Pound Dogs

Honey - Neapolitan Mastiff at the Toronto Humane Society

2013-05-21T11:39:00.003-04:00

The most important thing, Tisha says, is the toy selection. It's all about the toy selection.

Honey, a five year old Neopolitan Mastiff, lumbers up to the boxes full of toys and sticks her head into the first box and starts to snoot around. I can hear little squeaks and squawks as she nudges through the selection. She picks one but then decides it's not the right one so she goes back in to find another.

Honey has been at the Toronto Humane Society for almost three months now. Earlier, in the meet and greet room, Honey was on the floor, her head nuzzled in Tisha's lap who was lavishing her with affection. Snorts and moans were coming from Honey who was loving the attention. Honey is a gorgeous dog. She obviously likes to be around people. She's good with other dogs. She's quiet - except for her happy snorts. She's gentle with treats. She's not bad on a leash.

Honey had been surrendered along with another Neo Mastiff, Titus. Titus was twelve years old with bad hip dysplasia so instead of adopting him out, staff at the THS found him a retirement home with a Mastiff and horse rescue facility outside of Ottawa. Honey, herself, had some issues with her eyes and had to undergo a couple of eye surgeries to correct them so that took a bit of time but since then, she's been in adoption for several weeks now and no takers.

I ask Tisha why Honey is still at the THS and I'm told Honey doesn't present well in her kennel. She's stressing out with new people peering in at her all the time and she's gotten protective of the space. Sometimes she barks. Sometimes she lunges. I can imagine that would be pretty intimidating. I can imagine, if one didn't know any better, one might back away slowly, glad to have those metal bars keeping Honey safely in her the cage. If one didn't know any better.

I can see, though, that's not at all her normal state. Her normal state is this dog in front of me, silly with a toy in her mouth, snorting with happiness at getting her copious skin folds scratched and rubbed.

Tisha is enthusiastic about Honey's prospects. She knows Honey will get adopted. The THS will find her a good home.

Sometimes I come in early to hang out with Honey in her kennel, Tisha says. I know she'll get into a good home but I'll really miss her, she says, and as if to acknowledge that, Honey looks up at Tisha and emits a long low rumble.

Honey is available for adoption from the Toronto Humane Society. For more information on Honey please visit her adoption page: http://www.petango.com/Adopt/Dog-Neapolitan-Mastiff-Mix-19267175

Norton - Terrier mix

2013-05-16T11:30:00.000-04:00

Norton is all about the chillin'. He's got a pokey little walk at an open throttle speed of half a snail's pace. There are too many blades of grass to smell, so what's the hurry?

Norton is your afternoon nap partner-in-waiting.

The best way to check on the adoption status of this dog (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services adoption website or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter. If the dog is no longer on the TAS adoption website, it's probably because it's been adopted already.

Update on Mabel

2013-05-14T11:30:00.000-04:00

From the owner of Mabel (now Gracie):

I've sent a couple of updates to the staff at TAS, but I'd love to see a happier photo of Mabel (now Gracie) on your blog. Your blog is responsible for this wonderful new addition to our family!

A friend posted your entry on Basquiat to Facebook, which drew me down to TAS in person, but I found he'd already been adopted. I toured the other cages and found Mabel off by herself, pacing endlessly in her enclosure. She didn't throw herself at every newcomer like many of the other dogs; it was obvious I would have to work for her trust, and I sat with her for some time. I returned the next day with my partner and our two other shelter dogs - a 13 year old lab mix and a 10 year old spaniel mix. The staff at TAS (Korey) helped us set up a meet and greet outside which went incredibly well, and we knew that we had found the newest member of our family.

We were off work for a week with her at our house, and Gracie's favourite place to be is still outside in our large back yard. For two days, the time she was outside was spent underneath the bushes. Each day thereafter she made measurable progress, becoming more comfortable with her surroundings, with us, and with our other dogs. She loves to be outside, loves to run full-tilt across the yard, and though she is still quite timid and easily scared, she is absolutely a new dog. We're working one-on-one with a reputable trainer, and have even been taking Gracie on some leashed walks. Our vet and trainer think she is about 5 years old.

She is an amazing creature, extremely loving after all she has been through, and we can't wait to see the dog that she becomes in time.

I love this photo. It captures a perfect moment:

4 Shih Tzu Poodle Pups

2013-05-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

Someone breeds them then can't take care of them. These three guys and one girl (the tri-colour one) are all available. I'll let the pictures and video do the talking.

The best way to check on the adoption status of these pups (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services adoption website or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter. If the pups are no longer on the TAS adoption website, it's probably because they've been adopted already.

Renewal at the Toronto Humane Society

2013-05-07T11:30:00.001-04:00

(Warning: this post contain a somewhat graphic image. It's the first image in the post, so scroll by that one and look away if you don't want to see it. The rest aren't so bad. All photos in this post were taken by E.J. Lazaga unless stated otherwise.)

I've been having a hard time with this for a few months now and usually when I have a hard time writing something, it's because I'm uncertain about it.

In February this year, I became a director of the Toronto Humane Society. This is a temporary, appointed position to fill in a vacancy left by a departing director and this position will last about another three weeks when the Annual General Meeting will be held and where, if I am to stay on the board, I will need to be voted in by the membership.

The last time I was elected for anything was when I was ten and chosen by my cohorts to throw a snowball at the high school bully down the block who had caved in our snowfort. The following action resulted in a fat lip. Hopefully, these elections will be less exciting.

But the elections aren't what I'm uncertain about. I'm offering my services and if the membership chooses to accept the offer then I've got more work on my plate. If they choose a better prepared candidate over me then I can finally catch up on "Game of Thrones" - people at work are talking about the show and I've got nothing to add to that conversation.

The thing I was uncertain about, with regards to the THS, was the same thing a lot of people in Toronto are uncertain about when it comes to the THS and that is whether or not the THS is a worthwhile enough agency to contribute one's time, energy and money. The THS does good work - there's no doubt about that - but a lot of individuals, rescue groups, other agencies - like Toronto Animal Services - do good work. With the THS comes significant overhead costs, funding issues, constant rumblings of internal discord and then there's that matter of trust. The bad taste left behind by the scandals of the previous administration (who are all gone now) still keeps the public doubting the sincerity and efficacy of the organization.

So, given my own doubts, I kept asking myself, Do I really want to get mired in the politics of the Toronto Humane Society?

Then, I heard about Angel.

Angel arrived at the THS in early February of this year.

She was an owner surrender. The owners could no longer take care of her or her medical bills. The demodex mange which had taken over her entire body seemed relentless, allegedly made worse by an improper prescription of steroids by a vet. Angel was bleeding. She was in pain. Almost all her fur had fallen out or had been scratched off. Her feet were so swollen, they looked like they'd been skinned. Parts of her face looked like hamburger.

Eric Jensen, a THS staffer at the front desk saw Angel when she was brought in. He said he'd never seen an animal look worse.

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly given what we know about dogs, Angel still managed to walk up to him and wag her tail.

The THS took Angel in and Eric volunteered to foster her. Angel turned out to be a six month old pup, a probable mix of Bull Terrier, Boxer, Collie and others. Her initial regimen was two medicated baths a week to treat and relieve her mange ridden skin, daily doses of medicine and supplements, bi-weekly skin scrapes to check on the progress of the mange, along with shots of antibiotics.

Three hundred mites were found on Angel's first skin scrape. I've seen skin scrapes. It's only a very small patch of skin from which the vet samples.

The following photos, taken on each of Angel's visits to the THS vets over the next three months, tell the story better than I possibly could. Start from the first image above then scroll through all the following images. If these don't renew your hope for whatever goodness in this world you seek, then I don't know what will.

February 22, 2013

March 2, 2013 (notice her duck boots to keep her from scratching herself)

March 15, 2013

March 30, 2013

April 13, 2013

April 27, 2013

Not surprisingly, Eric has decided to adopt Angel. The way he describes her now, Angel sounds like so many other nine month old puppies: tons of energy, happy and friendly with everyone, tail wags so hard it's like a weapon, loves fetch, has started carrying a ball around. And, her last skin scrape yielded no mites.

Eric also has another foster dog and a sixteen year old palliative care foster cat. I ask him about the other staff, if they all have fosters in their care as well and generally they do. The care of animals started out as a responsibility for most of them long before it became a job.

This is what amazes me most about the Toronto Humane Society: all these people who have gathered together to help animals. People don't go into animal welfare as a career expecting to get famous or rich or powerful. Salaries are not great and job security is uncertain. There aren't even the lavish, more publicly celebrated accolades associated with other charities of a more anthropocentric nature to look forward to. Animal welfare work is a compulsion to do good for those creatures who will probably never be able to say thank you but who thank you nevertheless with their good health and better lives.

We need the Toronto Humane Society because it's not just a shelter for homeless animals but it also provides inspiration for those who believe people are capable of looking beyond themselves and that compassion for others extends to compassion for the most vulnerable.

The Toronto Humane Society is and needs to be a good and better role model.

Going forward with Pound Dogs, I'm going to start occasionally posting more in-depth profiles of some of the dogs who arrive at the THS looking for shelter. I'd like to share their journeys with you from their intake to, hopefully, their adoption.

If you don't already, I hope you'll consider supporting the THS, maybe by becoming a member or making a donation. It's a good thing they do and you know they're going to need your help to keep doing it.

Here are some stats on the THS for 2012:

Almost 3000 animals were adopted out.

Over 2000 animals have been fixed since the THS Low Cost Spay Neuter Clinic was open last summer.

Over 36,000 volunteer hours were logged.

Over 1000 palliative, special needs and juvenile animals were placed into foster care.

(Above photo by Eric Jensen)

Sebastian - Beagle

2013-05-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

Sebastian is a rotund waddler. He's had a few too many cookies and while it's kind of cute watching him roll around, it's definitely not healthy for him to be as heavy as he is. His new owner will have to have some will power on Sebastian's behalf when it comes to dieting. This may be easier said than done, though, because Sebastian has got those Beagle eyes that can hypnotize you and have you under his control tout de suite if you're not careful.

Update on MacDuff

2013-05-04T15:46:00.002-04:00

From the owner of MacDuff:

As promised, here's a photo of MacDuff - I think he's enjoying life in the big world. Today I introduced him to a Kong and he's really having a good time with it!

I think he's going to make a great companion.

Update on Dallas

2013-05-03T18:41:00.002-04:00

From the owners of Dallas, now Finnegan:

We cannot thank you enough for the opportunity to adopt “Dallas” (now known as “Finnegan”) in mid-February 2013. He is proving to be a wonderful addition to our family- smart, eager to please, and so loving. He LOVES walking the off-leash trails in High Park, chasing balls with friends in dog parks, and is always willing to come when called. His leash manners have improved immensely with patience and positive rewards for eye contact instead of pulling. He has completed 8 classes of obedience and is ever eager to learn more. Our only challenge with him right now is to slowly work on overcoming separation anxiety-- we are working with the vet and obedience instructor to desensitize him to our comings and goings in the hopes he will be able to stay calmly by himself in the future. We have seen him overcome short term fears (new food dish, balloons, and kitchen fan) and feel he will be successful in this larger issue. He is such a wonderful dog that every change to our lifestyle is worth it!

We’d also like to express our appreciation for the “care package” you sent home with us- he drinks from his portable water bowl every day while walking in the park, drives us crazy with the plastic moose squeaky toy, and still wears his collar (+name tags, phone numbers, and i.d.). although we’ve gone to a harness for daily walks. The time James took to allow us to become acquainted with him and the on-going support from Ashley have also been most appreciated! You are all a wonderful team doing wonderful work!

Lolita - Black Labrador Retriever mix

2013-05-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

Here I was about to go on about what a fantastically toy obsessed dog Lolita is and how she'd be an excellent search and rescue dog when I hear she's been short listed as candidate for search and rescue work. A month ago, Lolita was running around on a reserve destined for a short brutal life and now she's potentially going to be a hero dog. And if she's not chosen for search and rescue work, then she can still be someone else's hero, yours perhaps.

I'll put an update here with the test results once they come in.

Update (2013-05-05): Assessment was taking too long to schedule so instead of keeping Lolita waiting around in a cage, she is being put up for general adoption.

Boomer - Labrador Retriever mix

2013-05-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

(I blink and the ten IFAW dogs from up north are almost all gone already. Here's one, Boomer, who got adopted yesterday.)

I'm terrible at smiling for photographs. If I don't feel like smiling and have to force a smile for a photo, it's a grimace, or at least it feels like a grimace. I really should take lessons from a dog like Boomer who can't help but smile.

Now when some dogs look like they're smiling, they may not really be smiling on the inside. They might be hot or anxious or they might have just been born with a smiley face. Not so with Boomer. Boomer is a very happy boy inside and out and that kind of happiness is contagious - which makes me smile, naturally.

Ripley - Rhodesian Ridgeback

2013-04-30T11:30:00.000-04:00

Ripley is like one of those dogs who will leap through fire, climb barbed wire fences and dodge trucks on the 401 to come to your rescue if you are ever tied to the railroad tracks by a wax-mustachioed, top hat wearing villain.

Frazer - Jack Russell Terrier

2013-04-29T11:30:00.000-04:00

I took this happy, friendly Jack Russell Terrier for a walk with my own dog Simone because I had her with me at Toronto Animal Services on Sunday morning. Frazer was very interested in Simone but for any of you who know Simone, it would come as no surprise that his affections were not returned.

No worries, though. Half an hour later, his affections were rewarded when he was adopted out by a lovely couple who had come in just to see him.

Update on Tess

2013-04-27T15:40:00.000-04:00

I was away for a week a while back and didn't get to post this one on Tess and by the time I got back, she was already adopted - not surprisingly.

Here's Tess in her new 'hood:

Update on Kingston

2013-04-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

From Kingston's new owners:

So, we've had him now for just over 5 weeks and he is doing very well!! We've been going to obedience school at Paws Way and this week is our last week. Our instructor is Ursula- Dogs Gone Good- and she says she knows you.. she seems to be pretty good but I do think that those classes are designed more for low-energy, non-shelter dogs.

He has gotten very good with the tricks (sit, stay, leave-it and down are perfect!) and his recall is getting much better. He still gets very excited in social settings so I'm not sure that more obedience is the best option for him (he tends to bark throughout the entire class, haha) and we have him in a crate during the day- I didn't think there were any problems but my neighbour informed me last night that he has been crying during the day while we're gone... Do you have any tips for how I could go about keeping him quiet and comfortable during crate time? (Ursula mentioned that you keep things quite 'zen-like' in the shelter).

Other than that, we're so happy with him and he is such a great dog! He is great walking and running with me and the excitement of seeing other dogs has dwindled significantly! Turns out, he is quite cuddly as well- he needs to lay across my lap if I'm on the couch and then if Joel, my boyfriend, is on the couch he needs to lay across both of our laps, haha. Such a cute puppy. I attached a photo for you. I've been telling people to check out the shelters first and give the dogs a chance because wonderful dogs, like Kingston, can easily be missed!

Basquiat - Labrador Retriever Husky mix

2013-04-25T12:56:00.000-04:00

I've seen some pretty sad stuff in my years as a volunteer at Toronto Animal Services, animals who have been abused, animals who have died. This, while not as overtly cruel nor abusive, I find heart wrenching nevertheless.

This is Basquiat now:

This is Basquiat when he was first brought to a northern Quebec pound from which he has never left:

Or rather, never left until a couple of weeks ago when he was transferred to Toronto Animal Services South. So, from the time he was eight weeks old until now when he is fully grown, Basquiat has spent his entire life alone in a cage.

I see the picture of him as a pup - and I know dogs don't have the same potential as humans in terms of what we consider "achievements" but they do have a potential for life and things good in life - and when I see the potential in that pup not fulfilled, when I see the pup's bright eyes like any pup's bright eyes, but knowing, despite the best efforts of that pound which tried to adopt him out for so long, how his curiosity will be squashed, how his joy will turn to anxiety, how his trust will not be rewarded, it makes me very sad.

And it's the contrast perhaps but there is something especially sad as well when I see a big dog so full of fright.

Outside, he tries to duck and cover whenever he hears an unidentifiable noise, sees a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye.

I stop walking and let Basquiat just stand in place for a bit. He is overwhelmed by the new environment, the new people, the new dogs walking by. I sit on the sidewalk. I can see the deeply rooted canine instinct in him wanting to come over to me, to bond with a human, but it's being sublimated by his fear of the unknown. I put the camera away. I sit and wait.

There's a lot of back and forth. He steps toward me but sometimes I reach out too soon, sometimes too fast. At one point, he settles his weight into my hand as I scratch his ears and I think, "Good," but then I raise the camera and he's away again.

It takes about half an hour. He sniffs the wind, lies down on the ground, finally lets me take his photo without any anxiety.

I have no doubt Basquiat will make a great recovery and a wonderful companion. When he bonds, that bond will be strong and for life because the yearning for human companionship is strong in him, strong enough to overcome his fear. And he will heal. He is healing already with every new kind person he meets, with every new trip outside.

Canadian Tire, Cesar Millan and Three Dogs from IFAW

2013-04-24T13:04:00.000-04:00

"Everyone get on the elevator. We can all fit," the guy says and sure enough we all fit.

I'm standing in a Metro Toronto Convention Center elevator packed in with an entourage of volunteers and staff from Toronto Animal Services and International Fund for Animal Welfare, Cesar Millan's production staff, Canadian Tire stage coordinators, and three dogs.

We reach our floor and all get off the elevator, dogs first, and step onto the show floor where it looks like the MTCC has been turned into one big Canadian Tire store. The only thing missing is the Canadian Tire smell (all CTs have that smell - I think it's patented). I don't get why people would want to go down to the Convention Center to see Canadian Tire products when they could just go to a regular Canadian Tire store but I'm obviously in the minority because the place is well populated.

Cesar Millan and Lolita

We wind through a throng of people to get to the stage, the dogs and their handlers way ahead now to the point where I lose sight of them and I wonder how it is they've managed to weave through the crowds so quickly. When I catch up to them, they're already on the other side of the red velvet rope and I have to explain to security that I'm with the others. Security lets me duck under the barrier.

The dogs are panting, a little anxious, but not nearly as anxious as I would expect them to be in this new environment given that less than a week ago they were mostly running around on a reservation up north. For a few years now, TAS and IFAW have been partners in bringing unwanted reservation dogs to Toronto where the dogs are adopted out. In IFAW's latest transport earlier in the week, ten dogs were brought down.

Cesar Millan and Goldie

I don't know what the chain of events were exactly but I guess phone calls were made, emails sent and somehow or other, Cesar Millan, who was making an appearance at the Canadian Tire convention, arranged to showcase his dog whispering skills using three dogs from Toronto Animal Services. I didn't hear about the event until the morning of and then I thought, well, this is an odd enough combination that I think I'm going to have to postpone everything I had planned for Saturday afternoon and head down with the gang to check this thing out.

I did have to do some rearranging of my schedule, however, and by the time I got down to the MTCC, Millan had already picked the three dogs he'd be bringing on stage. The three chosen were the most rambunctious of the IFAW dogs: Lolita, a Black Lab mix, Dootie, a Pointer mix and Goldie, a Yellow Lab mix. The only problem was, I thought, the dogs weren't really that rambunctious. Pleasant, though untrained, tends to be the norm with reservation dogs and these three were no exception. Sure, they were somewhat excitable but nothing like any of the dogs featured on the Dog Whisperer TV shows. I couldn't help but wonder if Millan was disappointed we couldn't provide him with bigger challenges.

When I first heard about Cesar Millan years ago, a relative unknown at the time, it was from a Malcolm Gladwell article he wrote for The New Yorker (complete article is here with additional commentary here).

As Millan's popularity grew, so did the legion of critics, mostly people who disagreed with his training methods. I suspect that this anti-Milan backlash may have been perhaps a small contributing factor to Millan's suicide attempt in 2010 which was mostly triggered by the death of his Pit Bull Daddy followed shortly by his divorce.

For me, the show business of training dogs is more a problem than Milan's methods. The show business of training dogs manipulates people hungry for instant gratification into thinking they can fix a dog's problems with a few finger taps on the torso, vocalizing "ch" noises and a maintaining an internal mental state of "calm energy". Just this morning at the dog park, there was a Pug barking a little too insistently for its owners liking and the owner kept trying to chase it down while making "ch" sounds and air tapping because she couldn't reach down fast enough to tap the dog itself since the dog just kept staying out of her reach. As expected, that particular training method didn't produce the intended result.

Whatever criticisms might be applied to the Dog Whisperer TV shows, Millan himself has always been a huge supporter of both shelter dogs and Pit Bulls. And now there is a new National Geographic series featuring Millan, called Leader of the Pack, which focuses specifically on finding homeless dogs a home. From the trailers I've seen, the premise of the series is a bit gimmicky (three candidates vying for one dog) but it's a gimmick which hopefully educates and advocates on behalf of shelter dogs. Millan's doing his part for shelter dogs and that he chose to showcase today three homeless dogs from Toronto Animal Services personalizes my appreciation for this aspect of his work.

Cesar Millan and Dootie

On stage, Millan is an enjoyable showman. He is comfortable and knows how to appeal to the crowd with grand gestures and one-liners. But, the first part of the show, with Millan advising and handling the three dogs and their "problems", is a bit anti-climactic. The dogs are too well-behaved to give him much of a challenge. Lolita is supposed to be toy-obsessed but she's more interested in sniffing the floor of the stage. Dootie is supposed to be food obsessed but turns out to be just as happy playing flopsy bunny and kissing faces. Goldie is supposed to be a puller on leash but on stage she walks gently and with relative ease. I wonder if Millan is bored. I wonder if the show business of working with dogs has taken away from his enjoyment of actually working with dogs but if that's the case, he doesn't show it. His energy level is up. His smile is on. The crowd cheers and claps.

After the show with TAS' in house dog whisperer

Elvis - Border Collie

2013-04-23T11:30:00.001-04:00

Elvis was found wandering around High Park. Someone's taken good care of him. He's friendly. He's healthy, well-groomed. He's trained. I wonder about his story, what the circumstances were which lead to him getting abandoned. Somebody cared about Elvis once.

Elvis is very smart but then he is a Border Collie. I once saw a news report about a Border Collie who knew more than a thousand words and was learning more every day which is pretty cool because as I get older, I forget more and more words every day.

Francis - Newfoundlander

2013-04-22T11:30:00.002-04:00

Do you like getting slurp on your face? Do you like getting dog hair all over your clothes? Do you like the feeling of a one hundred pound fur coat flopped over you as you sleep? Then meet Francis (who also happens to be Jacob's mum).

Update 2 on Moose

2013-04-21T11:58:00.001-04:00

From the owner of Walter (who used to be Moose the chocolate Lab):

Here's a little update on Walter! We have moved to a farm and his is the Uncle to our baby chicks!

Harmony - Chihuahua

2013-04-20T18:47:00.001-04:00

Harmony is the third and last of the recent puppy mill Chihuahuas being adopted out by Toronto Animal Services and like her companions Ringo and Hershey, who have already found homes, she too is a little shy at first but warms up quickly.

Unlike Ringo and Hershey, Harmony seems to have a bit more spunk when it comes to other dogs and vocalizes whenever she sees one she wants to meet. She sounds like a Hyena who's just sucked back a lungful of helium.

The best way to check on the adoption status of this dog (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services adoption website or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter. If the dog is no longer on the TAS adoption website, it's probably because it's been adopted already.

Zoe - Yellow Labrador Retriever

2013-04-19T11:30:00.000-04:00

Zoe, young, friendly, funny, yellow Labrador Retriever - hurry on down to TAS South if you want her cuz you know she's not going to be around for long.

Update on Molly

2013-04-18T11:30:00.001-04:00

From Molly's new owners:

Well Molly has been with us now for just over 3 weeks and she's been doing well. As I mentioned in my wall post, we got her house broken in about 4/5 days but even so she still only had 3 accidents in the house at the time. She's great in her crate and her mouthing behaviour is getting better as well. She loves to give kisses and loves to be groomed. She is getting better at handling but still not completely trusting in the hind area. We hope that she gets more comfortable with that in time. She's just a little anxious around other dogs but we are working with a trainer and hope to make her more socialized . Overall we totally love her and she seems like she's adjusting well and is happy! ( although I wish I can read her mind just to be sure lol!)

From me:

I'd really like to emphasize this point that one of the biggest stumbling blocks to Molly not being adopted for such a long time was that she wasn't housebroken when she was at Toronto Animal Services. This is such a clear example of how behaviour is so greatly impacted by environment. I'm thrilled that someone finally was willing to give Molly a chance to show she could be housebroken even though I'm amazed it only took them less than a week to do so. Fantastic!

MacDuff - Miniature Schnauzer

2013-04-17T11:30:00.001-04:00

With MacDuff's furrowed brow and apparent frown, he could be mistaken for a very serious minded dog. MacDuff is actually a happy little fellow who's still a bit shy having only been rescued out of a puppy mill for a couple of weeks. He's just getting use to being on a leash and walking around outside and I have to admit at one point I picked him up and carried him back after he suddenly just refused to take another step. I don't blame him. There are definitely times when I would go for the being carried option if only that option was available.

Ringo - Chihuahua

2013-04-16T11:30:00.000-04:00

Ringo is outside with Hershey (yesterday's post). He's still standing in the same spot where he'd been set down a couple of minutes ago. He's shivering even though the sun is shining and it's not really that cold out.

When I pet him, he freezes up a bit but then relaxes but doesn't really relax. The snacks don't break the tension. The squeaky toy doesn't break the tension.

Another dog walks by and that gets him moving. He scrambles over and suddenly all is well and he's forgotten whatever anxieties he's had and is checking out the other dog. The other dog eventually continues on its way with his person and Ringo is anxious again but not as much as before. Ringo moves around a bit now. He tries to stay close to Hershey but Hershey wants to be near me so there's that little problem for Ringo.

Eventually, I just pick Ringo up. Hershey gets immediately jealous and wants to be picked up too but right now it's Ringo's turn so I leave Hershey on the ground. Ringo settles into my arms - sort of. He's still not fully relaxed but that's okay. I understand trust is sometimes harder for some dogs. We've only been together a few minutes and he's already come a long way.

I think Ringo will be fine too.

Hershey - Chihuahua

2013-04-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

Natalie, one of the staff, spends fifteen minutes on the floor coaxing Hershey and Ringo (tomorrow's post) out of their crate inside the kennel which is a lot better than I would have done since the pair were too afraid to even look at me.

We carry them outside, Natalie with Ringo, me with Hershey. She tells me Hershey might walk but Ringo will probably just stand where ever he is set down - the outside world still too much for him to handle.

When I put Hershey down, he immediately tries to run away from me but I hang onto the leash. I sit down on the sidewalk. I pull out some snacks but I'm pretty sure Hershey will be too nervous to take any offered food and he doesn't. So, I just sit there some more. After about five minutes, Hershey is calmer and is doing some sniffing around my shoes. Another five minutes and he's by my lap. Then he's on my lap. Then he's curled up on my lap. Funny fellow. Now, even after I get up, he's wanting to climb back on.

I think he'll do fine.