Thought I'd give everyone an update on how the dogs are doing! It's long, b/c I'm incapable of writing a short post apparently.
I have a fractured tibia at the moment, so I can't really walk the dogs (I've tried a couple of times; bad idea), which is frustrating. Luc is probably getting out-of-shape, my bf has taken him on a run, but b/c of the heat recently Luc with his black fur would have to go out earlier than the bf does on weekends, and we don't live near each other, so it's not like they can just pop out. Luc is doing well though - handling all these recent thunderstorms calmly, which I'm SO proud of
Teagan is actually suffering the most from the lack of exercise….she may have hip dysplasia, but she needs exercise, or she goes a little stir crazy - just a wee bit. I've picked up the training w/her to try to wear her out mentally but it's not enough. So, I decided that we would start to do agility for fun in the backyard (just using whatever is there). So far, she is loving it! Her hips are doing so much better - before I had to stop activity, she'd started doing short runs w/me - super short, like 1k to 1mile - and was doing really well. Last night I taught her to jump in the backyard using an overturned canoe - she did great!!! Picked it up pretty fast - she wasn't perfect, sometimes she'd push off the canoe, but she got better as we kept on doing it and I'm going to make sure for now until she's got the clear jumps down to keep her to the narrower parts of the bow and stern. I'm also thinking that it will be worthwhile making a trip to Home Depot and building some 'proper' agility stuff for the backyard, especially for jumps (that will knock off) so I can work w/her on those. I wish we had a playground near us! She's also being quite good at behaving if other dogs are nearby, except if I'm distracted....so I just always keep my attention 'ON' with her, which isn't at all a bad thing to be doing anyways. But consistent expectations, consistent expectations, and oh yeah...more consistent expectations - are really working with her. I'm proud of her.
And then there is the new addition to my family - I've been interested in getting a Mal and doing FR for awhile (I didn't think there was anyone around Toronto who trained it, but thanks to another board I found someone who did through some people who train there and have (half-siblings?) of Sasha's. Anyways, Geoff has been very helpful for when I was looking at breeders, and I've actually been out to watch a couple of training sessions - near Toronto and w/Geoff in Montreal - as well as visiting the breeder (I was speaking to them for a few months) and getting to watch part of the trial a few weeks ago.
However, I realized that I would have to buy a car to get a Mal and train FR with it, as with a Mal I wouldn't be comfortable taking it out to train less than 1X/week. I'm not going to be getting a car for 4 years at least, but did want a 3rd dog, so when I was doing some work for a new Husky rescue here, I ended up talking to a woman there about a litter of puppies she had - I watched some video of the pups, and really liked one - he was playful, but not pushy, reacted fine if 'beaten' in a game, just seemed to have a really nice personality that would mesh well w/Luc and Teagan - I went to meet them and was really impressed with him, so adopted him when he was 3 weeks old and made arrangements to take him home around 8 weeks, so that he could stay w/Mom for as long as possible. His Mom is a lab/husky/maybe beagle cross, and Dad is unknown.
Unfortunately - the rescue took him to get his first set of shots and to be dewormed at 6.5 weeks, and then called me later that day asking me to take him right then ('asking') as the foster home had intaked some more adult foster dogs (already had 2 adults, plus the Mother of my pup's litter, which was 10 puppies) and another litter of puppies and 'cross-contamination was a concern'. My pup's Mom had been adopted, and I was told that the foster home was only able to look in on my pup 2X/day. I was going away the next weekend, but made the decision to take my pup then as I didn't feel the foster home was able to provide a suitable environment any longer. I was not impressed. Happily, my brother has moved into the basement apartment of my house and petsat wonderfully for all the animals while I was away.
So, my pup's name is Neb (short for Nebekenezzer) and he turns 9 weeks old tomorrow. So far, he's settling in really well - Teagan just adores him, which I suspected she would (she sits there with what I can only describe as a blissful expression while he climbs over her face) - of course I supervise all puppy/adult interactions, and make sure that Luc and Teagan always are able to get away from him if they want to. Luc was a bit scared/intimidated by Neb at first (which I also suspected might occur….we're talking about a dog that had a fear reaction to a dragonfly and wouldn't walk past it when I first got him), but has figured out that Neb likes to play, so he and Neb play together in Luc's special way (he's a weird player, what can I say) and Luc thinks Neb is the greatest. It appears the feeling is mutual
(I'm also making sure that Luc gets all of his alone time with me, just like normal.)
I've started taking Neb places to socialize him and he's doing well, and I'm learning about how I want him socialized and improving myself. It occurred to me that this is a golden opportunity to learn about how people raise sport dogs, and to learn how to build drive and confidence in a puppy, so I've been tugging w/Neb since I got him - and he's doing great! He's a little land shark, he's ALWAYS tugging something. Rather than yelp, I am just redirecting him if he bites inappropriately (flesh or clothing) and so far, so good. I think he has a decent grip for a pup his age - for about a week and a bit now I've been able to lift him off the ground w/the sock/tug toy (he's only just getting big enough for the puppy tug), although I generally don't do that as I think it's probably not good for his teeth. He seems to be a confident pup - absolutely fine meeting strangers (wiggle butt, actually), has dealt with buses, cars, HUGE thunderstorms, vaccuum cleaners, all in stride.
I've started to get a few comments that Neb looks like his dad is a breed that is subject to BSL here in Ontario….which I obviously had no idea of when I adopted him (Neb and his Mom/litter were brought up from the States). I can see that he does, and I've gone online and asked some people involved w/the breed and gotten split answers, though it is true he's a bit young to really tell. Personally, I love that breed, so it doesn't bother me except that it affects Neb's safety, so if anyone asks, any of those physical characteristics are due to the lab in him. His Mom was about 30lbs (a bit underweight while nursing) and I'm guessing Neb will be between 30-40lbs.
I also thought, since I'm trying to learn about building drive and training using drive, maybe I could learn a bit about FR now so I'll be that much more experienced/prepared for when I do eventually get a Mal. I can't go out weekly to FR training (the whole car thing), but I contacted the trainer and he said he was happy for me and Neb to go out to the FR training sessions when we could (regularly, but not weekly) - I've already met some of the people we'd be training w/stay in touch w/one of them via email) - I was thinking we could just work on FR obedience and some of the jumps etc, but the trainer said not to rule out the rest of it until we see what Neb's got. I'm not sure, I'm keeping in mind he's an off-breed (though his dad's possible breed does compete) but I think it will be a great learning experience and a great bonding experience for us, regardless of how far we do or do not go.
Otherwise....all the dogs are coming camping w/us at the end of the month - we'll be doing some long-distance bushwacking which should be fun - and Neb is coming on a 5.5 day canoe trip to Temagami in mid-July (my friend and I each have 2 adult dogs, and 4 adult dogs, one of which is Teagan, aren't going w/2 adult humans in a canoe, so all the big dogs stay at home, but Neb will be 11.5, 12 weeks old, so he's coming w/us). Neb already has his lifejacket! Otherwise, the only trip we're doing for sure is a 10-day backpack after the bf's half-ironman in September, which of course the dogs are coming on. And when Neb gets old enough, he'll be a runner like Luc. I'm being very careful now to keep his exercise mostly to non-structured play in the yard (though he is learning about leashes) since I don't want him over-exercised. In that sense, the fractured tibia comes in handy.
So I'm excited to get out to FR training w/Neb - right now I'm continuing to work on tugging w/him, and we've started on 'sit' and 'come' (he's not very consistent, but at this age I'm not really worried about that). On the advice of the FR trainer, I started working w/him on focusing on me/my eyes. I realized this morning I need to make sure he's good and tired before I start doing that!
Anyways, that's our update!
Teagan!
Update from the Mullen household
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