Saturday, May 12, 2012

Jay's first Day!

The Turtle Gardens bus arrived early this morning so I had to rush to get ready and get out there! As usual it was a blend of people, dogs, and cars, and with a dash of chaos! But Denise and Lisa and other TG volunteers were doing all they could to get everybody organized and on their way with their foster dogs!
Thank you TG volunteers and of course thank you Yvette and Dave for all the work you do to get these dogs into their forever homes!

Jaycee was really good in the car! She paced a little for the first 10 minutes or so but she realized that lying down was easier than standing and then spent the rest of the trip napping. And when we ate in the car she came up sniffed a bit and then when she realized we weren't giving her any she went back to sleep. So far so good!







When we got to my house we took her out and walked her a bit and then took her to the park with a long rope to tie to her leash and a chuck-it, and threw a ball around for her. It was super awesome! Because she is already retrieving and we worked on "Drop" today and she is learning so fast!

We have already even loaded a clicker with her! For those who don't know about clicker training, clicker training is when you have a little handheld plastic thing that makes a "click" noise. And when there is a behaviour you like you click and then treat so the click symbolizes the behaviour you want at the exact moment it happens. Loading a clicker is when you do some clicks and treats in the beginning just for any good behaviour so she learns the click means she did something good and a treat is on its way!
So we did some clicker training with her and she's loving it! She is already looking for treats when she hears the click!

We found out at the park she is much more toy than treat motivated though. You can have a ball and drop treats all around her and she doesn't even flinch! (I accidentally dropped the treat bag)

She loved running after the ball and because of the heat it took only 20 minutes with a water break in between to tucker her out! And I was so proud of her! There were some dogs at the park too who were barking and running around and she still brought the ball back on her own even with all the distractions!









And then there was this lovely dog and his owner who were walking through the park and asked if his dog could play with Jaycee because he was 10 months old and he wants him to socialize with as many dogs as possible. And of course I was thrilled because I was told Jay was very good with other dogs, just not very small dogs and cats. Also, I was looking forward to seeing how Jay played with other dogs. The other dog, Avo, was a young excitable guy and even though Jay was tuckered out she took it in stride and ran around and played with him! She was so gentle with him and was quite quiet and even when Avo tried to mount her Jay just ignored him! The play went so well that he asked when we were coming next as he hoped to see us again so they could play! She was looking so pretty with her white hair reflecting in the sun and her yellow TG "Adopt Me" bandana on :)




Once we got her home she just found a spot on the floor and slept for a couple hours! She was wiped out!



She is super gentle and will even take a treat from your mouth!
So far she only knows "Sit" and we are working on "Drop", "Down", and "Paw".

As mentioned in my earlier post, Jaycee does not get along with cats and small dogs, so she needs a home with no small dogs and cats. And she can get food possessive with bones and other chew toys around other dogs.

Around humans she is not food/water/toy possessive at all!
She has been great with her toys and we watch to make sure she never "kills" any of her toys as we don't want her to practice killing since she has such a high prey drive, but so far she has only chewed the stuffy she chose from the toy box. And loves to chew on her antler :)



And with the dog she played with, she had no problem with the ball around him, no matter who had it. And showed no aggression over the water they shared.

She is currently lying down beside me and I'm pretty sure if we stayed in this room all day she would probably be happy to lay there! She is having little doggy dreams and every once in a while gives a few little kicks in her sleep :)

So far we see her as a "medium" level energy, but she had a lot of exercise and excitement today so we are still waiting to see what her energy level is on an average day.


More big news! Sid's foster family didn't work out unfortunately :( Not sure exactly why just yet, but I will be fostering her for the night along with Jaycee until Sid's flight tomorrow back up to Turtle Gardens.
Unfortunately, I cannot foster Sid longer than that as right now we aren't able to foster two dogs.
However, If there is anyone who would be able to foster Sid is would be awesome! Turtle Gardens has to spend lots of money to have her flown back up to Turtle Gardens - money that is hard to come by! So if anyone is able to foster Sid even foster her temporarily until another foster home becomes available that would help out tremendously! Preferably a breed savy home! Here is Sid's petfinder page
http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/21977201 

We need to know before tomorrow afternoon and Sid's flight!

Please e-mail me at jschwark@shaw.ca if you can! 

3 comments:

  1. This is a great write up and Julia. How could anyone not fall in love with that face. Wish the video was working :( I'ld love to see it. If you send me the link I can get it up on Turtle Gardens blog so even more folks can watch it.
    Congrats on Jaycee. Oh and I LOVE HER YELLOW BANDANA ;)

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    1. Thank you so much :) And it's so true! Everyone has just been falling in love with her :) And thank you for letting me know the vid wasn't working! I fixed it now - it was just too big of a file so I just cut it down a bit and it works now :)

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  2. I miss Jaycee so much, but it makes me so happy to see that she is loving life so much and being so loved and cared for! Great photos! :)

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