ASPEN
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Aspen is a very sad little girl...she is losing her current home in early February through no fault of her own. Her family, which was to have been forever, is splitting up and moving to places where Aspen cannot follow.
Aspen is approximately 2 years old and was adopted as a youngster from our rescue in late 2010. Click here to see Aspen's first experience with our rescue According to a member of Aspen's current family, "She does great on a leash! Doesn’t like to play catch. She is good about chewing on her toys for the most part. She likes kids. Doesn’t like to go swimming. Does well in the car, and like a good German shepherd, she’s always on guard. She sleeps in a kennel at night and when we are not home during the day. She is housebroken. She stands by the door when she needs out."
UPDATE 1/30: We had a chance to spend some time with Aspen at the park this afternoon. She's grown into quite a beautiful girl...and whoever said she favors men over women didn't ask Aspen! She met 2 strange men at the park and did everything but climb into their laps. She also met a few children and did very well with them.
UPDATE 2/15: Aspen was placed into what we had (again) hoped would be her forever home, but within a few days of placement (in spite of her initial "no problem at all" reaction to the move to a new family/home), she has reverted to her previous problems of submissive peeing when the male member of the household is around. We have spoken to our trainer, Leah, at Dog House Training Academy, and she believes, "...it really sounds like she has had a few very drastic life changes, and is having a hard time coping. Unfortunately, when people are afraid to properly desensitize her, it feeds into her fear. ...Since the woman writing said that she yelped when she touched her collar, I don't think its male vs. female. Obviusly males have a more dominant body language, and I think she's responding negatively to any sort of dominance or quick movements. I think it was unwise of them to take her out to a dog park while she is still adjusting to them, and I'm fairly certain that she was reacting due to stress and non-leadership. Kind of like with Kea -- he HATED being handled by strangers and yelped and peed, but after a week of doing it every single day, he got over it. ...I don't think she's doomed to a female-only household." Aspen will be going into private training with Leah as soon as she is returned to our rescue. On the bright side, Aspen did BEAUTIFULLY with the family's 2 children and became their immediate confidant and protector. UPDATE 2/28: Aspen continues in training and Leah continues to try and figure her out. She is a "perfect" dog outside in a park or other environment. She loves everyone and greets them with a wagging tail and a smile. Bring her indoors, and all hell breaks loose. She is timid and submissively pees when confronted. If you grab her collar, even with very little pressure, she will shreak as if she is being beaten. It is obvious that this is a tactic that Aspen has used (and been highly successful with) in getting people to simply leave her alone and not ask her to do anything that she doesn't feel like doing. This is no longer going to be the case. She is being trained THROUGH these outbursts and made to work, even though protesting loudly all the while. She's going to be a challenge, but we believe Leah is up to the task. TRAINING UPDATE 2/29 ~ A BREAKTHROUGH!: "So, since I keep pushing Aspen past her comort zone, she has developed an aversion to me (naturally). My problem with Aspen was that instead of just submissive peeing or yelping once, she was having full on panic attacks... yelping for minutes, sounding like I was kicking her to death. Usually this happens when I grab her collar or pull up on it to make her sit. I was getting very frustrated because the only thing that would remotely calm her is if I hold her mouth shut until she stopped panicking and then I'd release. This was getting tedious though, because walking from the back door to her [indoor] kennel meant stopping four or five times, several minutes each time, for her to stop panicking. (She'd panic as I corrected her for darting down the hallway, then she'd dart AGAIN as soon as I released her). I was honestly about ready to say she can't be fixed, because she was making VERY SLOW progress... Then today, I was getting her out of her kennel, of course grabbing her collar and making her panic, and a dog next to her started barking. I had a squirt bottle in my hand for him, and I happened to squirt her too, and she shut up instantly! I took her for a walk outside, and the water quieted every panicked moment! So, now that it isn't taking me a half hour every time I want to get her in or out, I think we'll be making good progress. Thank God, because I refuse to coddle this behavior." TRAINING UPDATE 3/9: Aspen's second week of training ends on Sunday. "She still pees on two occasions--if you stomp toward her like you're mad (but only a little pee now), and if you get all giggly and call her to you. She used to roll over and explode, but now she just gets excited and then afterwards checks her 'peepee area' because she tinkled just a bit. She is definitely learning better responses to things, and not having ANY more panic attacks. ...I have never seen that before in a dog (where she freaks out, yelps constantly for minutes and DOESN'T bite!)." There is not an aggressive bone in this little girl's body. She has never growled at nor attempted to bite a person. She just needs confident, consistent leadership and a zero tolerance for her "temper tantrums" which she has used to avoid tasks she doesn't want to do in the past. We have Aspen's number, and it's up! Aspen's adopter should be prepared to attend a class with Leah at The Dog House. UPDATE 3/12: Aspen graduated after 2 weeks of private training with Leah at The Dog House. She was moved to an experienced foster family with 2 young children, and we'll see how she fares.
We'll be keeping close watch on Aspen's progress over the coming weeks to see how she adjusts. She will be attending classes at The Dog House to continue her training and socialization. With experienced foster folks like Jay and Barb, we know she will succeed. UPDATE 3/24: We caught up with Aspen today at training class with her foster family. Foster Mom Barb reports that Aspen is doing well. She is having only occasional outburst, and Barb handles them by rolling Aspen on her back and roughly scratching her tummy!
FOSTER UPDATE 4/17: "Aspen has been doing real good. She follows commands and vocal correcting great. She is also great on a leash, but has her moments of freaking out when you chew her out and touch her at the same time. So, we correct her outside and let her freak; she pees, then we wash her down with a hose and then she acts wounded but is just fine."
Aspen is up-to-date on all shots, spayed and microchipped. She's ready to steal your heart. Adoption fee $325.00.
| |||||||||||||||||
