Day Three

Caspian Day 3

Caspian has had what I might call a luxury day at Great Dog today! He was up early for breakfast and a romp with his daycare buddies. At 9AM his friend/trainer Carolin arrived to provide some training, exercise and enrichment activities. They started out with a walk in the surrounding neighborhood; showing off his newly achieved loose leash walking skills as he calmly walked with Carolin. We have a novel training opportunity in our neighborhood as there is a full-size bronze statue of a sitting German Shepherd in the back yard around the corner. It is very life-like, but…well it doesn’t move…it’s a statue. It is visible from the sidewalk and generally takes every dog that sees it by surprise on first encounter. Caspian was no different; Carolin reported that he noticed the statue looked at it several times, got a bit worried, looked up at her for support and then barked. It was a typical reaction and a good training opportunity. Carolin helped him regroup by requesting him to sit and accept treats from her. She used a happy “no big deal” attitude and voice and Caspian recovered quickly. Several hours later I walked him past the same yard, he slowed to look for the statue, observed it, looked at him, looked back at the statue and just kept right on walking calmly by! Good dog, Caspian! This is evidence that he is a fast and competent learner. On his first walk of the day he encountered sometime novel and a tad bit frightening. On the second walk he remembered that he had been offered calm support by his human companion resulting in a sense that he has in a safe zone. On his second trip past the statue he was able to assess the situation, remember that it caused him no harm and move on to another adventure. As a canine educator I am always excited when a dog is able to take a novel situation, get support from a human partner to learn how to handle the novelty and better yet, be able to apply that learning the next time the same situation happens. This is a sign of a dog that is capable of learning, assessing and adjusting to unusual situations without making negative behavior choices. Caspian, what a dog!

His afternoon was dedicated to luxury lounging. He was so tired on the daycare floor that a staff member noticed that he was actually falling asleep while standing up! This is a frequent experience for dogs new to the daycare routine. They enjoy being able to play and romp with so many dogs with frequency that they need to learn to pace the activity. They are also a lot like little kids who don’t want to take a nap because they might miss something. But, the staff knows best and they knew he needed a nap. He was invited to the Concierge Lounge where our clients and their dogs can sit in a quite space to book daycare, grooming, training, etc. There is a choice of soft beds; one is a wicker basket that fits our JRT and Cairn Terrier staff members with a little room for leg stretching. Caspian decided that the basket was the place to nap so he curled up into the tightest ball of a brindle dog that I have ever seen and with his head hanging a bit over the edge he took a nap. I can report with confidence that Caspian can snore like a pro! ;-) with some very funny little gurgles mixed in for our staff’s entertainment. He slept all afternoon.

Now he just bounced in with one of our other canine educators who has been working with him outside watching dogs come and go so he can work on his ability to be polite when other dogs are approaching him. He was a perfect gentleman until his new best friend walked by on his way home and he just had to bark a farewell. He was pretty determined to have his say, but he did respond to a distraction and once again settled into a calm sit and watch.

He is still trying to figure out how to complete the “down” skill. He is not eager to put his tummy on the floor and he likes to keep his bum in the air with his tail wagging. Humm…maybe because we all laugh at him because he is so darn cute-he thinks it is more fun to do his version of “down”. Well, all I can say about that is that we are pretty dog-gone good trainers here, but if YOU saw Caspian’s version of “down” you would be laughing and encouraging the behavior too! I have decided to teach him “bow” for the little maneuver that is his version of “down” and re-visit “down-the real one” in a few days.

Please think about adopting this amazing dog. He is inspiring everyone here. More tomorrow…

Day Two

Caspian is a beautiful brindle Pit Bull waiting for his forever home. He is eager to learn, has a cheerful and optimistic outlook on life, enjoys the company of dogs and people. Below journals his adventures at Great Dog.

Day Two 5/29/08 by Judi Anderson-Wright , MA, CPDT

Today was his first experience welcoming the daycare dogs into the play space as they all start arriving at 7am. He was curious about the gang as they came streaming in, but welcomed them happily. I arrived and watched him play for 10 min. before he saw me and greeted me with a wide grin and a wildly wagging tail.

He has a rowdy play style that could be misinterpreted, because he likes to make growly noise and uses his paws to box, but it is all friendly, exuberant ruff and tumble big boy play. Anyone interested in adopting him should be educated that he is really high energy, uses his voice and boxes a bit.

He is feeling good and is showing no signs of anxiety or stress. He did get a bit too exuberant and just could not keep from humping a dog, but he was called off and realized it was rude or that the very least too much!

He is very interested in a puppy (already 80+ lbs. Great Dane) He will continue to grow in his confidence so we are making sure that he doesn’t get too rowdy too soon and over step his bounds with the long time senior dogs. I am sure that he will learn quickly and be respectful of his new found friends.

Just finished a training walk on his wonder walker harness, and he was perfect on lead. He learned to sit upon request at each street corner prior to crossing. Returned for inside training to work on general obedience skills. First I assessed him for food aggression, possessiveness, etc. no problems so far.

Next he met my own Jack Russel Terrier, who had to give his “paws up or paws down” impression of Caspian. The meet and greet was doggie text book perfect, and they quickly began a round of chase me-chase you. Both accepted treats in the presence of each other and both waited patiently while the other received verbal attention and a treat. All very good news for Caspian.

He is quickly exceeding my expectations, which were pretty high already having observed him in our class at SAS over the past few weeks.

I introduced him to the clicker today, which he found to be really motivating. He will be trained in both clicker mode and traditional positive lure-reward techniques to maximize learning and adoptability.

Caspian has a rock solid “watch me” and “sit” as of today’s session. He is also showing a very strong recall, but can be distracted away from the recall by noise, movement, etc. He has an emerging down, gets it all down BUT the bottom-very cute, but not a down yet. We will work on that more. Introduced “wait at the door” and he picked up on that very fast.

He is now out with a dog walker working on leash skills and burning off some steam. Final words on Caspian-He is a fabulous dog!

Please visit his Petfinder page to find out how to meet Caspian. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10857696

Day One

Caspian is a beautiful brindle Pit Bull waiting for his forever home. He is eager to learn, has a cheerful and optimistic outlook on life, enjoys the company of dogs and people. Below journals his adventures at Great Dog.

Day One- 5/28/08 by Judi Anderson-Wright, MA, CPDT

After picking up a very excited Caspian, our first challenge was helping to believe that my small VW bug was an appropriate mode of transportation for him. He was not too sure about the closing down of the hatchback closing. Once I convinced him that the blanket in the back was budding with magically appearing treats he decided to give it a rest and was content to view the scenery from Seattle Animal Shelter to Great Dog in a happy sense of anticipation.

Upon arrival at Great Dog he was met by several grooming and retail shoppe staff members at the front door bearing treats of welcome. Not a second of hesitation from him, he walked in and met the staff with tail wagging and a huge smile on his face. He was confident, but not ever rude, and very curious about the new surroundings. He met our daycare manager who immediately took him for a run around the neighborhood sporting his new blue wonder walker harness and he didn’t pull a single step! It was a good match, Caspian has mega energy and Chris is a mega long-legged runner-perfect!

Next, introduction to the daycare dogs and staff. We provided him a side run to meet single dogs from the pack one at a time, beginning with dogs from the pack who are accepting, calm, and lower status dogs in the group. Caspian was appropriate, used excellent canine communication, never a rude moment with any of the “easy dogs”.

Next we introduced male dogs with more status and stronger attitudes. Once again Caspian handled himself perfectly-showing great meet and greet behaviors, calming signals and very little signs of stress. He was actually having fun being with other well socialized and respectful dogs. It was delightful to see him enjoying the company of other dogs.

Finally we introduced him to the high status dogs; the “big boys” who have been around for 3-5+ years and who have grown up here and who think that they run the show, and actually they do! We have one Dobie, who we use as the real indicator of how well a new dog will be accepted into the group. It went great! The Dobie and Caspian met and then were pretty much indifferent to each other (exactly what we wanted!)

Without more fanfare I walked Caspian onto the daycare floor where he was initially greeted by 20+ dogs. This is generally the most difficult for any new dog as they are surrounded by the gang, all sniffing and whirling around tail to back end. It can put the most confident dog into a moment of either over stimulation or over whelmed stress. Caspian handled it with calm resolve, and trotted off to explore his surrounds, with a gaggle of dogs right behind, all wanting to meet the new guy.

He settled in quickly, and took notice of dogs who wanted to play with him. He responded with happy play bows, a few barks that sounded like “Wooooo Hooo!!!” He played, ran and explored with his new buddies.

Later in the evening he met the overnight crew, had dinner and settled in on a comfy couch to sleep for the night. He only had 5 overnight dogs to snuggle with, so it was a mellow night. He slept all night, woke up ready for breakfast, and another day in training.

Please visit his Petfinder page to find out how to meet Caspian. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10857696

Introducing Caspian

I'm a handsome two year old neutered Pit Bull who's a complete sweetheart! I spent the first part of my life in less-than-glamorous surroundings (can you believe that I was left tied to a porch?), but that has not dampened my enthusiasm and love for people. I'm now waiting for my forever home at the Seattle Animal Shelter. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10857696

It didn't take the staff and volunteers at the shelter very long to realize my potential. I was hand selected by Judi Anderson-Wright, co-owner of Great Dog to come spend a few weeks with them at their doggie day care and training facility. Judi and the team at Great Dog have been helping me and my fellow kennel mates at the Shelter for the past few weeks, and they immediately saw how smart I was and how quickly I picked up on training.

So now here I am at Great Dog and I'm lovin' it! Judi is keeping a daily journal of my progress, so we thought it would be great to share it with all of you. Enjoy!

Please visit his Petfinder page to find out how to meet Caspian. http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10857696