Missy goes to meet humans at the dog park

To help socialize Missy with dog friendly people I took her to the dog park. We didn't go in but instead walked around the outside and she had lots of dog owners greet her. At first she was a little nervous but still very friendly. The more people she met the less nervous she became. In addition she definitely loves dogs and wanted to play with each and every one so that was her reward for greeting the humans. She got lots of compliments on her soft coat and everyone wanted to know how young she was because of her puppy behavior.

Missy is exhibiting calm behavior

Sometimes young dogs are too exuberant and inadvertently very rude to older dogs by jumping on them and being a nuisance. It is up to the older dogs to put them in their place, much like an adult would not let an 8 yr old child bang on them with a stick. Missy has come a long way in controlling her exuberant puppy behavior with us and with our dogs.

In addition I believe the diet we feed our dogs contributes to their calm and well balanced behavior. Missy is eating Natures Logic Raw dog food. We feed both the chicken and beef. Here are the ingredients for the chicken:
INGREDIENTS: Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Heart, Pumpkin Seed, Montmorillonite Clay, Cottage Cheese, Egg Shell Meal, Whole Eggs, Cod Liver Oil, Parsley, Blueberry Powder, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Cranberry Powder, Almond Powder, Tomato Powder , Apricot Powder, Artichoke Powder, Avocado Powder, Spinach Powder, Apple Powder, Broccoli Powder, Carrot Powder, Pumpkin Powder, Kelp, Chicory Root, Rosemary

And here are the ingredients for the beef:
INGREDIENTS: Beef, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Kidney, Pumpkin Seed, Montmorillonite Clay, Cottage Cheese, Egg Shell Meal, Whole Eggs, Cod Liver Oil, Parsley, Blueberry Powder, Suncured Alfalfa Meal, Cranberry Powder, Almond Powder, Tomato Powder , Apricot Powder, Artichoke Powder, Avocado Powder, Spinach Powder, Apple Powder, Broccoli Powder, Carrot Powder, Pumpkin Powder, Kelp, Chicory Root, Rosemary

As you can see she isn't getting chemicals, food dye, sugars (corn syrup) or fillers. Only foods that are good for her. Any of the above can cause a dog to act like a child strung out on chemicals or sugar, in other words an out of control dog.

In terms of treats we look for the most natural we can find. We often use ZiwiPeak as they are an airdried whole food treat from New Zealand. No artificial preservatives, no colors, no salt or sugar, and no fillers or grains.

Every day the dogs get something to chew on. It is either a frozen raw turkey neck, frozen raw chicken neck, a chew flip or a bully stick. All dogs love to chew and its important to meet this need.

Still working on the house training

With the back door wide open all day, Missy came down to the basement with me and peed so we are still working on the house training. This was her first trip into the basement and she has been very good around the house on the main floor and upstairs. We aren't even shadowing her any more so maybe she thought it wasn't part of the living area of the house. The basement is not finished and concrete so she may have associated it with the shelter floor.

Missy and the frozen chicken neck

Missy got her daily frozen chicken neck with the other dogs today. I've been giving her afternoon snack to her separately to avoid a fight. Today she confidently took hers out to the area of the yard where my dogs had just settled with theirs. Two snarls later (from my dogs telling her to keep her distance) she came back toward the house to eat hers.

My dog Sunshine accepts Missy as a playmate

Sunshine, my dog, behaved very badly to Missy at first. Lots of growling, barking and warning her off. He was very aggressive. But Missy's sweet personality won out and she has won him over. Missy plays very nicely with him. She doesn't play too rough or grab on to his scruff and shake or herd his legs. They just nicely wrestle and chase each other about. When things get intense she backs off. When he gets tired she backs off. It has been wonderful for him!




























On the housebreaking front I left Missy in the crate while I took my dogs for a walk. When I returned to give Missy her walk she had peed in the crate. Now, this is entirely my fault. I probably didn't let her out right before I left. If I had I don't think there would have been an accident.

Missy in the house

Missy has earned free run of the house with supervision. She hasn't pottied in the house for over 3 days (not since the last time I reported it on this blog) and is not a marker. She is however, a puppy and will wander around investigating everything with her mouth. This is why she is allowed out and about as long as one of us can keep half an eye on her. We have a leash attached to her harness that she drags around so we can attach her to ourselves if we need to in order to focus our attention on something. She loves to play with house plants and taste electrical cords and furniture so keeping an eye on her is important. She has done pretty well at not getting in the trash. We have covered trash cans and as long as there is nothing dangling out she stays out of them. However, should there be something like say a corn husk sticking out, she will take it for a toy (ask us how we know).

In the evening Missy gets to wrestle and play with a person.

Missy learns restraint

Missy came to us less than a week ago, a floppy puppy who wanted to play, play, play. The problem was that my older girl Blossom does not care for that style of dog. She likes her personal space. She also appreciates a polite invite from another dog to play which she will often decline but occasionally accepts. So how do we mesh these two styles? First we pretty much kept them apart or on top of Blossom so that she was giving short, acceptable (to us) corrections. Second we had some more age appropriate and much friendlier dogs play with Missy and give her a correction yesterday.

Today Missy is a different dog with Blossom. She has learned to respect her personal space. Basically Blossom has told her that she does not get to touch her. The end result is that while Blossom plays fetch or runs around the yard Missy runs after her, along side her or behind her. But does not touch her. If she tries to Blossom gives her a snarl and she backs off.











Missy is a very friendly dog who has not initiated any aggression with our dogs despite their grumpiness. However she is gaining some very valuable dog skills by learning in a controlled environment that not all dogs want to play with her.

There was actually no growl or altercation here. Just a look to see what Missy's intentions were.

Blossom does allow for accidental touches going in and out of the house. However if Missy intentionally tries to touch her Blossom lets her know that she is not allowed. Blossom was not like this when we were fostering Sunshine. However I think it was because Sunshine had no intention of trying to touch Blossom. As a result the two can play together beautifully and wrestle with no aggression on either side. Blossom also did better with Miller when he was our foster. In Miller's case he very quickly after just one or two attempts learned that Blossom did not want to be touched and as a result Blossom accepted him more quickly.

A visit from former foster Miller and his brother Uecker

We needed some dog savvy dogs to come and play with Missy. She is a puppy who loves to play and play and play. She also tends to want to continue playing even when the other dog has had enough. As a result we wanted to give her some play time with dog friendly dogs who were close to her age that were trustworthy enough to give her a correction when she needed it. We had a very successful play session with our former foster Miller (Robin) and his brother Uecker. The dogs got to romp around the backyard and wear each other out.



Missy and Miller (Robin) - above.

Missy and Uecker - above.

It worked out wonderfully since Missy got a correction from Miller when she kept pestering him and then she stopped (for a little bit) which is what we were looking for. Overall all 3 dogs got along beautifully.

I think the dogs played for close to 3 hours.

After they left Missy spent about 10 min. lying down with her eyes closed. Then she spent the rest of the evening hunting all over the house for them trying to figure out where they went and if they were hiding.

Videos on Australian Shepherds to decide if Missy is right for you.

Animal Planet Video on Australian Shepherds
(warning, there is an ad that plays first before the video comes on)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKKt7j5VJ_U

The Right Companion: Australian Shepherd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6_Cp9vM9hM

Video of two dogs in Australia where there is a ban on Australian Shepherd tail docking. Australian Shepherds come either with a full tail like Missy or a natural bob tail when they are born without the tails. This video shows both types of dogs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwvUCukHzMU

We worked out the jumping nipping thing

Missy was doing great in the house in response to our yelping like a hurt puppy when she connected with skin or clothing. She responded quickly and the behavior is eliminating itself. We figure out in the yard by telling her "no" in a loud harsh voice she thought we were barking at her inviting her to play. And the behavior was escalating. So we started yelping in the yard and doing our "ert" noise that we do in the house when we don't want her putting her paws on the counter tops or chewing on the area rugs. It's working great! We had almost no jumping and nipping in the yard this morning.

She had free run of the yard and the a 3 mile walk this morning. We had some adults greet her yesterday which she loved. She is all hugs and snuggles when greeting. Today we saw some kids on bikes. At first she barked a few times but when she saw they were coming up to pat her she flipped over on her back, exposed her belly and enjoyed the pats. She will need ongoing socialization as she gets older to make sure she is constantly exposed to new people.

Missy loves to get some snuggles. But she is not a particularly clingy dog. Once she get greeted to her satisfaction she likes to lay down by herself.

Great progress today - she played very nicely with my dogs

Missy spent some time playing very nicely with both my dogs. In addition her mouthiness outside was much improved today.









Then it was time to relax with some belly rubs.

Ahhh, nothing like it.

She loved having a body massage.

Then a bunny showed up and she was off to investigate. However she did not go over our 4 ft fence so I think it is safe to say that she if fine with a 4 ft fence.

A good read if your considering Missy

This is a good article to read if your considering adopting Missy.
http://www.australian-shepherd-lovers.com/advise-before-buying.html

It is pretty much spot on for Missy. The only major difference I could see is that Missy is not a barker.



Missy had the beginnings of a small accident this morning. It was snowing and we lost track of time. She started sniffing and circling in the living room so we grabbed the leash and took her out to potty. Thankfully she had found a spot on the tile and it was just a tiny bit. We've found that taking her out every hour is safest and we shouldn't try to wait beyond every 2 hrs. Were happy with her progress.

In addition she is making excellent strides on not mouthing our hands while she cuddles with us. We follow the 'yelp like a hurt puppy' method whenever teeth contact skin or clothing. It is working great inside. She is also not jumping on us much inside. Were following the 'turn your back and ignore her' method until she sits for pets. She is doing great with this.

Still working on her trying to herd our hands and trying to grab our sleeves outside. We first started by asking her to sit when she jumps but now she just jumps and then sits very prettily so we need to figure something else out. I found myself using the "no" command and turning my back on her outside. This isn't working. I don't like using adversives (shouting "no" really doesn't benefit anyone and just scares her or seems to egg her on). I prefer to use positive reinforcement and redirection so I'm researching what to do instead.

She is getting the hang of leash walking so isn't getting underfoot as much.

I think she may be as young as 6 mths old based on youtube videos and some pics I found on line. But we'll have to wait till she sees the vet for her spay to see what they say. The groomer thought she had baby teeth. The shelter sent her as a 5-6 yr old but maybe they meant 5-6 mth old.