Hey Guys, it’s Donna from Manchester UK with Alice Hope and Kizzy.
All hounds are well. Alice will be 7 in May. I can hardly believe time is
going so fast. She still continues to work very well in her quiet unobtrusive
way, though these days, she’s not over fond of working in the rain and though
she’ll happily play in it off the lead, when in harness, she hasn’t yet worked
out that the faster she goes, the quicker she’ll get home. So I’m guessing
she’ll be glad now summer is coming.
Hope’s fab, and still has her effervescent fizzy personality. She’ll be 7 in
December. But though she has a little grey on her nose now, she still acts
like a 4 or 5 year old and loves her work or play whatever the weather. She’s
twice the worker she was when younger and has a lovely memory for routes.
Kizzy is starting to come good. We had a big glitch early on because at puppy
class she was eyeballed and barked at by a Puggle half her size for around 4
weeks. The dog belonged to a friend of the trainer’s so nothing was done about
it and the owner wasn’t told to give her dog time out or anything even though
it was right in Kizzy’s face barking. You can guess what happened of course.
By week 5 Kiz was retaliating back having put up with it for a month of
classes, and by week 6 sshe had properly developed an aversion to small dogs
and was being disruptive herself in the class.
I was advised to carry on training her myself but to give her a small break
from the classes which I did. I found dogs of all sizes to introduce and run
her with, particularly as many small ones as I could find, and I took her back
to class. As soon as she saw the venue, that was it. Barking started, she was
lunging towards the way out, and really unhappy.
So I began looking for another class to take her to, and it took me 8 months to
find a group I could go to that didn’t insist on my bringing someone with me as
I had no one to take. Meanwhile I kept up with Kiz’s obedience and standard
Guide Dog stuff, wondering at this point if I was wasting my time if she went
into barking central every time she saw a small dog.
Gradually, over my months of looking though, she got better. First improvement
I noticed was that she now only barked at the ones who barked at her first. If
they passed without barking, she was fine. And then when I found the class, I
took her with some trepidation, wondering how on earth she’d behave. That was
4 weeks ago, and I needn’t have worried. She did all the exercises and only
barked once at a boxer who tried to sniff underneath her but quickly stopped.
There is a Guide Dog puppy in our class that I don’t think will make it
through. She failed her bronze because she couldn’t be handled without biting
her puppy raiser and she’s 9 months. I just quietly bit my tongue and got on
with what I had to do. But this dog barks a lot and it worried me the first
time I took Kiz to the group as I thought she might start up barking in
response. But thankfully she didn’t and I was able to get in with praise or a
treat when the dog barked to reinforce good behaviour from her.
On week 2 they had an examiner in to do the Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze
Award, and the trainer encouraged me to do the test with Kizzy as she had
noticed the previous week that Kiz could do what was required. 9 dogs took the
test and 3 passed of which Kizzy was one.
So now I’m taking her back to the same class, and we have 6 dogs who’ve failed
their bronze and 3 that have passed. But Sam is dividing us up so those of us
who’ve passed can start on the silver stuff.
I’m glad I’ve persevered with Kizzy. She’s very sensitive, but has a very
bright mind and learns quickly. She’s 13 months now and wearing the harness
and guiding every time she goes out. It took four weeks of her guiding before
I got my first bump. So she’s very careful which I like.
Best
Donna
From: iotalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:iotalist-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of Wayne And Harley
Sent: Saturday, March 04, 2017 5:01 PM
To: iotalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [IOTAList] ROLL CALL, A few days late.
Hello Everyone,
It's that, belated, time again....
Roll call!!
Wayne And Harley here in the Sunny, but Chilly Chicagoland...
The weather here can't seem to make up its mind... LOL.
Lots has been going on.
Harley is his usual eager self.
A month, or so ago, I joined NAGDU. Which is a good thing in light of the
Cluster Flop called HB3162.
We've also been rallying the forces of Good, against the forces of
good-intentioned-but-fecking-clueless politicians. I've brought NAGDU President
Marion Gwizdala into the loop, and am keeping him informed of developments.
I've signed up to be an oral witness in opposition at an upcoming hearing.
Which, may, or may not be canceled. Time will tell.
Personally, I've written a response that is being distributed, slowly, but
surely, to all Illinois General Assembly Representatives. I've also written an
editorial opposing this bill, and a Letter-to-the-Editor to be distributed to
several Illinois newspapers is in the process of being drafted.
A Facebook group has been formed to opose this, and other legislation. Linkage
below.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/447672165564288/
Wayne And Harley
Yours, Very Sincerely And Respectfully,
Wayne M. Scace
