Grizzley's Been Transferred
When Grizzley stayed with me I had some difficulties with him that I believed were a combination of his breed and my setup. My dogs are usually in their kennels for about 10 hours a day 5 days a week. With Grizzley, it was as if he spent 10 hours winding himself up and then exploding once his kennel door was open. He did have plenty of room to run and three other dogs to play with, but I felt he was not a breed that should be in a kennel for that length of time.
Grizzley would do things that were mischievous. He would chew up almost anything he came across. He chewed up some boxes I had in the recycling bin. He chewed up my nylon grill cover. I am a BIG believer in providing as many chew things as possible but the grill cover was not on my list. He also would bypass appropriate chew toys for other things.
I felt that Grizzley was pent up too long during the day and was very frustrated because of the level of activity his breed requires and that's why he was getting creative when he had a moment to "think". He is also high energy - but again, I wondered if that wasn't because of the long hours in a kennel.
The foster family that Grizzley went to live with had a big house, two small boys to play with, another dog to play with, and 30 acres of land to run. Grizzley was on his best behavior for about two weeks.
From that point on, he was back to the same destructive behaviors, plus some new things cropped up.
As a potential hearing response dog, one of the things we work on is sounds. How does the dog react to the phone ringing, the doorbell, the oven timer, and loud noises? Grizzley did not do well with loud noises. This was a huge problem. Grizzley would need to approach the loud noise, go back to the person, go to the loud noise, and back and forth until the person stopped the loud noise. In reality, Grizzley would hear a loud noise and run and hide.
We had hoped that Grizzley's shyness would subside with some training and that his energy level would lower. His energy is so high, he has a hard time sitting still to listen to commands.
Therefore, it's with great sadness that American Assistance Dogs has decided to release Grizzley at 10 months from the program. He flew back to Georgia to live on a farm where he can just be the pet dog he wants to be. Plus, his new owner is going to enroll him in agility! That boy will win!!!
Thank you to Chrystine and her family for spending the time working with him and evaluating him for those few weeks and thank you to Suzie and her family for working with him the first few months he was in Minnesota.
Grizzley would do things that were mischievous. He would chew up almost anything he came across. He chewed up some boxes I had in the recycling bin. He chewed up my nylon grill cover. I am a BIG believer in providing as many chew things as possible but the grill cover was not on my list. He also would bypass appropriate chew toys for other things.
I felt that Grizzley was pent up too long during the day and was very frustrated because of the level of activity his breed requires and that's why he was getting creative when he had a moment to "think". He is also high energy - but again, I wondered if that wasn't because of the long hours in a kennel.
The foster family that Grizzley went to live with had a big house, two small boys to play with, another dog to play with, and 30 acres of land to run. Grizzley was on his best behavior for about two weeks.
From that point on, he was back to the same destructive behaviors, plus some new things cropped up.
As a potential hearing response dog, one of the things we work on is sounds. How does the dog react to the phone ringing, the doorbell, the oven timer, and loud noises? Grizzley did not do well with loud noises. This was a huge problem. Grizzley would need to approach the loud noise, go back to the person, go to the loud noise, and back and forth until the person stopped the loud noise. In reality, Grizzley would hear a loud noise and run and hide.
We had hoped that Grizzley's shyness would subside with some training and that his energy level would lower. His energy is so high, he has a hard time sitting still to listen to commands.
Therefore, it's with great sadness that American Assistance Dogs has decided to release Grizzley at 10 months from the program. He flew back to Georgia to live on a farm where he can just be the pet dog he wants to be. Plus, his new owner is going to enroll him in agility! That boy will win!!!
Thank you to Chrystine and her family for spending the time working with him and evaluating him for those few weeks and thank you to Suzie and her family for working with him the first few months he was in Minnesota.
posted by Suzie at 10:40 AM
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