Neighborhood Strays

In my "neighborhood" off leash dogs are the norm, we have the regulars who patrol the streets on a daily basis, and those who randomly show up. I live in a more "back country" section of town, so most of the dogs are farm dogs, and street smart.

Most of these dogs, if not friendly are savvy enough to move on pretty quickly. Honestly I think this is, in part, due to the fact they can actually work their brain a bit more than the many other dogs sitting in their fenced yard, becoming more and more fearful/aggressive as the days go by.

However, I've never felt inclined to "keep" one of these strays.. mainly because I know most of these dogs belong to "someone"... until yesterday.

Um.. how adorable is he guys? 
Though there were many other people around, he kept coming to me and trying to climb into my lap.

He looked too well cared for to be a stray, and I'm pretty sure I've seen his "mom" wandering around recently.

I've never felt this strongly about a dog I just met... well since Texas at the very least.

I saw him again this morning, and he came over to say "hi" despite Texas's attempt to run him off.

I'll just have to satisfy myself with glimpses of him every once in a while.

Sigh.

Erin

Summer Adventure Part IV

Wow Daily Posts!
I'm going to try a different approach to this whole potty training thing, as Zipper will hold "it" forever. I've caught her in the act THREE TIMES today and race her outside to no avail.  There is just too much to see, hear and smell.... Its almost as if she's never been outside for long periods of time, though judging what my neighbor had said, she hasn't. Anyway back to the game plan. 
Part I
We started today by dividing my her life into 30 minute increments. First 30 minutes was me getting read for the day after a potty break, which she did since she HAD to go and had NO chance of going inside, lots of praise for that! Second thirty minutes was breakfast in her crate, while I fed/interacted with the other dogs, and I ate something...which I don't think happened...oh well.
Next 30 minutes was potty time again, still nothing but I had the presence of mind to small dog proof while she was crate, which basically means, stuffing boxes and etc. under coffee tables, moving chairs so their is not space behind them for a puppy to get behind potty.. (*COUGH* *COUGH* BUBBLES AND TEXAS) And bringing out the potty  pads, for the spots she's already hit. Apparently when I turned my back, she went in and peed on the pad, and was about poop(..not on the pad,) when I rushed her outside. Still nothing, so I blocked her into the kitchen while I did the dishes. 30 minutes ticking away. She entertained herself by getting on the kitchen table. A HUGE NO-NO! So we removed her access to that, and went back to dish washing.

Part II
I have decided to see if she'll go if placed loose in an x-pen type situation. The one I have currently is cloth and short enough that she can jump over easily, so i'll have to keep a leash on her somehow, but if I can get her to think she's loose.....? Or else I'll just take the puppy pads outside and see if she'll go on that. She can't not go, and sooner or later its gotta come out. I just want to be the one to catch it. NoT CATCH it.. you know what i mean.

{1 toy + 3 dogs does not = good. Notice Bubbles is headed out of the way}

Part III
We did start some clicker training, since she's calmed down, and we're getting the whole "sit" on command thing. Texas has throughly spoiled me, start teaching him something and within two or three clicks, he's got it down pat.
Pompeii, Bubbles, Tim, Veda, Ben, Victoria, Daniel, Gideon, Eden, Ira, Rei, Jake...not so much.
Which makes it very easy to get frustrated with her and call her stubborn/dumb. *cough DAD* (Everyone else ignore the messages between the lines :)) So I make sure to keep training session extremely short, like 5 minutes max so that we both end on a good note.
She's actually already picking up a lot in just 24+ hours. She knows "wait" means not to move forward when the door is opened.  She's learning sitting might possibly get something good, and wonder of wonders she's not lunging at the end of the leash. much. Hey progress is progress is my opinion. Feel free to make it yours.
Part IV
Crate training is actually going a lot better than I thought, last night we had an "incident" and I placed her in the crate. I was mean and got my water bottle out for the whining and just squirted it over her crate, verses smacking her directly. And she slept through the night. Thank you God.

{Queen Bee}

I hate to admit this....but this was the perfect diversion I needed this summer!

Summer Adventure #1 Part III

I was contacted by one rescue group, who is willing to list her with their site, if I foster her. Which I can for a couple of weeks at least. So we'll see what happens!

I've also decided that she has never been taught to potty on leash. She pottied once this morning and only because she couldn't hold it anymore. It could be easily labeled as stubborness, but that won't deal with the real issuse, which is a lack of knowledge. Guess who gets to deal with it!? If I do nothing else with this dog, but teach her to potty on leash, I will doing a great thing. I never realized that it was something that had to be taught. Shows what a sheltered life I lived only working with puppies/service dogs with a ton of rules.

She's calmed a lot since last night, still very hyper but she just hopped on the desk and laid down in my lap. Yikes...is that a piece of my heart melting?!? NO! NO! NO! I REFUSE!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOo.

BTW- I'm changing my breed diagnosis to Chihuahua mix or something

Summer Adventure Part II

"I'm Doing Something Right After all!"

I don't know about you all, but there are times where I wonder if I'm really working with my dogs too the full extent they need and more so since I gained a roommate. She's been great with the dogs and despite not being a dog "lover" she's tolerated them pretty well and has never complained about helping out with them. But there are times I wonder, after I've watched her move from sitting to standing about ten times, since sitting down on the couch, if she's just holding it in and being nice.Christina is learning the commands and they are learning that she means what she says, but she's still very much the novelty item in their little minds.

But that has all changed and I'm thanking my lucky stars for my sweet, mostly obedient, well exercised, semi socialized gang of dogs. This (stray from last night) dog is Crazy! I'll admit to having said earlier in the day these words: "Boy I wish i had a challenging dog, Pompeii is not challenging".  Boy You get what you wish for.

If she doesn't find a new home quickly (pleaseGodpleaseGodpleaseGodpleaseGodpleaseGod) we're going to be working on:

• Sit/Staying at ALL Doorways/openings
• Walking calmly on leash
• Staying quietly in the crate
• staying off the furniture 
• Sitting for Food
• pshst. Eating her food period 
• Being loose without Running 

This morning I got up around six am to try and get some exercise in before I left for work. My dogs were all giving me the "are you crazy" looks from around their various positions around my room. However Zipper (as I've taken to calling her) was raring to go. For me training starts immediately, let it go now, and it will be ten times worse later. So I waited until she wasn't rushing the door, before letting her into my bedroom. (She stayed the night in the laundry room)

Mistake #1: I put the dogs out on the porch, while went to the bathroom, and grabs some clothes. Now my porch is different that most, as it, for some reason, it doesn't have slates, its like a wooden wall, with space about five inches high at the bottom. Despite valiant efforts from Texas, none of the dogs have been able to fit through that space and it didn't occur to me that she would be any different. 

Five minutes later I come out, too only my three sleepy dogs standing forlornly on the porch. And no crazy white thing bouncing around. Um...............THERE in my neighbors yard..(other neighbor not the neighbor that brought her over..) I walk towards her, slooowly. She stops and looks at me, I freeze. 

Tip #1: Never run after a dog that is loose/you don't know. Will cause said dog to run further away. 

She looks away and walks off, I dash as far as I could without her seeing hearing. She spots me again, I squat down and make kissing noises...no such luck, something catches her attention and she's off and moving again.
I follow her, stopping and coaxing everytime she does. OH! She stops too poop, I make a dash for it, knowing it was a stupid idea, but all I can think about is the neighbors checking on her and me having to tell them, that she ran away.

I wasn't fast enough, but did get her to run towards me, and missed. Snap. Then she was off, and I was left with a choice. Do I risk getting shot and trespass on these people's property, or do I wait it and hope and pray she runs back this way. At this point, my life was more important than this dog, so I decided to wait it out, eventually she moved too another yard, and I felt a little bit safer about approaching that house; she stopped to sniff a flower, I squat down and low and behold she comes racing towards, and this time I grab her.

First thing she needs to learn is how to act when off leash. I know the common adage is  leashes,leashes,leashes, but more and more I find myself thinking that a dog on the "lam..lamb?" who takes off because he/she's been on leash its entire life..  is more unsafe than I do that knows how to behave off leash. Just my opinion. Anyway we walked around for a little bit, before going back and getting my dogs out of the porch and letting them potty, before heading back inside.

Pompeii is in love, I believe. My Roommate is not. Neither am I for now.

Oh you want pictures you say? All in good time, people, all in good time.