Buddy and Skye holding hands - week 5

So Skye and Buddy held hands of and on all day today. Whenever they sat down next to each other they would touch each others hand. They started doing this when we would begin our training sessions with Skye because they knew that a treat was coming soon. Then they just started doing this everytime they sat down next to each other.

week 5 with Skyle

Skye is in the middle of being trained and she is doing well so far. We are working with her everyday and so far so good. However, Blossom our cat decided that she would get involved in the training. So apparently she is smarter than we are. It took her 1 day and her job was done. Skye clearly knows that when Blossom is in the room. SHE is in charge. Skye  still not doing too well with people that she does not know but we are working with her. We take her for walks and she is getting used to our neighbors but is still slightly fearful of them. She wants to friendly but catches herself after a few minutes and begins to bark. I expect to have this situation on the road to recovery in a few weeks with some of our neighbors. She has learned the sounds of out cars. She has her own bed now and is very happy to be like Buddy. Allthough, she will occasionally go and get on Buddys bed just because.

week 4 with Skye

The beginning of week 4 has been interesting with Skye. We allowed her to spend about three weeks with us bonding and getting comfortable with her surroundings. She has been a joy for us but at the moment not so much for our neighbors. She barks agressively to all of our neighbors. She is very smart and has learned that our cats are not going to run from her. She wants to chase them but they are smarter than she is giving them credit for. She is fun and happy and as most aussies do, she gets bored very easily. We have bought a frisbee and have some games that we are playing with her. She is not really interested in being trained but she is learning that we are the leaders and  she is not the leader of us. She is clearly motivated by food. That does put some fun in her training. We have started training her with more stimulation and it does seem to work better than repetitous training. She loves to be close to us and is not happy when our German Shepherd is not with her.

4th week with our new Skye Blue Belle

Ok so we have had three weeks of bonding and its time for some training to begin. Skye is a funny girl and she have figured out that she is loved by us and can totally trust us. So we have started our training. She is pretty quick so far with understanding and following our lead. She decided that she thought it was time to move up and take Buddy's bed. Not a good decision of hers since she didnt think Buddy would mind but that didnt seem to be the case. Skye was quite disappointed and a mini fight started but ended very quickly. So clearly we need to get her own bed. She has her crate but is feeling a little sad and misunderstood that she doesnt have her own. So we will take care of that situation soon. She is happy and very settled and seems to be ok with the training process. We have chosen to not use any form of harsh training and we only do about 30 min a day. She still tends to want to chase the cats so we do use a newpaper to slap on our hands to get her attention and it works very well. We do not want to spank or use any harsh form of disciplinewith  her since we are her third owners and we dont want to upset her. So the newpaper noise seems to work well. She is lovely and is eager to please and loves to play. So far so good for the beginning of week 4

I wonder if my new owner know just how lucky he is to have me taking care of him?

Week 3 with our new family member

Week 3 with our  new friend and she is doing great. She is struggling with the cats but they are setting her straight. Skye and Buddy are becoming good friends and Skye is trusting Buddy more and more. They have been playing together very sweetly. Buddy knows just how to get Skye going with playtime. He takes a toy and goes over to her and keeps backing away until she realizes he is teasing her. If she really wants the toy he will let her have it and the play with her until she drops it. She has lots to do and she is trying really hard to please us as most aussies do. She loves her walks and is still trying to adapt to her new neighbors. She is not shy and she is very happy. The goal we have this week is to keep working with her and the cats and slowly start letting her meet some new friends.

The end of week two for Skye

We took Skye for a walk today and she is have a great time until we see our neighbor and she begins to bark. As she is barking Buddy runs over to our neighbor to get a treat and be loved on. Skye quits barking and is watching and then wants to go to the neighbor but she is afraid. Buddy comes to her and begins licking on her face and she begins to wimper and look at the neighbor as if to say "I really want to but I dont know if I can trust you" I think a few more times of this and we will be ok with this neighbor but many more to work on. She loves buddy and they are having a great time together. We still have somewhat of an issue wanting to chase our cats but we are working on that . Two weeks and and no barking when she eats. No more waking up and barking at Buddy agressively. No more growling at the cats but wimpers when she sees them but she will stop herself when we call her and will stop chasing them. Baby steps and two weeks of good progress. She is happy and fun and energetic and learns very quickly

This is the good life

So I helped my new family work in the yard today and we are taking a break. I really dont know what they would have done without my help. This family really needed me and I hope I am doing a good job training them because there is a lot of work to do around here. I think I like it here.

I dont know why I have to clean up everything around here

Skye is busy gathering up her toys. We just found out that her registered name is Skye Blue Belle. We are also in the process of attempting to find her registration papers. She is a busy girl and likes to help when we are working in the yard. We were pulling up a stump of a tree that had died and she was pulling as hard as we were. Just a hard working girl putting in a honest days work.

week 2 with Skye

As we are beginning our second week with our new family member we have noticie significant progress. The first week she would be asleep and wake up and bark agressively at our gentle giant German Shepherd named Buddy. She would do this randomly and Buddy did not acknowledge her at all and I can say that her second week with us are showing no signs of this behavior any longer. She also would bark and growl when she was eating and we are showing no signs of this behavior in her second week as well. She is very happy and has learned very quickly that Buddy is no longer a threat to her at all. They play together very sweetly that started at the end of her 1st week. They are becoming very attached to each other and seem to be enjoying each others company more and more each day.

Skye - Our second aussie rescue

Skye is an aussie that was in an a situation that was not good for her and her owner felt it would be best for her to be in a different home. He was very distraught about his decision and through internet communication we found her. We were looking for a puppy and decided that Aussies are not for everyone. Families tend to buy these beautiful dogs and find they can be more than what they bargain for. We decided that we would seek out an aussie that needed a good home. Her previous owner wanted what was best for her and when we talked we decided that we would take her. Her previous owner loved her and took good care of her but Skye was very dominant and would fight agressively with her sister. She is not a fan of strange women and can be extremely agressive around women she does not know. She also tends to bark and growl when she is eating if our German Shepherd is anywhere around her. He is a gentle giant and Skye is quickly learning he is no threat to her, but she is insecure and fearful for some reason. The first week she would be sleeping and would wake up and bark agressively at our German Shepherd for not reason at all. We are working with her and are trying to be care ful and loving with our discipline to her. Each day is better and better. It is amazing what a little love will do. I feel that she misses her previous owner sometimes but each day show new promise as she settles in.

My Journey with my aussie rescues

It was love at first sight 19 years ago. My friend called and ask if we could foster an aussie until we could find her owners. We found her owners and they did not want her. She was too difficult. I asked them if they could come and look at her just to make sure that this was their dog. They did not want to do that but they did describe her perfectly and they said her name was April. We had already had her about 1 month and our daughter and her friends had already fallen in love with her and named her Freckles. She was a beautiful Blue Merle and so happy to be loved. As I was talking to her owners I got a bad feeling. I called her by her name and she coward down and turned her back to me. My instincts were confirmed and I asked her if we could keep her and very quickly was told yes. We were told by our local Vet that he had treated her several times from people that had found her and brought her in to be treated. She was a runner and was wildly active and would obviously run away. Oddly she stayed with us and was the love of our life. She died at 18 years of age July 3rd 2010. We did not think we wanted another aussie, but as fate would have it we are now the proud owners of a Red Merle that is 16 months old.