Dog Rescue

July Update

Dog Blog, Dog Rescue, FSJ ACT, FSJ ACT, FSJ Dog Training, Monthly Update, Pack in the Park, Puppies in the Park, update

Apparently, after promising to at least commit to the monthly updates I completely skipped June. I really didn’t have a whole lot going on in June, to be honest. My group class (that only had one person) ended in the beginning of June and then I just focused my time on my family for a little while.

Dog training picked up in July and I’ve been semi-consistently busy this month. LOTS of puppies! Which is always fun, I love working with puppies (I mean, who doesn’t?).

FAVORITE NAME FOR JULY

I feel like I should say my favorite name for July is Nova, since that is my youngest daughters name, but I sorry Nova, I think I have to go with Mungo for my favorite dog name of July. It’s honestly just so fun to say. I’m not sure if it has any sort of meaning behind it, I really should have asked the owner. But it doesn’t even have to have any sort of meaning, it’s just fun to say.

Mungo is one of the puppies that our Animal Care Team took in. In our care, his name was Dusky. He was a foster fail, and his new family just adores him and gave him the name Mungo. Which I think really suits him.

I didn’t get any photos of Mungo during our training session, but I did get the above photo of Mungo and his owner working beautifully together during Puppies in the Park.

FSJ ACTS UPDATE

FSJ ACTS officially has Society status now, which is so exciting. It means we will have access to a lot more funding. Unfortunately, we are still not a registered non-profit and can’t issue receipts for tax purposes, but with society status we will be able to help the animals just a bit more.

On July 7th I picked up my foster puppy Boss. FSJ ACTS has lots of puppies looking for homes that are currently in foster care. We have an awesome team of volunteers to help with kennel duty, but we wanted to give our volunteers a break and give our puppies a chance to learn how to live life in a family and home environment.

Boss has fit in really nicely. Zelda wasn’t too sure about him at first but he slowly grew on her and now they are Besties. He’s great with my two girls (7 and 2 years old) and is learning not to steal snacks or toys. He’s learning a lot of things in our house and I’ve given him a slow adjustment to house life. To make this easier for him to learn the rules (especially for house training) I have kept him on leash in the house a lot of the time. He gets leashed to either myself or a study piece of furniture so that I can keep him within eye sight at all times. He’s also been introduced to the cats. My older cat Jarroko has been extremely patient and the best cat to teach him the ropes about cats. My poor younger cat Alice is terrified of him and has been living behind the hot tub for the last couple weeks.

Boss knows how to sit, down and “go kennel”. He’s learning to sit at doorways and gates (this is very tough for him), he sits for his meals and he sits to be leashed. He is a very sweet boy who loves people and wants to please. This makes him quite trainable. He has the sweetest disposition and loves catching a nap in a good sun patch. Boss is also really great on leash and responds well to loose-leash training.

If you’re interested in adopting Boss, please let me know if you’d like to arrange to meet him!

FSJ ACTS FUNDRAISERS

For the month of July the Fort St. James Bottle Depot collected donations for FSJ ACTS. The total raised in the month was $1,000. Thank you SO much for your generosity. This money will go towards our vet bills.

There is a fundraiser through As You Wish Custom Designs (based in Prince George) where $2 for every purchase goes to FSJ ACTS. FOLLOW THE LINK to order yours! Here are some handsome pooches with their stylish custom tags…

PUPPIES IN THE PARK

On July 20th I hosted the first Puppies in the Park; a spin on our classic “Pack in the Park” but it was for puppies up to 10 months old (who have been vaccinated). There’s a lot of fear about Parvo (and for good reason) so I had a lot of interest but a lot of puppies who aren’t vaccinated enough yet to attend public dog events like this. I had a couple of people attend and it was a blast of course, puppies always are, but there is a definite need to do this again next month once more puppies have had their shots.

I’ve had tons of people ask me about when I’ll do another Pack in the Park and I decided to create a texting list for those who want to be notified when the next Pack in the Park is happening. If you’d like to join this list, please let me know.

Meet Our Adoptable Dogs!

Dog Blog, FSJ ACT, FSJ ACT

The Fort St. James Animal Care Team is in need of foster homes and we’re looking for forever homes. A great option is to “try it out” first and Foster to Adopt. When you Foster to Adopt you make no commitment to keep the animal and if they are not a good fit for your household and they can be returned to our care.

For more information about any of the dogs below, please contact FSJ ACT by email fsj.act@gmail.com or Facebook Messenger.

If you’re interested in fostering, please fill out a Foster Application.

If you’re interested in adopting, please fill out an Adoption Application.

ADOPTABLE DOGS

Meeko is looking for his forever home.
For more about Meeko’s story read his Go Fund Me page.

ADOPTABLE PUPPIES

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

ADOPTED!

March Update

Dog Blog, Dog Rescue, FSJ Dog Training, FSJHS, Monthly Update, Pawparazzi Pet Services, Training, Trick Training, update, Zelda

I was going to post something different this week; I wanted to post a blog I have written about what to expect from Fort St. James Dog Training. It covers everything from first contact to the consultation, session and follow up. However, since I missed posting the last two weeks that bumped us into the middle of the month faster than I expected and it’s time for another monthly update! The post I had planned for today will instead be bumped to next week.

So far, the month of March has been pretty quiet. My family have just been battling one cold after another. I think I spoke too soon when I said we got away with less sickness this winter than last and the germs are trying to show me to put my foot where my mouth is. It’s like we suddenly got hit with all of it in one month. Which is why I missed posting the last two weeks.

In February I had set the goal of doubling the amount of dogs I trained vs the month before, and I not only met that goal but surpassed it. I knew that setting a similar goal for March would be unrealistic as I just don’t have enough available hours for training to work with 20 dogs in one month. I’m fine with that, sometimes we need our goals to be realistic so that we don’t become overwhelmed in reaching them. I’ve trained a handful of dogs so far this month and each one is always so special to me. Even if I only trained one dog in the month I’d still consider it a success because I was able to help someone with their dog. After all, that is what I’m here for.

Favorite February Name: Tyrion

One of the many little delights I’ve found in dog training is learning what people name their dogs. My favorite dog name from February was a sweet little dog named Tyrion. As a Game of Thrones fan, this name is an absolute hoot (especially on a small dog).

Tyrion’s owners were also very enthusiastic about training; they are working hard to reach their training goals and I loved seeing them attend Pack in the Park and really put in the work. Way to go guys!

A close second was a corgi named Kevin.

Business License

Fort St. James Dog Training was supposed to start as an official licensed business March 1st. I was sick leading up to March so I didn’t get a chance to get to the District Office before March 1st but went in on the day of. It was my experience (from eons ago) that you could get a business license the same day. I even downloaded their form from the District website and filled it out beforehand to save time. When I brought it to the office I was met with a lot of confusion. I was told they couldn’t do it that day. When I expressed my surprise, I was told ” yeah, we have to do it the right way now.” I was a bit shocked at that answer. “You weren’t doing it the right way?” I asked and the answer I got back was “no” and then a mumble about high turnover. So I think maybe the people at the office just didn’t know how to do it? I was told they’d be in contact with me after looking it over. It’s been almost 2 weeks since I dropped it off, how long does it take to look over one sheet of paper? I phoned this morning and was told they e-mailed me, but I never got it. I don’t understand why they didn’t phone. I feel like people have lost the art of the phone call these days (does complaining about that make me old?). They needed my registration number and I don’t understand why that wasn’t an option to fill out on the application. At any rate, I am annoyed and I have to say, after that experience I’m really not left with a lot of confidence in our District workers.

animal welfare updates

Our little group has been working really hard to re-establish the Fort St. James Humane Society. We’ve dotted most of our i‘s and crossed most of our t‘s but there’s still a few little things to work out so we’re keeping our rescue missions on the down low until they are finished so that we don’t become overwhelmed. There are a LOT of animals needing help in our community and a lot of owners who need help with their animals. It’s going to take time to really start making an impactful difference.

Last week we executed our first big rescue mission since re-assembling an Animal Care Team. It was a drop in the bucket of a larger issue, but we changed the world of 17 puppies and that’s amazing. People from difference communities all came together to make this mission a success. In honor of an Animal Care Team member who passed away recently, we named this first rescue Mission Chantel. Chantel loved animals and really wanted to see our efforts in animal rescue be successful.

One Saturday, March 9th, 16 puppies (one ended up being adopted by one of our members) were loaded up and transported to Quesnel, where the Victoria Humane Society transport driver met our driver with their beautiful van and the 16 puppies were transferred from one vehicle to the other. VHS drove them back to Victoria where they were all quickly bathed, vetted and placed in foster homes.

As I said, a lot of people were involved in this rescue mission and it went quite smoothly and I would say was a total success! A huge thank you to the people who worked hard to orchestrate the whole thing and cared for these sweet little babies while they waited for transfer. This mission would not have been successful without everyone who played a part.

You can learn more about Mission Chantel on Facebook here and here.

If you would like to be a part of the solution get in touch with the Fort St. James Humane Support Group and see what you can help with! One thing we never seem to have enough of is foster homes. Since we don’t have a physical building to house animals, we need people to open their hearts and homes to house any animals we take in. If we don’t have a place for them to go, we can’t help them.

Novice Trick dog

One of my goals with Zelda is to get her a Novice Trick Dog (NTD) title. I love training tricks to dogs. I love the way they need to be broken down into different behaviors that you then shape together.

Trick dog titles can be obtained through Do More With Your Dog. For a NTD you need 15 tricks to be evaluated by an evaluator either online via video or in-person. Some basic obedience counts and advanced and expert tricks count as two towards the NTD. For more information, check out their website.

Zelda’s trick list currently consists of:

(1) sit

novice

(2) down

novice

(3) shake hands

intermediate

(4) sit pretty/beg

intermediate

(5) spin circles

novice

(6) roll over

intermediate

(7) leg weave

intermediate

(8) center

novice

(9) stay

novice

(10) touch hand (nose touch)

novice

(11) focus (watch me)

novice

(12) drop on recall

advanced

Trick of the Month: Center

Definition: Come from behind and stand between the handler’s legs (shoulder to knee)

Command Variations: “center”, “peekaboo”

Behavior: Break down into two parts: dog stands between your legs and dog moves from in front to behind you

Use: To position a dog where you want them

This trick doesn’t have a lot of practical use, but is a fun extra to train your dog. It can act as a party trick or can come in handy when participating in dog sports, such as dog agility, where you want to get your dog set up in a specific spot to start.

How To Train “Center”

Stand in front of your dog but facing away. Bend down and hold a treat in one hand and motion with your hands for your dog to come through your legs. As soon as the dog is in position reward them. Keep practicing until you feel like your dog understands to stand between your legs. Start connecting your command with the behavior.

Next you will need to teach them to go to that position from anywhere and facing you from any direction to start. Since you started teaching this trick with your dog behind you, gradually start to turn your body so that they’re approaching from the side. Practice many times until your dog is doing it smoothly. Try again after turning your body a bit more and continue to train this way until you have turned enough to be facing your dog when the command is given. The dog must go around and then get into position from behind you.

Add Distractions

It’s important to always gradually add distractions when training any new command. Once your dog is understanding without a lure in a quiet room move on to a less quiet room. Start throwing in distractions of other people, animals, and different places. You can test your dog by throwing a small box across the floor, have someone else blow a whistle, roll a ball past the dog, throw a treat etc. There are endless ways to test your dog out. Create the distraction and give the command, “center” and if your dog struggles to look at you despite the distraction then you need a bit more work in the quiet room or with a less challenging distraction. Slowly build those distractions inside your home and then try outside your home. Try in your yard and then move on to a local park, beach, down town etc. If your dog struggles with the new level of challenge then you need to take a step back and work a bit more at a lower challenge.

The Dog Who Was Lost 925km Away

Dog Blog, Dog Rescue

Today’s topic is a bit of a deep dive into responsible ownership and the SPCA. As always, names are changed to protect people’s identity. The fact we live in a small town, people can easily figure out who I’m talking about. So my disclaimer is this: I’m not here to place blame or point fingers. I’m here to discuss WHY this happened and how to avoid it from happening again. We are only humans doing our human thing. We learn a lot of lessons the hard way, unfortunately, and I think this is one of those cases.

Here’s the story: a woman (let’s call her Cheryl) posted on a local group that her dog Fred was missing. Fred wanders frequently and covers a large distance but he’s friendly, he always comes back home, and as far as the owner understand he’s never been a problem to anyone so therefore the wandering habit isn’t something she feels needs to be fixed. But when Fred didn’t come home from his usual adventures, Cheryl became worried and started to look for him. She shared on local groups that he was missing, with his photo in case anyone has seen him, and she talked to people who said they spotted him. She was able to track him down to an SPCA 925km away from home. WHAT. THE. HECK? This was the question on everyone’s minds when hearing the news that Fred had made it so far from home. How did he get there in just a few weeks? Clearly, he didn’t walk himself there, he must have found a ride (meaning somebody knows something).

We don’t have proper animal control in our community (something myself and others are working on), so Fred wasn’t picked up by AC here. What they think happened, based on talking to people who’d seen him, is that Fred was sold to someone in town and then somehow made his way to a nearby city where he was picked up by animal control as a stray. I don’t know what happened to him between being sold and being picked up by AC. Maybe his new owners tried to move him there and he escaped their yard? There’s really so many possibilities. Animal rescues transport animals between rescues all the time. Some shelters are full while others have room and so dogs who struggle to find placement or who they just don’t have room for will transport to other rescues. Dogs can travel across Canada and the United States in this way. Fred ended up in a city 925km from home. He was well taken care of by shelter staff and was even neutered and put up for adoption (keep in mind, he’d been missing only a few weeks). By the time Cheryl and her family found him he was to be adopted out to another family the NEXT DAY. Cheryl’s mom was able to go to the shelter and identify him, but the SPCA would not release him to her, only his rightful owners. They compared photos and videos of him and were able to confidently declare him as Fred based on several distinct scars on his ear, muzzle and leg. Purebred dogs can be difficult to tell apart at times, but there’s no denying that many factors. The SPCA told them the dog was not a match and that if they wanted the dog they had to come adopt him. They spent the next 24 hours scrambling to raise money to go get their dog.

This story has a happy ending. They were able to raise the money they need and they SPCA decided to let the dog go to the owners who rightfully claimed him. The last update I heard was that the owners were on their way to get him.

Here’s my two cents, as a dog trainer/enthusiast… I think both parties are in the wrong and the poor dog is the one who had to suffer for it. I think that if you let your dog wander, especially without any identification, you’re just asking for something to happen to them. What happened to this dog is a pretty extreme, and probably not a super likely scenario, but it’s a good reminder that you just never know what’s going to happen. The least you can do is put a tag on your dog’s collar with their name and your phone number on it. Better yet, have your dog tattooed or micro-chipped.

I also think that the shelters that handled this dog were in the wrong. There was not a long enough window of opportunity at either shelter for the dog to be properly claimed (especially since he came from a different town). When the owner did come forward with identifying the dog and proof that it was her dog, the SPCA should not have denied that it was Cheryl’s dog. Why was it so difficult for them to ID him, when even I could see this was the same dog? I understand their need to recoup some of their costs to care for and neuter him, but the really short time-frame with an ultimatum of either pay for the dog within a day or he’ll be rehomed, was pretty heartless. Even though I feel the owner was misguided in the way the dog was left to wander, I do believe they deeply love their pet. They wouldn’t have gone through SO much trouble to find and get him back if they didn’t. The SPCA is here to help animals, but it should also be here to help people too. Help reunite animals with their owners so that you’re not adopting out dogs that already have a home (which takes a home away from a dog who does need it). It should take this as an educational moment and teach this owner how to be responsible instead of just using money as a teacher. Do you job and explain to the family how to keep Fred safe at home from now on. Give them resources such as local dog trainers (hello!) and information that can help them be better dog owners so that something doesn’t happen to Fred again.

I saw a lot of people suggested that Cheryl takes Fred’s story to the news and calls out the SPCA for the way they handled this situation. I agree, I think she should too. I understand how difficult rescue is, I understand many of the rules they have around adoption etc. are there to keep the animals safe. What I don’t understand is how they can be so black and white and not realize there’s a LOT of grey in-between when it comes to people. It’s not always so simple as this person is good and this person is bad. We are complex animals taking care of other complex animals (dogs). They need to consider other factors when it comes to adoption as well as reuniting pets with their families. I tried to adopt a dog to bring with me to dog training school and they wouldn’t let me because I had another dog at home who had guarding issues with food. An issue I worked on with him for years and by the time he was an old dog nobody knew he had these issues. The dog I would have adopted would have had a chance to be trained in a professional setting, with someone who loves dogs SO much I wanted to make a career out of it. This was just one of many experiences I’ve had or heard about with the SPCA that makes me shake my head and wonder are they really doing all they can to help animals? Or have they become too possessive over animals?