Sachi has become a houdini about escaping fenced in areas. I am able to house sit a client's two goldens at his property with Sachi. This has been great because she is in love with his boys, can play rough and be a little minxy tease throwing her butt in their faces and when one finally kind or gets an idea to do some shenannigans she drops to the ground and kicks the hell out of their bellies.
That being said since teaching herself the doggie door if she goes outside and is bored and if the men-dogs wont play with her she just flats out climbs the 4ft fence to go wander in the field behind his house and hunt birds (thank GOD for a TAGG tracker, the first time I was doing homework inside and watching them through the bay window and saw where she went) I went out whistled and she came back pleased as a pie and let her in through the gate. This was during the first week last day we were there.
During the second visit she wasn't allowed out by herself at any point. I was in the yard with her and she climbed jumped on their guinea coop (three feet up and set back about a foot and a half from the fence) and just popped over the fence to go in the back field again. Whistled and she comes right back at full speed please to have come. So I keep treating and rewarding everytime she comes ( I yelled at her when she was popping the fence and I was in the yard with her and there was no reaction). It I think became a game then that she would escape and be recalled for treats. So I tried recalling for treats in yard and she couldn't care less. Good news is when she is just off on a lark she will recall 100% so far, knock on wood but I don't know if she is frightened. By the end of the week and multiple escapes with me always out there with her she would recall but might stop on the way to sniff a bush or the outside of the fence, but we kept it a positive recall. She refused to be leashed, as well. In the apartment she is fine will sit quietly for it but at their house you have to chase her around and corner her to get her to sit for it--not the most positive experience and also limiting for me to leash her and keep her safety in the yard.
But all has been well and I have a plan for next week's sit and pics will come soon of the funsies!
So the other updated story is her being kicked out of daycare. The daycare said she was showing fear aggression and that she was a biter. I need to overnight board her at the end of April for a two day work trip and decided a good way to become acclimated is try their daycare. After going over and spending my lunch break with her in their lobby she opened up with me and with their staff and I got the full story.
Despite my warnings that she is more nervous with men and it is worse with tall men they decided to have her runner and "play watcher" be a 6'4" strange man versus the few female staffers she knows there from perusal visits. She didn't bite anyone nor try but was giving some warning growls and eyeing them up nervously, they decided to use caution and just board her for the day until I could pick her up after work, I don't blame them for that. After our break together and hanging out with the staffers she, I was told later, much better and went with them happily, they couldn't put her real collars and leashes on her but were able to slip lead her and she tolerated their presence with out any reactions.
My goal now is to continue socialization and work on gradually having "strangers", my roomies, leash and unleash her to make the process easier. It is now up for debate as whether or not I am allowed to overnight board her there. They want to try another day of daycare and see how she does, and if I bring her around to just chill in the lobby more. It is a good idea though I dislike the preconceived notion that they are labeling her as dangerous because she picks up on their nervousness AND they keep telling me dogs do better and relax more sans owners when she has now exhibited that this is infact the opposite they keep mouthing this to me, but are good people otherwise. Should I just find a new daycare?
Might try looking for a new daycare. It is troubling that even though you told them about her around strange men, they immediately pair her with a strange man. Also they will always treat her as an aggressive dog now and sachi will pick up on that and make the fear aggression worse.
So the other updated story is her being kicked out of daycare. The daycare said she was showing fear aggression and that she was a biter.
I read the post, but maybe I missed something... Did she actually bite someone?
AND they keep telling me dogs do better and relax more sans owners when she has now exhibited that this is infact the opposite they keep mouthing this to me, but are good people otherwise. Should I just find a new daycare?
I think it's pretty typical of a Kai to be more comfortable and relaxed with their owner around than without them. Remember our phone conversation, how I mentioned my friend that worked as a handler for pariah-type dogs and wild canine in a zoo and how I felt her relationship with the animals was similar to the one that is formed with a Kai and his/her owner?
My personal opinion on daycare is that it's a bad idea to use it for socialization. If socialization is the goal, you are better off with short POSITIVE bursts of controlled socialization than to allow strangers (and unknown dogs) socialize your dog for you. It borders on "flooding" IMHO.
She'd probably be comfortable in a kennel by herself than with a strange group of people and dogs and all the stress that comes from it.
You just have no way to control the environment and set her up for success if you are not around.
No! she didn't bite anyone nor try, she looked at them funny and they said they thought she might, But the initial phone call I received from them was she tried to bite. I go talk to them later and find out she didn't try but was just nervous acting no teeth shown nothing.
I told the crew multiple times that they should meet her with me and would do better and we've done some private lessons there and I inaproppriately assumed they would follow my advice on how to.handle her, like use the members who I knew would be there who she will on her own go poke for treats and told me they would keep an she out.
The daycare wasn't to socalize it was to acclimate her to being in a strange place because I can't take her with me on the work trip to bmore and I didn't wantbto recieve a call from out of state like this (i work next door so it was easy for me to check on her. It was supposed to be 1/2 day daycare the rest just boarding, it ended up all day boarding (the daycare I can see was my mistake but she def enjoys the dog get togethers we have in our complex of 6-10 and their group was only 15 so I thought it might be manageable). The issue is everyone out here has this all cage free boarding and and individual play time with the staff. This place was closest to fitting the bill for just a kennel, and one she can't escape from the playgroup being optional or short periods.
I think I'm going to see if I can convince my boss to let me book a seperate hotel room.from the rest of the SMs in the district out of pocket and just leave her in our room so on our breaks I can go upstairss and watch her and walk her.
I think I'm going to see if I can convince my boss to let me book a seperate hotel room.from the rest of the SMs in the district out of pocket and just leave her in our room so on our breaks I can go upstairss and watch her and walk her.
Thanks, its so weird as soon as shes out the fence she will run right back but she just needs to get out. If I yell from in the doorway on the porch and back in to the house she will come but needs the physical separation? I dunno. I'm going to expen the guinea coop next sit so she can't get to it and the hens can rest easy. And start making leashing the Best. Thing. Ever. So I can just put her on the long line and pick it up when she gets ready to explore. I've walked the back field when we do playdates with his dogs with her on a drag line and his free so she knows it well enough to not be just exploring but something is tempting her over like birds picking on the ground.
Hopefully the hotel works but my mom reminded me of a place where she put her very dog agressive dog as a safe place to just kennel her for a night with no extras.
Oh man looks like you and Hana have been having a blast together at the dog park, she looks so happy in the video! I hope Ren opens up like that at some point.
Good call on the sedation for the deep clean btw. Paying all that for a daily clean would've been too stressful and wayyyyy too expensive! $77 holy cow! At the vets I worked at they charged $20-30 to apply meds :P It really isn't any different than what you do at home. If you have to do it again in the future just google "safe veterinary dog hold" and you'll get the head and body holds that are used. Then just set her up on the kitchen table with one of you holding firmly (don't be scared, but don't crush her) and the other do what needs to be done in a direct manner. No being extra delicate, that just makes things take longer. They thrash around in back with the techs just as much as they do in the room with the owner lol. There, you've saved $77 in the future lol.
Haha that's funny about the yard thing. That sounds pretty normal to me though Ren will come over to see what's up if I'm calling her while acting silly because it looks like something fun. Otherwise she'll keep on exploring. BUT then the second it looks like I'm going inside or leaving the yard she'll run straight over to be at my side. Also she's wandered outside of the yard a few times due to the gate being left open. Not so much a "IM FREE" type of thing but a "OH there's a bird or interest thing out there! Better go see what it is!" Then as soon as I walk out of the yard and call her she'll run right back looking all happy like "I saw it! Now I'm back! Aren't you proud?". So I've put my trust in her.
@cezieg lol thanks but I've got the other rehomed girl Sachi you're thinking of thegela's Hana! my vets cool they do everything with me in the room, and they taught me a hold, so last nail trim I tried the hold there and she fought like mad, the tech takes her and she hunkers, so its something about being familiar with me she knows I won't push her that badly?
I agree my vet is pricey but she's worth every dime.
Sorry about what happened at the daycare! I'd be super annoyed with them.
And that cage free boarding stuff drives me nuts. I don't have a single dog who would do well in that. I always have to tell them, no, we don't want group play time. No I don't want you to try to walk my dog. I just want them in the kennel! It's the safest for reactive dogs or dogs that are shy or fearful and bolters.
The idea of cage free boarding is fine, but there are plenty of dogs that would not tolerate it well at all.
@cdenney Doh I was writing before running out the door to do some errands haha sorry! I did mean Sachi though, just mixed up the names argh. As long as you're happy with the service you're getting! Just figured I'd give you my behind-the-scenes opinion so you can judge for your yourself
Well my plans of a second dog were dog-blocked by my roommate and I took a good look at my finances (thank you tax season!), if anything serious were to happen to Sachi I would be able to handle it, if I got a second dog I wouldn't and so have had to indefinitely put a second dog on hold until my next raise (Next April fingers crossed).
@sunyata contacted me about a few weeks ago for an Alumni female from NYCshibarescue that just needs a three month foster while her owners go out of town for work. Fully paid for dog, and I get to see what life is for three months (my roommate thinks this will turn me off of a second dog--ahahahahha just wait!) with two dogs and then I return her to her folks. We did a meet today outside and in-house and they largely ignored each other, which I see as a good sign.
Without further ado I would like to present my summer foster who will be attending NIPPO with us, Nicky, a sassy 11 year old mostly blind Shiba.
@cdenney - I am so glad that Sachi and Nicky sort of got along... I think it will be a good experience to see how different it is to have two dogs (and hopefully convince your roommate that it is an excellent idea!). And Nicky is a sweetheart. :-D
She is really blind and face smashed the outer apartment door on their way out, we were all reduced to tears, poor girl, I think it will open doors for me later though.
The past 30days feel like we have lived in a whirlwind. Sachi and I attended the Nippo classic where it was amazing to meet so many members and so many dogs especially kais. My Kai exposure had been largely limited to just a few dogs and now having seen MANY I have a better feel for the breed which makes me see how far Sachi and I can go Sachi at Nippo acted like a normal dog sniffing strangers, letting many touch her, meeting all these new dogs and we were able to see her full brother Tomo as well (which was amazing to see their personality similarities and differences and to watch this brash dog just get shut down by my little wallflower). Sachi remembered Ayu, Akashi, Kishin, and Ritsu and was corrected several times for being so enthusiastic in greeting. With Brad she felt a moment of hesitation and then was all over him so it was fun to see her just be a crazy, goofy girl.
While in Ohio we visited my family for a little bit and they have our formally feral, dog aggressive, pariah, mutt (aka Sugarji). We all assumed we would just be doing a lot of dog management but I think both dogs read the writing on the wall and very strenuously ignored each other the whole trip to the point where both volutnarily got into my car own their own and laid down.
Sachi on Lake Erie--Didn't go in the water but wanted to until it came at her
After being corrected for playing with a fish carcass
A few days after coming home we finally received our foster dog Nicky and she is a fearless old shiba with quite a FTW personality. Mostly blind and selectively deaf most of the time she doesn't care what is in her way or what you are doing she will be there and do it with you. Within a day she was letting all of us pet her and she was playing and making the place hers. Sachi and Nicky went from ignoring each other to trying to get each other to play but never at the same time so they keep looking at eachother with expressions of "What, what are you saying? What do you want". Nicky's only two issues are she snores, loudly, within seconds of falling asleep, and she has separation anxiety.
These dogs have already really helped each other grow. It is amazing. By accident my roommates left my door open (where Sachi chills during the day) and when we came home hours later both dogs were in my room in their respective choice places passed out cold, Nicky didn't even know we came back let alone exhibit any of the issues when we left again an hour later. We now just let them both wander the house and comfort each other. Nicky being so brazen about everything it seems to make Sachi put her big girl panties on and get out and do things, Nicky is, I believe, showing her confidence.
Anyways all good updates and I am excited by the growth I am seeing in both Sachi and Nicky so
Comments
That being said since teaching herself the doggie door if she goes outside and is bored and if the men-dogs wont play with her she just flats out climbs the 4ft fence to go wander in the field behind his house and hunt birds (thank GOD for a TAGG tracker, the first time I was doing homework inside and watching them through the bay window and saw where she went) I went out whistled and she came back pleased as a pie and let her in through the gate. This was during the first week last day we were there.
During the second visit she wasn't allowed out by herself at any point. I was in the yard with her and she climbed jumped on their guinea coop (three feet up and set back about a foot and a half from the fence) and just popped over the fence to go in the back field again. Whistled and she comes right back at full speed please to have come. So I keep treating and rewarding everytime she comes ( I yelled at her when she was popping the fence and I was in the yard with her and there was no reaction). It I think became a game then that she would escape and be recalled for treats. So I tried recalling for treats in yard and she couldn't care less. Good news is when she is just off on a lark she will recall 100% so far, knock on wood but I don't know if she is frightened. By the end of the week and multiple escapes with me always out there with her she would recall but might stop on the way to sniff a bush or the outside of the fence, but we kept it a positive recall. She refused to be leashed, as well. In the apartment she is fine will sit quietly for it but at their house you have to chase her around and corner her to get her to sit for it--not the most positive experience and also limiting for me to leash her and keep her safety in the yard.
But all has been well and I have a plan for next week's sit and pics will come soon of the funsies!
So the other updated story is her being kicked out of daycare. The daycare said she was showing fear aggression and that she was a biter. I need to overnight board her at the end of April for a two day work trip and decided a good way to become acclimated is try their daycare. After going over and spending my lunch break with her in their lobby she opened up with me and with their staff and I got the full story.
Despite my warnings that she is more nervous with men and it is worse with tall men they decided to have her runner and "play watcher" be a 6'4" strange man versus the few female staffers she knows there from perusal visits. She didn't bite anyone nor try but was giving some warning growls and eyeing them up nervously, they decided to use caution and just board her for the day until I could pick her up after work, I don't blame them for that. After our break together and hanging out with the staffers she, I was told later, much better and went with them happily, they couldn't put her real collars and leashes on her but were able to slip lead her and she tolerated their presence with out any reactions.
My goal now is to continue socialization and work on gradually having "strangers", my roomies, leash and unleash her to make the process easier. It is now up for debate as whether or not I am allowed to overnight board her there. They want to try another day of daycare and see how she does, and if I bring her around to just chill in the lobby more. It is a good idea though I dislike the preconceived notion that they are labeling her as dangerous because she picks up on their nervousness AND they keep telling me dogs do better and relax more sans owners when she has now exhibited that this is infact the opposite they keep mouthing this to me, but are good people otherwise. Should I just find a new daycare?
My personal opinion on daycare is that it's a bad idea to use it for socialization. If socialization is the goal, you are better off with short POSITIVE bursts of controlled socialization than to allow strangers (and unknown dogs) socialize your dog for you. It borders on "flooding" IMHO.
She'd probably be comfortable in a kennel by herself than with a strange group of people and dogs and all the stress that comes from it.
You just have no way to control the environment and set her up for success if you are not around.
I told the crew multiple times that they should meet her with me and would do better and we've done some private lessons there and I inaproppriately assumed they would follow my advice on how to.handle her, like use the members who I knew would be there who she will on her own go poke for treats and told me they would keep an she out.
The daycare wasn't to socalize it was to acclimate her to being in a strange place because I can't take her with me on the work trip to bmore and I didn't wantbto recieve a call from out of state like this (i work next door so it was easy for me to check on her. It was supposed to be 1/2 day daycare the rest just boarding, it ended up all day boarding (the daycare I can see was my mistake but she def enjoys the dog get togethers we have in our complex of 6-10 and their group was only 15 so I thought it might be manageable). The issue is everyone out here has this all cage free boarding and and individual play time with the staff. This place was closest to fitting the bill for just a kennel, and one she can't escape from the playgroup being optional or short periods.
Hopefully the hotel works but my mom reminded me of a place where she put her very dog agressive dog as a safe place to just kennel her for a night with no extras.
Good call on the sedation for the deep clean btw. Paying all that for a daily clean would've been too stressful and wayyyyy too expensive! $77 holy cow! At the vets I worked at they charged $20-30 to apply meds :P It really isn't any different than what you do at home. If you have to do it again in the future just google "safe veterinary dog hold" and you'll get the head and body holds that are used. Then just set her up on the kitchen table with one of you holding firmly (don't be scared, but don't crush her) and the other do what needs to be done in a direct manner. No being extra delicate, that just makes things take longer. They thrash around in back with the techs just as much as they do in the room with the owner lol. There, you've saved $77 in the future lol.
Haha that's funny about the yard thing. That sounds pretty normal to me though
I agree my vet is pricey but she's worth every dime.
And that cage free boarding stuff drives me nuts. I don't have a single dog who would do well in that. I always have to tell them, no, we don't want group play time. No I don't want you to try to walk my dog. I just want them in the kennel! It's the safest for reactive dogs or dogs that are shy or fearful and bolters.
The idea of cage free boarding is fine, but there are plenty of dogs that would not tolerate it well at all.
My attempt to get all three to sit for a picture:
nope^
not here^
completely missing one^
There we go.
Let the games begin!
Bed-oddities
The sit-stand^
peachypleased cuddles^
@sunyata contacted me about a few weeks ago for an Alumni female from NYCshibarescue that just needs a three month foster while her owners go out of town for work. Fully paid for dog, and I get to see what life is for three months (my roommate thinks this will turn me off of a second dog--ahahahahha just wait!) with two dogs and then I return her to her folks. We did a meet today outside and in-house and they largely ignored each other, which I see as a good sign.
Without further ado I would like to present my summer foster who will be attending NIPPO with us, Nicky, a sassy 11 year old mostly blind Shiba.
Sachi at Nippo acted like a normal dog sniffing strangers, letting many touch her, meeting all these new dogs and we were able to see her full brother Tomo as well (which was amazing to see their personality similarities and differences and to watch this brash dog just get shut down by my little wallflower). Sachi remembered Ayu, Akashi, Kishin, and Ritsu and was corrected several times for being so enthusiastic in greeting. With Brad she felt a moment of hesitation and then was all over him so it was fun to see her just be a crazy, goofy girl.
While in Ohio we visited my family for a little bit and they have our formally feral, dog aggressive, pariah, mutt (aka Sugarji). We all assumed we would just be doing a lot of dog management but I think both dogs read the writing on the wall and very strenuously ignored each other the whole trip to the point where both volutnarily got into my car own their own and laid down.
Sachi on Lake Erie--Didn't go in the water but wanted to until it came at her
After being corrected for playing with a fish carcass
A few days after coming home we finally received our foster dog Nicky and she is a fearless old shiba with quite a FTW personality. Mostly blind and selectively deaf most of the time she doesn't care what is in her way or what you are doing she will be there and do it with you. Within a day she was letting all of us pet her and she was playing and making the place hers. Sachi and Nicky went from ignoring each other to trying to get each other to play but never at the same time so they keep looking at eachother with expressions of "What, what are you saying? What do you want". Nicky's only two issues are she snores, loudly, within seconds of falling asleep, and she has separation anxiety.
These dogs have already really helped each other grow. It is amazing. By accident my roommates left my door open (where Sachi chills during the day) and when we came home hours later both dogs were in my room in their respective choice places passed out cold, Nicky didn't even know we came back let alone exhibit any of the issues when we left again an hour later. We now just let them both wander the house and comfort each other. Nicky being so brazen about everything it seems to make Sachi put her big girl panties on and get out and do things, Nicky is, I believe, showing her confidence.
Anyways all good updates and I am excited by the growth I am seeing in both Sachi and Nicky so
It was great to meet you at NIPPO Classic, you are really good with dogs and Sachi is in a perfect place with you, and now Nicky, too! Lucky dogs!