Daycare June 13th

The time has come for a blog about Chase. Chase is the love of my life. He has been living with Tim (anti-aggression trainer you ,may have seen around here on Thursdays and Saturdays) for a while now and has a past that would widen anyones eyes in sympathy. He was originally found on the 405 freeway getting hit by a car and scared out of his mind. After he was rescued and brought home it was clear he had developed pretty severe motion fear and, possibly in a past life, had become terrified of females... female people! That is how this little guy ended up with us. What better way to get over a fear of women than be bathed by one, fed, by one, trained by one, and constantly loved by one for two weeks straight. (Only works if the women are trained to deal with fearsome dogs, ie dont try this at home).

Now, I had met Chase before at Saturday socials but I never really had a chance to get to know him until he came to stay. Since he showed up here, I have not only fallen madly in love, I have become so attached I am trying to adopt him myself (landlord issues...ugh!). He is troubled but in his eyes I can tell he just wants what everyone wants, to feel safe, to be loved, to have some control over this crazy life he is living, to achieve some sanity. Even though my living situation makes it impossible for me to have Chase today, I am thankful for the time we have spent together here. Until Chase, I was convinced I needed a second dog that was mellow, was female, was old, and was basically not gonna have many issues since Fox has enough to go around. Now my mind has been opened to the idea of purposefully adopting a dog with issues. There are so many dogs out there with fears that, if not dealt with, could keep them from ever finding a happy home. If you have the means (access to an excellent trainer) and the know how (experience with troubled dogs) I urge you to take the risk. The bond formed from working with your dog to subdue/reverse fear or aggression issues is exponential and the joy that comes from watching them improve is indescribable. Dont shy away from the hard work, I say, embrace it for the reward will be even more satisfying... and of course the brownie points you will earn by saving a dog from the madness in his own head will keep you on the good side of Karma for years to come.

Daycare June 11th

We've heard of people wearing their hearts on their sleeve...well, this little girl wears hers right on her face :) This is Java! She is the poster child for Labradors. She is unabashedly friendly, adorably innocent, and the definition of easy going. In the daycare room, her ultimate goal is to be a social butterfly... though she's still working out the kinks. She starts her day by saying hi to all daycare attendees and deciding in her head who's friendship will be the most beneficial that day. Today she decided on Shadow (rescued Pit Bull) and Sydney (Bull Terrier). She chose Shadow because, being a rescue, she pretty much lives at the Paw so she'll have the most gossip, and Sydney because...too be honest... because she's fun.. not really much to do with the butterfly project (kink number one- not being able to resist play).

Once Java picks her "friends" she proceeds to map out the most efficient way to get information, share information, and gab gab gab about that information to the most dogs in the shortest amount of time. She had already ruled out barking the info as loud as possible because one of the keys to becoming a social butterfly is maintaining one on one relationships. So the only option is to go to each dog individually... this is how it works:

1. Go see the all knowing Shadow in her kennel and entice her to share some juicy news... she loves Java so of course she obliges.
2. Go immediately to the closest dog and share.
3. Laugh, and bond over the news
4. Get to next available dog ASAP and repeat step 3 (running from dog to dog is imperative to saving time and talking to most dogs)
5. Be loved by all and honored as being the most friendly and most outgoing dog in daycare.
6. And finally go back to Shadow for some more "juice" :)

Unfortunately, in the middle of all this is where more of the kinks come in. Although the above six steps is the plan Java maps out, here is what actually takes place:

1. Go see Shadow.
2. Get distracted in the middle of Shadow's story by Sydney who wants to play.
3. Play with Syd for a good half hour (geeze! she cant be rude ;)
4. Gab to Syd about the news but realize in the middle of it she never heard the end.
5. Go back to Shadow to get the rest of the story, vowing she'll hear the rest of it so she can start her socializing.
6. And repeat steps 2-5

Oh Java...

Tango's Transformation!

Meet Tango!

Tango is a cattle dog/pit bull mix who recently came to our in kennel training program. Upon his initial consultation, his owners told us that Tango had developed some very serious issues. In addition to some minor obedience issues, Tango had some very serious dog aggression issues. He would go crazy on leash if he passed by another dog and just prior to enrolling him in our program, Tango escaped the house and actually bit another dog in the neighborhood! Very common in cattle dogs, Tango also had issues with motion hype and tended become aggressive around bikes and skateboards.

When we first met Tango, it was apparent that he was just a big ball of love who wanted to show the world how really great he was....he just didn't know how! That's where we came in. We worked with Tango on basic obedience, often taking him to downtown San Diego where he was exposed to people, dogs (and bikes!) of all shapes and sizes. If you were downtown on the weekend, you probably saw Tango and our trainers hanging out at Starbucks, mixing and mingling with the natives!

Tango made one of the most rapid recoveries of any dog in our program. Within just 1 week, he was playing with other dogs in our social. His obedience came almost instantaneously and the aggression faded in no time. Tango is quite fond of his new found confidence and adores the fact that he can now be "one of THOSE dogs" who goes everywhere with his owner!

Great job Tango! Keep up the good work!

Check out Tango's transformation!