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Tuesday, April 14, 2015

In which Rogue learns discs are fun and foster dogs are annoying.

I have come to the startling realization that Rogue is the dog version of my mother's curse.  You know the one.  "Some day, you'll have a child just like you."  I figured, no kids, I was safe, not only that, but my sister's kids seem to have all the challenging behaviors of both of her non child bearing sisters.  But I realize now that Rogue is much like me as a child.  She has my stubbornness and sensitivity.  She has my desire to  learn things her own way in her own time and while she wants very much to please me, she also wants to be in charge.  Every dog trainer I've talked to tells me how challenging a dog with those qualities is.  That's not including deaf, which I'm not.:)

So, we've continued dryer ball in the basement which is now her favorite game.  She will stand at the basement door and wait for us to take her down to play.   She will gleefully chase the ball and retrieve it until we put it away and tell her she's done.  I admit that I let her convince me that if she couldn't find the ball easily, I would find it for her until my husband told me she would find them for him without.  This  resulted in the Aussie curse of stupid smart dog.

But a dryer ball in the basement while a step toward catching and returning discs, is not catching and returning discs.






Dog disc







So, how to make the connection?  I went to Etsy because heck if there was anywhere I was going to find a wool disc, it would be on Etsy and found Adirondak Handmade.   She made me a lovely purple felted wool disc.  


But what would Rogue think of it?  Would it even fly?  What if she didn't like it?  Okay, it wasn't that expensive so it's worth a try.

So out we went to a field nearby to try it out.  I prepped her with a couple of long dryer ball throws that she gleefully went out and retrieved.  Then I put the dryer ball away and brought out the disc.  The gleam remained in her eyes which was a good sign and then I was able to lead her around so that she was chasing the disc instead of leading it and watched as she made a leaping catch to snag it out of the air.  VICTORY!!!

We did this a few more times to make sure her interest was not a fluke and then stopped before she got tired or bored.  I was excited and I could tell she knew that she'd done a good thing.  You think hearing dogs read you well?  Deaf dogs make them look like amateurs.  We both headed happily home.  That was today.  Can't wait to try this with her again.   Maybe... some day, we'll be doing disc together in competition.

So that's the good stuff that's been going on in Rogue's life and now for the bad... well bad as far as she is concerned.  We  took in a foster dog.  We hadn't fostered since we got Rogue because we tend to get the behavior problems which take a lot more time and we didn't want to take time away from Rogue.  

Enter Hyatt


Hyatt is a 10 month old red merle cross between an Aussie and a border collie.  We call them Baussies.  Anyone familiar with the breeds knows why.  Hyatt is young and enthusiastic and loves to be here.  He has some trust issues with people that we're going to be helping him through.  If you ask Rogue, he is her worst nightmare.

She started by yelling at him any time he got near her.  Now, appropriate dog behavior is to start with the least amount of correction (lip curl) and go up in steps until the other dog gets the hint.  My Ruby is great at this.  Rogue did not believe in subtlety, she went right for barking and driving him away from her.

As she is not hurting him or driving him past the point where he leaves her alone, we allow this behavior.  He's a pig headed teenager and that's what he needs.  Is her behavior toward him because she's deaf?  Nope, her behavior  toward him is because she's a spoiled girl who doesn't  like having another dog in the house.  Not only that, Steel plays with him and that's just not allowed.  

So, she is getting some training in having to deal with other dogs in the  house.  She has gone from not allowing him in the same room as she is to allowing him near her as long as he isn't too close.  I've watched him spend ten minutes outside trying to get her to play with him, pulling out all his tricks including nuzzling her, hip checking her and executing a play bow that just can't get his butt any higher into the air.   Now, I have seen her play chase with him briefly, but only when she thought no one was watching.

He's a pushy boy and she's teaching him that he can't just push anyone around. He's been here about two weeks.  I suspect in another two more, she may actually play with him.

Our walks at the favorite dog park are done for awhile. There's a pretty nasty dog flu here and while Rogue and other two aussies are healthy enough that at most, they'd get sick for a day or two, our 14 and a half year old is at risk of getting really sick so we avoid all our favorite spot where other dogs frequent.

In my continued effort to make a therapy dog out of this little spitfire, I've been taking her to Home Depot (yes, most Home Depots will allow your dog) where she pretty much keeps her eyes on me and does what I tell her. At the moment, the one thing that still distracts her are kids.   She loves kids and so I have to be careful about keeping her close so she's not jumping on someone.   I'm working her down stay so I am trying to get her to down or sit to be petted.  It's a work in progress but I think she's doing really well for a year and a half old. 

Until next time, when hopefully there will be pictures of Rogue and Hyatt frolicking in the yard and maybe even one of her catching a real disc.  I am every hopeful.