You're too smart, dummy!

In our efforts to be responsile foster parents and train Horace to be an upstanding member of the dog community we now have a pile of Library books, a DVD and a list of websites which all claim to teach us everything we need to know....for the forseeable future my mantra is "I am a sponge."
So in this age of technology and instant gratification we went with the DVD! Both dogs are too smart for their own good however:
Lesson 1 was 'sit' by silently holding a treat just above their nose so they look up and naturally sit back. Well, at the site of a human even approaching the treat jar both dogs had their bottoms firmly glued to the floor in anticipation - after all, that's what we have taught them. It was more a lesson in 'stand up first please' but after half a treat bag we were well on our way to perfection.
Lesson 2 - lie down from the sit position (by silently holding a treat at their nose and moving it quickly straight downwards to the floor inbetween their paws). At first I started to think that perhaps my dogs have the wrong body shape for this, since we ended up with an akward half hunched over dog which by any stretch of the amagination was not lying down. It turned out however to just need more practice with Penny picking it up first closely followed by Horace.
Lesson 3 - coming into the house without the dog jumping up. I have to say that Horace mastered this one like a pro (although we have yet to test this one out with strangers! Any takers??). It was personally however my least favourite lesson - and might be very pleasant in the Spring - but in August the Kentucky weather is just not pleasant for any kind of activity - especially not running around the house from the front to the back door and back again and again and again. It was like running through a hot, thick pea soup.
I imagine there is probably a future lesson about keeping the dogs off the furnature, but until we reach that chapter we will continue to claim ignorance on that one! After all, who could refuse a cuddle from this baby?

Return of the wanderer

Guess who's back? And I didn't even have time to put together a 'Welcome Home' party! With heavy hearts we sent Horace off to his new family on Friday, only to have him back again not much later. We were told that he did not get along with the family dog and that he showed aggressive tendencies towards male dogs. I was really surprised to hear that and just couldn't imagine my sweet boy being anything but, well, sweet! We had already promised to re-foster if something didn't work out (which we never imagined it wouldn't) so here we were looking down at Horace with puzzled faces but determined to get to the bottom of it.

The next morning we headed to the Pitty FAIRness event in Central park - a festival organized by a local organization called Saving Sunny, in an effort to raise awareness and a positive image of the Pit Bull breed. What could be more perfect? Colin stood at the edge of the Park while I went to find someone who could give us some advice - and i found Maureen Keenan, co-founder of Saving Sunny, or as I like to refer to her; a miracle worker. What happened over the next 30 minutes was something right out of The Dog Whisperer; she took Horace and walked him straight into the middle of the festival - there had to have been 200 Pit Bulls along with their humans. She was as calm as she could be and Horace sensed it. It was incredible to watch - she never said a word to Horace (later telling us that using your voice gives away any anxious feelings you are having), instead she corrected him, distracted him, got in his personal space, gave him his space when he was calm and praised him when he paid her attention. By the time she handed us back the lead we were a completely different foster family - we were 'Team confident' 'Team calm' 'Team we wont take any nonsense' and Horace knew it.

Shorty from the TV show 'Pit Boss'!

We spent over an hour practicing what Maureen had taught us and then we went for a walk through the crowds. If you have been the owner of a dog that drags you along on a walk you will appreciate this, because that was me. All of my dogs have dragged me along - even Yorkshire Terriers! So, it was an almost out of body experience when we walked through the hundreds of other dogs and people with Horace - without incident. He trotted along in between us - the lead completely slack, not pulling, not trying to greet anyone or anydog we walked passed.  A personal first - and with an 'aggressive' dog at that! I already knew that Horace is a fast learner from other activities we have done and the distance he came at the fair showed me that he can be a brilliant dog. He is of course still a puppy and what I learned this weekend is that puppies need more than just potty training, they also need social training to make them well rounded dogs. So for the foreseeable future he is back with us, his best friend Penny and his favorite pastime - Rope.

Infiltrating Hearts, Changing Minds

Currently there are 2 strange men in the house, fitting a new carpet upstairs, banging, nailing and hammering away... and here is how our Horace is handling it:

So much for the aggressive stereotype for Pit bulls!  This experience has truly taught me a lot - not that I had anything against any dog breed before we fostered Horace but now I can say that I will forever stand up in defense of this breed. I have first hand experience and I recommend anyone who has not met a Pit before do the same thing before making assumptions. In fact I recommend that anyone in Louisville go to the Pitty Fairness Art and Music Fair tomorrow in Central Park (More info Here) and meet some lovely Pits - including some that need homes.
It's Horace's last day with us today - in fact his last hour or so. We are such saps, that we turned down dinner invitations this week so that we could spend the last 2 nights hanging out with our sweet boy.
So this is the end of the road - but just the beginning for Horace and his new family! We are so fortunate to have had him with us and his new family wont be able to help themselves but to love him.
All our love pup! Come and visit anytime!

Bittersweet News

Horace has found a family! I'm so happy and excited for him, I'm also terribly sad to see him go. He truly has become one of the family and I hate to think about him not being under my feet, sitting on my feet or drapped over my lap. From the beginning we knew that he wouldn't be with us forever and I tried to remind myself every now and again but it still feels like we are losing a member of the family. My main priority though is that Horace is happy and has a home that gives him as luch love as he gives back (which is hard to match let me tell you!). Even Colin has become attached, last night as he rubbed Horace's belly, he looked at me and said "I hope his new family love on him like this":

We couldn't mope around all evening though and with the electricity finally back on we were able to put everything back into the fridge. Penny and Horace helped clean up by delving into the coolers and lapping up the ice-water!

All that's left now is to find a way to tell Penny that her best friend leaves on Friday :(

Bath Time

After several computer issues and a complete loss of electricity - the dog blog is back! So, to bring you up to date on Horace....

The weekend was very exciting - more walkies. What could be better? Picking up the leash brings a spark to his eye, he knows what's in store and can't wait to get started....

On Sunday we decided it was time for a bath - all the playing and running around was taking it's toll on Horace's aroma. Not knowing what to expect we went into it thinking that the best possible senario is that we will get just as wet as the dogs. In reality, I have never met a dog who behaved so well during bath time. There was no doubt from the sad puppy dog eyes that he most definitely felt sorry for himself but he didn't move a muscle - just sat there and took it like a champ:

He now smells beautiful :) 

Yesterday evening we had no electricity - and it was miserable with a capital M in the house without Air Conditioning. SO, we decided to go for a drive in the lovely airconditioned car (I know - we are terrible terrible people inflicting a huge Carbon footprint on mother earth.....but trust me, you would have done the same thing). We couldn't just leave the poor muts to sweat it out, so we took them along too - all wearing seatbelts of course:

And i think it was a lovely surprise that we didn't end up at the Vets as usual, but instead we arrived back home to settle down for the evening:

Film debut

Today Chance got his stitches/staples out - and I think it's testament to his wonderful temperament that he didn't so much as flinch whilst the veterinary nurse dug around his privates with a pair of pliers! He had been so good on the way in the car that I just felt terrible as he looked up at me, his big brown eyes shooting me a  'well this is hardly what I was expecting' look. When we got home there was some well deserved 'bone' time - including some cute bone sharing.

We also went for a walk - this time however I was prepared! And I'm happy to report that he did really well! We got over 2 blocks this time, and honestly we could have gone further but i was getting a little rope burn from correcting him so we headed back, but by the time we arrived home he was hardly pulling at all - a complete turnaround from yesterdays saga!

I just have to share this - the other night I was scratching Chance on his belly and his back leg started 'scratching' wildly in mid air. I had to get it on video - so here he is, in his first staring role...

After such an eventful day he is now relaxing on his bed in his usual position; half on-half off. 

A Walking Disaster

Chance has had quite an eventful weekend so far; on Saturday he hung out with several other dogs also looking for homes at an adoption fair. I'm told he made several friends and attracted some attention from potential adopters! I was very happy to have him home again though, the house was so quiet without him and I think even Penny missed him a bit, although she'd never admit it!
In the afternoon we played catch and he is a natural at bringing the ball back!

Then we played tug-of-war, which i think was his favorite game yet; he was so sweet - whenever he won, he would take the rope back over to Penny to start the game again:

Today (Sunday) we decided to break free from the confines of the back garden and head to the park. It was only half a block later however that we had to turn back since there were only 2 possible outcomes:
1. Chance (aka Horace) would asphyxiate and pass out from pulling so hard (he was actually wheezing)
2. He would pull us both in front of a passing car (wherever he wanted to go, I went too,-including the neighbors drainage ditch!)
It was a short lived freedom, I kept thinking how Cesar Millan would have this boy heeling in no time at all - if only I could have clicked my fingers and had him appear at that moment! There was no chance to even try out a 'Cesar' technique, such as a quick correction on the lead - it was just me being dragged along, holding onto the lead for dear life. As it was, we headed back inside safely and Chance was clearly exhausted from all the energy he had exerted in our short stroll - it was time for a nap:

I wont give up on him though; Walkies Round 2 - watch this space!