Debbie emailed me the application and phone interview report of a couple in Nashville who are interested in Keely. Debbie did their phone interview.
In the adoption application, the applicants, Ed and Barbara, are in their late fifties, with a daughter, Erica, in graduate school, and a son, Mark, in college. Ed works full time, and Barbara is a housewife but volunteers. They�ve been living in the same house for over 18 years, and they have invisible fence for their yard. They also have a pool. Their previous dog is an English Setter, who died at age 13 recently. The dog they had before that was an Australian Shepard, who died at age 12. They have a cat currently, and the cat actually belongs to Erica. They�ve never owned two dogs at the same time before, but they did a lot of obedience training with their English Setter. They�ve been to obedience class with the Setter, but are willing to go to class again with their new dog. They stated in their application that they are looking for a 5-6 year old female Springer, who�s on the small side, completed basic training, and has mellow personality.
In the phone interview report, it indicated that Ed will be the primary caretaker (however I think it�ll be more like shared responsibilities, especially that Barbara works from home). They had adopted a Sheltie when they first married (about 30 years ago), but to had to give the dog away to another relative when Erica was born, when the dog started exhibiting aggressive behavior toward anybody who came near the baby. Their English Setter had thyroid cancer and was euthanized because of it. They are looking for a small and mellow dog, and traits they do not like are hyperactivity inside the house, trouble housetraining and chewing inappropriately. At night, they are planning to have the dog sleep in their bedroom on a dog bed. Their English Setter also had sensitive stomach issue and was on special diet and supplements when she was diagnosed with mild dementia. The report indicted that the cat has always lived with dogs and is dog savvy, but they had to train the Setter with live with a cat, but they were able to adjust and manage.
It sounds like Ed is looking for a "buddy" to spend time with when he comes home. It doesn't seem like either of them would be interested in a dog who would require training and continuing socialization for the rest of her life? Keely has some food possessiveness (growl only), and also dog-dog aggression toward certain female dogs. We are working on them, but she would require training for the rest of her life, just like Brenna. Not sure if this is what Ed, or Barbara, wants? Also another concern regarding no actual fence, is that other dogs come into their yard. Keely has taken up eating certain dogs' poop, so I would recommend a home with real fence, or leash her outside if no physical fence. Overall the only real concern right now is the electric shock collar for the invisible fence, otherwise it just depends on Ed and Barbara if they are interested in continuing with Keely�s training and socialization.
Heather emailed back and said, �I spoke with Debbie about this application and I actually think they sound very much like really rational people, that are willing to do whatever Keely needs. Of course, explaining those things to them would be best to get their reaction, but Debbie did tell them that Keely would need on-going training. Also, if you haven't been around many Setters, I have to say, anyone who can train a setter, is pretty top notch in my book. Having Gunther has taught me a lot about them and their constant and lifelong desire to chew things and act out. I believe they had their hands full with their setter while training her.
I don't think they would have a problem leashing her because since she does eat things in the yard, I've already discussed that with Debbie and she said she would not be left out unattended at all. As you know, Keely wouldn't like being out there without you anyway.
I'm sure Debbie can give you more on this, but I do think it's worth you giving them a call and gauging their reaction to the way they would need to continue to work with Keely.
Keely will easily train to stay with them if it is a relatively rural area so she could be sometimes off leash with them and sometimes on leash with them. I don't think she would do well with the shock collar either, but I think she doesn't really need it. I had her off leash with me around my street and she did fine, always stayed with me, always came when I called her if she got more than 15 feet from me, etc.�
Jake and his dad arrived this morning around 9 AM. I just woke up about five minutes before they got to my apartment, after returning from the lab at midnight and again at 4 AM. I decided to work extra for one week prior to Jake�s arrival, so then I could stay more time at home during Jake�s visit. John said when they got into Auburn, Jake sniffed the air, and it seemed like Jake knew he's in Auburn. Keely was very excited seeing visitors. She and Jake sniffed each other very briefly, I'm sure they remember each other, and then she immediately went up to John for petting. John always pets Keely a lot when they see each other and he says Keely is very pretty. He also asked me if Keely's always this quiet, I told him that she's usually a little shy around strangers, but I think she's just fully enjoying John rubbing her ears. Jake is a happy boy as always, flipped right over for me to rub his tummy. John says, "Jake's not shy at all!" Jake walked around a little bit, but not too much, I think he recognizes the place, but is not worried about being left here. Anastasia came out, Jake took one sniffed at her and that was all. John then went out to get some of Jake's stuff out of his truck, while I held on to the collars to keep both dogs inside. Jake acted just like day of adoption, he just sat right by the front door, waiting for his dad to come back. After a few minutes, he came to me for some more petting.
John came back with Jake's bed and toy box. He wasn't very interested in playing with the toys, all except the tennis ball of course. Jake's eyes just lights up when his dad brought out the tennis ball. John showed me how they throw the ball for Jake to catch right in the air. When we set Jake's bed down on the floor, he immediately went lie on it.
John then went back to his truck to get Jake's food. Jake wanted to follow his dad, but John told him to "Stay" and he did (but I could tell he still wanted to follow). After a few minutes, I put leashes on both of them and walked them outside so Keely could go potty. Jake still pulls when I walk him, but I would say it's a little better than before. I will probably need to put the no-pull harness on him on longer walks.
John brought back a big ice chest with Jake's Nutro Ultra kibbles, Nutro Ultra cans to mix with dinner, a couple bottles of water, Nutro Ultra biscuits as snacks, gourmet biscuits to share with Keely, cut up chicken hot dogs for clicker training, and small biscuits for training as well. John also brought me some muffins made with fresh Alabama blueberries that Kate made. When John rolled out the bag of hot dogs to show me, Keely immediately pushed Jake out of the way and sat right in front of John. John asked me if he could give Keely some and I said yes. John then showed me how they do clicker training with Jake. He said they mainly do it without leash, so mostly in the backyard or inside the house. Not so much during leashed walks actually. I'm glad he said that, because I'm not sure I can do clicker training when I'm walking two dogs at the same time anyways, but I can definitely practice some with Jake in the tennis court or inside the apartment everyday. John then pet Keely some more as I was petting Jake. I could tell Keely was getting attached to, and possessive of John, and I told John so. Sure enough, two minutes later, when Jake approached his dad, Keely growled. Jake backed off of course. I think John was a little surprised, but not scared, and told Keely, "That's not very nice", and immediately stopped petting her. I hope Keely learns her lesson. John asked me a little bit about Keely's issues, and I told him we're still working on it. He said their obedience trainers are all very surprised how well-adjusted and happy Jake is, that it appears Jake doesn't have any baggage from before he was rescued. John also said Jake�s �tall, dark, and handsome�, and I think that�s true too!
After John left, Jake did sit by the door for a couple minutes, but he's well-adjusted enough that he came to me for more petting after that. I guess I was petting Jake a lot that Keely got a little jealous and growled. Jake was a little confused and walked away. But overall I think they are doing fine, and I left them together with the run of the apartment this morning as I came to school. Before I left, I took them for another potty walk around the apartment complex. This time, I followed what John told me what he does when Jake pulls. So whenever he pulls, I stand still, and sure enough, just like John said, Jake would come back and stand right next to my leg in heel position. I had to do that at least five times during the 7 minute walk, but hopefully it'll get better. I think paying more attention to Jake's leash pulling also helps Keely to shape up on her walking too, as I had been slacking off a little bit with her, but with two dogs pulling, that's just too much. But Keely's pretty good with it too, after two tries of "stand like a tree", she didn't pull either.
Photo of Keely sleeping on Jake�s bed.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Well, within 24 hours, Jake has figured out that there�s no way I can keep him from pulling with a regular collar alone, especially when I�m taking Keely out at the same time. This morning, he pretty much dragged me all the way across the playground at the apartment complex. I think he saw a squirrel and wouldn�t stop going after it. I didn�t want to let go of the leash, so Keely and I ended up going with him. There were two guys sitting on the picnic table watching us, I guess I must�ve looked pretty funny to them being dragged by a 65 pound dog. So, I ended up having to use the no-pull harness Jake�s parents brought for me for the duration of Jake�s visit.
Jake and Keely get along pretty well together, no fights, they just left each other alone. I think Keely�s the slightly dominant of the two. Whenever I come home after school, I would find Jake sleeping in the livingroom and Keely sleeping in the bedroom. Sometimes, I would find both dogs greeting me at the door.
Photo is Jake and Keely drinking water together after a walk.