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.

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!

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!

Check it out!

http://www.nationalsheepdogfinals.com


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6XubwLwrw

Phoebe learns a trick

Well, really she has learned two things this week. But the big excitement is that she learned to poke a toy with her nose this week. I have been using the clicker on and off since December, pulling it out every now and then to see where she's at. Up until now the click has made her run off with her ears pinned back. I've been working on teaching some of the other dogs tricks near her crate to get her used to the sound and let her see that they are getting treats and she isn't. I've also been charging the clicker while she is locked in the crate, click treat click treat click treat. There is no where for her to run. It took a while before she would eat the treat. Recently she was starting to anticipate the treat in her crate so I figured now was as good a time as any! I put her on leash so she couldn't escape and took her downstairs to the "training" room in the house with her supper. I put a sheepskin toy on the ground and waited. She looked at it... click! I throw the cookie near the toy (she panics at the end of the leash). Soon she realizes I threw a kibble and she tentatively approaches...and eats the cookie...success! After ten pieces of food she was purposefully poking the toy with her nose and only retreating a few steps after the sound of the click. A work in progress for sure, but what an exciting step! She has figured out that her actions = food.

Her other big excitement this week is that she has figured out the joys of sleeping on a bed. :) I put her on leash the other night, picked her up, and put her on the bed next to me when I went to sleep. I kept her on leash for about half the night before I let her off. She stayed with me (I think because she was afraid to jump off but whatever). You could see the little wheels in her head going..ohhh...this is pretty comfy! So the last three nights I have been leashing her (this is the only way I can get her to pick her up still) and putting her on the bed. Already it has made a big difference in her comfort level around me. She is coming up to sniff my face (as long as I don't move an inch!) and is sleeping near me. As of last night she has figured out how to get up there by herself, now she won't get off! Ha! But whatever, I want to work up towards me being able to pet her and give her a little massage while she's there. She seems more comfortable with me at eye level (which makes sense).

Nepsa the aussie puppy is officially up for adoption. Please spread the word! This little cutie is looking for a home to love her and she will return it tenfold! She is a very nice moderately active dog who doesn't chew things, settles in the house nicely, walks well on leash, is crate trained, house trained, vaccinated, etc. She is deaf, and was undersocialized with adult dogs and the world in general so she needs to learn how to be comfortable in new situations. All around she is a lovely and pretty easy puppy. She also loves children so would be happy in a home with kids 10 and up.

A fun weekend for all

So it was a trial weekend. Those are the best kind, despite the sore muscles and overall fatigue I just love running the dogs in agility. I also took the opportunity this weekend to work on socializing the fosters, Nepsa and Phoebe. Nepsa worked on being comfortable in the barn, doing her "tricks" in a strange environment, learning to wear a gentle leader and learning to not react to strange dogs (still a work in progress but much improved over the weekend). She had a great time socializing with all the people, she sure loves kids. She wiggles right out of her skin when she sees them! She has not learned the art of peeing on leash however, so that will be something I need to work on. Here she is showing off for all of you to see. Special thanks to our friend Joy for taking the photos!

Phoebe spent the weekend just getting used to all the noises and sights. She did sit in my lap for a bit and was able to take treats while up there but she was not especially happy about it. However, one thing at a time!

And a picture of Heidi and Sobe just because they are cute (Joy and her fantastic photography skills again!)

Phoebe figured out the couch!

She did it! Phoebe has learned how to jump up on the couch! Yippee! I have picked her up a total of three times this week just to put her on the couch on leash to spend time watching t.v. She has been getting very special popcorn treats and tonight her supper hand fed to her while up there. About half way through I take off the leash so she has the choice to leave or stay. Usually she stays until the treats are gone and then she is off and back into her kennel sanctuary. Today I locked the door to her kennel about twenty minutes before we started, put the leash on her to pet her and then pick her up, put her on the couch and took the leash off right away. I hand fed her her dinner and she crawled right up on my lap to try and get her face in the bowl (she was mad since I fed all the others first and she had to watch!). Then when I got up to answer the phone she jumped off the couch as I expected but jumped right back up again. Yippee! So of course I rewarded that with some more treats. We'll see if she does it again. But now she knows she can do it I think sh'll be up there more often. I am hoping this will lead to her coming closer and lying near me, which will hopefully lead up to the dreaded "petting."

Gin the SPCA foster dog is doing really well. She has worked out the majority of her issues around resource gaurding and is doing fabulous with all the dogs in the house. She is crate trained nicely now and is showing me who she really is. She is a very soft little dog, if you raise your voice at all (Like Sobe get OFF the counter!) she hides in a corner. She is a very loyal little thing and likes to lie next to me wherever I am. With some confidence building she is going to be a fantastic little dog.