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 :)