kami

Hey guys, thanks for all your kind words. Just the tonic we needed :). We expected to have to spend a lot of time and effort when we adopted a rescue dog to make them a happy member of our family. Annie keeps making small improvements day by day, but is starting to become sneakily naughty when we are not around. Yesterday, she stole her treat bag (we cut up dog treats smaller so we don't overfeed her with training) when Huw left the room for a minute - she was all over it! (No more leaving treats on the couch) And when i left her in the bedroom for 2 mins to put some laundry on, she curled up on our bed! (Which is strictly off limits - she has her own bed/crate). I had to push her off gently whilst telling firmly it wasnt on!). Aparrently my firm voice was lacking judging by the quizzical expression on Annies face- and her less than cooperative response to getting off the bed. It is super comfy :) As dog parents we are not sure what this bodes, but I believe consistency and firmness will be the key :) . As to the rescue, I believe it all went ahead less than ideally for a number of factors: - we were super determined to get the next dog that had the right personality after missing out on a prev. dog we were told that was available but wasnt (had been pre.adopted) and not even hearing back from other rescues through pet rescue. - the foster carer was very keen we took the dog because she got along well with Huw, and wasnt frightened of him. I think also he was worried about how she would cope in the shelter - and after getting to know her i think she would not have coped with the noise, sights, smells and isolation. I think she would have become more behaviorally disturbed in the short term. In fairness, we knew to some degree that we were taking 'pot luck' because of the way the rescue operates. We had put in enquiries on a number of other dogs through petrescue with no response whatsoever. This organisation appears to focus on getting dogs out of pounds and into homes, and does not undertake formalised assessments of new owners and states as such. When we went to pick up Annie there was no real assessment per ce, except for the foster carers assessment. Normally i believe a verbal assessment is done, however the shelter was very busy with about 50 ppl lined up before it opened to adopt puppies. . From my perspective, the irony is I feel that I would not have necessarily have been accepted for potential adoption through a rescue via petrescue - but I feel we have a lot to offer as motivated, proactive owners. I understand this could be a completely different situation if Annie had happened to go to just anyone who wasn't prepared to spend the money, time and energy required to help turn her into a happy well socialised dog. We are frustrated we still dont have per papers, despite numerous phone calls ect. So we can start obedience/ and then other dog activities that would be beneficial to her. That would be our main complaint of this shelter. And that her profile description was not exactly illuminating. I will privately msg you guys the link to Annies profile.

So a bit of an update: We've had our first session with Stuart from Underdog (who Annie was great with!) And we've started to incorporate a few of the strategoes he showed us already. He recommended crate trainig for when we are away, so we bought the crate today, and put her bed inside - and voila! With lots of treats and positive reinforcement - so far she loves it! We're taking it nice and slowly, so far she will happoly spend time in there sleeping with the door open or playing with treats and toys. Also, Stuart had some great pointers for us with rewarding her for waiting in a sit or drop, once we have said a release word, and she is very responsive to this! No longer are we constantly having to tell her to sit, because now she knows she has to wait until the release word - better for Annie and better for us. Huw, my partner has been working with her on some free shaping with mixed success. All round it has been a big success so far in getting help from a behaviouralist, and reassuring to know we are mostly on the right track, we just need to work on crate training and learning to effectively communicate with Annie. This week we are going to put a big focus on getting her to come consistently around the house and yard, so we can start preparations towards having Annie off leash, and running around off leash like a Kelpie should (IMO). we are going to have a further three sessions so we can make sure we are doing the right things onlead, and do some long lead/off lead work with someone experienced at hand. We will continue with the prosac, as we think it has helped improve her behaviour and make it easier for her to focus. So thanks for all the pointers guys, it was good to hear that we needed to prioritize getting Annie seen ASAP, and thanks for the recommendations re: behaviouralists. Would highly recommend Underdog, and dogzonline to anyone needing strategies, guidance and help settling in their rescue pup. Will provide updates and some more cute photos, when the time is right :-) Susie

Thanks ppl at underdog, have sent you an email :)

We are trying to get a behaviouralist at underdog to see her asap, we left a message yesterday and i have left another today. Fingers x they call back today so we can lock in an appointment. The ranger came around today and despite a broad variety of differing treats we have given her prior to leaving (not as we leave!) A neighbour has complained because of her howling on 3 different nights. The ranger was happy as we are already making steps to address the issue. I might try prok9 tomorrow if we dont hear anything back from underdog. Her separation anxiety seems worse since the peeing episode, with howling with me away for a mere 10-15 minutes! Great ideas with the crate training, it would be great because at least we could keep her in the house when we arent there, which should surely at least dampen down some sound even if she did howl. I think that will be the next big ticket item to buy on our doggie shopping list.

When i say so many ppl there were 6.

Well, unfortunately we have had a rather large set back. About 2 weeks after we got dog, we invited some friends back to meet her. Annie has been around large groups of our family before but has not met my friends yet. One of my friends was pleased to meet her as he also has a kelpie - but unfortunately as friends came in theough the back gate he held her down to stop her running out (he was worried the second gate was open, which it wasnt). What really ruined everything was that he then PICKED her up! Poor annie then started peeing, where upon my friend set her down. She hid under the bushes for hours before I could coaxe her out. This seems to have been a major set back for her, and she has been nervous of my partner since my male friend picked her up, and has been clingy but also shy with both of us. She has also started showing avoidance behaviours like trying to hide behind the couch, and appears even more noise phobic (became afraid of the oven - we fixed that one by getting her to do tricks and earn treats so she hopefully would associate treats and good things with the oven. we obviously put her in a situation which was too frightening for her, with so many people. We will always warn ppl go never pick her up again. And always to ignore her for 20 mins when they first get there. We realise we did the wrong thing by putting her in that situation :-(

annie dog

Heres a couple of pics for fun <div style="width:480px;text-align:right;"><embed width="480" height="360" src="http://pic2.pbsrc.com/flash/rss_slideshow.swf" flashvars="rssFeed=http://feed376.photobucket.com/albums/oo206/susie_young2/Mobile%20Uploads/feed.rss" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" /><a href="javascript:void(0);" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_geturs.gif" style="border:none;" /></a><a href="http://s376.photobucket.com/albums/oo206/susie_young2/Mobile%20Uploads" target="_blank"><img src="http://pic.photobucket.com/share/icons/embed/btn_viewall.gif" style="border:none;" alt="susie_young2's album on Photobucket" /></a></div>

Thanks everyone for your wonderful ideas, we will definitely book her in to either prok9 or underdogtraining cheers Jules, thanks for the referrals to some good local trainers. I think dave at diggers herding we might try down the track, she definitely can herd (tries to herd me when i run lol). Once she has settled in Its really reassuring for my partner and I to know we are on the right track - this is his first dog, and my first for many years, so we are probably a little over anxious to make sure we do all the right things to help our sweet Annie. Hankdog will definitely continue extending on the stay - had not considered just how much it would build up her confidence to keep extending it slowly over time. Awesome idea! She bites her feet quite viciously at times which we are trying to ignore atm so as not to reinforce

They rung up during the first week and i told them we were having issues with separation anxiety. They didn't really offer much advice, it is a large rescue with a high turnover of animals (no kill). She went straight from the foster almost directly to us, as we had met her foster carer with the dog earlier, and he was happy with how dog, partner and I got on. I got the impression he was anxious she not have to wait at the shelter, which was kind. All i know otherwise about her past history is that her foster carer thought.she had been treated badly by a male in the past by the way she reacts to them.

Thanks jules. Does it sound like we are on the right track with everything else?

I'm a little reluctant to specifically post where due to not having her paper yet and being able to register her - but the south eastern suburbs of melbourne

Hi there! I have been reading the forums here on dogzonline with great interest, in the light of recently adopting a kelpie from a rescue organisation. The description gave no indication the dog was anything other than a lovely sweet gentle nature dog (all of which is true!). However, she also suffers significant separation anxiety, and appears to have signs of noise phobia (cries if it rains even if someone is with her in the rain.). (We have only had her for a few weeks). Steps we have taken to address this: - Twice daily walks of an hour each. - Ignoring the dog before we leave and when we get home for about 15 minutes, so as to try and reinforce that us leaving or coming home is not a big deal). - our sweet natured girl is provided with a variety of toys and treats when we are gone, namely: - a kong which we have tried filling with frozen mince (a success) And peanut butter covered kibble (not a success). Various rope and ball combinations A stuffed scorpion toy to satisfy her prey drive A bob-a-lot to make her work for her kibble Bones, beef tendons (anything else she can consume in about 5 minutes) and multiple other dog treats that are long lasting.we rotate these and keep adding more treats and toys. We want to create a positive association between treats and us leaving. - we want stuff to keep her occupied for while we are working (only usually about 5 hours on her own for 4 days a week - over night from about 3 am - 7.45 am). The rest of the time i would say she has someone with her about 75 % of the time. I apologise for the long post but I want to give as much detail as possible so you guys can hopefully get a better picture of what is going on). The behavioural issues we are having is that our sweet girl howls while we are gone, clearly becoming so anxious that she then destroys items around the garden (one bar stool, one pot plant, one bucket, one decking applicator). We have to put her outside for this period, as we are concerned for her safety (and our belongings) if we leave her inside. We tried after the first night of constant crying as per neighbour (who luckily is sympathetic)to leave her inside our bathroom - which she covered in poop and smeared everywhere (even up to the door handle) because she was so anxious and kept pacing. So based on that experience, we leave her outside, but have considered crate traini g down the track one she settles in. She has a comfortable memory foam bed in an enclosed porch as well as a kennel. When we are at home she sleeps inside her own bed in our bedroom. our vet is involved and has prescribed alprazolam and prosac. We only give her the alprazolam on the nights we work, however i wonder if something that makes her sleepy would be more appropriate? We also have bought Her a thundershirt to try and will trial that next time. We also bought her a pheromone collar which seemed to help. Any advice you have would be appreciated! We are willing to try anything to make our girl happier. When we are home she is the worlds best dog,obedient, can sit, stay, heel....and i am teaching her a few new tricks. We are working on recall atm, but will still need her papers from the shelter so we can let her safely off leash. They are being rather slack about giving them to us which is making us rather anxious, as the sooner she is registered the sooner we can start obedience classes. Anyhows apologies for the extremely long post again, looking forward to your ideas. Thank you kindly, Susie