Anara's first play date! Athena first day.

Today was a great day for Anara. She had her first official play date and play she did! Reserved and shy at first, sporting her now official “oh, crap” Mohawk, Anara first did not seem like a play date was her cup of tea. Five minutes later, she couldn’t get enough of her handsome date, Jake. Chasing, spinning, breath taking turns, tug of war for toys, Anara was in on this game. Kyrie, another German girl, stopped by to check out the action. Anara and Kyrie met a few days prior and neither seemed particularly interested in well… anything. Today, the world though was her playground. Kyrie, Jake and Anara played like long lost friends. And in the middle of their games, the very sweet, very elegant four month old Athena arrived. Athena was game to join the party as well, except for one small glitch. She had just had her spay surgery and fun and games were not in the prescription. After politely exchanging greetings, Athena retreated quietly and reluctantly to the peace of her crate. Some complaints were heard but Athena took it all very well and decided to take a nap instead. It won’t be long sweet baby Athena before you will be playing with the big kids. Meanwhile back in the nursery the little girls continue to sleep, eat and tell tales of the world.

Anara starts training

As every good Mom knows, time away from the kids is essential. Anara spent her time away working on some social skills, manners and enjoying the beautiful weather. She is working on her sit cue. The first behavior taught sometimes can end up as the default behavior so we try to ensure the first behavior  is either a sit or down. It is much better to have a sit as the default than a spin or jump for joy cue. The sit can also be used as the positive opposite of the jump up behavior that we have seen with Anara. Our job will be to manage the jump up so Anara does not practice it when greeting us or other people and then to replace it with the newly learned sit.

Touch to a hand is a targeting behavior that has a multitude of uses. Touch is the basis of an off leash transport (moving a dog from one place to another without the handler physically handling the dog). It is also used in the vet’s office to load a dog onto a scale or exam table without physical manipulation. Many other behaviors such as spins, shakes, pushing on objects, jumps, platforms, balance beams also use touch as the starting point. Anara started her touch as an opposite of sit. Later, we can add a Stand cue to substitute. In the meantime, touch works great for getting Anara into a standing position so we can re cue sit.

Walking politely on the leash is also a valuable skill for dogs. Many dogs are given up because of their lack of leash skills. Anara is learning to walk politely with the leash loose so that she is a pleasure to walk.  She is also learning to sit automatically when her handler stops. Keeping distractions to a level that she can achieve success but still challenge her makes training more exciting.

Meeting new animals and establishing a baseline of behavior will also be important information to a potential adopter. Anara met a dog savvy cat today and showed mild curiosity. There is a world of difference though between a dog savvy cat and a cat that will run when confronted by a dog. A running cat might cause Anara to chase. This would be an example of prey drive. To say she was cat safe based on this one encounter would be misleading. Things are looking good though in the cat world at this moment.

Anara also met two senior black labs. She was a little over threshold upon approach but we used distance and obstacles to lessen visual stimulation and introduced when Anara had more composure. When she was calm, she was introduced and despite having a philoerection (hair standing on end between shoulders and back) she offered appropriate calming signals such as lick lips, head turns and eventually a play bow. After a few minutes she was licking both dogs. Her reaction to their handler was slightly more interesting. She did her hug behavior (jumps up but places feet on either side of the waist and rests head on chest of person) and submissive peed at the same time. It was an interesting behavior. Usually dogs offering submissive urination would crouch and not jump. So that leaves the possibility that it was more of an excitement urination although she didn’t seem overly excited. We learn by observing behavior and keeping our minds open to the possibilities. A sit to gain attention might change the whole scenario and give her more confidence by lowering the excitement level of the greet and thereby lowering the stimulation levels.

We finished the training session up with a little fun at the facility and some beginning nosework. Enjoy the video clip of Anara and the learning process!

Anara's first week

Anara has found her voice. It is all German Shepherd. Anyone who has ever had a German Shepherd for a companion can relate to this. She didn’t have a lot to say all week. Today she found her voice. She has a lot to say. Rightfully so. She is safe. As safe as any dog in this world can be. Safe under the umbrella of a rescue. Safe means a lot when you are feeling unsafe. Safe though is only part of the bigger picture. Safe doesn’t mean having someone committed to you. Safe doesn’t mean a lifetime guarantee. Nothing is guaranteed though.

Anara loves her babies. She tends to them carefully. She cleans them, nurses them with the small amount of milk she has. Anara is still young and full of puppy energy. She wants her puppies to be safe. She wants to run and play. She wants to be loved, petted and paid attention to. She wants to be close to humans, despite what she has seen, experienced and heard. It would be perfect, if Anara’s story ended here. Anara still needs to find a forever home. A home that will love her, work with her, train her, care for her medically and be there for her, no matter what. The reality is that those kind of homes are not easy to find.

Eliminating and reducing normal canine behaviors that are not acceptable in our society will help Anara find that home. Jumping, barking, digging, chewing, mouthing, resource guarding, etc while normal canine behaviors are common reasons why dogs are surrendered. Replacing “negative”  normal behaviors with more acceptable behaviors will help ensure any rescue dog’s success. Socialization, training and human commitment will complete Anara’s story.

Anara’s story picks up again here.

Anara likes to hug. She likes to jump. She finds comfort in having hands or arms held gently in her mouth. She is traumatized, she is needy and she doesn’t feel secure. She is trusting, she is loving and she has a beautiful spirit. She is house trained. She does not like to go to the bathroom on leash. She does like to go behind a bush and use the same spot every day. She will hold her urine and her stool until she is comfortable. Today she had an accident in the house. It was human error, not Anara error.  She walked two miles on leash and came back inside. As her trainer, I made the assumption she didn’t have to go, when in fact she would have gone had she been given the space to go. She had time alone in the yard but was insecure being out alone. She needed someone to be in the yard with her and then she would have been able to see me, go behind the bush (where she can still see me), go to the bathroom and then come running back when she is finished.

She might be afraid that I would disappear if she lost sight, so she stayed close and disregarded her own need to use the bathroom. She might have been yelled at or hit in the past for house soiling mistakes. Dogs who are yelled at for making mistakes in the house, often learn that they shouldn’t go to the bathroom in the presence of humans but should go and hide to complete their business. Behaviors just don’t appear, they are inadvertently or advertently reinforced.

Knowing her needs, allows us to work with her and manage behaviors as well as train new behaviors. I cleaned up the mess and spoke lovingly to her.  I am human, I learn from my mistakes, I accept responsibility and I move forward.  Anara is beautiful, trusting and still learning.  This week she will be working on her sit, touch, loose leash walking and beginning nosework.

Anara's story

Anara’s story is like most of life. On the surface, her story is simple.  Delve a little deeper and you fall into the depths of a political and social nightmare. Beginning with society’s lack of moral responsibility for the animals in our care and custody and ending with a system so politically and morally bankrupt it self justifies its barbaric nature by complete denial. In the perfect world, Anara would have been spayed. Her suitor would have been neutered. They both would have been loved and cherished. In the perfect world, NYC ACC wouldn’t ever have been created.

Anara arrived at the shelter pregnant. Despite claiming to care about their animals, claiming they don’t kill for space, claiming they don’t perform late term abortions, they do all these things and more. Why they do them is anyone’s speculation. If the shelter found out Anara was pregnant, they would try to spay her. This would result in the full term babies dying and most probably Anara bleeding out. A group of dedicated volunteers stepped in and tried to negotiate for Anara.  They successfully prevented Anara’s spay but couldn’t get the ACC to step up their efforts to move Anara quickly out of the germ laden environment.

Anara contracted Kennel Cough. Anara gave birth to six puppies. Two were either still born or died at birth. Anara was emaciated, malnourished and so nutritionally deficient that she was unable to produce milk. Anara was not given supplemental food to help her, she was not given bedding to keep the puppies warm nor were the puppies given supplemental milk. Chances are not one person at ACC even checked on her or the babies. She wasn’t seen by a veterinarian. She was released a day later, with four puppies. One puppy died shortly after they were pulled, one puppy died a day later at a veteriarian’s office. Despite feeling sick, despite not having any milk, Anara still tended to her babies.

Volunteers and rescues stepped forward to help her and the babies. It is the people that choose to change the world, choose to inconvenience themselves, choose to do what is right, it is those people we chose to recognize. It is the people with a moral compass, the people that despite the odds still try, the people that give with their heart and speak with their actions. It is those people this blog is written for. It is a testimonial to Anara, her pups, and the countless number of dogs fighting for their lives across the country.

Anara is here. Her pups are here. And this is their story.

Now it begins

Here is where we will be posting Anara and her Puppy updates. Trying to keep it all in one place for easy viewing!

Anara Speaks