A few weeks back I had to fly to the central desert of Australia to film a documentary on Dingoes and was unsure of how long I was going to be away and where I would end up so I decided to leave my kelpie, Rosie, with my parents on the farm after my end of year muster.
Within 2 days of returning to Sydney I was at a loss without my Rosie and arriving home each night had lost any sense of feeling, which just so happened to coincide with doing some fundraising work for the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home where I met the CEO, Dr Chris Cole who asked if I wanted to foster a large Mastiff/Great Dane/Greyhound/Bull Arab they were having trouble with and that is how my time as a foster father began.
'Claude', is your typical 'Pig Dog Type', brindle coated, huge puppy like head, whip tail and a boundless energy bursts that few urbanites know how to harness. Personally I have never had a 'pigdog' though I have trained a few city dweller owners of the 'Bull Arab' type,so took Claude on as challenge to my innate dislike of these dogs that I always thought of as big dumb bullies who are bloody dangerous... on account of their being the choice dog of young louts who are often trespassing on our farming district poaching wild pigs and often lose control of the dogs who then can attack our livestock or our little kelpies.
When I brought Claude home, he straight away started to jump up on the counters, hunting for any possibility of food... without a care in the world to what I requested him to do.... a major change from my Rosie who has 44 commands in her repertoire. So I took him outside and walked him around our yard and luckily he had been holding on and needed to urinate... and his training began... 'good weewee' I exclaimed and gave him some loving pats which he responded to. I then threw a handful of dog nuts on the floor of our bottom story laundry, which was to be his bed room and 'safe place' for when I was not at home, the idea being he will associate this place straight off as a place 'where good things happen'. After he began eating I left him alone for a few minutes and returned with a lead for his first walk... or should I say 'event'.
When I mean 'event' I mean 'event', I could see what Dr Chris was talking about when she said he 'was finding the environment inside of the shelter a challenge and the shelter was finding him an challenge outside of it'. Firstly the lead to him was something to chew and tug on, then when we did get it on it was all about mouthing and jumping up.... and when Claude mouths and jumps up you know it.. he is HUGE. I held my ground and just ignored this unwanted behaviour and soon enough he gave up and sat by me then off we went for a walk of me ignoring his bad behaviours and rewarding his nice loose lead walking beside me.
It didn't take too long before Claude got the gist of how life with me was going to be and he settled in to a good heel walk, but what happened each time I came near any people really shocked me. It was as though I was walking an Alligator or African Lion. Mothers grabbed their children and owners held tightly to their dogs giving us a wide berth and I really felt what so many large 'intimidating' looking dog owners must go through each day. however what was more shocking was those people who seemed oblivious to the dangers of large dogs like 'Claude' to their off lead little yap dogs. To these people the world was theirs, the rules do not apply and it is 'other' peoples responsibility to control 'thier' dogs. So time and time again 'event' continued of either people grabbing their dogs or letting their unleashed dogs run up and yap like mad in the face of Claude. I totally understand how larger dogs can attain an aggression towards some yappy dogs, as their owners discipline not the yappy dog but the large dog when the yappy dog comes and provocatively barks in their faces. The discipline can be interepreted by the larger dog as 'well bad things happen when little yappy dogs are about.. therefore ..little yappy dogs are something to be feared and best attacked if I see one'.
Luckily as always I had my training pouches and rewarded Claude for ignoring the abusive unleashed yappy dogs, and 'in kind tones informed the owners of said dog that 'no need to be concerned for the safety of your dog as I have mine leashed and under control'. Usually the person would smile in a relief and then walk on by after calling their little abuser only to realise I wasn't actually being as lovely as I sounded.
Nowdays, Claude has a wonderful sit if he wants anything, without request and walks well on a lose lead, however to ensure he still gets to pull, i have put that on a command and in his harness pulls me along at a good pace, which helps.... up hills and on the last kilometer back home.
After a week of fun with Claude I had another phone call form Dr Chris, this time regarding 'Zack' a 'very very very affectionate and excited staffy cross'. Lets just say I felt very loved when we first met in the vet room at Sydney Dogs and Cats home, yes I think that's what I will call being bowled over and showerd by a tongue on overdrive.
Zack and Claude were introduced 'offcampus', which is very important in my opinion and sets dogs up for a better relationship as their are no resources to argue over during that initial getting to know you and your body language. then after a long walk together (yes going through the motions I did with Claude with little exuberant Zack, who wanted to explain to every passerby how excited he was to have the chance to finally meet them.
Initially there were a couple of minor scraps between the two who needed to sort out not their 'pecking order' but what each one though was appropriate and when, as in being sqaushed, or being licked to death. This was achieved when I received an SOS from Australian Working Dog Rescue Inc, to foster 'Billy', who's Tasmanian carer could no longer have him. Luckily that day I had taken the dogs on a beach trip to the central coast and got into conversation with a couple who fell in love with him and with the OK from Dr Chris I handed little Zack over for a trial and raced down to Sydney to collect Billy form the airport. enroute i recieved a frantic phone call about Zack, who was not getting along with their current two dogs at all. I asked if they had followed my advice on 'offcampus greetings', to which I recived the ' well we thought they would be fine together as our dog is really submissive'. Whilst the idea of dominance hierarchy has really taken root in the past few years thanks to some flawed Wolf observation last century and some TV shows, what Zacks potential adoptive family found that its 'resources' that dogs compete over not hierarchy. Fortunately the family did try again the next day with an offcampus meeting and a family walk which resulted in great cohesion and no further issues between the canines.
In the mean time I collected Billy from the airport, which was really really hard. he is a very similar looking dog to Rosie and as I have collected Rosie form the same airport so many times, I had a bit of a cry to which little Billy gave me a lick and it reminded me that his situation of being bundled on an aircraft and no siting in a strangers ute on the others side of the country is much worse than my missing my little Rosie.
So I took hime home then on a walk with just the two of us, to teach him loose lead walking, then collected Claude to do an offcampus greeting and a family walk. it felt wonderful to be with a kelpie again but so hard as I would have to continually catch my self from giving commands and hand signals to Billy, to jump a bin, or hop on my back to do pushups...or any other of my routine communications with my little angel.
Sadly the next evening I heard from Zacks potential adoptive family who said that they can not keep the dog as he jumps up, i asked if they had followed my advice, which they said they kind of had but as he wasn't jumping up that they had started to just let him jump up and now he wouldn't stop.
So I decided this was not the family for Zack who really needed consistency, hoping that the family would be ready for another adoptive dog, he was brought back to me ... so here we all sit the 3 amigos and me and what a sight we make.
A pigdog, a little grinning staffy with a huge tongue, a Kelpie readjusting to the mainland and a man who misses his Rosie.