5/8/2008

Ramie is doing very well.  She is still going to doggie daycare two days a week and today they told me how much she has improved since she first started going a month ago.  She knows which days we go and she gets anxious when I put her leash on her and she jumps right in the car.  This week I tried something new.  Typically Ramie is crated in the car.  This week I put her in a harness and seat belt and let her ride in the back seat.  She was perfect.  She just sat in back and took everything.  If we came to a stop light she just looked around and wagged her tail when she saw people.  On the way home Tuesday night she was so tired from her busy day playing at daycare that she was sound asleep all the way home.  It was such a cute site. 

Ramie likes to play rough and she has found several dogs that will get on the floor and wrestle with her.  Her new best friend is a boxer. 

I still worry about Ramie going over my 4ft fence.  She is very prey driven but we have been working on self control and it's clear that Ramie understands.  She's a young dog with a lot of drive but also a strong ability to learn.  She bonds well with humans and would love a person or family of her own.  Ramie is going to mature into a very nice dog. 

4/27/2008

Ramie has been in her foster home for over three weeks now.  I had to board her at the vets office when I took a business trip.  Everyone there loved her and gave her lots of attention.  They did her nails while she was there and said she wasn't thrilled about having them done.  Hopefully with a little work she'll get used to having them done.  My vet likes Ramie so much he has been telling people about her in an effort to help find her a home.

Ramie continues to go to doggie daycare twice a week and gets a good report card with each visit.  She has found some fun playmates.  There are a couple of fox terriers that she enjoys romping around with.  Apparently Miss Ramie prefers to play with the boys. :)

This week we continued our training with our focus command.  Ramie is doing GREAT!  She totally understands and will sit at attention.  I added a "leave it" command this week.  It didn't take long before she understood.  I found after a few times she was in her sit and wanted to get the treat that I placed on my knee.  She knew she was suppose to leave it and as her butt started to wiggle out of the sit she put herself in a down and continued to watch me.  She waited for me to say "get it" before she broke her down.  She's really starting to understand her training and it's getting easier and easier each day to teach commands.  We were out on a walk and there were a couple dogs running the fence in their yard and barking at Ramie.  At first Ramie got all excited and barked back.  I stopped, turned the other way and we walked away.  Then once I had her attention on me we started to walk back.  It took three tries and on the fourth one Ramie realized the behavior I didn't like was her barking at the other dogs.  She walked past (about 20 yards away) the house with the dogs continuing to bark at her but she didn't bark at them.  She watched them but it was easy to call her name and get her to make eye contact with me.

Ramie will do best in a home as an only dog or with other male dogs.  It's questionable how well she'll do with other females so I'd prefer not to place in her a home with another female dog.  Ramie is incredibly people oriented and just wants to be loved.  Each and every time I open her crate door she comes out and gives me a kiss.  When I sit with her on the floor she will come and sit in my lap and give kisses.  I'm sure if I let her she would sleep in bed with me too but I don't do that with my foster dogs.  This girl has a lot of love to give and with continued training she is going to be a great addition to the right home.

4/13/2008

Ramie has been in foster care for two weeks now and she's doing very well.  She hasn't had any accidents in the house but she has been supervised closely and taken out for potty breaks or walks often.

Ramie went to the vet for a checkup and to be brought up to date on her shots.  She also had her heartworm test and that was negative.  The shelter listed Ramie as three but the vet is convinced she isn't more than a year old.  And given how she acts I would say that is correct.  She has that young dog playfulness about her. 

We've been working on a focus command with Ramie.  She's doing very well as long as there are no animals to distract her.  She will even offer behaviors now as she starts to understand what I'm looking for.  If I make her stay in a sit/watch for too long she thinks she should be doing something else to get the treat so she will offer a down.  She has also figured out that if she wants to eat she should sit and wait patiently for me to set the bowl down.  She still jumps on me but that is happening less and less as I turn around quickly and ignore her when she does it.

Ramie has met quite a few people already and she has loved them all.  She's VERY friendly with people.  With dogs she still gets excited and barks but with more training and socialization that will improve.  I took Ramie for an evaluation with a trainer so I could get some additional input on her.  I was concerned because it seems like Ramie hasn't been around a lot of dogs so she doesn't really know how to behave around them.  The trainer agreed she needs to learn some social skills.  She offered to let her go to doggie daycare at her facility a couple days a week.  Ramie went to school twice last week and did very well.  They start the dogs in small play groups so they can see how they do.  On her report card under the section "Plays with others" Ramie received a mark of "Excellent".  She was very good at understanding which dogs would play with her and which dogs didn't want to.  When I went to pick her up Thursday she was running around playing with two little terriers and didn't even notice me.  She was having a great time!

The general consensus is Ramie appears to be a BC/Lab mix.  Her body is very Lab like in its muscular nature and she's very strong.  She clearly shows the intelligence of a BC because she's been a very quick study.  Ramie needs an experienced dog home.  She's young and it seems that she hasn't had much structure or training until now.  She's adapting nicely but I think given the opportunity she would love to be the boss in the house.  Ramie would greatly benefit from an obedience class or two and upon completion I think her new owners would have a really nice dog.  She is also very athletic so if someone out there is looking for a dog to train for agility or dock diving Ramie is your gal.

3/30/2008

Ramie (pronounced "ray-me") arrived in her foster home yesterday.  She came from a shelter in central IN where she was found as a stray.  Ramie seems to be in good physical condition and appears to have been well taken care of.  She's definitely a border collie mix but I'm not sure what I think she's mixed with.  She's very friendly with both men and women.  Ramie doesn't have many manners so we'll be working on that while she's in foster care.  She jumps a lot and is learning that jumping makes me turn around and ignore her.  She can also be quite obnoxious when I walk over to let her out of her crate.  This morning she learned that until she was laying quietly in her crate the door would not open.  I think it only took about 6 times of slightly opening the door for her to figure out that every time she got up the door closed.  She's going to be a quick study.

Ramie can be a little pushy with the other dogs.  Her version of play is a little rough as she was doing some body slams into the other dogs.  They weren't hard it's just that my dogs won't play that way and when Ramie did this my dogs would just stop the game and ignore her.  She's already starting to understand that chase is a good game but you don't get to tackle the other dog at the end of the game.  I think she'll do fine but I wouldn't match her up in a home with a timid dog because I think she might intimidate them.

Ramie will go to the vet this week for a checkup and to be brought up to date on her shots.  Stay tuned for more info on Miss Ramie.