Practicing what I Preach

Ok, so the blog went dark for a bit. I am back. I know I have said that before, but we have made some changes around her. Namely, I am taking a foster dog break. We had...I don't know...a lot of foster dogs last year.  Somewhere close to 25.  Me, the kids, and the dogs are totally burnt out.

It was the last foster dog, who will remain nameless, who pushed us all over the brink.  The dog who I shall call "Ben" was barrier aggressive,  and every time Beck looked at him while he was crated -  he attacked the crate. Sometimes Beck and even Finney yelled back, and other times they ignored him.  After a few weeks  "Ben" started to guard half my house from  my dogs.   At around the same time, I was having issues with Beck fence running.  My house is on a cul de sac and we have dogs on 5 sides. It turned into a nightmare back there in a flash. Also at the same time, Beck got ubber aroused at agility class and flew off the Aframe one day and straight for the incoming class who were behind a chain link fence.
That take off in agility was my last straw, and I got "Ben" out of house and put Beck and I on a new training program.  It is just not fair for any of use to live with that level of stress. I think when Beck zoomed off the A frame, he was a little rubber band doggie who just snapped.

After  1 month with no fosters, I am hear to tell you, it is true what I say. If you want to change your dog's behavior, you have to change your own.


I made a lot of new rules for me and Beck and have pretty much have stuck to them.

No more letting my dog out the back door to my fenced  yard alone. At times when my neighbors are likely  to be letting their dogs out, I leash walk.
Lots  of training and exercise and  Beck is on a modified Work to Earn Program.  It is not enough that he does a behavior, he has to do it in a chillaxing kind of a way. None of that quivering OMG!!! she is gonna open a door crap.  Long downs and out of site stays at home. Lots of recall training.  Beck and I enrolled in a  Rally O class (thanks Jill!!) .  He went from a lunging barking FOOL, on the first night of class to a  nice star student.  He may always take a lot of management , but it has been great for us to be in a chill place with nice dogs around.  He has also learned a few new tricks and (brag) holy smokes is my dog easy to teach behaviors to.  Beck is one of the smartest dogs (in some ways, not so much in others)I have ever worked with, but in some ways, mucho stuoopido.  I am working hard on helping him grow a brain and we are training towards, Rally, Freestyle and Agility.


 While I do have mild guilt for not helping homeless dogs, I LOVE having my house back.  In the last few weeks of our foster dog break, we have had a few visitor dogs, but well adjusted, trained , known dogs who do not carry the same level of stress  (and BS) as fosters.  I have contacted the rescue and told them I will still help with various things I helped with before. Beck may or may not be in a place in his wee brain to allow  fostering ever again.    Time will tell.

For now I can tell you that after 1 month of boot camp, I finally didn't think he was going to take off and chase a dog at agility class this week.  It had crossed my mind to pull him from agility until his training was back on track, but instead we went with making it unpleasant for him to chase other dogs. With the help of the other trainers in the room (Liz,  Cindy and Delaney-bless you!) it seems to be working.

Of course I am not kidding myself, Beck's prey and chase behaviors run pretty deep. I do expect a back slide, but for right now, I am happy to be moving forward!




About the photo. Beck and Finney at Dundee Park. They are running the place.

Charlee being Charlee Nov/07

Hit play on the left hand corner

What can I say. I will always love and miss Charlee. She had a way of attacking life for the shear joy of joy that I hope to find again one day.
This video captures the essence of her. Make sure you watch until the very end. THAT is my my girl..and the only thing I don't  miss about her.
Well that is not totally true. I do miss her bliss at finding the perfect skanky stink water hole to wallow in.  She found Niranva daily and who wouldn't miss that?

One Word Wednesday #5

Me

Happy Unhappy August 19th

Ok, so I have been busy. Who hasn't. I have not  even had time to cross post my posts from Life With Dogs over here, but. I will .
Lately we have been busy day dreaming of puppy breath. You see...
"My name is Nancy and I am a dog breeder."
Well , not exactly, and well, not exactly.

Let me start from the very beginning. A very good place to start.

As many of you know, I have been rescuing dogs for many, many years. As a kid dogs followed me home and my Dad taught me to refuse the reward  ecstatic owners tried to give me.  I think that is awesome and I teach my kids the same.

My first Border Collie found me in a story that really needs to be a children's book, but I digress. We gave Dina the birthday of our Shepherd X Aug. 19th, because   the vet guestatmated her age to be about that.

When I was looking for another dog after Dina was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the same thing happened and like many a weirdo dog person that went before me,   we felt that fate had stepped in and that Charlee was meant to be our dog.  She to was awarded the birthday of August 19th.

Today I mourned the loss of my three great dogs. Rollo, Dina and Charlee and forever this is the day that my dogs were born, whether they really were,. or not.

Fast forward to close to 3 year ago and a wonderful woman started bringing her delightful English Springer Spaniel to my classes pretty much weekly.  In short time, she asked me if I was interested in taking over her line of wonderful dogs. She wasn't getting any younger and was dealing with health issues.  Like great breeders before her, Sally  took back dogs for any reason for the life of the  dog.  Sally just didn't feel that she was up to that any more, and was looking to pass her line of dogs on.
  I politely refused.
a lot.
 For years.
 It isn't that I don't think that people should not breed dogs. I think the world needs GREAT breeders who keep the wonderful dogs wonderful.
While many do not agree it is as simple as this. A breeder is not a breeder is not a breeder.

I do as much as I can for rescue dogs and I never want to see people stop breeding dogs who are doing it right.

So Ginger comes to class all the time and guess what...my daughter who is nearly 10 falls madly in love with her.
Sally plants the bug...."One of Ginger's pups would be perfect for Heather. The line is extremely versatile and she could do anything from breed ring, to agility to rally to whatever she wants."

Ok...I liked the sound of that.I grew up in the horse show world and I kind of liked the idea of Heather learning how to train dogs with her own pup. One I know had a great shot at being an everything dog for her. It is not that I don't think rescue dogs could not do the job, but there was something totally wonderful about Heather and Ginger and I think the breed was perfectly suited for our needs.
Not only do I need a dog who a kid can train, but I need a dog who can hang with all that goes on in my life. Lots of dog traffic and lots of "sweet chaos"

After nearly 3 years I said yes to a puppy from Ginger with the stipulation that I bred our pup  at least once to a male of her choice, and that they got pick of the litter.
Heather and I lived and breathed Ginger's stay at the breeders. We counted days, we day dreamed, she named the puppy Victorious, Tory for short, from the same show that Beck got his name from.

 When I asked Sally the due date for pups she said August 13th and I said without missing a beat "our pup will be born on August 19th.
So the 13th came and went and the 14th and the 15 and the 16th and the 17th brought an ultrasound.

This AM we got the word that Ginger was having a C section.
HOLY SHIT! OMG! It is our puppy!
I had my  doubts, not only about being a "breeder" , but about money and lack there of, but a puppy on the 19th! HOLY SHIT!

Early afternoon we got word that Ginger and pup were both fine and that our girl wasn't to be.  The singleton puppy, while black and white like we wished for ---was a  boy.
HOLY SHIT! What are the odds!
There were water works from my kid, but she took it pretty well over all. I explained 5 ways to Sunday why were were not getting a male.

There will be one more litter in Ginger's future and we still want in.
But tonight we mourn my daughter's 10th year birthday present that is not to be, and my  three wonderful dogs who were pretty much born on this date-- Rollo, Dina and Charlee.

One Word Wednesday #4

WANT

New gig at Life With Dogs

I will be blogging at Life With Dogs at least once a week and my first introduction post went live yesterday.  You can check it out here.  Basically I say howdy and in a round about way try to get people to consider fostering a dog.

This picture of my daughter and Lady made the cut
on my first Life With Dogs post. It's one of my favorites. 

Life With Dogs is one of my favorite sites,  and I am looking forward to being part of their growth.  "Nigel Buggers" has added quite a few new featured writers besides myself and things have got even more interesting over there.

One Word Wednesday #3

MINE!