Gea My New Foster Puppy

Gea is a pretty white and chocolate colored Border Collie - Australian Shepherd (Assie) cross with a lovely soft coat of fur. She was born about the end of April, 2011 making her about 9 months old -- still a bouncy puppy. Both Border Collies and Australian Shepherds are smart, active dogs that need a lot of exercise, training (they like fun jobs), and playtime!

Gea was adopted at about 10-12 weeks old and recently returned to the rescue because she was too active in their house and doing puppy things like chewing on things and barking at strange noises. They did no training, not even crate training and no exercise either. Not the right home for an active puppy and puppies are not born knowing the rules of living with humans. They need daily training and exercise and can not be expected to roam freely in a home without supervision.

Gea is now in my home as my new foster puppy and is being crate-trained. She is doing very well in the crate and sleeps all through the night. I am clicker training her and as expected for her breed combo she has some smarts about her. She is very food motivated and works well for dry kibble. I also am giving her slices of hot dogs and pieces of raw chicken gizzards for treats. She also receives two raw beef bones in her crate daily -- once when I leave for my part time job away from home (about 2-3 hours) and again at night when I leave her in her crate and leave the room to go to sleep.

I am walking/training/exercising Gea about 3 or 4 times per day for about 10-20 minutes at a time. Both on and off leash and both in my large yard and out on the wooded trails. I am working on multiple commands during each learning lesson. Some of the things we are working on:

• Sitting and looking at me before I let her out of the crate and again before I let her out the door.
  
• Loose leash heeling on my left hand side. Clicking and treating when she is in the right position.
  
• Automatic sitting when I stop.
  
• Recalls (Come) and sitting in front of me.
  
• "Watch Me" -- clicking and treating when she give me her attention by looking me in the eyes.
• "In" asking her to go back into the crate, then clicking and treating.
  
• "Up" asking her to jump onto a log or bench.
  
• "Touch" asking her to target my hand by touching it with her nose.
  
• "Down" laying down.
  

Gea is doing very well and her attention span which was near zero when I got her (Sunday November 13th) is improving nicely. She is still a puppy and her attention is easily distracted by birds, bugs, noises, dog's barking, etc. Gea startles easily -- I don't think she received enough novel experiences and solicitation with enough different people and dogs. Also I feel this might be due to her not feeling that she had a leader which would allow her to relax knowing that someone else was in command and make the decisions.

Please only consider adopting Gea if you plan to do right by her and give her what she needs -- good leadership, fun times, training, and a family that will commit to her for her life span.

You can find a lot of good info on both these breeds online.

To start the adoption process, please fill out the online Adoption Application Form. or email raesance@gmail.com for an application or with questions.

Adoption fee is $375.00 and covers age appropriate vaccinations, spay/neuter, micro-chip, wellness exam, fecal, de-wormer, flea and heartworm preventative and any other various medical expenses needed. This fee also includes transportation via rescue road trips as many of our dogs are pulled from high-kill southern shelters.

Some helpful articles:

Energetic, Anxious, or Reactive Dog? Try the Calm-O-Meter Method | Karen Pryor Clickertraining - http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1262
How to Reward Calm Behavior | Karen Pryor Clickertraining - http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3320

Just how smart are some Border Collies? "World's Smartest Dog? Meet a Border Collie Whose Memory Astounds
Chaser the Dog Has Learned to Identify More Than 1,000 Objects" http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/world-smartest-dog-nova-special-shows-border-collie/story?id=12875750

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Living with a teenage Lab

Another week with Charlie the Chocolate Lab Pup

Puppy Play

Charlie finally talked Gigit into some fun and had her playing with him for a few minutes. They zigged an zagged in circles around the yard. Gigit can make much tighter circles than long legged Charlie. Then Gigit got tired, but Charlie didn't and being a teen he didn't want to take no for an answer which made Gigit mad and she had to do some snapping and growling to get through to Charlie that playtime was over and it was time for him to leave her alone.

Poor Charlie wants to play with my dogs most of the time and they being older dogs really get a bit tired of his constant play nagging. He has put his nose under Gigit and has lifted her back legs off the ground. He tried to do the same with Logo, but 95 pound was too much to lift.

Charlie barks in their faces, licks their faces, rolls around on the ground and kicks them with his feet, and does anything he can think of to try to get one or more of them to give him some attention and play with him. He has managed to get Gigit to play with him a time or two and has cause BooBoo to get mad enough to chase him for a short distance. He even aggravated Logo until he growled at him.

From Charlie

Toy Time

Charlie is slowing learning how to play with dog toys. I guess whomever owned him didn't introduce him to toys so he was not sure what to do with them. He likes a small stuffed toy that squeaks and today I got him to play tug-a-war with me for a while. He may never be a gun-ho retrieving fool like some Labrador Retrievers are, but with a little more time I think he will really look forward to playtime with dog toys. That will make my three older dogs happy.

Bicycle Running Time

Image via Wikipedia

I have started bicycling with Charlie running alongside the bike. I have a special attachment for the bicycle that has a short lead that I attach to Charlie's slip collar. He was a bit scared of the bike at first and the tug on him when he tried to move away from it. But I walked the bike along for a while and then rode it slowly at first. Now I can ride it much faster and Charlie gallops alongside the bike.

Biking with your dog is a good way for you both to get needed exercise and biking is so much less trying than jogging with your dog. I really thing more people should give it a try. But do not try it by just holding on to your dog's leash or you could end up hurt.

There are a few different bike/dog products around. I have the K9 Cruiser Bicycle Leash http://snipurl.com/sqpd5 and I like the way it keeps your dog towards the back of the bike where he has less chance of getting in the way of the moving tires.

There are some other dog bike leash attachments, like: Springer, WalkyDog, Bike Tow Leash http://snipurl.com/sqpl4 and others.

You might also want to use a special dog harness with your dog bike leash. EzyDog Dog Harness is a comfortable padded dog harness. http://snipurl.com/sqqgd



And there are other options, two of them shown in this video...
Terra Trike and Dog Powered Scooter, Willie

Some people with large, active dogs really like the scooter where the dog is pulling you. The dog gets more exercise this way and you don't have to work peddling a bike.

Bicycle leashes comparison Compares the K9 CRUISER and the SPRINGER http://snipurl.com/sqp8f

A week with Charlie the foster Lab

Seven days living with a Lab Puppy

Teenagers can be cute by tiring too. Charlie has a lot of young healthy energy as most Labrador Retriever puppies do. He wants so bad to play with my three dogs, but so far they are not amused with his puppy antics and will not play with him. Maybe they are getting too old for puppy play. Charlie pounces at them and barks in their faces. He also runs circles around them and from time to time goes under the large one or jumps over one of the smaller ones. Lobo my large male German Shepherd dog mostly ignores Charlie and Gigit the blue heeler mix wants to bust his but when he will not listen to her, "Get Lost" warning growl.

So like most teens he picks on the one that he gets to the most -- my little terrier, BooBoo. BooBoo curls her lip and snaps in his face and growls, but this just seems like a fun game to Charlie so he keeps going back to her for more. I have to keep asking Charlie to leave her alone. If I had another young adult dog I think they may play together well. My dogs are just getting a bit too old for his active play.

Charlie still doesn't show much interest in balls or toys -- maybe he just was never given them when he was younger.



Charlie likes to run through puddles, but so far he hasn't taken any dunks in my goldfish pond -- I'm sure my fish appreciate this -- he is a bit much for my little pond. Charlie also like to bite at the watch coming from the garden hose, until I try to wash him with it, then he rather not. I have not taken him yet to the two ponds to see if he would take a swim. Most Labrador Retrievers like water, but not all.

From Charlie

Charlie doesn't like the rain pounding down on the tin roof and barked and whined a lot on two nights when we had downpours along with lots of lightening.

Clicker Training

HEEL: This week I have continued to work with getting Charlie to pay more attention to me on our heeling walks on lead. He is doing pretty good about not pulling on the leash but he does keep walking ahead of me. When he reaches goes ahead and draws the leash taunt I reverse direction and when he catches up and is alongside me I click and treat him. He will learn that the only time he gets a click and a treat is when he is in the correct heeling position. From time to time he does catch himself as he is passing me and slows down and looks at me. I click and treat him to his good self control.

He is now eating both the dry dog food and the hot dog slices on our training walks. Charlie also like raw chicken gizzards which I cut into small pieces with a scissors.

DOWN: Charlie had a hard time figuring out down. I had to keep placing him in the down position time and time again before he had a light bulb moment and figured out what I was wanting him to do. Some dogs can be trained down just by moving the food out in front of them on the ground while they are sitting, but this didn't work with Charlie. He is still slow to go in the down position but should get faster with more training.

From Charlie

Handling

Charlie has no problem with being handled. I can put my fingers down his ears, between his toes, tug on his tail and ears, and even lift his hind legs a bit off ground by his tail without him showing fear or nervousness. He will also let you clip his toenails without a problem. Of course I am clicking and treating him for his calm behavior at my antics.

Charlie is available for adoption from Labs4Rescue http://labs4rescue.com/

Dog Clicker Training - Teaching the Down Cue


Puppy: 2 Month Yellow Lab Tricks

If you are on a roll and want to learn more here is another video to watch:
YouTube - Re: Every Dog Must Know This: How To Train Your Dog To Stay http://snipurl.com/sknjr

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