Sunday, April 26, 2009

Interested in Ernest?


Act quick! Ernest is feeling a LOT better. He has a follow up visit at the vet on Tuesday. He is almost healthy enough to go back to the shelter and be put up for adoption. So for all you lurkers out there...send me an e-mail and I'll let you know how to get in touch with the shelter to fill out an app on this little guy! You could pre-adopt him. Please? I don't want to have to take him back and leave him there.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Updates

Sadie the sheltie is coming along. She has settled in well and is coming out to check out all the goings on. She is comfortable enough to drink water in my presence and is taking treats out of my hand today. Even better, she had her first trip to the training centre and enjoyed watching rally-o from the sidelines while receiving treats from myself, Barb, and Pat. She likes to take treats from the safety of my lap but is not so keen on taking anything when she has four on the floor. More because people are leaning over her than anything else I think. She really is clearly uncomfortable in the presence of people but is a sweet and gentle soul that wants to trust. She will come around, already she is making improvements. I'll pull out the clicker in a couple of days and start hand feeding her meals and work on getting some behaviours with her. She is coming in and out of the house nicely and is beautifully house trained. She has a little spring in her step today that is very cute, and she likes to go for truck rides! She jumped right up and was happy to go. :) Here she is yesterday (unimpressed that Cai is up her bum. She has been excellent with all the dogs, she isn't ready to play yet but she likes to see what they are up to).



Ernest is doing much better both physically and mentally. He needs to get out into the big world now and do some major socializing. He had trouble with people approaching his crate in class today, some disconcerting growling coming from the crate. Poor fella is so afraid people might hurt him that he pees himself and growls at the same time. Luckily he is so young that it should be easily fixed, I'll get everyone that goes by his kennel to throw in a treat or two so he learns to associate people approaching him in a confined space with yummy treats. He loves food! He is coming along great with his puppy training. He learned to wave in two sessions of five pieces of food. He's starting to figure out the whole shaping thing. I also had him up on the big wobbly ball today, he got right up there all by himself! He was pretty proud if he does say so himself. That will help him a lot with his muscle tone.



Phoebe is pretty hilarious. There is no way she is letting Ernest get treats and not her, so we have been doing dual no mugging exercises (essentially a leave it command but without the command, it is doggie self control). It is good for Ernest too, he can't bolt for the cookies in my hand while I am feeding Phoebe, they both have to back off of the food in order to receive their prize. She seems to be in better spirits today and is back to her usual nosy self.
I did not take a picture of Nepsa yesterday....she is filthy! Covered from top to bottom in mud. It has been raining the last two days and the puppies love to rip it up in the yard, wrestling and generally having a good time. The only one that likes to stay out of the dirt is Sobe. Heidi, Nepsa and Jorja are dirt monkeys! Good times had by all, lots of floor cleaning for me!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

New Arrivals



Some awfully cute little critters arrived this week! This house is FULL, I need some adoptions and quick! Nepsa has a home visit this week so keeping my fingers crossed that this will work out and be a good placement for her. Phoebe has regressed, she bit me in the face this week while I had her out at dog school. Seems she was having a cranky day. I have allowed her to be out of her kennel a fair amount lately and I'm pretty sure the bite incident is a direct result of my relaxing the "rules" with her. She needs structure and routine. She has also learned that going in the truck means being picked up and this is not going so well. She wants to jump in by herself but it is just too tall. (A friend of mine calls my truck the "man" truck, Dodge trucks are pretty tall!) Anyway, I got her a harness. My plan is to first fit the harness on her without getting bitten, and then to practice lifting her and giving her hotdogs and putting her down again over and over. She'll have to drag a leash again for a while so I can catch her but she really needs to get desensitized considering how small she is.


New arrival #1: Earnest Hemmingway. Earnest is about the cutest little puppy you ever did see! He was picked up off the side of the road by a good samaritan. Poor fella had the worst ear infections I have ever seen...and did he ever stink! His little ears were so swollen that they split. He also had sores all over his mouth from bacteria invading his little lip folds. Skin and bones, full of worms, and unable to walk more than two steps this little guy was a total mess. But, a week later with some good antibiotics, some quality food, a little wound care and he is coming along beautifully! He found his spunk two days ago and is now behaving like an eight week old puppy should. He has learned his name, sit, down with a hand signal, no mugging, and sleeps eight hours at night in his kennel. He is a very clean little puppy so house training is going pretty well. He likes to play tug and will retrieve a little ball right back to you! He likes to run off with the tug toys though. He is learning his manners from the big dogs and even got Toque to play with him yesterday! He seems to be afraid of some people so we will work on his socializing and get him spoiled up. This little fella is an SPCA dog so his adoption will go through them when it is time. How anyone could treat a puppy so poorly is beyond me. He had a collar on, so he belonged to someone.


New arrival #2: Sadie


I don't have any pictures of Sadie yet but they will come. Sadie is a three year old Sable sheltie that was surrendered after she bit the man in the home when he alpha rolled her. Sadie is a shy little girl who originally came from a poor upbringing. She was doing well in her previous home but cannot tolerate being handled roughly, she has been through a lot and aggressive handling leads her to believe that she needs to fight for her life (and rightly so). Sadie will only be adopted to a home with women, or potentially a woman with a very calm and gentle husband. She gets along well with other dogs and with cats, and has been around children (but will not be adopted to a home with young kids). She is not available at this point until I have had the opportunity to do a full assessment.
And a random pic of some of my dogs that my friend Sandeep took while we were out walking the other day!