Shelter night!

Oh how I LOVE shelter night. The only thing I don't love about it is there are far more dogs needing help than there are hours in the evening.

Right now I'm focusing my efforts on a couple very special dogs, Max & Bullet.

I had difficulty finding Max when I got to the shelter. He was not in the area the computer said he he was in. My heart sank! Had Max done something to get his third strike? It couldn't be. Thankfully he was in a different area and the computer had not been updated.

Max has a little room mate, a white and brown Chihuahua mix. More about him later.

Max was leery of me at first and I could tell he was quite uncomfortable. I took my time with him and did three little Llama touches on his side and it was as if he remembered me from Saturday and allowed me to put he lead on him. Max walked outside with me like a good boy.

It didn't take any time at all to regain the ground we had on Saturday. Look who has learned to sit! Isn't he adorable?

Turns out he is quite the barker when concerned about something. He barked at dogs 50 yards away! He barked at people I could barely see....and he barked at the rabbit guy that uses a walker. Oh how he barked at this guy. Fortunately the rabbit guy was very patient and understanding with him. I was able to get his focus back on me and do TTouches on him to relieve his stress. By the end of our session Max was barely barking at anyone and when he did it wasn't up at the fence, he stayed by me and barked. Much better.

I used a Thundershirt on him and while I liked the effect I did not like what happened when I had to release the Velcro to get it off. Poor Max screamed, cried and ran away. Not the reaction you want with a frightened dog. I was thrilled that he was able to quickly recover and was soon sitting back in my lap getting TTouches and giving kisses. Yeah for Max.

When I put him back in his kennel his roommate was desperate for attention and desperate to get out - it was heartbreaking. Then I saw that he had failed his first behavior test and was pending retest. I'm going to seek out permission to work with him. He doesn't have a mean bone in his little body but he is terrified. I can help him with that.

Tonight Bullet was so funny. I really like that little dog. I thought our boy Marley was into his ball. Marley hates balls compared to Bullet.

We did lots of touches and lots of ball playing tonight. My goal for Bullet is for him to drop his ball when asked. We practiced dropping the ball for another ball, a throw of the ball, zig zag touches or a bite of cooked turkey hearts. He is really catching on.

If anyone is looking for a partner in fly ball or agility I'd like to recommend my buddy, Bullet.