Anything for Salami

Phoebe took food from strangers. This is a HUGE big step in her trust. She still had to be on leash, but she relaxed and even looked a little bit like she was enjoying herself. I had two dog savvy friends over the other day, we all sat on the floor with Phoebe on leash and gave her bits of salami. It took her about a half hour but she eventually relaxed, ate the nibbles and came (almost) into the centre of our circle. She still isn't ready for adoption, it will be a few more months but boy do I see some nice strides in her development in the last couple of weeks.

Nepsa is doing some pretty interesting behaviours these days. I had her out for her second big run in the bush on Saturday. We came across some strange dogs (which is unusual, we rarely see anyone out there which is why I go there). She was on the attack before they could even sniff her butt. A large fight ensued unfortunately, malamutes don't take kindly to obnoxious little aussies that think the best offence is a good defence. And of course I had her on the long line so she wasn't easy to get and when I did get her the mals were sure I was holding her in place just for them. I have fitted her with a gentle leader and I am taking her to the training centre to sit in the foyer and receive treats while people come and go to class tonight and see what exactly I am dealing with. She has improved tremendously in the house here and is now able to be out with all of the dogs all the time. Her gaurding is still present but has significantly diminished. She starts her basic obedience class next week so I need to work on this new development pronto!

On another note, I have THE cutest little six month old border collie here being fostered and assessed for the PG SPCA. She is lovely, a nice little submissive peeing baby who likes to grovel at your feet. She does have resource gaurding issues that I am trying to sort out at the moment but is a lovely and very athletic dog. I'd show you pictures, but I dropped my camera and broke it! Very frustrating.

We Did It!

After two and a half months in foster care, I was able to pick up Phoebe this week. Not only did I pick her up without being bitten, I held her in my lap for half an hour, massaging her from top to bottom. She didn't pee on me this time! She did shake and pant, but what the heck, that's minor compared to being cornered and picked up by the scary human without biting or peeing your pants! Yippee!!! I am giving her a few days rest before we do it again, I don't want her to associate me (and the leash) with scary things.

Home again and other news

I am back to the land of the frozen north. It took several hours to dig out in order to get to the driveway and to dig paths for the dogs so they could make it outside. From green grass and daffodils poking up to this....yes, that is a six foot fence you are looking at! Sigh. I do love the snow though, especially the thick stuff when it is warm like it is now.

The trip home was uneventful thankfully. We had a great visit with friends in Kamloops and picked up an extra foster dog to bring home. This is one that has been in the works for some time so I was glad to make the extra trip out to get her. She is a lovely little puppy, six months old and full of puppy beans. She is a deaf australian shepherd with a natural bob tail that wiggles constantly. She's a very smart little character, loves all people and is doing pretty well with the dogs. She is a bit of a pushy princess and has limited dog socializing so she is in the process of learning her manners (you have to love Mollie for all her teeth and snarliness she does a great job of teaching the deaf dogs body language!). Meet Nepsa (at six months she is just a little bit bigger than Sobe so around 17" and 30#)

I will try and get some better pictures of her soon. She does settle in the house pretty nicely once she's had some exercise and worked out the wiggles.

Phoebe made the trip really well, she did great in Kamloops. She didn't regress at all and even was able to come up to me while I was sitting in a chair and take some kibbles when the other dogs were away. I was very pleased with that, sometimes you have to start all over in a new place. Not that she didn't have her same issues for sure, but she was much better than I anticipated. Now that we are home here and I have gone back to work she has regressed a little. The way my small house is set up she can't come into the living room without being cornered. And now that I am back to my usual crazy schedule I'm not sitting down very much either. So my plan is to get her back on leash and show her the hidey places in the living room and see if we can't get some improvement there. I am also going to attempt to put a harness on her. I need to be able to pick her up soon so she can go for truck rides and get more socializing. Poor baby is way too small to be able to jump into the truck even if she wanted to! So that will be a good motivator for me to get at it. It is time, I think she can handle it enough to get over her fear.

Toque has regressed as well. She slipped on the ice first thing when we got home. Plus I have all tile in my house so the floors are slippy. She is not using the bad leg nearly as much as I would like. I do have carpet downstairs so we are going down there for physio but there is no way she can go for her ten minute walks outside with all the ice. I am taking her to the dog training centre so she can do walks and physio on the rubber floor a few times a week (plus she feels like she is doing something). She is allowed to do circles and figure eights this week so we are practicing our rally exercises. :)