Wash day

Today was wash day for the dogs here at the rescue, first Georgia who is a pro at getting a bath, then Caroline who fought me at the start – it is was then I realized she stays pretty clean and doesn’t really need a bath that often so therefore she hasn’t had as many as them. Our big goofy bulldog Paca was the last to get her bath and she really just doesn’t care for the water part at all.

When I bathe the dogs I rinse them down – starting with their legs to gently introduce the cold water to their warm bodies, then I add dog shampoo (Sparkle & Shine by happytails), and in this instance I also added some Dawn Dish Detergent to kill off any fleas that may be present. I lather them up real good and then they get the full body Tellington TTouch massage and everyone loves that part of the bath. Then it is to be rinsed again – which always brings the long faces and the tensing up. But today I let them roll around in the grass after their bath (I never allow them do that), this time was different because afterwards we all went for a short walk (off leash), down the street and around the corner. Everybody was given a real good chance to dry off before coming back into the rescue and thus the air conditioning.

On our way back towards the house a man was walking in our direction, without even seeing the detailed look on his face I knew the sight of Paca and Caroline running loose down the street was giving him second thoughts of traveling our way.  I had their collars and leashes, which I promptly put on them. Georgia was the last one I was worried about securing and I humored myself by telling the young man she was my most vicious dog. I just had to – Georgia went towards him and he reacted – shouldn’t of reacted – hell she’s only a foot high, Paca and Caroline were already tethered to me. I am bad sometimes. Georgia would never hurt someone in a situation like that, she loves people and she honestly thinks everybody is here on this Earth to give her attention. She is the Attention Hound!

With Paca’s last potential adopter not even getting back with us after the meet ‘n greet has left me out of sorts. I would have liked some feedback, he offered the $40 administration fee, if he wasn’t planning on going thru with this – why did he do that…

Going to be honest on the whole situation though – was extremely happy about the placement until I met the man’s dog, a huge male American Bulldog who outweighed Paca by at least 40 lbs, and this dog was not trained the way dogs should be trained – he had him on a retractable leash – hate them pieces of crap. I held his dog while he took Paca for a walk – his dog didn’t want any other dog around his person and was going after them. I was trying to hold the dog but he was too strong for me using that POC retractable leash and I ended up with a really bad nylon burn on my finger – because I was not going to back up all of my training because this dog was going to pounce in Paca’s direction and she was going to respond to that by fighting. I’ve worked hard for 2 years to change that in her. I’ll take a burn to my finger to save my training, shame though – most people use them POC, they have never trained a dog correctly in their life – if so they wouldn’t be using that!

Six foot, 3\4" - 1" wide nylon leash and a choker collar is the single best tool combination on the market for any type of dog training.

Caroline also has a 12” leash; she is undergoing special training that requires her to constantly be at my side (during those training exercises).

Paca was mouthy at first, she always is, it is just her, she likes to vocalize, and it wasn’t threatening – although to someone who doesn’t know any better – it may be intimidating. She lowered her front legs in the posture “I wanna play at your level”; she even went under the dog’s mouth and licked – which is another form of “I mean you no harm”.

The man’s wife has a medium size dog and Paca was very nice to both dogs, to both people. Everything happens for a reason, and I’m not going to dwell over it, just wasn’t meant to be. That is okay, I need to be the one to finish her training and that I will do.

She is really not up for adoption anymore, I’ll leave her profiles up just in case there is a real honest to goodness perfect home out there for her – but for now we are going full fledged into her Therapy Dog training. Boy – I take on some stuff sometimes.

Caroline in Service Dog training and now Paca in Therapy Dog training, hell might as well throw a cat in the mix to. Not trying to train Georgia on anything, she is old and the ex boyfriend really didn’t do her any justice by letting her jump all over him – can’t be a Therapy Dog, Service Dog, and anything other than a nuisance with that kind of training (or should I say ‘lack’ of training). I don’t want to put her through what it would take to straighten that out – just let her stay at home.

Also made a video of Paca playing with one of the Kong toys, I want to plug for Kong here – no – I don’t get paid for this – I do this freely – because when I find something made well and does the job – I will endorse such product.

If you have a bully breed or any dog that just gives its toys hell then I highly recommend the Kong line of toys – they are tuff and ready for all my girls have thrown at them. Now mind you the oldest and largest Kong Wubba (3 years old) is looking very, very worn – but hell it is an outside toy and it has been played with like a gazillion times. Our medium Kong Wubba is 2 years old and in perfect shape (outside toy too), the smallest Kong Wubba we have is the newest but I will only let Georgia play with that one. We also have a Kong Safestix which Paca and Caroline have played tug of war for 2 years on it and it is still solid and ready for action. So yeah the Kong Corporation has done right by me, made my dollars go farther by lasting so long. The pleasure they bring the dogs is priceless and I’m telling you they made Paca’s head massive from all that playing, tossing, pulling, etc. 

Paca

Caroline

Georgia

Wet Dog