In The Beginning
Just a quick history on us, my husband and I love working with dogs. Having both grown up around dogs we knew that someday after we bought our first home would have a dog of our own.
Our first dog was a Border Collie that we rescued from an abusive situation.
Meet Tex-Anna:
Tex-Anna is a Tri-color Border Collie, who at the time we rescued her was about 7 years old.
She was an amazing challenge for us because she came with a whole slew of issues.
Poor dog was overweight, and all of her beautiful hair was matted to the point where air couldn't reach her skin which caused a nasty rash. Normally you are not supposed to cut a Border Collies hair especially a rough coat like Tex-Anna, if you cut their hair too short it may not grow back properly and really they don't need their hair cut because they shed for the hot months. However in her case it was a necessity.
When we got her home my husband and I cut as much of her hair as we could with our clippers because she was otherwise too dirty to bring into our home. On a good note she was flea free! They couldn't reach her skin. The next day we went straight to a groomer who ended up nearly shaving her to remove the matted hair and debris that had permanently taken up residence in her hair.
Other issues she came with:
- Food Aggression
- Resource Guarding in General
- Fight instigator
- She had never been around other dogs and didn't know how to behave
- Nervous/Anxious behaviors
- Never been on a leash
- Random Fears
- Good around gunshots - but scared of fireworks
- Fear of Flyswatters
- Terrified of our wooden floor specifically in our bedroom upstairs
- Fear of loud noises
On a good note, over the course of the time that she was with us we were able to get her past all of her fears except fireworks and our silly wood floors. As far as other dogs are concerned so as long as proper introductions are made she's on good behavior.
She became a wonderful dog with many great qualities over time thanks to her will to please anybody even a child can take treats/food from her, she's a perfect example of obedience walking perfectly on heel both on and off leash, general obedience and comes when called. She was also a wonderful adventure buddy who loved hiking, and playing ball.
Our second dog was Sasja:
Sasja and Tex-Anna |
Sasja was a retired Federal K9 Bomb Detection Dog. A close friend of ours does Federal K9 bomb detection and was temporarily moving out of state, he couldn't take Sasja due to some health problems she had so we agreed to take care of her until he came home.
What was unique about Sasja was that she was 100% deaf (totally job unrelated).
We taught her hand signals and she was extremely smart, however she also figured out that if she didn't look in our direction (check in) then she could go about her merry way.
Sadly Saja passed away from kidney disease about 6 months after we took her in.
After a period of time had passed we decided (I played a part in this) that we needed a younger, stronger, and more athletic dog than our dear Tex-Anna.
Being a senior dog we sometimes had to leave her behind for hard hiking trips as she would get sore and tired if she got too much exercise and then she'd have a hard time moving around the next day.
Being a senior dog we sometimes had to leave her behind for hard hiking trips as she would get sore and tired if she got too much exercise and then she'd have a hard time moving around the next day.
The Straw that Broke the Camels Back.
I love to hike, Tex-Anna and I went to the river and played ball and splashed around. One thing to note, she is a loveable coward. I don't want a protection dog but I would like a dog whose size is a deterrent and would if it came down to it, protect me if needed. Not a trained protection dog, nor an aggressive dog but a loyal dog who would come to my aid in a situation if I couldn't handle it.
Well in this case, I was toweling off Tex-Anna getting ready to go home when a small car showed up at the state park where we were. No one else was around and dusk was just beginning to set in. Out of the car piled out 4 giant guys, they set off all my red flags and I didn't like how they were looking at me, so throwing a still wet dog in the car we burned rubber and got the hell out.
Needless to say I went straight home and said we're getting another dog.
Dante and Tex-Anna |
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