Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Jay is a... Husky?


Well no not entirely... but let me explain...

I got in touch recently with the woman who rescued Jaycee way back when! Apparently some guy brought in a litter of puppies who were really sick with parvo and surrendered them to the vet!
Jaycee was the worst and had to spend over a week at the vets under constant care!

Once she was better she had all her vaccinations and was spayed - that was back in February.
So because she was admitted to the vet, we know a little more about her specifics!

Such as...
Birthday : August 19th, 2011
She turned 9 months old 10 days ago :)

Breed: 3/4 Pitty and 1/4 Husky!
Her mom was a pitty, but her dad was half pitty half husky!
What a great mix!



EQUALS
















She is one wonderful dog and I know she will brighten up the life of her future forever home!

There are plenty of videos in my last two posts, take a look!
Enjoy!

Will post more soon!

Jay at the Dog Park!

Yesterday, Adam and I took Rikki and Jaycee to the dog park! We figured since it had just rained that there probably wouldn't be too crowded and that it would give the doggies more chance to sniff around and meet a few dogs while they're at it!

Well to our luck it turned out to be about 7 or so dogs there! Not all at the same time, but over the course of the 2 hours we were there they met them all.

Before the dog park I took Jay for a walk and fed her dinner and then popped her in the car with Rikki and off we went! We went over to the Burnaby lake dog park (off Piper) and it's a nice little dog park that also has a clean water dispenser that the dogs love and a trail for people that goes around the outside and a bench and big logs to sit down on or jump over! All in all it's a lot of fun!

I am so proud of Jay! She did SO WELL! She took a minute for her initial excitement to calm but she quickly realized that when she relaxed she got to play! She was wonderful!! There was even a very small dog! The size of a bigger chihuahua and Jay even played well with her too! Which is great because I know we were not sure how she would be with small dogs! But she played so gentle with her! The smaller dog was even snapping a bit at Jay (the smaller dog was starting to get tired) but Jay just took it in stride and was great! Jay is really learning to pass the puppy playfulness and be respectful of other dogs!

I couldn't stop smiling the whole time at the park! Jay was great on her own! She just walked over to a dog played some chase and wrestle games then relaxed and walked away and sniffed around! I always praised tons when she chose to walk away from playing, so that she learns while playing is fun for her, taking a break and relaxing is good too! She is already so smart! I have a video montage of her time there that I think you will all enjoy!

(Sorry about some of the exposure! My phone had a hard time choosing what to put it at cause there were dark black dogs and then this bright white one!)



Here's a picture of just after the dog park ;)

Naptime!



Also I have included two short clips of Jay on her walk! She is improving every day and look at her now! What a great walker!!!






Jay is now all signed up and ready for Doggie Daycare! She is getting her bordatella vaccination on thursday and then she is good to go! Her meet and greet there went great! She is submissive around other dogs which is great and she was fine with balls around and all the employees there love her! She's going to love socializing with all those other doggies! :D

Will post more soon!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Water Time!

As promised... Jay playing outside with water! Also, with her break times including rawhide and fetch! We even managed to sneak in a bath time! She rinsed off all the shampoo by playing in the water from the hose :) 


What a Cutie! Enjoy! :)

Will post more soon :)

2 Weeks with Jay!

So we have been fostering Jay for two weeks! She has been such a sweetie pie!
I am so surprised she has not been adopted! I have at least one person a day meet her and wished they could adopt her!

Two things I really want to say about her in this post are two things that are often very under-appreciated! One is her door manners and one is her greeting manners!

Her door manners are impeccable! She NEVER barks at knocks or door bells! When new people enter she stays back politely, stretches her head forward and uses her nose to greet them and gives a little tail wag. She does not jump up, or get excited at the door, and she is not nervous or hesitant!
She is nice and quiet at the door and will stand or sit quietly while being petted.

Her greeting manners as mentioned above are great even when strangers came into our backyard while she was out there! All she did was walk quietly up to them and sniff!

On the walks she sniffs at passing people but keeps a polite distance - she doesn't shove her nose into their crotches ;P

She used to get nervous around some people on walks, but we have been working with her and she has greatly improved! It's all about staying calm and quiet and letting her figure it out :)

She is currently hanging out with the family watching TV, and chewing on a rawhide in between little breaks where she will toss the rawhide a few feet and crawl over too it before chewing again :P
It's her own personal rawhide game!

She is a surprisingly quiet dog! I mentioned that to my dad and he said "You know, you're right! I don't think I've heard her bark once!" She doesn't bark, and rarely whines. Sometimes that is something you don't appreciate until you have the opposite (really vocal dogs), but having a quiet dog is a great trait to have!

We also found out that she also loves water and that means she loves the hose too! We found out that it's a fun way to bathe her ;P So I made a little montage of Jay's time outside while we were hosing down the deck :) I will post it once it's done uploading to facebook (it was too big of a file to upload directly to the blog).

But here are a couple pictures to tide you over until then :)

Okay enough Fetch, it's Nap Time!

I see a Yawn coming!

Hanging in the Sun

Napping while I write up this post!








Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A Week (and a bit) with Jay: Part 2

Well every day with Jay we learn more and we love seeing her learning and growing every day!

She is such a sweety-pie and we spend time giggling at her antics! Like today! She didn't want to go into the rain!... until I put her rain jacket on! Then she walked out into the rain with no problem! But then she hit another obstacle! The wet grass on her feet and legs! She didn't really want to walk on the grass, but once she saw ma walking around on it she walked around a bit on it, but then either went into cover under the trees or the pavement beside the garage! She didn't want to stand in the rain more than necessary! It was very adorable :D

That all changed though once I picked up a tennis ball! Then you could tell she still wasn't thrilled about the rain, but she wanted that ball too much to care!

I managed to snap a couple adorable pictures of her in her jacket!




What made the fact that she didn't like rain funny was that it turns out she LOVES water!

We have a small pond in our back yard and I went into the house for a minute and as I was about to walk into the yard I caught this on film!!!




And even after coming out she went back in a couple times! We are hoping to take her swimming when the weather gets better!


So far her favourite toys are a rubber tire with a rope attached and a rubber kong in the shape of the squirrel! She does like stuffies but she prefers to chew on the rubber toys, so Kongs are great options for her :)

We gave her a bath after her first couple day's at our house so that she could relax with us first, and she was very interested in the tub and the water - but NOT the removable shower head! She looked at it like it was a huge snake and didn't want to get near it! But after her bath she was VERY white! In the sun we can't look at her directly because she was so bright! (You can probably get an idea from the pictures above!)

Me and Jay after a walk

She is doing better everyday on the walk! She loves investigating smells!

She is able to be left alone for a few hours and she is housebroken.

She loves being physically and mentally challenged! And she loves learning new things and is really enjoying clicker training! She can "Sit", and "Down" and is currently learning "Paw" and "Stay" :)
She would be great and would love Agility Training or any dog sport! She already has done some basic agility work as I have an agility jump in the yard. I set it on the lowest setting as she is still young, but I just show her the tennis ball and tell her "Hup!" and move it over the jump and without even a blink she was over and waiting for the ball again!
I am thinking of target training next!

She is such a total sweetheart I know she will find a family that is right for her and that she is right for :)




Will post more soon!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

A Week with Jay: Part 1

Since it has been so long since my first post there is a lot to say! And I will most likely need to split it into two parts!

Jay has been with us for a whole week now and at first we didn't realize how puppy-ish she was! However, the one day we fostered Sid, we could see just how puppyish her face looked and we could see her doing the puppy paw trying to get Sid to play!

Jay is still a puppy, as she is only 9 months old, and as such has energy to burn and loves to play!
But she also loves to chew. We are currently spending time teaching her what is okay and what is not okay to chew on. She loves chewing on her toys, but will sometimes pick up things like socks, pens, and unfortunately our TV remote and will chew on them if they are left lying around. But we think this is just an effect of her puppy-ness as when she is ready for bed she doesn't even look at things to chew on - she just wants to cuddle and go to bed!
The chewing will die down with exercise, training, and time/age. The chewing is greatly reduced after she has gone for a short run (as she is still too young for a very long one).

Because of the chewing, we are crate training her! And while the crate is not her favourite place in the world, since she'd rather be with us, she will still relax and sleep in it and after only 2 days of crate training she only give one little mini-whine before settling down for a snooze!

Another after affect of puppy-hood and the chewing is that at times she can get a little mouthy. NOT in a "I want to bite you and hurt you" kind of way, but a "Hey your hands smell neat, play with me!" kind of way! She is very gentle and she only gets a bit mouthy if she starts getting excited, and a stern "No" is usually enough to tell her off, or a quick tug on her collar lets her no that hands are not for playing! She is already improving so much! She is a very smart cookie!

She loves treats, but she is not food or resource or toy possessive at all with humans! I can stick my hands right into her food and rub her nose while she's eating and she doesn't care at all! And as I mentioned before as well, with treats and toys she is very gentle when you give them to her. Her lips are like velvet and she very carefully goes and takes the treat. She does not jump for the treats, but may jump if you have a ball (her favourite kind of toy!) but again a good "No" does the trick!

When eating Jay takes her time and actually chews her food! Mostly I see dogs try to inhale theirs, but she will eat it all but will take a few minutes to do so instead of seconds! That is a great testament to how she does not resource guard around people because she seems to already know that we aren't there to steal from her and she knows she won't go hungry with people!

While Jay is still a puppy and is still learning to be the best dog she can be, she is very smart, and a quick learner and she has such wonderful potential!!

Such as on the walks!
She is a great walker! Rarely does the leash go tight!
She may decide to run towards a crow or squirrel but it is not unmanageable, and usually a tug on the leash and a "Jay, come!" does the trick :)
But she loves to run and will run right next to you! And she walks so nicely on the leash! And when passing people she will stick her nose out for a good sniff but is not rude about it! :)
When you first get out the leash she will do a bum/tail wag and then come and go to the door and look at you. We tell her to sit and she does so calmly, and clip on the leash.
We are using a Martingale Collar (with the little piece of chain) and a regular fabric 6' leash.

When you come home she is quite calm and there is no jumping or barking or anything! She just gives a little wag of her tail and waits by the door to be petted! She was already doing this on her own, so to reinforce it we would ignore her for the first few minutes of being home and then give her attention, so that she knows that attention is not given right at the door.
When we leave she is also quite calm when left alone in the house and usually naps. Though sometimes she sometimes gets into mischief, so now she is crated when we are out of the house, and as mentioned above is doing very well with that!

At nighttime she can either be crated or sleep with you, she is fine with both. But of course her preference is snuggling with the humans ;P She usually sleeps on the floor of my room and if she is being very good and calm I allow her onto my bed and she promptly curls up and puts her head over my legs and sighs and goes to sleep! She sometimes drops her head over the edge of the bed and sleeps like that! And once she even woke me up in the middle of the night because she fell off the bed xD She was looking up at me from the floor like "What happened?? How'd I get onto the floor?" and then she gave an "Oh well" look and curled up on the floor and went to sleep :P

In the mornings she is just the sweetest thing! It's like watching a young child waking up! I get up about 8am every morning and she is still sleeping! If she hears me wake up she will follow me to the bathroom and then head back to my room once im in there. And I usually come back to find her curled up on the end of my bed watching me!
When she gets off the bed she slinks off! Head and front paws first then keeps walking forward until her back legs fall off the bed with a thud! And she is so tired she takes a few steps and then just goes back to sleep :P Such a sweetie!

She is such a cuddler and such a sweetheart, that everyone she meets falls in love with her! Once she has had her walk she is content to just chew on a toy or lay down at your feet and nap! She loves belly scratches! And if you rub her right behind the ears she gives a big sigh and closes her eyes :D

She is such a lovely dog with an adorable personality!

Well I have to head out now, but I shall post a part two with a couple of pictures soon!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Sid's Last Day with Jay

So Sid headed back home yesterday late afternoon :( But I know her time will come to be fostered at the next Dog Run :) I really hope she gets adopted soon! Cause Sid is such a real sweetheart! She was such a gentle girl and we loved having her here!

I had a few pictures of her last few hours with Jay!
They played in the back a bit and then came inside for a nap!

She finally started chasing balls with Jay, and then decided to roll around!
Sid and Jay both LOVE belly scratches!

Then once they were inside and napping some REALLY cute things happened!




Below is a quick picture I snapped of when Jaycee came up to Sid and cuddled up to her and licked her gums and teeth and then settled down right against her and napped for a bit! It was so adorable!!! 


As I said in my last post they really bonded and it's obvious that they are both really great dogs and it is amazing they haven't been adopted already as they are both so fantastic!

Will post more soon!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sid's Day with Jaycee and Family

Yesterday I took Sid in as a temporary foster until her flight is ready to head back up north.
Sid had not been getting along with the dog at the foster home and I was told had even gotten into a scuffle in the car on her way here. But once she got to my house, before I let her in or introduced her to Jaycee, I took Sid for a walk and a run at the park.

Once she was tired and walking very nicely on leash I had my sister bring Jaycee to the park and Adam walked her with me and Sid. We kept them side by side but about 10 fee apart. Then as they began to ignore each other we moved them closer and closer together until we had the two of them side by side being walked by one person! At that time we let them stop and sniff each other a bit then continued the walk home. Sid did give a tiny growl with Jay got a bit excited and we corrected the growl from Sid and Jay for jumping on Sid and they were fine :) We walked them back to my house and let them have fun in the back yard. They got along great!


Sid and Jay after their walk together :)

A little more about Sid. She is a bit anxious and excited all at once. But that has more to do with her energy level. She has a medium-high energy level and loves to run! When she is left on her own she will vocalize but in only a few minutes, realizing she's been ignored, she stops and is a heavy sleeper, she can sleep through almost anything!



She likes antlers and toys but if its a tug of war between her and another dog she just lets go. She is not very interested with playing with other dogs. She will run a little with Jay sometimes but much prefers to just hang with people or run with them!
When she eats she usually leaves a few pieces behind because she doesn't like to get the food out of the corners.

She likes to relax in the house or lie in the sun outside. And she LOVES rolling in the grass to cool down and just for fun ;)

Sid is totally a sweety pie so long as she is introduced correctly to other dogs.
In fact, yesterday we went to my boyfriends house for a bbq and he has two dogs: A male golden named Gold Digger (Digger for short), and a female Staffy x Rottie mix named Rikki.

Sid has been known to not get along with bully breeds, but yesterday it was 3 female bully mixes and a golden and she did great! She didn't engage in play, that was what Rikki and Jay did, but she did run around a bit and was happy being with the other dogs. We made sure they were all introduced properly and it went great!

It didn't take long but a little effort goes a long way with Sid!
She is very responsive to your voice. Sid has the best recall I have seen yet! I can just say "Sid, come." and she is running over and is wagging her tail at me in seconds flat! Even with distractions!

Sid and Jay have really bonded and it really is too bad Sid has to go back north, but unfortunately we don't have the ability to foster two dogs at the moment :(

This is the two of them this morning :)

Jay sleeping on Sid's feet.

Jaycee has been doing really well as well :) When we went to Adam's and she was playing with Rikki the two of them after a while got a little to intense in play but it was stopped and they relaxed and then allowed to play again and Jay was doing very well for a 9 month old :) She's still much like a puppy in the sense that she wants to play and is still learning to take no for an answer.

That's why I am so proud of Jay for being respectful of Sid. Sid just ignores her antics and Jay has learnt that Sid doesn't really want to play and has been simply enjoying her company :)

Jay is turning out to have medium level energy. She enjoys a 20-30 minute walk with some ball throwing and she will  relax at home until dinner.

She is very adorable when she wakes up because she gets up and then immediately does her "Hello! Good Morning!" Stretch and then follows me to the bathroom and lies down outside the door and waits. She just wants to be where the people are :)

I have been enjoying both of them as fosters, they will both make their future adoptive family very happy :)

Here is a video of some clips from their play date with Digger and Rikki :)


Sid is set to leave at 4pm to head back up north.

Will post more soon!

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Jay's first Day!

The Turtle Gardens bus arrived early this morning so I had to rush to get ready and get out there! As usual it was a blend of people, dogs, and cars, and with a dash of chaos! But Denise and Lisa and other TG volunteers were doing all they could to get everybody organized and on their way with their foster dogs!
Thank you TG volunteers and of course thank you Yvette and Dave for all the work you do to get these dogs into their forever homes!

Jaycee was really good in the car! She paced a little for the first 10 minutes or so but she realized that lying down was easier than standing and then spent the rest of the trip napping. And when we ate in the car she came up sniffed a bit and then when she realized we weren't giving her any she went back to sleep. So far so good!







When we got to my house we took her out and walked her a bit and then took her to the park with a long rope to tie to her leash and a chuck-it, and threw a ball around for her. It was super awesome! Because she is already retrieving and we worked on "Drop" today and she is learning so fast!

We have already even loaded a clicker with her! For those who don't know about clicker training, clicker training is when you have a little handheld plastic thing that makes a "click" noise. And when there is a behaviour you like you click and then treat so the click symbolizes the behaviour you want at the exact moment it happens. Loading a clicker is when you do some clicks and treats in the beginning just for any good behaviour so she learns the click means she did something good and a treat is on its way!
So we did some clicker training with her and she's loving it! She is already looking for treats when she hears the click!

We found out at the park she is much more toy than treat motivated though. You can have a ball and drop treats all around her and she doesn't even flinch! (I accidentally dropped the treat bag)

She loved running after the ball and because of the heat it took only 20 minutes with a water break in between to tucker her out! And I was so proud of her! There were some dogs at the park too who were barking and running around and she still brought the ball back on her own even with all the distractions!









And then there was this lovely dog and his owner who were walking through the park and asked if his dog could play with Jaycee because he was 10 months old and he wants him to socialize with as many dogs as possible. And of course I was thrilled because I was told Jay was very good with other dogs, just not very small dogs and cats. Also, I was looking forward to seeing how Jay played with other dogs. The other dog, Avo, was a young excitable guy and even though Jay was tuckered out she took it in stride and ran around and played with him! She was so gentle with him and was quite quiet and even when Avo tried to mount her Jay just ignored him! The play went so well that he asked when we were coming next as he hoped to see us again so they could play! She was looking so pretty with her white hair reflecting in the sun and her yellow TG "Adopt Me" bandana on :)




Once we got her home she just found a spot on the floor and slept for a couple hours! She was wiped out!



She is super gentle and will even take a treat from your mouth!
So far she only knows "Sit" and we are working on "Drop", "Down", and "Paw".

As mentioned in my earlier post, Jaycee does not get along with cats and small dogs, so she needs a home with no small dogs and cats. And she can get food possessive with bones and other chew toys around other dogs.

Around humans she is not food/water/toy possessive at all!
She has been great with her toys and we watch to make sure she never "kills" any of her toys as we don't want her to practice killing since she has such a high prey drive, but so far she has only chewed the stuffy she chose from the toy box. And loves to chew on her antler :)



And with the dog she played with, she had no problem with the ball around him, no matter who had it. And showed no aggression over the water they shared.

She is currently lying down beside me and I'm pretty sure if we stayed in this room all day she would probably be happy to lay there! She is having little doggy dreams and every once in a while gives a few little kicks in her sleep :)

So far we see her as a "medium" level energy, but she had a lot of exercise and excitement today so we are still waiting to see what her energy level is on an average day.


More big news! Sid's foster family didn't work out unfortunately :( Not sure exactly why just yet, but I will be fostering her for the night along with Jaycee until Sid's flight tomorrow back up to Turtle Gardens.
Unfortunately, I cannot foster Sid longer than that as right now we aren't able to foster two dogs.
However, If there is anyone who would be able to foster Sid is would be awesome! Turtle Gardens has to spend lots of money to have her flown back up to Turtle Gardens - money that is hard to come by! So if anyone is able to foster Sid even foster her temporarily until another foster home becomes available that would help out tremendously! Preferably a breed savy home! Here is Sid's petfinder page
http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/21977201 

We need to know before tomorrow afternoon and Sid's flight!

Please e-mail me at jschwark@shaw.ca if you can! 

Friday, May 11, 2012

Jaycee and Carlin

I am super excited for the Dog Run tomorrow!
I already know which dog I will be fostering, her name is Jaycee!

Jaycee is a 9 month old pit bull mix and she is so adorable! She is definitely a looker!
I have been told she is great with people and dogs, but does not get along with cats, and she tends to get too excited around small dogs - so she needs an adoptive family that does not have any cats or very small dogs. She is just a huge cuddle-bug!


Can't wait to be able to spend some time with her and help her find her forever home!

Here are some picture of Jaycee!





As you can see she is one cute dog! And very loving! I'm sure we can find her forever home!
Can't wait to foster her!

________________________________________________________________


In other news I just got a wonderful update from Carlin's family!

Hi Julia
I hope you had a great trip. So great to hear from you.
Carlin is such a sweetie and we are all bonding quite nicely. Here is a picture of him being lazy with his best buddies nathan and kiko. He is being a star pupil in obedience and is one of the youngest in the class. I love when the instructor picks him to use as an example.  I am a very proud mama of my youngest kid.

We will update again soon and I need to check your blog as well for any new fosters you may be getting.

Take care,
Beth



Here is the picture she sent along with the e-mail. It will surely melt your heart!!

PUPPY- PILE!



















This picture made me smile like crazy! It is so wonderful to see how well Carlin has become a part of the family!

Will post more soon!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I'm Back!

Hello everyone!

I have been away for a while vacationing in sunny Mexico!
It was amazing! I went ATVing and tequila tasting and of course enjoyed my time at the beach!

Now that I'm back it seems so much is happening!
The Dog run is this saturday, and there is also a fundraiser coming up!

First the Dog Run!
I can't wait to have a furry body sharing my home with me again :D I have begun to feel restless without my daily walks! (Maybe I should start chewing shoes? ;P)
I am not yet sure which dog I will be fostering yet but I am super excited and can't wait!

Next is an update from Farley (formerly Scotty)!
He is hard at work with his mom!
I have to say he is looking REALLY good! You can tell he is in total heaven with his family!

Scotty at work with his mom. He is one lucky god to have a mom that works in such a cool place!


And last but certainly not least.... THE FUNDRAISER!

Turtle Gardens, is holding a fundraiser at Schanks in the perfectly central location of Queensborough on Friday June 15th! This is a casual pub night and there will be a 50/50 draw and a small raffle. There may also be some mini golf, virtual golf and pool table contests, depending on interest.

Each ticket is $20 and covers your admittance, a burger (veggie is available), fries, and a beer/pop. $10 from every ticket goes straight to Turtle Gardens!

For those of you who don't know, Turtle Gardens is a no-kill shelter based out of Topely BC and currently has 70 dogs awaiting their chance at a forever home! The dogs who are ready for adoption are fostered in the lower mainland and the island. I am one of those such foster parents :)

Also, as the main home/shelter is located further north, they have a major problem with flooding. Last year the flood did huge damage to the foundation of the house, and this year their basement is already under 4 feet of water! The money raised will help with the rebuild of the shelter in order to keep the 70 wonderful rescue dogs with a roof over their heads!

If you'd like tickets please let me know and I will gladly get one to you!
It is going to be a great night for a great cause! Hope to see many of you there!

For more information you can go to the main page by clicking this link.

http://www.turtlegardens.org/blog/?p=27415


If you are to far away to come to the fundraiser or are busy that night there are still many ways to help!
If you scroll to the bottom of this page you will find a blurb that will list other ways you can help Turtle Gardens! 
Also, there is a link where you can send a donation directly to Turtle Gardens via credit card, or Paypal!  All the money donated goes straight to the care of the dogs! 




These net few months are going to be busy, busy, busy!
Will post more soon!