Good-Bye for Now

Wednesday was my last night at the shelter for a bit. It is time to focus on getting ready for my trip to North Carolina where I'll be taking my 3rd round of classes~ I'm amazed to think I'm almost at the 1/2 way point! Then when I get back I'm having shoulder surgery and the necessary down time associated with that.

So, Wednesday I wanted to spend time with my extra special ones and say "Good Bye" and enjoy some quality time with them. My hope is that when I return in about 5 weeks they will be happy in a forever home. This may be the last time I see them.




First was My Alfie. Alfie and I sat outside and I told him how much he has taught me about trust. Alfie taught me that trust must be earned and isn't always offered freely.

He taught me that when trust is earned it is all the sweeter.




I don't know if Alfie will be there or not when I return. He is kept in the back and away from the public eye since he likes to "bounce" in his kennel. Such a shame because it is quite adorable when he bounces because he does it with joy and happiness all over his face. How could anyone resist?

Then I spent time with Sam (Magnum).


He has healed up so nicely and really needs to have a foster home.



The shelter is a tough place for a dog that was ripped to shreds by other dogs. Not a pleasant place at all. My hope and prayer for Sam is that he finds a foster home soon where he can work on his confidence and learn that not all dogs are out to hurt him.


I had intentions of visiting with my shy boy, Echo. But Echo was out on a nice walk with a volunteer. He knows he is loved and my guess is he will be in a home before I return.

After saying 'Bye' to Alfie and Sam I needed my heart lifted. What better way to lift the spirits that spend time with puppies?

These two are less than 2 months old and so full of their selves. I played with them in their Kennel and just enjoyed the wild abandon of two very silly pups.



I first met these two on Labor Day. To be honest I'm very surprised these puppies are still in the shelter. But even as babies Pit Bulls suffer from prejudice. Such a shame. A bigger shame is there are still folks breeding more and more Pit Bulls and the shelters are just filled to the brim.

It seems that regardless of how sweet the dogs is they take so much longer to adopt out.

It was time to walk through Adoptables and greet each dog by name. This is something I always do when I go in. "Hello Maggie, you are looking beautiful today", "How's my Dolly Lolly girl?", "Hey Petey has anyone told you how handsome you are yet today?".....and so it goes, kennel by kennel.

Then I looked in this one kennel and look what I saw!



I'm going to interject here.....again. PLEASE spay and neuter your pets!!! These Chihuahua mix puppies are 4 weeks old and were just spayed! OMG, they should still be with their Momma and here they are shaking and scared in a shelter with HUGE dogs all around barking and carrying on.



Of course I couldn't resist stopping and giving them love....and touches.



I wanted so badly to bring these two home with me.



The last thing we need is more dogs. I'm glad Marley is not accepting of all dogs as it keeps me grounded. Otherwise I'd have already adopted Duncan, Alfie & Pumpkin and most likely two little Chi' pups! Thank you Marley :-)



It was so difficult for me to leave. So much can change in 5 weeks. It almost felt like someone had sucked all the breath out of me as I closed the door to DA-1 and walked down the hall to go home....leaving my friends behind to find their way in the world.

Some days you're ON and others you're OFF

Sunday I was off. Funny that "very off" followed "very on".

So you ever wake up and think to yourself that you should change your plans but have no reason why you are thinking that? I woke up that way on Sunday. Nothing was wrong but my gut said not to go to the shelter.

Since time is getting short to where I won't have a choice about going to the shelter.....I went.

I started off with an easy one. This little guy was clearly unhappy in his crate. He was shaking like a leaf. He didn't have a name on his door so I know very little about him.

This boy shook so hard I had to keep readjusting the plan. The blanket on the grass where I usually work was too scary. There were dogs walking by.......big dogs at that! And of course there was a car pulling into the lot from time to time so that wasn't good.

I put a wrap on him (note to self: Cut down some wraps to "Tiny Size"). He seemed to like that okay but still not secure enough. So we hot footed it over to a secluded area and did some touches. I had him wrapped in the wrap and in a beach towel and did touches on him through the towel at first. Ah, FINALLY something he liked! I knew if I kept trying different things we'd get it. And "get it" we did! He was officially a happy boy.

Never did learn his name for sure. We have one little guy that looks pretty similar to this one that is 4-mos old and named Kit. The other I was considering looked even MORE like this guy but was 8-years old. My little guy seemed more 4-mos old than 8 years, but looked more like the 8-year old and also lifted his leg to pee. Do 4-month old pups lift their leg???

The dogs were wild and wound up! Serious fool around behavior from all of them. What the heck? Even my shy, pancake Maggie found her spunk. Working with fool around dogs is difficult for me. I'm out of my league and need some tools in the tool box for this.

Edie Jane? You out there?

If you are I hope and pray you will teach me what to do with a fool around dog in North Carolina! I need help :-)

So one by one I took out dogs to work on ..... one by one they yanked off my arm and I took 'em back.

The day was not a total loss though.

I had a nice little session with Echo in his kennel. He started off as a shy boy and now is still a bit shy but loves to be touched and cuddled. He likes to bury his head into me and get his touches. A sweet little man.

The other good thing was the 8-year old pup was adopted that day before I could make more comparisons to "My little guy".

So with so many things that were off I have to wonder if it was worth going to the shelter that day. Should I have listened to that little voice and stayed home? I may have to answer that with a "Yes" - however, Echo and the Little One may have a different answer.

Open to the Unplanned

After much thought, and some info digging, I decided to go a different direction with Sydney this week and we skipped the confidence course. My plan was to help her find her back end. I don't think she knows her body extends beyond her shoulders! My feeling is that part of her wanting to lay down is that she may have pain in the back end and in her legs.



There have been attempts to clicker train Sydney before but she had trouble focusing on the process and lost interest.

We did the body wrap and even put scrunchies on her feet.




So we did lots of touches and leg work.



One of the Practitioners I spoke with recommended I use some clicker training in conjunction with the TTouch and click 'n treat for movement forward. I liked that idea and decided I wanted to take it a little further and also teach "Touch" so that when Sydney is focused on something she may want to move toward that she can be redirected with the request to "Touch".

Sydney is a very quick study!

We even used the Balance Leash Plus in the living room to see how that worked with her - and she responded quite a bit better.


Today Sydney was completely focused on me!


I found out today that there ARE side effects to TTouch! Cairo, the Bengal cat, had been watching me work with Sydney and was quite interested in the whole process.


Here is some background on the dynamics surrounding the animal members of this family. Cairo is 7 1/2 years old and was given to Terri being a handful more than her current home was capable of dealing with. He was very outgoing and quite the people person. Then along came Sydney last December. When Sydney joined the family Cairo became a recluse and when he did come out he would be chased by Sydney. Sydney meant no harm but that is not how Cairo explained things.

So today we had Cairo benefiting from the touches Sydney received and the general peace and calm in the room. Sydney was not interested in the least that Cairo had joined us.

I even think they are starting to gang up on me!

It wasn't long before Cairo learned that a "click" resulted in a duck heart for Sydney. Having never worked with Cats before I thought it would be fun to see if Cairo could learn to Touch.

He picked it up so very fast!

We weren't through yet. Terri had one more surprise! A Guinea Pig named Princes Pigless that tends to "nip"! Well I've not worked with Guinea Pigs either....and certainly not one who nips. But heck, we were on a roll so in came Princess!

What to do with a Guinea Pig? Well I did tiny light touches of all kinds, hair slides and ear work. Even did the bridge of her nose and some mouth work. Never once did she try to nip me. I did get some soft sweet kisses though.

It soon became a family affair - something that has never happened before. Terri commented on several firsts today. What a wonderful family to work with


And the final seal of approval came with Peace being shared by all.

Ponderings

Wednesday when I worked with Sam I decided to put a wrap on him for the first time. I did a 1/4 wrap with a 2" bandage. He tolerated it okay and I only left it on a short time. But while it was on I noticed trembling in his back right leg.....the one that had the worst injuries.

I also noticed his skin is more reactive now. I got some trembling in the skin in the hind quarters while working with him.

We set up our sheet and worked in the front lawn and I don't know if he was trembling because other dogs were around or if it was a sensitivity to his skin. Either way he would let out a low quite growl. Not threatening in any way and easily reassured.

We moved to an outdoor enclosure and I set up plastic chairs to form a circle around us to give him some privacy from the other dogs. He was happy with that.

Could the sensitivity in his skin be because the nerve endings are healing? I'd think the damage he sustained would have caused nerve damage and possibly he did not feel the extent of his pain in the beginning.

Sam is the most precious being and is so loving and trusting even with all he has been through. He is so fortunate to have wound up at Escondido Humane Society!

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And what blog posting would be complete without a cute picture? This is what Alfie wanted to do during his session. Me thinks I have competition for Alfie's affections!

Pumpkin & Alfie

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

This is a day to have fun and spend time grilling with friends. That is exactly what we did. Steve and I went to the shelter about 9:30 and began working with the dogs. While I did TTouch Steve walked and bathed dogs and did general clean up to the property.

My day started with Maggie.



She is an adorable Pit Bull girl that has some insecurity issues. Very sweet girl but reminds me of Alfie when I first started working with him. Maggie isn’t as frightened as Alfie was but will “Pancake” on you. I found that she also has a silly side.



Beverly is another Pit Bull girl that is very cautious in the beginning. She is very sweet and loving and wants to sit on your lap. Slow movements around Beverly are best until she is sure you won’t hurt her. It looks like she has either had lots of litters or at least one recently. Beverly won’t be having any more as she was just spayed.



I worked with Hershey the other night and at that time she appeared to be yet another timid Pit Bull girl. Either she has blossomed, the drugs from her spay wore off or she was just feeling really good! Hershey needed a TTouch wrap put on her if we were to get anything done today. She responded quite well to the wrap and I do believe Lavender is a great color on her.



Then there is “Sam”. He is now being called Magnum at the shelter but to so many others and me he will always be Sam. So “Sam” he will remain.



First I have to tell you that in just 3 weeks time he has had such a transformation that words cannot even express the difference.



Sam in an amazing boy that has been through God only knows what and yet he is full of love.



The worst wound of all was the one on the inside of his right back leg. This wound was an open, hanging pocket! You could see things you were not meant to see in a living dog. This wound was not stitched up for reasons not explained to me. Now there is about a ½” opening! All other wounds have healed!

Finally I got to help a tiny Pit Bull puppy. I don’t know the age, nor if it is a girl or boy. There is a litter of abandoned puppies looking for Foster Homes. They were brought out for volunteers to see in hopes of striking a heart string. This one little guy was shaking so hard. Of course it was impossible for me not to come to his aid.



Within a minute I told the young boy holding him that his trembling diminished. A few seconds later the boy told me the puppy wasn’t shaking at all. It made me smile.


I've noticed something and I'm not really sure how to describe it but I'm going to try. When I first started at the shelter I was focused on Elektra. She needed me more than anyone else and I promised her that if I only had time for one, it would be her.

Along came Alfie and he really needed help. I was able to help him but I was committed to Elektra - then she was adopted and it freed up more time to concentrate on Alfie and still help less needy dogs.

Alfie is still at the shelter awaiting his perfect home. I've noticed he really isn't needing me as much any more. What Alfie needs now he needs from another dog. In walk Pumpkin!


Pumpkin is teaching Alfie how to be a dog and how to play. They love each other and are the best of friends. Last Saturday Pumpkin was adopted. This week she was returned. I guess her work with Alfie was not complete. Or maybe I needed to be replaced with another girl to free up more time for Sam!


Isn't it kinda funny how this all works out?


And how was YOUR day?

Session #2 with Sydney

This past week I've given a lot of thought to the lessons learned from my first session with Sydney. Cynde reviewed my photos gave me some great "Mentorly" advise. One of her many pearls of wisdom I held on to was when she told me not to try to force Sydney to do anything she doesn't want to do.

Why is it that one of the things I love the most about TTouch is the hardest to remember when I get into a jam? I've given that some thought too and the only thing I can think of is that every other training modality I know of is all about getting the dog to do what you tell them to do WHEN you tell them to do it. So, I kept this in mind today.

Terri and I decided to meet earlier to avoid the heat and I got there 1/2 hour earlier than they did so I could set up the confidence course and have everything ready when my guests of honor showed up.



Today was a beautiful foggy day and I counted on coolness to help what I considered to be a major issue with our session last week.

I think things went a lot better this week. I saw the leash looser than it was last time.

When Sydney decided she wasn't going to go I used those opportunities to do touches on her.



Terri shared some things with me that she noticed that I may not since I don't know Sydney very well.

• During one pass through the labyrinth Terri commented that Sydney was really paying attention to me and thinking. This is not something she normally does.
  
  
  

• She also commented that Sydney was standing still for me longer than she ever has! It is very typical behavior for Sydney to lay down if she isn't moving. We had a lot of standing up time.
  
  
  

I have experience more of Sydney stopping, laying down and refusing to budge than actually pulling on the lead. That got me thinking.......WHY does she lay down and not go? She is a big girl and I wonder if her legs are stressed? Tired? Could she have growing pains since she has gone from a tiny puppy to a very big girl in just a year? I did some Python Lifts on her and also did them on Terri's arms so she could see the benefit and also how to do them.

We also put 1/4 wrap on her and I'll bring more wraps next time so we can hook them together to do either a 1/2 or full wrap. Maybe bringing awareness to the back with help with that.

Today I realized we need to overcome the laying down and not budging before we get too concerned with the ground work.

We had one unexpected training opportunity today. Sydney LOVES people! If there is someone to greet she is just the gal to do it. A toddler and his mom came to the park and Sydney started to lunge and bark happily to go see the baby. I suggested that rather than repeatedly tell Sydney to stay could I try something. I asked her to sit (something she is very good at) and then in a happy voice asked her to come with me. We walked her to the opposite side of the park and situated her with her back toward the child. I explained how to use diversionary tactics with her and to remove her from the situation that is causing her stress, good or bad stress. It worked perfectly.

It was obvious that Sydney was tired and I didn't want to try to make her do any more so we gave kisses and called it a day.

Driving home I thought of our session and what went right (much more than last week) and what we'll try different next week. One thing I'll try next week is scrunchies on her feet.

"Chico"

UPDATE: Its official now............this little guy has been named Chico!

Okay so his name isn't "Chico"....in fact he doesn't have a name yet and is simply known by 40895. But I can't stand seeing a little guy like ths being called a number.

I don't know his story but this shelter only takes strays.....so either he was dumped here or born at the shelter. I'm thinking dumped because I discovered him on the website in the "found" section a couple weeks ago and have been waiting for him to be available to spend time with.

Last night I saw him! There he was all tiny and cute. He must not even weigh 2# and is only about 8 weeks old.

As for our actual TTouch session I'd have to rate it a 1 on a scale of 1-10. He had just been neutered and should be resting. So I taked to him outside his crate. He seemed to be just fine with that and curious. Slowly I opened his door to touch him and all of a sudden he sprang alive! Boy those little ones are FAST! I caught him mid air as he lept from his cage.......he was supposed to be resting up. Well, I guess he was before I bothered him :-(

Oh well, no harm done. I sat on the floor and cradled this little wiggle worm in my arms while trying to do calming touches. All he wanted to do was bite me, lol. Teething baby puppy, wiggling and squirming, and supposed to be resting....I did the right thing and put him back. I really did not want this little live wire busting a stitch on my watch!

All this time I've been watching him and wanting to hold him. But the timing was off so it was a huge let down.

Who woulda thought that the BIG dogs would be so much easier to work with, lol.