I cannot believe how long it's been since I've written. But here I am on the busiest day so far at The Barking Lot finally writing. Actually it's because we are so busy that I am writing... we are maxed out for the first time since opening!! Completely maxed out! It's all very exciting! Many of these reservations came in at the last minute, but that's fine. My only concern is that in the future our clients will think it's ok to call at the last minute but may find that we are booked up (good for us, bad for them!).

Since we already have bookings for May, June and even July, I'm thinking that it's time to finish building out the final runs. We are definitely completing the privacy fence to close off my dogs from the kennel dogs. That will surely help - or put an end to - my Sheba running the fence and barking at kennel dogs. Jilly (yes, new pup, an English Shepherd) has even started this nasty habit. So the privacy fence goes in the beginning of next month. And hopefully the purgula (ramada? wooden porch cover?) will go in over the entrance next month as well. This should make dealing with rainy days easier AND should give enough shade to the front reception room to lower the heat pounding in every afternoon (great in winter, horrible in Florida summers).

So things are good and I promise to try to do better with my updates in the future!!

First update of 2010

It's been weeks since I've been able to take a few minutes to write. Things at the Kennel have been crazy for the holidays! No complaints, just explaining why I haven't written. Let's see, what has been happening?

We were just about maxed out for several weeks surrounding the holidays. Some new dogs and some repeat clients - yea! We still have a couple dogs and will continue to have a few through the next few weeks. I'm sure this is normal for boarding kennels and I'm sure most operators worry as much as I do.

On the more personal side of things... Paige is doing well in her forever home. Her new family seem to love her very much. And, as opposed to my house, Paige is obviously allowed on the furniture, which she takes advantage of! Her new friend is a black and white cat (Paige is black and white) and they seem to love to snuggle. She is also buddies with a cow named Moo-moo. One of the other dogs in the house seems to ignore her and the other is fine being her friend. It's wonderful and bittersweet to read all the great reports Chris (her new #1 person) sends. I love hearing how great Paige is doing, but I do miss her.

However... we are getting a little English Shepherd puppy later this month. Julie (who will likely get a new name) is from Louisiana and will come to Florida on the 30th. Can't wait!

School is back in session and my #3 was actually glad to return! What a change since switching schools!! My #2 will be home this semester finishing his last 3 credit hours to graduate in May with his class. He's already applying to grad schools so I suppose this will be the last major period of time he'll live at home :-(

The weather in Florida has been brutal and I just want to know who I can complain to!! I'm willing to put up with humid summers, daily afternoon rains, snakes, and even gators. But the pay off was supposed to be comfortable winters! Hello?!

Wishing all of you the best year ever!!

Paige is going to her forever home

Today Paige is going to her forever home. I am so thrilled for her and so sad for me and my family. But I’ve been saying since she to me that what she needs is a farm with other dogs, some livestock for interest, a quiet household and a family with patience and compassion. And that is what she is getting.

Paige has come so far. In September she was a scared little dog with little understanding of dog-human interaction. I praise the volunteers in MT who got her healthy and who opened the door for me with Paige. I had decided early on I had to treat her like a normal dog but accept her abnormal limitations. I think I got the first part right and underestimated her on the latter. I all but had to dump her out of her crate when she got here. The first few days were intense. Paige HAD to go to the vet for a heartworm test. She HAD to be bathed. These were real challenges. But despite her fear her true disposition came through with small, tentative licks to the face. No eye-to-eye contact, but side glances and licks. What potential!

Over time we progressed to being on the lead all the time to being in the yard without. It took a few days for her to realize that if I called or whistled, chances were she would get fed or get a treat. Thank goodness ES are such chow-hounds! She bonded with my dog Sheba and looked to her for cues. It took days for Paige to take treats from my hand and I almost cried once she did! Once she stopped pacing every time she came into the house things really started to move forward.

Here’s where she is now:

•She’s completely housebroken, but won’t whine to get out… only paces. She understands "wanna go out?".

•Paige comes when called but still has a hard time going through doorways, unless it’s feeding time (hunger trumps fear).

•She still doesn’t like to eat in front of people but will tolerate it. •She’ll settle in right away when she comes in unless there is a stranger (or my husband) in the room.

•She likes to sit by my chair in the kitchen or at work, unless there is too much commotion nearby.

•Early on Paige saw Sheba getting petted and loved and wanted in on that action. At first it was “get a pet and run”. Now she sticks around.

•Paige will run with a pack to play but still doesn’t go for the toy. •She’s a GREAT watch dog, but probably needs to learn to stop barking a bit sooner than she does now. I was just so thrilled to have her bark when appropriate, I’ve left her to her own devises for a while.

•She walks beautifully on the lead (actually came that way) even with other dogs. •She’ll tolerate brushing and nail clipping but, like a lot of dogs, would rather be anywhere else.

•Only recently has Paige taken treats from a non-family member. It took her days to take treats from me, a couple weeks to take them from my eldest daughter and more than a month to take a treat from my youngest. So this stranger thing is a huge leap forward!

•In the evenings after dinner and rest time, she really, really plays! She “gets” the chase game and will puppy bow and then take off racing a round the yard once or twice and come back for more. She’ll also come looking for petting and “butt scratches” then – and woe to you if you stop too soon! I don’t know why in the evenings she does this, but she does.

Paige has been a wonderful addition to my family and she will be missed greatly. Letting her go is so very hard. I’m not sure I’m really cut out for foster work but I will always be grateful for this opportunity and for getting to know and help Paige.

Laura

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you all on Paige, so here goes.

Last weekend we hosted an ES Gathering. The turn out was small but good fun. After the initial barking/warning when People showed up, Paige was great. It seems to have helped that dogs walked in with these Strangers. It also helped that the Strangers were dog savvy people who knew enough to ignore Paige’s distance and didn’t try to make her come over (we’ve had that from time to time… people who are ‘sure’ that they ‘can get Paige to ‘come”).

Throughout the day Paige ran with the pack beautifully. When the pack ran for a ball or a Frisbee, Paige was right with them. She didn’t really go for the toy, but she looked like she knew she was playing. The rest of the time she watched from a bit of a distance. A few weeks ago, when Nancy H. came to visit, Paige started to “hide” behind trees. Basically she kept a tree between herself and Nancy whenever she lay down. Well, she did the same thing at the Gathering. If she was moving, Paige was simply at a distance from the people. To rest she had to have the tree block out the People.

All the dogs got along fine and we only had one small incident involving Sheba which was addressed within seconds so no harm. At the end of the day we had 2 very, very worn out dogs! This really confirms my belief that Paige will do best in a home with other dogs. The more, the better.

The Gathering itself was great and the K9 CPR/First Aid class was great.

On other fronts… the weather has been lousy and Paige is getting brushed almost daily. Between the sand spurs (sticky burrs) and the rain, she’s a mess. But brushing her is easier every time and cutting her nails a few days ago was a breeze! Her ‘sits’ are getting better, all things considered. They are still done only on lead. Her recall is very good, for Paige. That is to say, she’ll come but she won’t, for instance, walk straight into the house with me. Entries are still scary (the exception to this is at dinner time). Even when it’s pouring rain, it’s very hard for Paige to simply come into the house. Coming into the kennel seems to be easier. But she can be at the other end of the property and will come to my whistle every time.

While she’s still barking at my husband, she seemed to settle in with my son faster. My son was home for a week at Thanksgiving. Paige barked and barked as Sheba went through her ritual spaz attack welcoming him home. She was fairly petrified at having another man in the house. At 3 am he got up and that set Paige into furious barking, waking up the entire household. But within a day or two, she was by my chair in the kitchen when he walked in. She was alert, but never barked. And she didn’t move so long as he was more than about 5 feet away. So that was good. If she’s still here in a couple weeks when he gets home (semester ends) it’ll be interesting to see how she reacts.

A couple that has expressed interest in adopting her stopped by yesterday. They are from Maine and are vacationing in Key Largo (how nice!). They seem very nice, but Paige would NOT stop barking at them for the longest time. I had Chris take Paige for a bit of a walk on lead. Once they got moving at an ES clip, Paige settled in. Every time the pace slowed down, Paige started to cower. I think John is a bit concerned. I think neither of them realized how shy Paige would be. They also have met a couple of ESs and could immediately see how much smaller Paige is. But I guess we’ll hear back from them this week and we’ll know what the score is.

There’s no doubt that if and when Paige leaves it’s going to leave a hole in my heart. She’s such a sweet dog. And she tries really hard. I don’t think I’m cut out for fostering.

Brave New Dog

Paige has become quite the watchdog! She's learned from Sheba that all people approaching the Kennel must be greeted with manic barking. I actually don't mind it since it gives me a "heads up" that someone is approaching. And to be fair, it stops once the person enters the lobby - or goes over to pet her. Anyway... a few days or so ago Paige started to bark, too. Not always, and not as loudly, but she was helping. Now Paige will bark on her own! A couple of times it's been at my husband (who Paige is very, very wary of) but not always. She has a nice bark (not too piercing and not raspy). This is not to say that Paige isn't still timid. But every break through is so great.

Yesterday Paige jumped from a standstill up to my eye level (I'm 5'5")! I was carrying meat out to feed her and Sheba which made her very, very happy. But I was still shocked! Later that evening she was still in such a good mood she played "chase" with me! That means that I play-tag her and she runs in a h-u-g-e circle furiously! That went on for 5 or 6 rounds. So while Paige still won't chase a ball, she seems to understand playing.

A few days ago the dogs started to pick up something on their paws that would not brush out. Added to the little green burrs that Paige gets covered in every single day, I couldn't take it. I had to bathe her off. She's still not crazy about the bath but is soooo much better. Sheba came in to check on her (and then got out of the way so as not to encourage a bath for herself!). Turns out the black stuff was soot and ash from some huge tree limbs my husband cut off and burned in the way back of the property. She's nice and clean and under my desk now. I've never been so manic about clean dogs but here in FL the ticks are horrible and I'd rather bath and make sure the dogs are tick-less than just treat with toxins. I do treat them with a preventative, but I would need to apply it twice as often it to make sure it was working.

Another break through with Paige is that for about 10 minutes she ate out of my hand. I have some kibble that was given to us as a sample for the Kennel. I don't feed kibble to my dogs so the only time it gets used here is if a boarding dog has run out of food during its stay. So I opened it up. Both dogs loved it! And it kept Paige at my side. These are the treats I'm going to use for the next few days. I hate feeding kibble, but I'm going to look at it like Halloween candy - not great for you, but it won't kill you once in a while!

Last night was had some excitement: the dogs were out in the yard for "last call". Sheba started barking furiously. I could see Paige was running between Sheba and the back door when I looked out. I went out and realized that they were after some critter in the bushes by the pool. They came in right away as it was too dark to see anything. I went out to the pool area after just to see (who knows why) and there was a SNAKE! I hate snakes. I only got a quick glance. When I looked it up it was one of 2 possibilities. Either poisonous or not. Great. I think it's the non-poisonous one since it was out at night and the explanation said this snake was active at night. I hope so. When I head into the house for lunch I'm going to have a "look-see" and then again tonight. Actually, tonight I'll have my husband look. He's the one who's going to have to kill it anyway! Yuck. I wish I could teach these dogs to signal a snake but leave it alone. But that would require working with a snake, no?

Well, off the find the snake!

Moving right along...

These have been a very hectic few days. My older daughter, who works for me in the Boarding Kennel, has been out of town with my younger girl so I’ve been here holding down the fort on my own. We don’t have so many dogs in that it was impossible, but we do have this little Maltese who is – I kid you not – 22 years old! I thought Chrissy was dying on me Friday and Saturday when she stopped eating (always on the weekend). Which was all sorts of fun. But she’s still here. Anyway, now that I’ve got a few moments I’ll try to catch up here.

Paige is making great strides and becoming more balanced everyday – even when that means misbehaving. On Friday, after she was fed, she actually made her way into the trash!! There was a little bit of kibble in there from one of the kennel dogs. I was speechless – for a few seconds. Then, of course she got corrected. I have found this to be a little difficult, that is, finding the right balance between a correction and not coming down too hard. (You see, I’m a German Shepherd Dog person for so long that transitioning to Rini was an education and even MORE so for Paige). Any way, after the fact I thought that as unacceptable as it was… misbehaving (or at least testing the waters) was not a bad thing.

Then on Saturday a couple looking to adopt an ES rescue stopped by. They are true dog lovers and have a BC, Jessie, now. They lost a second dog about a year ago. Paige kept her distance but stayed with the group, albeit on the fringe. I could tell she was thrilled when the “strangers” left. She’s so great with other dogs, though. This Jessie evidently does not like other females (according to the owners). Well, there was no sign of that with Paige. Not a whole lot of interaction going on, but a good exchange of butt-sniffing introductions did take place. I don’t know if they are really interested in Paige. I guess we’ll see.

We started a little obedience training finally. I’ve really cut her a lot of slack, but probably shouldn’t have. She’s such a basically good dog, it hasn’t seemed imperative. But I think everything will move forward better once she has some basic commands under her belt. On the lead, and off, she’ll come for a treat. Getting her to come straight on and take (not snatch) a treat is the challenge. We also worked on “sit” a little bit. THAT was a challenge in that I had one hand on the lead, one hand with a treat and no hand left to ease her bottom down. Paige succeeded twice – yeah! We’ll try again today now that my girls are back and one of them can hold the lead while we work. Once I can get her to sit I’m going to work on the recall/out send exercise that Heather H. recommends. It looks brilliant.

Overall Paige improves every day. On Sunday she walked in and out of the house AND the kennel right with me. No hesitation, no lead, no need to leave the doors open and wait for her to skulk in. I was thrilled! It didn’t happen every time but it happened several times. She’s barking more; “playing” more (even if it’s only with me and not Sheba who is d-y-i-n-g to play!). She even bolted out the gate once which petrified me for a few seconds until I realized she just wanted to get into the Kennel and went straight to the front door and waited. Walked right in after I opened up! Yeah!!

Well, it’s nail trimming day so I guess I should round up both Paige and Sheba for that. Paige could use a good brushing after this weekend as well.

Paige update, mostly

It’s been a few days since I last blogged. And there have been some interesting changes.

First of all, Paige has hit that “magical” 3 week mark. There have been great improvements but also a few set backs. I’ve been greeted for 2 mornings now with a “interesting” gift from Paige. Yesterday morning I wrote it off as a touch of diarrhea. Paige gets fed a raw diet and on days with little bone, it’s not uncommon for a dog to have loose stools. But I would have appreciated and whine to go out. Today there was no such excuse. So we might start crate training today.

On the other hand… the raw diet has done AMAZING things for her teeth and gums. When Paige first arrived her teeth were in horrible shape. Even the vet noted how much tarter there was for such a young dog. They were very, very brown. I’m happy to report that they are REALLY pearly white now! And her breath is better.

The other set back is Paige growling at people. It started once towards my husband. While I corrected, her I wrote it off as just being startled. It’s more than that. But only happens in the evenings. Not in the yard, but in the house and only in the evenings. She always gets a severe verbal correction and snap... but she tries to get the last word in (but doesn’t).

Paige is also bold enough now to take food from Sheba. Or tries to. Luckily for Paige, Sheba is very nonchalant about most things, including food. So I usually have to call her off. I don’t think Paige realizes that food is not rationed here, who knows if she ever will trust that. But Paige does have her likes and dislikes. She’s not crazy about raw eggs. Sheba loves them but Paige will only eat the insides. She completely leaves the shells – which is fine by Sheba who LOVES the shells.

Paige has started to run the fence (tail up and even barking once in a while) along side Sheba when there’s a Boarding dog out in the play yard – who is a fence runner. For the past few days it was Maggie (a husky mix) who thinks running the fence with Sheba is the best thing since sliced bread! Then she discovered Paige and by running at Paige (who has since learned that the fence is her friend) she can get Sheba really riled up! And the three of them are then off!

There’s family near here looking for an ES. I invited them over this weekend (due to illness in my home, we had to cancel this past weekend). Who knows? Maybe they’ll fall for Paige. I’m glad I’m not responsible for finding Paige her forever home. I’d be horrible at it! Too, too critical.

This weekend it’s just me and my DH – our son is still at school and both girls are headed out of town together. I’ve got Boarding dogs so I’m stuck on property. Ah well, I guess I should look at it as a “stay-cation”.

Laura