My neighbor with the Malinois was chatting with one of the local dog trainers about Dudley. We are going to try out a dog obedience class next month. 10 weeks with probably 25-30 dogs. I am one of those people who worries about everything…and tries to be prepared for any scenario. I know Dudley will do amazing being around other dogs and people, probably a little too social but the thing I worry about the most is his remaining back leg. The trainer has been doing classes for almost 40 years and she has worked with many physically challenged dogs. I am going to talk to her after the holidays are over and make sure that we have some adaptations for the usual sit/stay. Dudley isn’t a sitting type of dog. He is either vertical or horizontal.
The most important things for me are that Dudley has a good recall command and a good wait command. He walks really well on leash and I’m not focused on having him sit on command. He isn’t a big beggar for food although we probably should work on the “leave it” command. I spent the first 3 months of us being together building a bond and letting him “own” his neighborhood. We haven’t had any bolting back towards home situations recently and I have learned that if he doesn’t want to get up off the bed to go out, I shouldn’t push him. I’ve also learned that he will pout all day if I don’t go to work and we don’t have social time scheduled with the various dogs he hangs out with! He thinks that every day I don’t get up and go to work is a Saturday pack walk. And I don’t go back to work until January 3rd!
Yesterday we had a little polar blast here on the coast. We were very fortunate to not get hit like the rest of the country. But we did get the freezing rain around 5 pm. Dudley wanted to go outside to do business and ended up sliding down my little ramp. He survived but when the next morning came, he was all “NOPE!!!” That stubborn thing waited until 11:30 am the next day to go out and do his thing. And the funny thing is that when it was just above freezing and we had the east wind, he was running down the slough road as happy as could be. Ironic, considering that he has the coat of a boxer/pittbull. I did some reading and scents are easier to pick up when it is cold. He was definitely smelling deer and coyotes so he was happy.
I am learning so much with this dog…his amputation is less than a year old and he is very emotionally sensitive. But he is just the most amazing boy ever and is such a good boy, considering the situation he came from. I keep in touch with the rescue I got him from and they all loved him so much…but also know about his stubborn side!
Hoppy Christmas to you and Dudley! I was worried about you being up in the frozen north, so glad you didn’t get too beat up from that weather. Although I think Dudley would argue that he got beat up. OUCH! Glad he is ok.
If your friend has a trainer who understands Mals, I would bet they are fantastic at their job. Not everyone can deal with a Mal, so if they are patient enough to train that breed, Dudley should be pretty smooth sailing I would think. Very smart of you to quiz though about the trainer’s ability to do workarounds for a Tripawd. We found with Wyatt that he would tire pretty easily when it was time to do lengthier group exercises like big circle walkarounds, walkthroughs, etc., so he had to take breaks when others didn’t. He hated it, but those breaks kept his body uninjured.
I can’t wait to see how he does in school!
P.S. Thanks for that tidbit about scents being easier to pick up in cold weather. I’m going to watch Nellie’s nose now when/if the temp ever drops here in SoCal!
We were actually in this little pocket on the coast that didn’t get the arctic blast. It was cold but not too much below freezing. We did get freezing rain one night but the temperatures went back up by the next morning. We did get hit with a good wind storm a few days later for about 24 hours and pretty intense waves at the beach. Thankfully the area we are at is slightly protected from the South winds so we didn’t get the 80 mph gusts…The trailer did get rocked a few times but everything stayed intact and I moved the car from out underneath our alder trees. Ironically Dudley did amazing with the colder temps and the wind. I’ve discovered that when he needs to go out to do his bathroom business, he doesn’t care. The only issue he had was when he went out and slid down the ramp while the freezing rain had hit…not happy about that and he refused to go out until 11:30 am the next day. We had a thunderstorm while I was over at my sister’s house and Dudley was left at home. He was very happy to see me when I came back! We don’t get thunderstorms like Texas but this one was a loud one from where I was at. He seems to be good with hearing gunshots in the distance, which we get from living out in the woods.
And yes, Mals are a special breed!!! The trainer actually has a Mal mix and a giant fluffy GSD so she knows the herding breeds. We might wait until her next round of classes since I need to get Dudley up to date on all of his vet stuff as well as the cat…and the car needs attention. I don’t want to leave the heartworm prevention for too long, even though it is winter time. My neighbor’s daughter is a vet tech in Portland and she said that heartworm has made its way up here even if it isn’t summer time. Dudley already had a round of heartworm treatment so I want to be careful about that! I am going to get him tested after he’s been here for 6 months just because he’s come up from Texas!