Obedience Classes?

Haven't been updating much lately; I've been busy with my job and with school, and with Jake.

So I've been thinking. I want to start taking Jake to obedience classes at our local club. My only inhibition has been him and dogs.

I don't think he's DA. Every dog I've intentionally introduced him to he has done fine with; he pulls on the leash to get over to a dog, but once he meets them he pretty much ignores him. The one incident was with an off leash dog running over to us and trying to introduce himself without warning. I believe in that situation it was my mistake; I tensed up, Jake sensed that, and snapped at the dog whose owner called him back as I started to quickly walk away(Jake lost interest when we started walking again). I also believe that Jake has some barrier frustration/aggression issues due to Charlie running the fence with him.

My neighborhood has an un-contained dog problem.

The fact is, he needs to be worked around dogs, which isn't something I can just set up in my yard. I introduced him to Chelsey's dog Keeva(unspayed female) for the first time the other day and they had no problems. He displays excessive interest in running dogs, but again, I can't work on this without exposing him to it to an extent.

I would love to do agility with him someday, for fun. Or Rally. I don't think he's the right dog for competition level Obedience, but who knows? I just know he's smart as whip and loves to run. So keeping him away from situations that stress ME out is unfair. It's worth a try.

Thoughts? Advice?

To a Precious Memory

I still hear Your paw steps scrabble

Slip sliding down the hall,

And too clear I remember

Just how You loved that ball.

Obsessed You were and such great fun

As unto me, a quality that thrills

Only now,

As years have passed,

I realize such loyal love

Was too easily taken for granted.

I remember how I used to share,

My bed, at night, with You.

Your little brother laying there

Curled up with me too.

Your presence so cherished,

But not enough it would seem

Hindsight is 20/20 when I think of You,

My heartbeat at my feet.

I often think of You with grief, of that summer

You slipped from my side.

Today there is another,

He reminds me so of You,

To his presence near me I delight,

I still think, even so:

Of that Jewel who to me

Is still so very dear,

And when I cry I wonder

If my words maybe You can hear.

I love You,

Forgive me.

I think of her often, and wonder what could have been today, had circumstances been different.

My poor dog

Is scared of balloons. I'd thought we'd gotten him over that, but nope. Little sister was playing with them this evening, blew one up then let it go flying across the room and Jake leaped into my lap on the couch(he knows better) in a violent shaking shivering fit. Sigh. Put him outside so hopefully he'll get over his fright, in the meantime she continues to play with her balloon.

On another note, apparently last weekend a lady at the local craft fair wanted to buy Jake! My Grandma was selling scrapbooking stuff, and for the frames she'd made I'd let her use a picture of him as an example in a pet themed one.

According to her:

A lady and her husband were walking by. They didn't seem particularly interested, just glancing over. Suddenly the woman stops, backing up and picking up the picture. My Grandma was telling her how it was an example of what you could do with it, and the lady said:

"I figured that... who's dog is this?"

"My Grandaughter's."

"Is she looking to get rid of it?"

A bit confused, my Grandma told her no...

"I'm not really into scrapbooking, but I'd sure like to have that dog."

At this point the husband had picked up the picture, and chimed in, "Yeah, that looks like a dog worth having."

So my Grandma told them "no, she loves her dog, I don't think she wants to get rid of him" and they left. The lady in the booth next to her told her she probably could have made a good sale if she'd let the dog go.

I was baffled when I heard that story, and kind of flattered too, that someone else would think that about him by just seeing one picture, lol! This was the picture:


Anyways, a Bella update: it appears that they're taking her in at night and at points during the day now that it's getting so cold. My Grandma doesn't see her coming out of the woods every morning now.

Apparently though when she sees the car she comes looking for me. She never used to run up to my Grandma's car, but since I've started befriending her she seems to have connected the car to my presence. It's interesting.

Anyways, that's pretty much it. Oh, I got hired! They said that they'd probably call me in to start training on Monday. I'll be working at the local movie theater, yay!

The Scary, Scary Car; Playdate; and Bella Again

Well, now that I'm mobile, I intend to start taking Jake places. Whether it's just to Chels's to meet up with his buddy Kali, to the beach, or for a hike somewhere, I want to be able to travel with him.

Problem being, the car terrifies him. I understand his aversion to the back of the truck(it's enclosed, don't worry, no risk of jumping out); Buck gets overly excited because he LOVES going places. Half the time Jake won't get in by himself, he has to be lifted; rather than hopping in he'll hop up to put his paws on my back and just stay like that. It's quite odd.

But I went to see how he'd do in my car, which is what I'm posting about. Note: I WILL be buying him a seat belt harness before I take him on the highway, both for his safety and for mine. Anyways, the first time I tried to get him to in I had to crawl in back first, and he'd inch in after me, pressed as close to me as he could manage. He gets very clingy in the car. I sat with him a while, then went inside and got a clicker and some ham and cheese.

I clicked him for hopping in of his own volition, and he caught onto that quickly. No problem getting IN the car now. So I shut the door, get in front with the heat and radio on, start feeding him ham and cheese. First any time, then only when he's sitting, as I'd rather him be seated while riding in the car and I want to reinforce that.

He shakes and trembles and pants and sheds visibly MUCH more than usual, whines, and is obviously stressed out. He'll take food that's handed to him, so that's a good sign.

I want to get him used to riding, even if he never LOVES it, I just don't like seeing him so stressed out. Any suggestions? When I get him a car harness I think I'll take him through McD's a couple times and get him a hamburger. A lot of the coffee places and banks and such have dog cookies to hand out now too, so that will help once I can take him along.

__

Chels brought Kali over this weekend for an overdue playdate. Jake was jazzed. So was Buck, but I wasn't willing to let him run after her and wrestle her too much because he seemed to have hurt his paw on Saturday(we took them both to be in the family pictures we were having done) when he was getting out of the truck. He was favoring it a little bit(it seems to be fine now though, so no worries).

Jake is quite a bit shorter than her...



Kali apparently claimed Jake's hole to China, lol! That hole is really deep, like a foot and a half deep by 3 feet wide... but Kali was obsessed and kept standing in it and ducking into it , like so:

I just really like this shot.
____

Continuing to gain Bella's trust. Saturday when I went over to help make some cards she was out, so I hung out with her. She followed me to the sliding glass door, and Grandma took some pictures. That made Bella nervous at first, but she didn't run away. Instead she stuck by me, and relaxed when she realized that my grandma wasn't going to come closer or threaten her. Just gives a bit of a size comparison. I'm about 5'3, so here's Bella and I.

And this is how she reacted when my grandma first appeared in the door; a less severe form of that head thing that she did when first approaching me.

She ran to me when she saw me going to my car to leave today. I hung out with her a little bit. I would steal her in a heartbeat... honestly, I think somebody needs to just whisk her away or call animal control. It was -10 this morning, I don't know about this afternoon, and she was outside. She was shivering when I was with her. My Grandma's watching to see what they do with her this winter... I'm worried for the poor girl.

Bella Update

Bella let me pet her yesterday! After walking around with her for a while and having her come up to sniff my hand once, I crouched down and she ran over to me and started wagging her tail. She's such a sweetheart, and rolled over to let me rub her belly and stuffed her nose in my face.

Pictures or it didn't happen, so here you go:
That's all I have to share, I'm just thrilled~ and that I got pictures. Isn't she beautiful? She's such a sweetheart.