants instead of holding onto the leash. Go figure I was the one who needed to be trained :P

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Emily

The Trials of Toast

Toast (AKA: Toaster-pup) is a great little terrier, no doubt about it she'll make someone a very happy owner. However, its sometimes difficult to work with her when I think of Honey -her sister- and how fast Honey made progress. One shouldn't pick a 'better' sister, but in terms of intelligence, Honey wins paws down. However, Toast wins in liveability -she's less damaging to unsuspecting socks, stuffies and life in general. --You always pay in some way for a smart dog :P Although I'd rather work with Honey, I'd much rather have Toast on a longer basis.

Toast is her own dog and I have to get over it for her sake. She's funny, opionated, easy to distract, and doesn't come with the chewing obsession Honey had.

Toast is making a ton of progress too, but even after a week and a few days, I can tell she probably won't ever be that completely outgoing social butterfly both Tucker and Honey turned into. She's middle-of-the-road compared to what Honey was (before and after), and is learning everyday. However, Toast doesn't really catch on quick which is making her progress slower (not really 'slow'). She'll come a long way from what she was, but I doubt she'll go up to perfect strangers for quite some time. At least if they don't have REALLY tasty snacks.

Somethings that annoy me with Toast:

Example: Leashed walks.
Toast walks well on leash, but has the really annoying habit of not turning on slight corners, or swerving me into bizarre things so I don't walk into her. I don't want to turn off her 'checking in' with me, so I don't want to give a real correction with the leash when she does so. My 'bright idea' of just walking into her a few times and she'll smarten up totally backfired. Instead of smartening her up and not walking in front of me, Toast has decided when I walk into her -even lightly- she's in a severe amount of trouble and buckles down into the 'she's going to kill me' mode. So, instead of not walking right in front of me, or swerving in front of me, she's doing both that and getting freaked out. I'd take her off the harness (which is part of the problem, dogs naturally walk in front with a harness and its hard to correct), but when dogs got into 'omg they're going to kill me' mode, a collar alone can easily slip off. Oh well, onto the next tactic.

Moving Places:
Toast loves her walks, likes daycare, and in general wants to go wherever I go, but heaven forbid you try to get her to move anywhere without a leash. Downstairs, upstairs, sideways, two steps to her left. You can move her when it doesn't matter if she moves or not, but when push comes to shove Toast is a 'omg, what the hell is happening, catch me if you can' machine. Regardless how much practice we seem to be doing when it doesn't matter, when I actually want to go anywhere with her it becomes a small event. All with time, I know, but I'd rather not take 10 minutes in the yard before going for a half hour walk with her. --But I'm being a bit of a bitch :S

The good thing about Toast over her sister though is that she springs back almost instanteously. Whether she's scolded, 10 minutes later she'll do the same thing and be corrected again, or whether she's praised, all the dots just don't connect. This makes training harder, but it means that any setback is quickly overcome. I can be harder on her than Honey (who took things quite personally).

Beckett has found this with her too. She's his 'annoying little sister', always wanting to play with him even at moments when he'd rather not: AKA, trying to find a poop spot in the yard, or curled up for his afternoon snooze. He's told her off well (and appropriately) a few times, but they go through the motion at least once or twice a day.

Toast trying to get Beckett to play when he's sleeping. Amazing Xena hasn't told her off already.

The annoying little sister is everywhere! And oh so sneaky.

Toast mopey for maybe a whole minute after being told off by Beckett.
\
"I'm sorry, can we cuddle instead."

Overall though, Toast is doing awesome and I'm just playing favourites. She's pretty damn adorable and a good cuddler, so I forgive her for not being the smartest bulb in the shed. Smart, shiny bulbs always keep you on your toes anyway, and lately I've been feeling a little lazy (I think because Xena is rubbing off on me!) She'll be easier to find a home for than Honey was, so I doubt she'll be here too much longer ( :( ).

The "OMG, Sail is out of the House" Party.

Jerrad took Sail for her third hour long hike today, to make sure she's tired before bed, and the rest of the crew decided to throw a party after she left. Sail has been getting Beckett louder than usual, so please forgive my silly, influenced husky! Toast, Xena and Beckett being silly:

Never a Dull Day in Foster-Land.

Gorgeous Sail has been fostering with us for a few days now, and its been a busy household. She failed her adoption -just not the right match. High energy combined with very little training (no one's fault, it just is) is quite a hard match to make. You both have to be patient enough to deal with what's in front of you (a non-focused energy machine) and the endurance to work on it. However, the sheer amount of potential in dogs like this is what makes the people that get them happy. Of course, potential has to be mined.



Sail is a young Border Collie mix with all the energy of a puppy, and none of the training an active breed needs to stay sane. She isn't a bad dog whatsoever, and is one smart cookie but she's go-go-go outside. Inside she's okay to hang out (she's a bit of a glue dog), but she needs to keep her mind active. I've been working a bit with tuggies, balls and cookies to make games for her, but without any basic training tools its been quite an experience. Its kind of like having the ability and energy to play NBA basketball, but not knowing how to dribble a ball. How to incorporate beginners moves and advanced moves. Well, she's definitely had me on my toes! A quick video of Sail learning to play tug nicely (IE: let go when I ask, bring it back, tug but not 'shake to kill')



Unfortunately she completely shuts down my two current fosters with all that crazy energy, and after two days Beckett is exhausted (he's the only one that'll play/put up with her). Most importantly, she isn't safe with small, slightly silly dogs that run away from her (which is what our landlord's dog tried). It was a good thing Sam ran right to be (making that horrible squeaking sound that activates prey drive very quickly) or she might have nailed him. She's fine with smaller dogs that don't do stupid prey-type stuff, but safety must come first so we've been trying to seek out another foster home.

She's also no good with cats (which isn't an issue here, but denied her a foster home at Meshum's -whose a high-energy kind of home). So, Sail is heading to Lisa for a bit, and will either return to Turtle Gardens, or find another foster home in the mainland. Hopefully the later. She will really benefit from the life skills/training to give her a set of basics to leave foster care with. In different circumstances she would have stayed, but I can't have my own dog completely exhausted 24/7 and have my other two fosters (who are coming out of their shells more and more!) get back into those shells due to Sail. Most importantly, I can't put my rental situation in danger. That would most likely mean no-more fostering as foster-friendly rentals are ridiculously far between!

Good luck Sail! I know you will find that home that is going to love you for the amazing girl you are -and will become. --there are no outdoor photos of her as she's too fast to actual get one of!



My two main girls are doing awesome though. (After Sail left for a couple of hours with Meshum last night, they decided to throw a Hallejuah party, throwing shoes around the house and being altogether silly.) They both like to rearrange the house while we're out getting groceries, but its mainly throwing the shoes -only one has got chewed!-. Xena is a total goofball once you get her going. She'll throw the shoe up and catch it or parade around the house with two old shoes in her mouth. -As long as they don't get my good shoes, they can have the old ones all they want-. My good shoes stay up high anyway!

And they are both in love with Beckett. They'll play together sometimes, but Toast is a madly in-love, annoying school-girl crush kind of thing, and Xena is the 'wife' who lies beside him wherever he goes. So far, I've only seen Xena initiate play with Beckett.

They act like an old married couple! (Xena is an old soul I swear)


Both girls have been going to daycare. Toast will play, but she'd rather follow Emma, an older doodle type dog around. They chew on bones together, hang in the corner together and are slight non-socials who like company around but not in their faces. Then Toast will get the zoomies for a few minutes, and then go hang out with Emma. When Emma isn't there Toast will play with a few 'select' favourites, but otherwise isn't overly playful. She is however playful as soon as she gets home and sees Beckett. Poor old guy just can't catch a break :P Too many young girls around!

Wiped dogs settle down for movie time. IE: the 2 hour period in the day Foster-Mum gets a break with Sail around!


Xena is interesting at daycare. She is relaxed, but she's an observer by nature. Many of the dogs we've had in the past who are 'observers' are really just being shut down and are stressed, or afraid to play in a group. Xena isn't. She's content to watch other dogs play, and moosies around the room for a better view of whoever is most interesting. She'll initiate gentle play with Beckett, but with him being so tired out from Sail, I haven't be bringing him much! You can definitely tell she enjoys the company though. Haha, she's a lot like me. I like being the wallflower! You get to see/hear the most interesting things that way.

We have a date with Honey -now Daisy- coming up too so the sisters can reconnect! How exciting. My soon-to-be (or later, depending on finances :P (one letter more than fiance I should at) mother-in-law is quite smitten with Toast, so she might head to Saskatchewan with us for a week at the end of the month while we go to my good friend's wedding. Who knows! One thing's for sure. At this precise moment, Toast couldn't care less.

The Adventures of BlackDog and Toaster-Pup

Everyone is nicely relaxed in the new digs. Toast has been coming with me to daycare, and enjoys having the company of other dogs. She's starting to want to play with some of the gentler dogs, but is hesitant on the more boisterious ones' approach. Very soon she's going to start playing most of the morning and stop being an observer (similiar to how Honey did at daycare). They want to make sure they're going to be safe and can put their guard down. Toast loves the staff though. She's still a little scared on her trips downstairs and upstairs, but she's following the lead of the other dogs and staff, and is getting much, much better. I don't have to leash her to get to one place to the other now.

She walks excellent on her leash, but is still sometimes a little spooked by loud trucks going by. Luckily, unlike my adventures with Honey, once the truck goes by she perks up and continues on like nothing happens.

Toast also decided today that jumping into a bush full of bees on our way home would be good fun. Picture one scrawny terrier, a buzzing bush, and me on the end of the leash trying to entangle it all in a fit of angry stingers. I wasn't so pleased (though it was pretty funny), but Toast was pleased as punch that she'd given those bees a piece of her mind. Oh terriers!

Toaster-pup, zonked after daycare, the bees and the 50min walk home.



Sharona has also settled in quite well, and is super relaxed now (providing I don't bring board dogs home). She's decided Beckett is her good friend, but like many feral dogs, she has a very small inner circle and doesn't trust anything else. We will keep working on it to expand her world more and more. She's the sweetest, most affectionate dog to her inner crowd though. She's going to make some single person, or couple a very happy person with that absolute loyalty.

She's also decided her new name is "BlackDog". She will 9/10 respond to it when out in the yard, quite a few times doing a pretty decent recall for it. We tried: Cobalt, Charcoal, Dusty, Inferno, Sharona, Rona, Ronnie, Romi, Sara, Sheena, Zena (I really wanted this one to work :S), but alas, she is "BlackDog" -until her new people find something different, its what I'm going to keep calling her.

She's also the kind of dog that if my situation were different, she would probably end up being adopted here. She's been staying out of daycare to de-stress (not that I don't think she'd be good there, but that I want her to become comfortable with us before she has to try anything new) and is enjoying her time to herself (with Beckett most of the time). Everyday I see her decompress a little more, the tightness in her body is leaving and she's less snappy with Toast and Beckett to the point where she hasn't gotten cranky at all today.

She's quite lazy, but loves a good run out in the yard and going for a walk providing its cooler out (she gets hot quite easily with her huge black coat). She's work, but a good kind of work. The kind of work that makes you want to work with her. She's doing well here, but I have the nagging at the back of my mind saying "She needs one-on-one". For now, she'll stay here, and goodness knows I love her, but I know I'm not the best (nor not nearly the worse) kind of foster for her. Alas, the realization that you can not help this dog to the capacity they need and deserve. A tough pill to swallow.

Lovely BlackDog in her usual spot beside the foodbin.


Two great, but very different girls we have here!
Thanks for reading,
Emily

Whirlwind Weekend

Wow, what an adventure. Between the huskies leaving, and today, I'm not quite sure how much sleep I've managed, but I plan to catch up soon!

On Friday evening we dropped Tine off at his trial adoption -saw him today at daycare, and he seems to be doing great! Him and the cats are buds now :)-. Right before that we went to pick up Spot, who I nearly forgot about trying to make a run for the ferries.

Spot


Spot stayed the night with us in Van and a was an exceptional house guest. She's the kind of dog that will fit in anywhere and has that happy-go-lucky but calm energy that just makes you smile. She even won over my mom, who (Beckett excluded) doesn't much like dogs. I was tempted to say "I'll keep her", but I shouldn't tempt myself with easy foster dogs. I'm a (partial)professional, I should work with the harder-to-place ones. (Just because I should doesn't mean I don't contemplate asking for the easiest ones sometimes).

Lisa came to pick Spot off, and then we had a full day dogless. Crazy! We went to Wicked, which was AWESOME, but being a writer I kind of expected more storywise. But a musical isn't really about story all in all, so 'suck it up emily'.

After the show we drove home, gulped down supper and went to pick up our posse. Dorie, Sharona and Toast we're waiting. The amount Dorie looked like a big piglet really amused me. That said, she was a total happy wiggle butt. Sharona did the typical BC/KBD "I'm so above you" and loaded up easily. She went to sleep and didn't bother opening her eyes until we dropped off Dorie.

Toast, to my surprise, is quite a bit further ahead in overcoming her 'shyness' than Honey was when she first came to me. They're definitely sisters and share a lot in common. Temperment/face-lickers/a little high-strung.

Two fundamental differences are that Honey was a dog's dog and was very aloof with people. Toast is a people's dog, (she still likes dogs) but is still VERY unsure, and she is also VERY clingy to me. Granted, she was heeling perfectly on leash within 10 minutes of exercises, something Honey took a few weeks to get partially down. Even when Toast isn't on a leash she's right beside you looking up to her leader. I'm sure she'll get less whiny/fearful of abandoned with a few days under her belt, but it'll be bit of a different approach to get Toast out of her shell. She'll need very similiar handling experiences to become familiar with leashes/massages/hands coming from weird directions, etc, but the mental approach will be a little different.

Basically, whereas I wanted to get Honey to a point where she would trust her handler as much or more as the dogs she was around, I want to get Toast to the point where she feels safe and secure in the company of people and hopefully can place trust in more than just "her" people. Toast doesn't solely need my help, she needs to meet a lot of different people, in different situations, and for the most part she needs those people to ignore her. Good thing I know a lot of people that'll be able to help Toast out.

Toaster-pops hanging out at the house:




Our second foster dog is Sharona -who I think I might rename "Inferno" after her blazing red undercoat-. She looks like a Karelian Bear Dog Mix -collie? -sheppard? The face and the stature is definitely leaning KBD. So far, Sharona isn't particularly shy, but she is definitely very hesitant, and extremely untrusting of humans. So far I've seen an insecure, pushy, wanting-to-be-dominant female (most KBDs tend to be -maybe not insecure-), but she's learnt real fast that I'm the biggest bitch around here. She's been playing with me in the yard, will let me move or claim the water dish without issue, and she understands when I begin to stalk her out in the yard that I mean business and she better be good.

Sharona/"Inferno"


She's been bossing Beckett around a lot though. She has a big personal space bubble, and the blind guy just can't catch a break. She's played the 'mean girl' card, and I can tell she wants to play with him, but isn't quite sure how. And of course Beckett can't tell a big ass shove means 'I like you'.

All in due time. She is a very sweet dog though. At the moment I'm leaning that she would like to be an only dog in her forever home (she's good with dogs, but I think she'd like having a person all to herself).

Sharona/Inferno


And Jerrad, snapping some pics in the yard. Me looking awful after work, but at least the dogs don't seem to mind! Actually, both the girls were very content to chase me in the yard.

QUICK TIP: With shy dogs, become the 'chased' for the first while. Never run towards them, especially with eye contact. When you reverse the role and become the chaser, stop when they show signs of stress and a) run the other way and get them to follow b) move to the side of them. Also. If you run and they don't follow, drop to your knees or the ground. Lowering your posture also lowers your threat-level.







Until next time!

Tine Starts his Adoption Trial, and New TG Fosters

Wow, what a few days I've had. (And what a ridiculously long time this post has taken. I've had to save it at least 10 different times to go deal with dogs). Today I have much respect for Yvette for even managing to answer e-mail efficiently.

Hudson and Tia, my usual hiking buddies, came for two nights. They were supposed to be for one, but a missed ferry meant another day of whirlwind adventure. And it means today of no work as neither of the huskies are good at daycare and my house would be utterly destroyed if they stayed here alone for five hours :S Guess the money works out even, but I'd rather be at daycare ---Oh well, suck it up princess :P You're in for another 4 hours of hiking whether you like it or not. And really, I'd rather hike the pack than deal with them at home. At least with movement none of them get into trouble whatsoever.

These dogs are exhausting :S. I don't mind them, but they are exhausting. Tia because she is a hyperactive A.D.D. princess, and Hudson because he wants to be the man -except to Beckett. Beckett is 'the man'. Beckett made it very clear from the get go that 'his bed' was off-limits, and that my bed was also his. Hudson hasn't gone near either of them since he's been here. Old man husky for the win. Unfortunately old man husky decided after one night that he'd had quite enough and learnt how to shut himself in the bedroom to sleep.

Beckett being of no help whatsoever.


Apparently I did sleep at least a bit though: pack snooze. (This was before Beckett walked off to the room, wacked the door shut and was done until 8am.)



Tine is also leaving today for his two-week trial. I was kind of hoping to have him to myself for a bit longer without the other huskies, but say-la-vie. He really is a good husky and I have a feeling it'll take maybe two days for them to decide to keep him. He just has to be good with the cats (he's been a little curious on our visits, but is giving them lots of space, so I doubt he'll have issue, but as always, huskies and cats are a tricky situation).

We head over to Vancouver tomorrow for the weekend, and are going to Wicked!!!!!


After that, it'll be picking up my new TG Fosters: Toast and Sharona -two shy girls.




I'll be glad to be back to smaller dogs instead of a house full of huskies. I'd much rather deal with bringing dogs out of their shells than hyperactive nutcases. At least for weeks at a time :P.

Reality is I'm not getting enough boards though, so my boarding days are probably coming to an end soon. --which after these huskies I'm not quite as sad about :P

I'm going to have to go on the hunt for a part-time evening job a couple times a week. Something where I can still keep fostering and Jerrad can be home for a few hours here and there. Pull an extra 300 a month kind of thing.

Anyone want to sponsor a foster mum :P :P :P
Yeah right!!! Haha.

Emily