SOMETIMES TREATS JUST AREN'T ENOUGH

Who would have thought that a dog would notice the small opening between the floor and the elevator? Most of our dogs have never given a thought to that opening but to this dog, not only did he notice the opening, he had severe misgivings about crossing over it. Just look at what his body language is telling us.

He considered the treat lures that were offered, but to him, the value of those treats (which he had thoroughly enjoyed just moments ago out in our shelter park) were not enough to overcome his fear of making it over that threshold safely.

So we covered the threat, a very simple solution to a very real problem for our buddy, and it worked for him. His body language in the second photo is telling us that it's not a done deal for him, but he succeeded. Bigtime. That's what this scenario was about - giving the dog control over his environment and giving him an opportunity for success. Kudoes to our brave buddy.

No pushing the dog , no dragging the dog with the leash, no carrying the dog, no loud voice telling him it's ok when he knows perfectly well that it's not, all of which would have exacerbated his fear and done nothing to change it. We created the beginning of a positive emotional response to this particular fear. Each small success leads to a more confident dog. Not to mention the trust factor that we're establishing

So, thanks, honeybunch, for giving us yet another tool to work with youse guys. (No, I'm not from the Bronx.)

BANJO DECIDES TO JOIN THE WORLD

Meet Banjo. We believe that he hails from the ancient Isles of Rivatelah, the second dog from there whom we have been fortunate enough to have encountered here at GADAB. Although the people of Rivatelah are long gone, the breed has always been admired for their prowess in the art of lap snuggling and their outstanding ability to capture hearts.

Unlike The Captain, our first Rivatelahan, it took Banjo some time to get used to us. We used the tried and true techniques that we use with all our, "I don't really want to bite you, so please stay away from me" signals that we get from our fearful buddies. But once he decided to come around, he exhibited traits that Rivatelahan Snuggle Terriers were known for, although he is clearly a mix. What really got to us was his outstanding underbite. If you are a sucker for a good underbite, like I am, this guy could win prizes all over the world just for that. He shines as well in many other important ways, perhaps the most delightful being his cheerful demeanor. He loves playing outdoors with us, truly a people loving dog.

As we noted before with The Captain, not much is known today about the Isles of Rivatelah. They were thought to have been in the Irish Sea between Ireland and England. The scant artifacts that the Rivatelahans have left include many images and partial sculptures of dogs resembling the Snuggle Terrier in loving positions with human companions, indicating a profound intimacy between the two species.

Banjo lives now in a foster home with Grateful Dogs Rescue. His background and the wonderful times we had with him lead us to believe that his forever home isn't too far off in the future.

SEEN ANY FLYING PIT BULL TERRIERS LATELY??

Meet our newest volunteer, Jonathan, along with a couple of his dogs. He's now teaching our dogs, mostly pitties, the joys of frisbee.

The dogs come back in from a frisbee outing, panting happily, tails wagging, and exhibiting the famous pit bull grin. They've learned impulse control, gotten unbelievable exercise, and once back in their kennels, take a well-deserved looooong nap.

Nothing like seeing a stretched out shelter dog snoring away in his bed, completely oblivious to his or her surroundings. Wonder what they are dreaming of? Since dogs live in the moment, what more can we ask for than a happy, well-exercised dog who is relaxed enough to conk out completely in a shelter environment?
One of these days, we'll be publishing a new super-star from GADAB because Jonathan will be looking for a foster from us.

Right now, it's Aztec and Ruby who compete with Jonathan and give demos to delighted and astounded folks in the Bay Area.

Sadie is retired after an illustrious career.

UPDATE ALERT!!!

Jonathan, Aztec, and Ruby will be showing their stuff just behind the Give a Dog a Bone booth at Pet Pride Day on Sunday, October 25. Pet Pride Day is the annual San Francisco Care & Control outdoor super event. For more info, go to http://www.petprideday.com/

Pippin, World Class Dock Diver

None of you could have forgotten our Christmas story this past year . . . posted on our blog December 22, 2008, entitled "Our Christmas Story" . . . starring Pippin and a young man whom we will always salute as a hero.






AND HERE SHE IS, THE FEARLESS ADVENTURE LOVER, PIP-PIP !!!!! And MaxineeBean shakes her head indulgently at the antics of her young roommate as she heads back to the tent where multiple doggie comforts await. Angela puts her babies first, as do we all, don't we now?

We will forever be grateful to the young man who rescued Pippin, and to Angela, a truly fabulous mom.

Truly an ending we never could have foreseen. It's still all about the love, baby.

SHADOW DOZES OFF

Sweet dreams, darlin', darlin'.

"Lay your head

Upon my pillow.

Hold your warm and tender body

Close to mine . . . "

For the Good Times

by Kris Kristofferson

FROM SNAP TO SUGAR SNAP

Someone had named her "Snap".

And snap she did, as close to the rear corner of her kennel as she could possibly be, from anyone who approached her in any way, lunging, baring teeth, growling. So utterly fearful of absolutely everyone - had her former people named her Snap because they thought it was funny to see such a tiny little dog acting so ferociously? Someone clearly had made this little girl act incredibly aggressively towards people - for one of those insane reasons we don't even want to guess at.

But we had something different in mind for her. And lots of experience with good instincts based on former successes. I waited her out. I would pass by her kennel and say hello to her without looking at her a few times a day. I would open her kennel door, and again, without looking at her, place some tasty morsels on the floor, close the door quietly and leave.

Then I spent short increments of time laying down as far away from her as I could be and ignored her. I did not lift my limbs, I moved very slowly, and not towards her. Using a lot of the calming techniques of Turid Rugas, such as keeping my body relaxed, soft yawning, quiet lip smacking, and never looking directly at her.

I upped the ante slowly, letting her feel safe enough to initiate an approach. At first, of course, there would be slight movements towards me with lots of darting retreats. Gradually, very gradually, her approaches became closer and she began eating treats in front of me, then from my hand. I still did not make eye contact with her, keeping my head lowered and facing away from her.

When I first touched her, I still did not face her directly, but let my hand drift towards her neck, speaking softly and cheerfully, saying her name a lot, and letting the tips of my fingers wiggle playfully just the tiniest bit. It worked. She was ready. My hand came towards her, always touching the blanket, and I never lifted it until I reached her neck and then I reached up to underneath her neck where she could see it. I stroked her gently and she stayed. Oh, baby.

That was the beginning of our love affair. It went slowly for a while and then she made the leap. Suddenly I was the apple of her eye, the person who made her twirl with happiness and jump for joy, who made her heart sing. She trusted someone. She found out about love. And how!!!

Then it was time for others to do the same thing. She needed to continue to grow and expand. She decided that was a good thing to do, although it took time with each new person, with each new place, and with each new dog whom she encountered. She met each challenge with suspicion and wariness and perhaps she always will.

Someone changed her name to Sugar Snap. Perfect. A little ( :-) ), or a lot (!), of each, our baby has finally made it out of the kennel where she began her transition into the dog she will become.

Sugar Snap is in a foster home with Grateful Dog Rescue and awaits her forever home.

FARAH aka LADYBUG - update!

Who could resist a face like this?

Well, it didn't take long for our little charmer to find a forever home, but it's turned out that there was a glitch in the works,as she reports from Lake Tahoe (where she spent the weekend with her foster family), "my new forever family has had a family emergency that is going to be a long term time commitment, so they had to put off getting a dog. Yup, me. Oh, dear, dear. So, I'm going to be with my lovely foster family until my new forever home finds me. My foster dad emailed this about me: I am housetrained, crate trained, I know sit, down, stay and come. We are working on loose-leash walking and I am improving on that quickly with his good leadership. I am (listen to this!!) incredibly good with adults and older children, and other dogs. I am active and affectionate and snuggly.

"I've been living on the streets of San Francisco (yes, I have heard of the tv show!) for most of my young life with different folks and I was never sure who my family was. How I landed in the isolation kennel at SF/ACC I'm not really sure, but there were some bald patches on my skin that made me itch like crazy, so I'm guessing that someone just dropped me off. One bath and a few Full Spa Treatments from the folks at GADAB changed that pretty quickly. Here's the kicker, though, I was adopted from ACC by Home at Last Rescue through the magnificent efforts of a particularly spectacular woman who is an ace at finding foster and forever homes. Her name is Joyce. Remember that, all you people who are looking to hire a most excellent foster coordinator. This is her true calling and we need to keep her in this field!!! By gosh and by golly!!!"

"Anyway, on one of the first days that Corinne had taken me out to the shelter park, she tossed a ball for me, and as I ran to catch it, I slipped onto my belly and then frog-legged to the ball. That cracked her up so much that she almost fell over too! Add that to my natural affection for people, that I play well with most dogs, and you can see why she called Joyce about me that same night.

"I am a lucky, lucky dog. J and C (as I call them) make a fabu team. Hey, guys and gals, I'm here to tell you - Dreams will come true."

10/06/09

And so it did. I have a nice size family: two (count 'em - 2!) dads, a doggie brother, and a kittie.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Joyce of Home at Last Rescue in Berkeley.