So here's how sleeping on the aerobed is panning out...

Plus having to take Annie out three times because she still has the runs.:loco:

Cfrance, been there, good luck.

I was very worried about Z in this storm, but this is her at 1:35... Olympic sleeper :). I am quite surprised ...

Aww, what a trooper!

Your writing reminds me of Mitch Albom's book "Tuesdays with Morrie". Short, to-the-point, and leaves you wanting more. Thank you.

Z getting some zzzzs.

Amazing book... thank you so much, but my writing is not that :D

This is an issue with photo bucket they went to a subscription program.

Thank you for the info. I was oblivious to Photobucket doing this. Now that know and I read about online, it sure p*ssed a lot of folks off.

It seems when your Photobucket account gets a certain number of views they want $399 per year for a different kind of account for Third Part Hosting. Happened to me a few months ago. Your Photobucket account must be popular though.

Z's First Class
 

I took Z to her first obedience class yesterday. I was a little apprehensive as I didn’t know how many dogs would be there or how she would react. I arrived early and waited till 11 when the class was to begin. But no one showed. After another few minutes people were starting to leave, but then a trainer came out and said they would be starting late due to their being involved with assisting those in Puerto Rico. As the trainer approached the car, Z used her big girl voice and barked at him as he neared. That was a first for us both, though I never had been in the car with Z and waited for any period of time, usually it is in the car, drive to where we are going and out of the car.

So now class was to start and the trainer who was teaching the class just happened to be one who had helped Z before when she was at the SPCA. Just so he would be aware, I told him I was not sure how she would react to the other dogs as she sometimes barks when we are on walks.

So there were 5 dogs in total, 3 big shepherds, 1 golden and Z. We were told to have our dogs sit next to us as we sat in a chair and were then instructed to individually walk our dogs around the other dogs to see their reactions. Z did pretty good, not one bark or wayward glance. Next, they were to sit, down and stay on command. Z did fine on the sit, a little slow on the down, but did it, and I forgot to tell her to stay. She still needs work on these commands but in my opinion did the best of all the dogs.

Next, the trainer took Z and led her around to the other dogs close enough for them to sniff but no contact and she did fine, then he had her sit in front of each dog to see their reactions. I took a deep breath to calm myself and watched with anticipation. To all but one dog Z sat and turned her head away from the dog. The trainer said that was her way of saying, “I pose no threat and don’t want to fight”. I was excited. However, she came to Boris, a nice looking, stud of a shepherd, and actually looked at him and he looked at her; but not in a confrontational way. And the trainer said that Boris had great energy and that is why Z looked at him. I think she just liked him!

He said we found out one thing about Z today, she is not aggressive. If she acts out when meeting another dog it is more than likely the other dog sending nervous or excited energy and that is why she acts out. I was extremely happy to hear this!

Z came home and was so relaxed. My husband even commented on how relaxed she was.

All in all it was a good day for Z. I can’t wait to see what next week’s class is like.

P.S. Z was asleep on her bed by 8PM last nite!

It Just Bets Better
 

Great account! It sounds like this will be a good experience for Z. Does this trainer give classes to the general public, or does he only work through the shelter?

Thank you for sharing your experiences as they are helpful, yet entertaining! Sounds like Z is giving you an enjoyable time.

I took her to Boondocks K-9 Search and Rescue. It is a free class offered to the public on Saturdays at 11AM. You just have to show up at their location in Sumterville.

This Week's Adventure with Z
 

This week’s adventure started with our normal 4pm walk around the neighborhood to the post office and back through the neighborhood.

Everything was going fine and the walk was uneventful until…..we were going to cross the street to walk our final neighborhood home when I noticed a woman walking two dogs crossing the street heading in the same direction we were going. She had a small poodle and a collie. So to keep things calm I waited a little and held back giving them space for their walk.

As we cross the street to continue the walk I noticed the woman was slowing down and her dogs then spotted us and the poodle barked. Z does not like to be barked at so she barked back. I gave her my best Cesar “tsch” to correct her and said with me and we continued on.

The woman next stops at her house and walks to the garage with her dogs. So I decided they must be in the house or at least under control and continued to walk past. Then the little poodle comes racing out of the garage to the edge of his lawn barking away. Z starts to bark but I correct her and move forward to the opposite side of the street. The poodle, which is dragging its leash, is now coming into the street and running towards Z and barking. The woman tries to catch the poodle unsuccessfully, apologizing. I stopped so that she could catch the dog as it is a street well-traveled and did not want the dog to get run over.

I have now shortened the leash on Z and I noticed her hair on her back is rising up. And now to complicate things the collie comes charging out at Z from her backside. Z is being patient much to my surprise. I am holding on to her while a poodle is barking at her face and a collie is charging up from behind. I told the woman this was not good as Z was scared. She apologized and gathered her two dogs and Z and I proceed on our walk home.

I praised Z telling her she did well. As it could have been very ugly with the two dogs if Z had decided to stand her ground instead of being good.

Had you not given Z such good training, it might have ended differently. Good job! Nice that the owner of the two dogs realized the error and apologized. Sometimes dog owners get overly defensive, even if they're in the wrong.

Way to go, Z! And goldendog.:BigApplause:

I ascertain from both of all your posts that Z is on a fairly regimented schedule of walks and training. So hard to be consistent, but you two are very good at it. And I suspect it is doing Z well.

Good dog. Good dog. Whew!

Not really regimented, likely comes across that was because we post examples.

I do like to work with her, but never scheduled and not that often. That said, life offers training opportunities all of the time. An example is every time I want to head out to garage she would follow. From day one we worked on teaching her she cannot follow out of the house without being invited. Now when I head to garage, she waits at threshold 90% of the time :)

A tough one we try periodically is greeting people at the front door. If someone knocks or rings bell she barks, this is good. What we work on is once we approach the door, we claim the door, we work with her to understand we own the door and whoever comes in. It is not until she is invited she can greet the guests. It is good to have friendly guests as it can take minutes until she calms down :) This is a very hard exercise for all of us, but if you do not get frustrated in can be fun to see her grow albeit slowly

We try to do all of this without talking, no names, no 'NO', , no "Stay', just by blocking and claiming and waiting for her to relax...

No!! I get him first, for the door thing. Ours doesn't bark when the bell rings or someone knocks, but no amount of blocking the door or the dog will keep him from "the greet." Oh, but there's time... he's only 10.

Easy now... I think you missed a word in my post... TRY.

I am as close to being a professional dog trainer as to being a professional tour golfer. That is not quite accurate, one could be in my reach with training and work :read:

Z and us have not mastered any of these, but it is fun to try...

Oh, rats! I thought you had the magic dog-at-door wand.:D

You obviously get first prize for having mastered the art of staying calm.
And for your patience and consistency. :eclipsee_gold_cup:

Sad day... but a poop story
 

I am up in MA for a long weekend; goodness I love the fall in MA but that is a different subject. MY lovely wife had to put down our cat today in my absence. It was a wonderful cat, but old. For reasons I cannot explain cats even nice ones do not attach to my heart like a dog, but I felt so bad for my wife. Not sure what Z will think about her missing ‘friend’ .... time will tell...I doubt it will be an issue…

New subject… Z poop story... we need another poop story right :)? This is just another example of how good this dog is...anyone would be lucky to have her.

Z is becoming part of our home for sure, she now sleeps in my office while I am working. This is new in the past month’ish. One day as I am working; in fact on a conference call, she leaves the office. In thirty seconds she comes back and walks around my legs then lays down behind my chair. Thirty seconds later she is up again and leaves the office and thirty seconds later she is back… This repeats three times…

It is at this point this dum*ss realizes this is not normal and I figure she is trying to tell me ‘we’ need to go out. I grab a leash and she is chomping at the bit. Chomping at the bit or not I still make her go out the door behind me. We get to the back yard and :censored:. Not to be too specific, but no bag would help, this required a hose.

This happened one more time that afternoon.

How a dog that we no little of her history would fight that hard to hold it is just another reason this is a special dog for some wonderful people…

I think the time has come to change this thread from a "foster dog" to "My four-legged son!"

Z os not only a wonder , but simply wonderful! :spoken:

What happened with our foster, Annie the night Irma was approaching: We'd not had her very long, but long enough to know she was housebroken. At the time she was a very nervous dog, paced frequently and set to barking for seemingly no good reason, no matter how recently she had been taken out. I put her on a leash to restrict her pacing that Irma night, and sat on the floor with her, allowing her only the length of the leash. To be honest, I didn't want to go out in that wind and rain. She paced and paced, and finally ruined a throw rug.

Stupid me. I once read a book about a golden guide dog who had to be retired and so was given to a noted mystery author. At the time, they told him, "If this dog does anything wrong, it will be your fault." They had company over one evening, ignored the dog when she kept coming up to the author, until she finally peed in a corner. As they were chastising the dog and cleaning up, the author remembered the comment of the guide dog people and felt terrible.

I too felt terrible for Annie, although I didn't chastise her. My penance was taking her out in the storm four more times during the night. I had to throw the rug out. I think you are faster at the switch than I, ajbrown.

Annie is over the runs (took a week and a trip to the emergency vet day after the storm because everything else was closed). She has also become less anxious the longer she is with us. However, I'm not sure I've become any more perceptive!

Again, not trying to hijack your thread, but thought you might be interested in a similar story with a less fortunate outcome. :-(

Your post is anything but a hijack, it adds to the thread IMO. The more experiences the merrier...

We cannot do it anymore...
 

Z has come a long way, but still:

• barks at other dogs occasionally
• pulls at the leash on occasion
• wants to eat anoles
• cannot always remain calm when folks come to the door
• is not the brightest dog we have had ( to be fair, Caly set the bar pretty high)

Linda and I finally realize we are not doing the girl any good with our foster care and have decided to give up. Do not be too disappointing, it was harder that we thought.

As of today, she is now part of our pack. There is no way we could let her go anywhere else. She is so sweet it makes me smile every time I see her.

We are foster flunkies and pretty happy about it.

Z will now be referred to as K if I post more about her.

You are keeping her!! YAY! Double, triple YAY!

There have been so many times when I had to keep myself from typing, “Hey! That dog adores you and wants so much to please you! Please, please keep her.”

Thanks for the happily ever after tale/tail! :)

OMG! I thought you meant you were giving her back, and I was prepared to say how good you should feel about your help and how hard you tried. But this is the greatest failure ever!

So I suspect she is a wonderful coffee liqueur, and you and your wife are saints.:a040:

I have always liked you to pieces AJ. Now I like you and Linda even more.

Wishing you continued happiness.

I am 100% delighted that she is a permanent family member!

Good for you and Linda. Good for Miss K. All is right with the world.

That is such a great thing to hear. :a040:

How wonderful! Nothing better than being a foster failure! Happy...Happy!!