Saturday, January 10, 2009

He Followed Me Home, Mom. Can We Keep Him?

A couple of months ago, I arranged a home evaluation visit from Border Collie Rescue of Texas. Since then, I've looked at perhaps seven dogs, none of whom had the drive I was looking for or more importantly, got along with my terriers.

Why did I do this? It's become pretty clear that neither of the sisters have any interest in flyball. They do it only because I ask but not with drive or enthusiasm. Instead, I see that drive and enthusiasm on the agility field. That is their forte, and what an amazing pair they will make in the competition ring!

I need a flyball dog. Harry is getting old. He still loves the game and I'll let him play as long as he wants to and as long as it is safe for him to do so, but eventually, we are going to have to think about retirement.

I love flyball. Because it is a team sport, it has a social and cooperative aspect that agility doesn't have. I love the speed and fury and frenzy of flyball. I love the sportsmanship. And Dogz Rule! is such a great club.

I need a flyball dog.

Last Sunday, I was in Austin for flyball and one of the foster moms for BCRT, who does flyball with another club in Austin, brought this little guy to my friend's house.


He is about 15 weeks old as of this post, 10.5 lbs, 12.75 inches at the shoulders (the last is approximate as you can imagine he wasn't too interested in standing still under the wicket until I could make sure he was standing correctly and find his shoulders under the fuzz). Male, of course, still intact for now. Even in a strange, but dog-neutral location, he played tug and fetch with different types of toys. He is drivey, feisty, pushy, but not overtly dominant. So I decided to take him home to see how it would go.


I've gradually introduced him to the pack, letting him spend more and more time loose with them. He's been appropriately disciplined by all three bitches, and last night Harry got his two cents in, telling that terribly annoying little pest to leave him the hell alone. It has so far been one-trial learning with puppy and Harry.

In the past week, puppy has learned sit on hand command (no verbal consistency yet but he'll sit in different places on different surfaces including my mini agility table), down (luring required but he did give me about 10 puppy pushups), leave it (he sits on the verbal command), waiting at the door coming and going, nose touches to hand and target, the potty command, not to mess with the cats (I wasn't involved in any of those lessons!), to enter his crate on command and to wait for the release word before he leaves it (Crate Games, of course). We are working on come, bite inhibition (part of this is because he's teething), walking on a leash, not barking in the crate (he has this super high-pitched yip that drives me crazy), and not jumping on humans.


All this training is good for the other dogs because while I'm in training mode, I drag at least one if not two of them out to learn some new games (like sitting, or attempting to sit, in a bowl!).

He and the sisters get along better than I thought they would. Each of them likes to play chase with him, especially in the backyard. Gracie gets a bit too rough but so far Mimi has been a good playmate.


He is as busy as any terrier. He shoots out of his crate and picks up the first toy he sees, dropping it only to replace it with another one. In the evenings, he will completely empty the toy boxes, playing with one toy after another, although it's clear that he does have some favorites. He never stops moving until I crate him out of sheer exhaustion--mine!

He sleeps in a crate at night and is crated during the day. So far not a single accident, but I do come home for lunch every day to let the dogs out.

He has this endearing behavior when I play fetch with him. He'll grab the thrown toy and run full speed back to me, jumping in my lap and shoving the toy into my stomach.

He's not much of a cuddler but that's fine by me. I've got five of those already.

I was told he was a border collie but it was apparent from the get go that at a minimum he was a BC-aussie cross. He has no tail and appears to have been born without one. He's got that aussie rabbit butt, and his butt is nearly as high as his head! After being chided by my friend Denise in Virginia, I finally tossed out that "he's part BC" preconception and it's pretty clear this little guy is a small aussie pup. Mini aussie? That's not clear.

I have no idea what the growth progression is for this breed but he is smaller than my cats, smaller than Dyna, smaller than Harry was at 16 weeks. I don't think he's a mini because he doesn't have the thin, elongated leg bones that the dwarfism produces in them but his eyes are just slightly poppy; the minis I see out here have bug eyes, also due to the dwarfism. He's got great bone in his legs. His paws don't have that dinner plate effect that lots of large breed pups have at this age.


I may have to start a pool to predict his height and weight at 24 weeks, but I think he's going to be small. And a genetic test would clarify what he is. I may start a pool for that too!

After a week of calling him "puppy" I'm tentatively going with Cap (Quicksilver Monkey Man). I'm still not 100% sure I'll keep him but he needs a name of some sort while he's here.

Okay, you crazy dog people. Comment away!!

9 comments:

Lauren said...

Yes, Yes KEEP HIM! I like "Cap." Good to hear puppy is fitting in nicely. You've come over to the dark side though . . .

Next thing you know you'll be addicted to small performance mixes like me!

Lauren
Ryp & Remix (who may not be so small after all! 13 inches , 12 lbs at 16 weeks)

kiwichick said...

Hi Denise, Got to your site from Gosia's blog. Sorry I missed you in Utah. Your new little rescue looks adorable. Looks like he is fitting in with the terrier pack. Velo still rules the roost at my house. Hope you end up keeping Cap he needs a great home with you :-) Julie Stokes & the Kiwi K9 Pack.

lilspotteddog said...

Julie S--so good to hear from you!! I'm glad Velo is still the reigning queen. It's as it should be.

Sorry I missed you over the holidays as well. I want to try and lure you Utah folks down here for some great USDAA trials--there's a 5-day trial over the new year in Belton, north of Austin, that is only 2 hours from my house. Five days! It's a great facility too.

Drop a line again when you can.

Denise

R3K9S said...

Sounds like the perfect drivey puppy for flyball! We all know how important drive is in the game ;)
Hope it works out for all of you!

kiwichick said...

Five days over New Year sounds good. It may be a plan. How is the drive from Utah??

BC Insanity said...

Woo Hoo .... she has crossed over to the dark side ... he he he.

He's way too darling to give up and it sounds like he's got a lot of traits that will fit you just fine.
Welcome to the bc world, even if it is just partly :-)

Hope he's a keeper. We need to see some videos too.
Get busy.

G.


PS. How'bout Monk (from Monkey Man)

lilspotteddog said...

Ahh, G, you noted the name. Cap is short for "capuchin"--a type of monkey. He sort of reminds me of one for some strange reason.

I'm pretty sure he's part if not mostly aussie. His entire rear half is aussie from all angles. His head, now that's another story.

seniormoments said...

Cap's adorable!! Keep him...I can't think of a better home and family for the little guy. Do agree that he definitely appears to have Aussie in his genes.

VAMom

BC Insanity said...

Capuchin Monkey - OF COURSE, small and wiggly - perfect.

Yeah, that head is puzzling. I guess time will show.
He's just so darn cute.

G