What a Difference A Week Makes!

The trainers here at ARF have continued to work with Shelby on impulse control with the flirt pole. Check out her "Leave it" and "take it" now!

happy beginnings...

It's always great to hear follow up stories about our former shelter guests or see photos of them in their new homes. As a member of the intake team here at ARF these follow ups are made all the sweeter because I can't help but remember where these critters came from and how they started out. Seeing and hearing about these dogs and cats living out the happy endings they so richly deserve never fails to make everyone's day here at ARF, as every single one of us has had a vital part to play in their journey from homeless animal to homeward bound. By and large, our shelter alumni are now enjoying being cherished companions and family members, but recently one of our shelter dogs was selected for some very special duties:

Marcus, is a 1 year old wirehair terrier mix we pulled from the Madera shelter back in August. He recently made the journey up to Dogs for the Deaf's training facility in Oregon. He was hand picked by one of their trainers, Erik, on a recent visit to ARF, and drove back up there with him the following day. Apparently Marcus really enjoyed his roadtrip, and soon will begin training to become a Hearing Dog, learning all the skills he'll need to be able to assist a deaf or hearing impaired person. This is kind of like a "happy beginning" for Marcus, as I'm sure he has a real adventure ahead of him! How awesome is it that a wee homeless dog from the Central Valley is going to get the chance to make such a difference in someone's life? And how awesome is it that we count him as one of our ARF alumni? Pretty awesome if you ask me.

Rural Dog Syndrome

The majority of the dogs at ARF come from shelters in rural central California. Most adapt quickly to life in their new suburban or urban Bay Area homes. Others may take a bit longer because of what we have been calling "rural dog syndrome." I'll explain using my foster pup Jethro as an example.

We came across little Jethro in a kennel on the adoption floor of Madera County Animal Services. He was the first pit bull we had seen in their new adoption building so we figured he must have caught staff's attention to be lucky enough to make it up there. Turns out he came in as a stray covered in hundreds of ticks. While the patient shelter staff carefully pulled off all of the vile bloodsuckers little Jethro fell asleep on the table. When I met him in his kennel he showed me what a softie he was when he climbed into my lap to give kisses. Needless to say, he won himself a space on the truck.

Fast forward to Jethro in foster in Oakland. Whatever socialization he received in the rural town of Madera during his first seven months did not adequately prepare him for the change of scene he now finds himself in. He's quite noise sensitive, leaping up from a deep sleep to run to a window at the sound of a shopping cart full of cans and bottles rolling by. Everyday things can send him skittering away. This morning on our walk a gull the size of an adolescent pterodactyl swooped low over our heads and Jethro hit the deck. Walking up the stairs and over the pedestrian walkway spanning the train tracks is a trial that I've never given a thought to before now with Wilma, my well socialized dog who grew up in Berkeley.

It's not that Jethro has "bad" or "negative" associations about all the new sights and sounds he's encountering, more likely he has no associations or experience of them, so has no ability to process all the new stuff in his world. Finding ways to make Jethro think that all this new stuff rocks is ultimately what will enable him to thrive in more urban surroundings.

My job now is to help Jethro go from "country mouse" to "city mouse"- he absolutely loves people and that, and having a relaxed and easygoing sister dog helps him realize that things aren't really as scary as he he once thought. With patience, treats, and lots of positive experiences with the things he's never seen before, Jethro will be a happy boy, comfortable living in the busy Bay Area.

Q. How many trainers does it take to write a blog? A. Four!

We're the trainers at Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation - Almudena, Gee, Kris & Lindsey, and we've started this blog as a way to keep folks informed of what's going on here in the Intake and Behavior Department. One of the things we all love about this job is that no day is ever exactly the same. Via posts, photos and videos we're hoping we can give you a bit of an insight into what we do here. There'll be adoption follow up stories, reviews of books or critter related products that we like, and information about topics such as: clicker training and T-touch for the shelter dogs and cats, how to make food puzzle toys for the dogs, training tips, ideas for keeping dogs and cats mentally and physically stimulated, things to think about when choosing a pet etc. We'll also keep you informed of any up and coming events or workshops - we just found out this week that one of our training and behavior heroes, Jean Donaldson, will be speaking at ARF's annual "Business of Saving Lives" sheltering conference in March 2010, she's an awesome speaker so we're really looking forward to that.

For more information on both clicker training and T-touch check out the links for them under "Stuff we like", to the right of this page...

We think doing this blog is going to be a lot of fun, and hope folks enjoy it. Check back in when you can to see what we're up to!