We got our rescue dog today! As I had heard, because I don’t have my own dog, I was assigned TWO. Whew. And so I would like to introduce to the world...
Sugar, a 2 year old female pit bull:
And Joker, a 3 year old male Jack Russell terrier:
When I heard I was getting a JRT, I went “aw, crap!” which is how I know it was an excellent assignment. They are very strong-willed little beasts, and not my favorite breed, for that and many other reasons, and I’m very nervous about how I’ll handle him. Clearly an excellent choice for me. The pit bull was a big relief, and she turns out to be a polar opposite of him, personality-wise: a bit timid, skittish at certain noises, not terribly effusive. She is a dog who seems to need a bit of a confidence boost, and that’s another thing I feel wholly incapable of handling. Which only leaves me wondering how these people got inside my head and picked two dogs so ideal for my needs.
The truth is, probably any dog they picked I would have been like “I have NO IDEA how to deal with that, this will be an excellent learning experience.” But I’m very pleased with what I got.
Our first assignment was to simply take the dogs for a 45 minute walk each (separately, there is no socializing yet). I took Sugar first. It took about 3 minutes just to get her out of the cage. She was very nervous and kept stepping up, then back. I was very nervous too and I’m certain it didn’t help. The whole event was captured on tape, including me turning to the person holding the camera and saying “any tips?” and her saying “just keep trying” with a big smile on her face. To which my reply should have been “so that would be a ‘no’ on the tips, then…” but that would have been sassy, even for me.
Our walk was uneventful. She spooked at a couple loud noises, peed like 5 times, and generally was pleasant to walk. She showed a good amount of interest in the kibble I had in my pocket when offered, but wasn’t overly enthusiastic. She pulled some, but we were not to give any kinds of corrections or commands. The few times that I bent down to pet her, she almost immediately fell over onto her back, and I couldn’t really tell if it was out and out submission or an earnest desire for a belly rub. I tried to get it from body language. Her tail seemed to say submission, but otherwise she seemed very relaxed. Mostly she was just panting like a fiend so it was hard to read much of anything. I convinced myself she was scared of cars, and then she promptly didn’t blink at another one the entire time we were out. Mysterious.
On Joker’s walk, he was quite energetic, and immediately earned my favorite term of endearment: wingnut. Along with Champ, Big Guy, Little Guy, and Whackadoo. He’s gonna be really confused before this is all over. He also showed a moderate interest in food, and when I bent down to pet him he immediately offered me his butt for scratches, which was pretty sweet. He is the king of prey drive; he chased a rabbit, several birds, the stone I kicked out in front of him, and the armadillo (!!!) we scared on the main road by the school. He was also quite excited by other dogs. And he ate a whole mess of crap that was on the ground, some of probably including actual crap. Why do I like dogs again? Anyway, by this time I was ungodly hot and tired, and so he got the less enthusiastic walk.
My analysis at the end was that I had one dog who would teach me a lot and one who I would fall in love with. But we’ll see what the coming weeks bring.
Sugar, a 2 year old female pit bull:
And Joker, a 3 year old male Jack Russell terrier:
When I heard I was getting a JRT, I went “aw, crap!” which is how I know it was an excellent assignment. They are very strong-willed little beasts, and not my favorite breed, for that and many other reasons, and I’m very nervous about how I’ll handle him. Clearly an excellent choice for me. The pit bull was a big relief, and she turns out to be a polar opposite of him, personality-wise: a bit timid, skittish at certain noises, not terribly effusive. She is a dog who seems to need a bit of a confidence boost, and that’s another thing I feel wholly incapable of handling. Which only leaves me wondering how these people got inside my head and picked two dogs so ideal for my needs.
The truth is, probably any dog they picked I would have been like “I have NO IDEA how to deal with that, this will be an excellent learning experience.” But I’m very pleased with what I got.
Our first assignment was to simply take the dogs for a 45 minute walk each (separately, there is no socializing yet). I took Sugar first. It took about 3 minutes just to get her out of the cage. She was very nervous and kept stepping up, then back. I was very nervous too and I’m certain it didn’t help. The whole event was captured on tape, including me turning to the person holding the camera and saying “any tips?” and her saying “just keep trying” with a big smile on her face. To which my reply should have been “so that would be a ‘no’ on the tips, then…” but that would have been sassy, even for me.
Our walk was uneventful. She spooked at a couple loud noises, peed like 5 times, and generally was pleasant to walk. She showed a good amount of interest in the kibble I had in my pocket when offered, but wasn’t overly enthusiastic. She pulled some, but we were not to give any kinds of corrections or commands. The few times that I bent down to pet her, she almost immediately fell over onto her back, and I couldn’t really tell if it was out and out submission or an earnest desire for a belly rub. I tried to get it from body language. Her tail seemed to say submission, but otherwise she seemed very relaxed. Mostly she was just panting like a fiend so it was hard to read much of anything. I convinced myself she was scared of cars, and then she promptly didn’t blink at another one the entire time we were out. Mysterious.
On Joker’s walk, he was quite energetic, and immediately earned my favorite term of endearment: wingnut. Along with Champ, Big Guy, Little Guy, and Whackadoo. He’s gonna be really confused before this is all over. He also showed a moderate interest in food, and when I bent down to pet him he immediately offered me his butt for scratches, which was pretty sweet. He is the king of prey drive; he chased a rabbit, several birds, the stone I kicked out in front of him, and the armadillo (!!!) we scared on the main road by the school. He was also quite excited by other dogs. And he ate a whole mess of crap that was on the ground, some of probably including actual crap. Why do I like dogs again? Anyway, by this time I was ungodly hot and tired, and so he got the less enthusiastic walk.
My analysis at the end was that I had one dog who would teach me a lot and one who I would fall in love with. But we’ll see what the coming weeks bring.
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