1 2 3 4 5

It's been 3 weeks since we said goodbye to Charlee and I am not going to get all sappy,  at least not at this moment in time, check me in about 20 minutes. I  have been keeping busy with my daughters who were  in a play. That has taken a good chunk of my time and has been responsible for lots of warm fuzzies and pride but I was very happy it wrapped this past weekend.  Aside from lots of driving I helped wrangle 24 kids for 4 of the 8 performances. Bascially that means I did a lot of shussing, and  helped kids backstage make  their cues. Have  to say, wrangling dogs is much easier.  

I love my dogs, but I did not grow them in my belly.

Charlee was my  best friend, but  not my child, which I think is a healthy way to live, but not so much when you are down a best friend.  Our new dog Beck has been working really hard at the landing the BFF  job, but he is no Charlee, and being a BFF takes longer than a few weeks. Beck is a perfect snuggler and source of much comfort and many smiles around here, but he has a long way to go. Each time I get a dog, it becomes more doggie to me. Try to follow my logic here. Loosing my childhood Golden Ginger was a tragedy. She was family long before the rest of the world caught on that dogs were family. She succumbed much to young to a horrible oozing leg cancer.  My traumatized parents never got another dog.  Dina, my first dog as an adult took another  piece of my heart and soul with her when she went.    When Charlee came she was the dog.  Charlee was very much the dog and it took years for her to slowly move up my emotional ladder.  Finney is definitely the dog, but Beck is vieying for a bit more. Heart dogs rarely come along more than once in a lifetime and I have had 2 already. I fear I have reached my quota, but I love how hard he is trying.   Last night in group class I used Beck for a  little demo on stay, which he is still fuzzy on. Beck  pulled a Charlee and lay down and play dead with his paws straight up in the air with his tail going-just for a laugh. . Some would say that Charlee was in that room for those few seconds, but I think she knew another comic when she met one and his fun nature is why she picked him. I love a dog with a sense of humor.

Everyone wants to know if  Finney misses Charlee. I should think not. He may have loved  the way they played and ran together and played herding dog games, but I doubt he misses her bossy bitchy ways. Sweet Finney is very sensitive and he was upset because we were upset, but Finn is just fine. The kids have taken to leash walking him on their own accord and giving him extra one on one time, and Finney is appreciating it all over the town.

People do all sorts of crazy things from grief and we currently have not 1, not 2, not 3 but Four foster dogs.

Actually, that is not exactly true, because I just placed Lana, now Kaya. She lives in my neighborhood and hope to see her soon in group class. She is sister to Layla.

Layla is just about 4 months old and weighs  33 pounds She is a  big sweet pup who will be big sweet dog. Layla adores me, and I hope she finds her people soon because she makes me feel bad that I don't have more time for her. She would much prefer to be in my lap or sleeping on my feet than spending so much time in a crate. Layla sticks so close to me in fact that I have perfected the foster dog shuffle walk.   I have taken to taking small close together steps so she doesn't' send me flying.

Meet Valli. Isn't she gorgeous? I saw pictures of her one day when I was trolling CARA's carami.org, web site, where most of our Canine Commitment dogs come from, and I could not get her out of my head. I am totally this dog's fairy DOG mother. She NEVER would have gotten adopted down there,. as she is suffering from some sort of skin allergy. She saw the Vet in MI a few times and all the usual skin nasties were ruled out.  We think it is a combo of poor quality food, shelter stress, and the kennel's  harsh cleaning chemicals. You can add skin allergy to something that I now have first hand knowledge of and can relate better to when my clients face the same thing. She seemed to do better right away, and she recently started scratching again. We are on an elimination diet and we started with Evo meat and medicated baths.

 Next up we will try s Venison and sweet potato. Anyone wanting to donate towards her bag of food and medical care is encouraged to so. We (me and the rescue) agreed to take her on even though her skin issue was not under control down South. Valli has a few interested parties who saw her pics on Twitter, so stay tuned and think good healing thoughts for her. By the way, she is a BLAST and really fun to hang around with.



I love to take pictures on the way home
to show how much the dogs blossom.




Last but not least is Cayenne. She is 5 months old and most likely Aussie x Spaniel. When my daughter's and I we went to Tender Touch to pick up Valli, 9 days ago, there was Cayenne all shut down and shy and smelling like urine, looking at us with her deep soulful eyes. My girls fell for her sweet ways right away, but I was  crazy  reluctant to take her. She made # 4! and in the kennel setting it was hard to tell her level of fear and shyness. Let's hear it for gut feelings because Cayenne is totally fine. She has a soft personality, but is not shy at all with people or dogs. Whereever I take Cayenne, people stop me to ohh and ahh over her intense cuteness. She is one dog who does not photograph nearly as cute as she actually is. Her big soulful almond eyes are killers. I can't show you Cayenne's bio, because she is still not listed. "Someone" (cough cough--no it's not me) in the rescue may adopt her and she may never get to the web site. That is a real plus of doing rescue. The gems are hand picked. My middle daughter wants to trade Beck in for. Sorry honey!

Cayenne left and Layla right. Both super dooper sweet pups.
Looks like the same make up artist did both their eyes.

We also had another foster dog that I chose not to write about. Not all dogs coming into any rescue at any given time are going to be "ok". We referred to her as  "basement dog", because she spent a good portion of her two week stay with us  down stairs. She did not come from CARA by the way, and the people who sent her were very surprised that the sweet dog they knew did not adjust to life in Maine. Her crime was not only being quite barrier aggressive, but she guarded from the other dogs and attacked a puppy. The puppy was not hurt, but I had a bad gut feeling about her and she never got a second chance. Now, it is common knowledge that dogs will do things when stressed that they will no do other times, BUT, there is a good chance that any dog will be stressed again. The clincher was that Finney wanted nothing to do with her and Beck and Charlee hated her. I have come to rely heavily on Finney's assessments in regards to other dogs. He has never been wrong.

Best wishes "Basement dog" I hope things work out for you.
 
_______________
 
The Maine Dog community,  and Golden lovers everywhere,  and anyone who has ever met my friend Suzan   in person or  on line mourn the loss of Logan who died yesterday after a very short battle with Mouth Melanoma.

 

 

Loosing a young service dog is tragic.  My heart breaks for her.

Adopt 3 month old Reba! Happy 15th Birthday Petfinder!

Say hello to sweethheart Reba. She is in South portland, in a Maine foster home with four other dogs.  Reba does  well greeting people, and gets along very well with other dogs. She loves attention, is eager to please,she's  smart, and she has a gorgeous black satiny coat. Reba's mom is a pitbull/lab mix with  a fantastic temperament, and her  pups are absolutely adorable and very sweet tempered --- just like their mom. Reba is about 17 weeks old, healthy, and spayed. Her adoption fee is $275. Please visit caninecommitmentme.org to fill out an application. We look forward to hearing from you! or email us at caninecommitmentme.org




All Reba's litter mates have found their families.
 Please help Reba find hers.


In honor of Petfinder.com s 15th birthday, Petfinder has declared today, Adopt the Internet Day. You can help to spread the word about homeless pets by participating in the following ways.

Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet!

Pledge to spread the word online about adoptable pets today, March 15, 2011.
•Add a badge to your Web site to show your support.
•Take our pledge that you will tell one person about pet adoption. By pledging, you'll enter for a chance to win one of 10 Pet Hair Eraser® Vacuums from BISSELL.
•Donate your Facebook status and photo to an adoptable Petfinder pet. Simply replace your photo with one from the Adopt-the-Internet All-Stars gallery and post one of these messages:

◦More than 320,000 pets are waiting for homes on Petfinder.com. Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet today and find forever homes for as many as possible!

◦I adopted my pet from Petfinder and now I want to help get this pet adopted! If you want to help pets in need of forever homes, please repost this!

•Share an adoptable Petfinder pet on Twitter with the hashtag #adopttheinternet.

•Add a link to your blog, Facebook or Twitter post to this page!



Pledge to Help Pets

 
I did all of the above.  Now what can YOU do?

Fosters are to child birth as I am to Hoarders

February vacation was nuts.

Remind me about this winter of the foster dogs next time I think "oh, OK, poor thing, sure I can foster just.one.more."  Don't just remind me, whack me on the head with  a mallet, or a shovel. Shake me, do something.  I am pretty sure this is a stage I needed to go through and it will soon  pass.  File under just because  you can doesn't mean you should.

For those keeping track. There are my two dogs, and 2 fosters, Beck and Stella.  Beck is still worming his way into our hearts. Every heart except for my middle daughter, so we will see.  Stella has a trial this weekend at a wonderful home of a friend of friend.  I am sure they will love her, but there are young kids, so you never know how these things will turn out. Please everyone think good thoughts for her.  It is amazing to think that she went from her last day on earth in a horrid southern shelter to a super home and new life  in Maine.




We still have puppies Lady and Lego and at 11 weeks they have reached that stage that I refer to in my puppy classes as "OMG HAVE YOU SEEN THE WORLD!!!"  That is when a light seems to click on and pups go from super snuggly, adorable, sweet, cuddly sit in your lap lumps, to pin balls.  It is normal puppy stuff, but they are getting  bold,.  They are you know,  normal pups. Oh and did I mention they sleep less and need to run more?  They are cuter than ever and in a weird twist of fate, the puppy that I returned was the first one adopted. That will teach me!

A friend's dog stayed here over vacation, and guess what, he wasn't a huge fan of the fosters, so he got separate leash walks.  Know what else?  Bryce the big puppy didn't work out in his foster to adopt placement and he came back today. Seems there was the issue with the resident Springer with  guarding .
Did I already mention that I am on my second case of paper towels?

Not looking for sympathy, after all fostering is rewarding in and of itself, but I did want a record of my insanity to remind myself not to do this again.  I think in a way, taking on new fosters is not unlike forgetting the pain of child birth.

Maybe that was why my camera broke, so I can't look back at the all the cute and want to do this again.  Maybe the universe did me a favor.  When you look into the face of a sweet puppy.....oh rats, I am not fooling anyone. I those love those little pin balls.

The List and/or There is Superstition and/or Is Beck our co-pilot?

Recently I spent a mindless few hours watching a way stoopid Lifetime movie on Hulu, and it got me thinking in all sorts of directions that had nothing what so ever to do with the story line. Thank you ADHD. The gist of the story was that a woman was looking for a man, and she had a list of 10 things that she wanted to find in a mate. I think to a degree, we all have lists in our heads, or maybe even on paper, of things we want and things we don't want. There are  things we can  accept and things we cannot.  There are things we will settle for and things that we won't.  I think this applies not only to partners, but to animals also.
When it comes to dogs, I am very  conscious of my  mental list of wants  and cannot haves.

I remember when we adopted Charlee , I got an earful from the rescue about what I had listed on the application of  what I wanted in a dog. "She is a rescue" I was told, "pick a few things, don't be unrealistic."

Charlee met the two most important things on my then must have list. She was good with and approved by my older dog who was succumbing slowly to a brain tumor, and she was good with my kids. 


When we got Finney, at the top of my list was a dog who could work with me to help reactive dogs. Finn has helped hundreds and hundreds of dogs, both in private sessions and in group classes and I thank him for that.



Which leads up to the now. I am not actively looking for a dog. My long range plan is to get a puppy out of one of my favorite dogs when she comes into her next heat. Time line is  late summer early fall. These pups hit all the things on my new extensive and really almost border line insane updated list. The wonderful line of Spaniels are  super sweet and ubber versatile.



At the top of the next dog list, they need to be able to work and carry their weight around here as Charlee and Finney have. This many sound harsh, but I don't have room in my house for a freeloader dog. I need a dog who can come to work with me as demo dog, and I want a dog to train and compete in multiple venues.

Next dog needs to be able to tolerate and hopefully enjoy the revolving door of kids and dogs. Next dog needs to get along with Charlee and Finney, and next dog preferably will be quite a bit smaller than current dogs.  There is more but it is pickey-unie and I will spare you.

So who turns up?

Beck.

Is Beck supposed to be our co-pilot?

Beck came to us not even close to fitting in. He resource guarded everything. people,  food,  toys and space in my house. My dogs didn't like him and he started out a wild jumping bean. Beck is the  first dog ever to come in my house and  openly challenge Charlee.  Not to worry, he has had a mega attitude adjustment.  Beck  was leash reactive and even got a bit scary with Buck, another male foster dog we had. Then there is that thing about jumping over my outside gate, which he has done half a dozen times. Said gate is over 5 and a half feet tall. The last time he tried it, I had run out to the car to get something and the dog  wanted to come  with.  Beck got his paw wedged in a top picket and he was dangling and screaming, hanging off of  the ground.  I broke my fence to release him.  Fell back, flat back on my ass.

Dog was fine.

My doggie must have list is exhaustive and Beck has stepped up to meet them all. He has a nice food and toy drive, he is smart and athletic , he is fabulous with my kids , great in the car and my dogs do like him. He has turned into a tremendous puppy uncle and baby sitter of other young foster dog in need of a good time.

He has a nice biddable temperament. His learning style is smack dab in the middle between my two dogs, not to fast and not too slow, but just right. His leash reactivity seems minor and very trainable and he has improved about a million percent.

He loves all of us equal -unusual for any dog!

Beck loves people, I mean he loves people. He will wag his tail at anyone he sees at any distance.

Beck was so wired when he first got here, he didn't nap for close to 2 weeks. He just stood up and watched. The dog  is an ace napper and cuddlier now, and sleeping right now curled up next to my middle daughter, Finney and me.


My son has asked for us to keep him for his 18th birthday presnt. Many (and I mean many) of our foster dogs take an instant dislike to my son. I think in part it is because he is male and tall and the other part is that his room is down stairs and he startles the fosters a lot when he comes upstairs for mid night snacks. Beck adores him. My son at times has anger issues and Beck goes over to him and puts his head in his lap, which is a behavior that I have trained autism assist dogs  to do., It is very grounding for people, and dogs need a certain temperament to stand the heat so to speak.

This is the one thing that really kills me and makes me re-evaluate and rethink placing him.


Around here, I have pushed the Charlee's gonna die panic button close to a dozen times. All for good reason. Dog has more lives than a cat.  This is what she looked like in August.

Aside from having the tumor on her toe that the vet and I thought was cancer, she had lost a ton of weight and a good portion of her fur. The vet thinks cancer would have killed her already. Turns out the loss of fur was from too much soloxine , the meds she has taken for 10 yeas to regulate her thyroid. Charlee is  wonderful and fat and fluffy and most of the fur is back now.  Wow huh?

Charlee AKA Old Ironsides, doesn't' appear to be going anywhere any time soon -and that is  GREAT!

Beck has had several inquiries and none have been a good fit. The last email I read did sound fine and after I read it, I cried for about 10 solid minutes. Everyone one who meets him or reads about him tells me that this is my dog. Us animal people have that thing where we think our dogs we are supposed to  find us.  My friend Jo tells me "what else does this dog have to do, he has told you a million times over he is your dog. "

Here is where I get totally weird. I feel if I place Beck,  Charlee will  die and if I keep him she will live.

I know that is totally whack, but it is the brain circle fart that keeps poluting  my head and I keep  coming around to it.

Oh what to do, what to do.

Do you have Lists?

How likely are you to follow them?

How likely  are you to follow your heart?

Charlee has done helped hundreds of kids
learn how to be safe around dogs.
Love her.

Day after Wordless Wednesday, we haz pups please forgive

1:55 AM

Last week I placed three wonderful puppies in less than a week. When the blurr leaves my brain, I will post pictures of them.  Tonight I sat down before bed to post pictures of Lady and Lego, but I fell asleep. 

Hold on, they are outside shivering waiting to come back in from a potty break. By the way, I was too late and just used up the last of my  paper towels.  Just a few days ago, I had  a case of paper towels.

2:00 AM

Where was I?  Oh yea....Check out Lady above with my daughter. Isn't she too adorable?  Adopt her please, tell all your friends. Please help get them out  of my house before my kid comes back from visiting her father. My youngest daughter has adopted Lady as hers. The last puppy she cared for,  Birdey (oh wait, I did already post that litter. Guess I have a bad bad case of "new Mommy brain") was a trauma and a half to give up.  She was so sad when she passed the pup to the new owners, that the woman started to mist up and nearly gave her back. I was like Hellz "NO!!! we have  had her less than a week, I do this to my kids on a regular  much too regular basis. 

2:06 AM

The little angels are fast asleep again.  Most likely I will see them again by 5:30, which is fine because I have to take my oldest son to visit a school in Massachusetts and we need to be on the road by 7:00 the latest. And guess what, Lady and Lego have to come. Even though there will be people home, no one else can care for them. Young teenagers do not understand "THE PUPPIES JUST WOKE UP, OMG THEY NEED TO GO OUT. RIGHT. NOW " and not at the end of that cool  song on You Tube you were singing. 

Crap, I am out of paper towels. 

 *contemplates getting a fast food  breakfast and a TON of napkins before we hit the road*

Lego = CUTE!

2:10AM

And this my friends is little Lego. Be still my heart.  The day I brought these pups home to foster, my camera decided it could not take one more photo of cute and died a quiet death.  All this extreme cute has been captured by my Blackberry. It is hard to see his adorable speckles, but they are there, and they call to me.

They say "please adopt me and look at me every day, you won't regret it."

I like to think of this shot as Lego, side cute.


2:16 AM

Think of me today, traveling with 2 pups in the car for 3 hours each way. With potty breaks, that will take who knows how long.  It is supposed to be warm and I will be sure to leave the tour a  few times to warm up my car and take them out.  If any one reads this and thinks they can handle them for a day, you will get a lot of karma coins. I have been saying all along that having fosters in my house gives me a fresh perspective on what my training clients go through. Aside from being tied down ( DOI!) ,  here is a view that I hadn't thought about , or read about. 

Puppies eat snow and then puppies have to pee. A lot. like all the freaking time, and there is nothing you can do about it. Maybe if I only had 1, but with two of them, water scedules are at  a 100 percent  fail and forgetaboutit.  There is no spacing out  and controling water for these two.  Especially not at 2:11 AM 

By the way, I had a third litter mate for 2 nights, but I realized quickly that even I wasn't that crazy.  He slept even less than his brother and sister and ZOMG is he adorable.

 Meet Larz.

Larz-his cute hurtz

He pushed my mental health-o- meter  near over the top. When I really got thinking about things, I came to the conclusion that there was no way I could socialize, and train 3 pups and that really at 10 active weeks, 2 pups was pushing it. In case you didn't already know, puppies need to be seperated and they need to develop their own personalites and brave.  When litter mates are together, one will be the go-er and the other will be the go -to. One pup takes the lead and the other will follow. It is a MAJOR amount of work to have two littermates and do it right.  At ten weeks they can still be together, but if they are do not adopted soon, I will have to seperate for a good portion of 24 hours.   Each pup currently  gets alone time while I take the other one out and about every day.  We are doing our  best to do the best by these two pups.  They have been on many different surfaces and met lots of people, working  hard on the house training thang and learning basic cues and manners.   Little Lady came to  Portland Stage this AM were my daughters are rehearsing for Holes . We  meet a lot of freaky people on  Forrst ave,  and  cleared meet freaky people clear  off her socializtion  check list this morning. 

So for those of you  counting. We have 2 puppies and two foster dogs Beck and Stella Luna from   

Caninecommitment.org.

Me and the kids may need therapy if when we place Beck, and StellaLuna leaves a week from Friday for a trial wekeend. Wish her luck. 

Please share. I need some peace and sleep back.

Tell everyone you know.

Do it!

spell check  2:33 AM

(if you find mistakes, please forgive-I am blurry)

send 2:49 AM

1, 2, 3, 4, crazy

Last night Camp Bow Wow hosted a very successful first ever adoption event for Canine Commitment  appropriately called Canines and Cupids. It was supposed to be closer to Valentine's Day, but the event was snowed out. The owners of Camp Bow had an impressive spread of food that included beer and wine. The 2 small glasses of wine that I had may account for me bringing home

                                                                            Stella.


She is the sweetest, softest dog you could ever meet. I met Stella and her kennel mate Skye  last Saturday when I drove to Portsmouth to meet a transport that ran late. Two of the dogs came from a shelter in Alabama and were sprung on their last possible day on earth just before they were to be euthanized. The third had a similar story and was headed to a new home. Since all three were girls and I am not totally with out love and sympathy for my own female dog Charlee, and really I do have some sense in my head, I dropped all three off at the kennel the next day as planned. Little Stella pulled at our heart strings last weekend, but after all, we were taking home two puppies and I had no idea what that was going to entail.



Which brings us to how I got 6 dogs in my house. All the attendees at last night's event were already approved applicants. A few of those people came specifically to meet my pups who uhmmm....uuhhmmm...didn't show well. They played much rougher than the others, and were much bigger than the other cute little snugglers who did get a home. We are all ok with that. My ginormous pups have nice out going temperaments, and won't be in rescue long. I watched Stella for a few hours interact so gently and sweetly with all the people and pups . The kicker was when I first got there and she recognized me straight off before I even realized who she was. She greeted me like a long lost friend. Insert melty heart. Just didn't have the heart to send her back to the kennel again until we had an open foster spot for her.



If you have been reading my rantings for long, you will remember we had a little foster (Evon) that we loved so much we adopted her to my cousin who named her Stella. These dogs look a lot alike and again, if you have been reading long, you know I am a weirdo for "signs". I even have my kids doing it, and my middle daughter rallied to foster Stella last weekend. She threw the whole signs thing right back in my face, and she wasn't at all surprised when I came home with her last night.



Beck waited patiently in the car after his training class last night. He wasn't invited to the event because no one there was approved for him. He is all that and a slice of pie, but I am holding out for just the right placement. Two of my three kids are rallying pretty hard to keep him. My son , who doesn't' usually get that involved with the dogs has his own personal snuggle buddy. Beck ADORES him. Honestly, if my kid wasn't turning 18  (OMD 18!) and we weren't making plans for him to go to Job Corp and leave the nest soon, I would consider it.



By the way, Camp Bow Wow houses an area pet food pantry and they have dog and cat pet food available free on Mondays. They ask that you call ahead first just to be sure they are stocked. They also accept donations for the pet food pantry.



A big huge thank you to Camp Bow Wow for hosting our event. Watching some of the dogs make their forever connections last night was quite rewarding, and I even woke up this morning with the warm fuzzies.



And by the way, I am not that crazy, Birdey has a meet and greet today and Stella met a wonderful couple last night who even brought their sweet cat to the adoption event. We introduced them successfully, and they may take her home for a trial this weekend. Who ever gets her will be very lucky.


Update- we are back to 1, 2, 3 crazy.  Birdey has been adopted! 2/19

Not Wordless Wednesday -We haz puppies!

We're fostering  BIG puppies!

We took these two -- I placed the darker pup this morning.  My youngest has taken on the light pup as hers. She told me today that she wants to save dogs and "be a better person."  awwwww! Birdey walks her to school every day.

Bruce and Birdey share the humunga tongue.

 

When Bruce went home,  we took their  brother Bryce.

There are big pups and will be big dogs. I guess 80 plus pounds. 

They weigh about 28 pounds at 12 weeks old.

Beck is an EXCELLENT puppy uncle.  Beck is WICKED smart and athletic and a perfect cuddle buddy/side kick.  He loves the car and my kids and my dogs don't even dislike him, but we are not in a good place to add another dog right now . Finn has a bump on his front leg that needs to come off before I take on more expenses.  BUT, he is REALLY tempting. 

Pups were 12 weeks old this past Saturday. They were bonkers, happy!, enthusiastic (ya, that's it enthusiastic), when we went to Tender Touch to pick out just 2 to foster.

All three, Beck, Birdey, and Bryce are available for adoption from Canine Commitment

Snowzilla and the wag more hump less fest

With the French Toast Alert at high, it was time for some storm prepping.

First I hit the supermarket market last night, and bought the mega gianormous toilet paper. Rest assured that the good junk food is hiding underneath.

This morning I awoke with images of my two new male foster dogs frozen shut in my house, ala blizzard on Little House on the Prairie. If you follow me on twitter (@gooddogz), you may have been following the hump fest 2011. Each night before bed time was the worst. Let's just say that my living room saw a life time worth of action dominant male canine play. I was inches away from trying a squirt bottle, but because both dogs were shelter dogs and I want to earn, not loose their trust, I thought ok, lets see what happens if I wear the heck out of them. The humping starts after the dogs get '"excited." (not that kind) and I wanted to see what would happen if I kept arousal (not that kind) on the down low.

With a  massive leap of faith in not only the dogs, but my ability as well, I let both fosters off leash in the woods this morning for the first time today.  It was a picture perfect walk with my two dogs along with  Beck and Kingsley dragging light leashes -in case I needed help catching them. I have to say I was really proud of the dogs and myself. Over the last year I have developed a system of integrating shelter dogs into the household and it is all about relationship. The next group of fosters, I will try to videotape. Basically I use Dawn Jenks choose to heel/come method combined with a work to earn program. While I walk in my yard, the dogs are rewarded for choosing to hang around with me. I make recalls fun. I often tell my students to practice recalls like fishing. Catch and release! My yard is big enough that I can tell if they are blowing me off and if they do, they don't get off leash in the woods or beach. We did meet up with a few people and dogs on our walk this morning, and both foster dogs were awesome and came right back when I called them. In some ways, I think teaching recalls to once abandoned dogs is easier than dogs that were raised as puppies and have gotten real life self rewards again and again for mis behavior.

Check them out!

Beck and Kingsley are the nicest  dogs, and if anyone wants to sponsor either of them to stay here for life,we will gladly accept. . Both dogs have updated bios found here for Kingsley, formally Buck

 and here for Beck.

Beck jumped my 5 and a half foot gate in a single bound to get to me, and he is going to take a little longer to find just the right placement for him. Dog sports anyone? He is a blast to work with. Beck didn't even know sit when he came and in a few days he learned sit, auto sit, walking decent on a leash, down, target, leave it and my favorite, no humping. All this is a huge improvement from the jump and hump that he arrived with just over a week ago. Interesting to note that the fosters have pretty much done a reversal from the dogs that we met in the shelter. It turns out that Kingsley loves to jump on people he knows!  Both dogs love to be lap dogs.


Part of the fun of fostering  dogs for me, aside from saving them from life behind bars, is figuring out the puzzle of what they already know, and how they can learn what they need to know to be adoptable FAST. It brings out the behavior geek in me. Each dog who has passed through my doors have given me an insight on what my clients live with. I have said this before and I will say it again, I think all trainers should foster at least one dog a year if at all possible. Of course for a multitude of reasons, this is not always possible.
By the way, tiring the dogs out did the trick and it has been a happy evening of wag more hump less.

Meet the fosters, Beck and Kingsley

Our two new foster dogs arrived on schedule  this past weekend. These two dogs are heart stealing super nice dogs ,and I have to admit, that either would fit in here. My girls know that no dogs can stay unless it can be a working dog.  Both dogs are sweet and smart and fun to be around, and both have big brains and either (or both!)  would love to stay here forever.


It is hard for me to pick a favorite, but my daughters had "their" dogs picked out before the dogs  even left Mississippi.

There has been no waffling, although both will admit to me in private that they do like the other dog.

Leaving the kennel, both lucky dogs already had "their"  kid. 

My youngest is square in camp Beck. Beck is about 1 years old and clearly some sort of Border Collie mix What he is mixed with is anyone's guess. Best guess is a wee bit of English Setter mixed in to the   un spayed around town wandering mutt. Beck has been in the CARA shelter since September. He is a bit goofy and has already been taken down more than a notch by my dogs. He has some growing up and maturing to do. Beck is a clean slate as far as training goes and does not even know sit. I have been hand feeding him and I expect him to know lots by the end of next week. Beck has a nice toy drive and is quite biddable. He is an excellent jumper on people. You can tell the dog spent a lot of time jumping on the kennel bars to be noticed. He can walk on his hind legs and would most likely make a nice agility prospect and fun Freestyle/obedience dog, or super cool active pet dog. As the saying goes, he is all boy, even though he is not all boy if you get my drift. Beck's signature and endearing move is to come up to you, place his back on your legs, melt into your feet in a puddle of adorable after he sits up and begs to kiss you.

Charlee tolerated Beck on her deck,
 but evil eyed him to jump off the other side,
instead of letting him  down the stairs.

You may have noticed by now that Beck  is black and white and has heavy ticking like Charlee. That is all they have in common and they do not actually look alike.


Why don't you believe me?

Who doesn't like a dog who loves a good car ride?

Middle daughter changed Buck's name to Kingsley and we think it fits him perfect. He has a wonderful temperament with people and especially other dogs -which will be really hard for me to pass up! I can't even tell you how I love to watch him be mauled by Beck one second, and then watch him turn it around to play. When he is evil eyed by Charlee, Kingsley will offer all sorts of appeasement and please let's just be pals displays. Charlee really likes him, which is not something I can say for the other rude boy. An adorable, smart dog who gets along well with kids, and dogs? I have been looking for such an animal for quite a while. Kingsley is about 2 years old and his (puke) people moved and left him outside where he sat for 2 days loyally waiting for them to come home. Today I will work on the rasta mats behind his ears.

Diamond in the ruff

Rescue dogs do not show their true selves for quite a while, so I am sure my initial assessments will evolve, but I know what I like and I really like both these guys.  Kingsley seems he would fit in to any active home, while Mr Beck (the rock and roll Becks, not the other one) will need a more careful placement. Kingsley has already generated interest, and my older daughter has already pleaded for him, which has led to "that's not fair" tears from the younger sister. Who tells me "what kind of dog trainer only has 2 dogs. You need more dogs and it has to be an even number."
Hello young daughter, we are committed to a puppy in the fall, how could you forget?

Lucy and the Potty Detective

Did you know that a large portion of any dog trainer's week consists of helping people figure out how to potty train their dogs? Once I helped a couple whose two small dogs had been pottying in the house for nearly 9 years. They woke up one day and said "time to train the dogs." And we did.

While the two most important concepts: schedule, schedule, schedule, and, management, management, management, apply to all dogs, it does not apply equally because, well let's face it, people are people and  all our lives have idiosyncrasies.

I consider myself a potty expert and when I was privy to information about Lucy, our foster dog who was ADOPTED this past weekend, I was mentally prepared to schedule schedule, scedule, and manage, manage, manage.  By the way, manage means supervise or confine. Lucy's family work schedule had changed and the dog had  found herself alone a large portion of every day. This was an important puzzle piece in figuring out was what going on with her.

Here is the thing. When you have an adult dog who is having accidents in the house, you need play potty detective. It's Dog Trainer 101 to learn to ask questions and look at things from the dog's point of view.

Whether it is aggression, barking, jumping, or whatever, finding the dog's motivation is the first step in solving any problem. It is a dog trainer's job to figure out what is going on. First we rule out physical.   Dogs may have a urinary tract infection, or possibly something more serious.

Even with schedule, schedule, schedule, and management , management, management, Lucy peed in my house in the first week. Just as the family had shared, Lucy found a pile of dirty laundry and eliminated there.. Ok, in the big scene of things, not so bad. I made a mental note of all the circumstances of that day. What she ate and drank and when, how much exercise she had, who was home etc. It is a great idea if your dog is having potty issues to keep a potty journal with as many factors written down as you can. Sometimes patterns are not clear without one. Right away the fact that I came home after being out for 2 hours, combined with the  fact that I saw the dog eliminate outside and then she came in and peed again  inside was a red flag. These are the times that owners often think their dogs pottied "out of spite".
There is no such thing as a dog who goes to  the bathroom out of spite.

I was quite sure the dog was anxious that I left, and had not totally eliminated  outside becasue she wanted to be back in with me. Plus, it was one of the coldest days of the year.

The following week, we had a poop accident in my laundry room. This time, I had been out teaching at night for the first time since Lucy had been in my house.  Same thing, I came home, the dog was excited to see me, she went outside , eliminated and came back and did it again right in front of me.

I knew my first inclination was right, and that Lucy  was stressed and  anxious that I had left her. The next day when I called Victoria from  the rescue to pass on how wonderful Lucy was and how well the dog was doing, she listened to my potty hypothesis, agreed with me and exclaimed;

"Of course, she gave you an I love you shit.  It was an I love you shit!"

Yes, I do believe it was! An I love you shit. Why had I never thought of that?

Lucy problem was based in insecurity, and she did not have any more accidents in my care. I just slightly changed my routine. The next times I came home, we just stayed out longer.
Case closed. Dog adopted! Can't wait to share that diagnosis with a future client.

Lucy is doing great in her new home.
She has  her very own boy.

Foster Poem

I am posting this poem for every person who ever fostered a homeless animal, and for every person who ever helped an animal find it's way.  I am posting this poem for every person who wonders how I can  give them up, how I can do this to my kids, and for every person who may foster an animal one day. 

I am the bridge,

Between what was and what can be.

...I am the pathway to a new life.

I am made of mush,
Because my heart melted when I saw you,
Matted and sore, limping, depressed
Lonely, unwanted, afraid to love.
For one little time you are mine.
I will feed you with my own hand.
I will love you with my whole heart.

I will make you whole.

I am made of steel.
Because when the time comes,
When you are well, and sleek,
when your eyes shine,
And your tail wags with joy

Then comes the hard part.

I will let you go-not without a tear,

But without a regret.

For you are safe forever--

A new dog needs me now.

…Author unknown…

Former foster dog Jonas.  

Looking ahead to the New Year

If you stopped by to see what my dog's New Years Resolutions are, forgetaboutit. Not gonna happen.

My kids and I have resolved to take in more dogs in 2011. We as a family are in give back mode. Cheers to our 8 fosters of last year, Donner, Toller, Stella (Evon), Marti and Rosebud, Mango,  Meggie and Sapphire. It is a pleasure working with Canine Commitment and CARA and we  look forward to helping many more dogs in 2011.


Meet new foster dog Lucy. Lucy is a 3 year old Beagle x Fox Terrier -most likely. We are still getting to know her, but first impression is that she is a sweet heart and highly adoptable. She lived with 3 kids as young as 2 years old and also with 2 cats. Her family adopted her from CC at 10 weeks old,  and relinquished her back to rescue.  Lucy's family  was overwhelmed with a new job and extended work hours. Now before you all go jumping on other people for choosing to give up a "family member" please pause to remind yourselves that these folks made a difficult choice and chose what was best for the dog. I have clients facing a life changing event who are returning one of their two dogs to the ARL (as per contract). Isn't it best that we are not selfish and stop and ask ourselves, what is best for the dog as well as ourselves?


I don't often tell people, but I gave up a dog when I was pregnant. It was heart wrenching and it was awful and sad, but I don't regret it. As it turned out, my son was born with a heart defect and if I had not done my homework and relinquished Rollo when I did, my family would have dumped him somewhere when we were in the hospital, and lord knows where he would have ended up. Now before you all go judging me to, let me say that he was my boy friends's dog who became mine over time. I trained Rollo to be a therapy dog,  but he was not cut out for life in East Boston with  no yard. No judging.

And to be clear, I am not saying it is ok for people to just "dump" dogs, but there are plenty of real life circumstances that justify  dogs being better off living elsewhere. When we add dogs to our families we are then responsible for them. That does not mean, until death do we part. It means doing right by the dog, even if it is hard on the humans.

So enough of a lecture. I am sure Lucy will be moving on to her new home soon. Except for her uncanny ability to nose whistle show tunes, she has no behavior issues that I have seen.

I will try to get some better photos of Lucy  soon and we will be updating her Petfinder bio as soon as I get to know her a bit better. 

 

 In the photo taken yesterday on my Crackberry , I am pretty sure she is searching  for her family.