training log

This blog will contain daily training updates, as we continue to work with Svetlana. We are in the final week of our basic obedience class at the SPCA, and it's been great. We are going to continue her training as long as possible (forever). Our current intent is to train her as a therapy dog and compete in Mixed Breed Dog Club events (and now, the AKC has events that allow mixed breeds!!). We want to learn tracking and agility, flyball, and rally events as well as obedience. Currently, we're working on basic obedience (sit, down, stay, stand, up, heel, leave it, etc) and we're starting some trick training.

There's the rub. Training log forthcoming.

Svetlana (as published for the Orange for SPCA Fetured Story April 23rd, 2009)

Two years ago, a puppy was born in a hunting camp. She was the result of an accidental breeding between a beagle and a black mouthed cur. Not much is known about her since then, except that she has not had an easy life. She was rescued by the ASPCA in Alabama, and was as sick as could be. She was sick enough that she lived for four months in the kennel at the local animal hospital before she could be taken to an adoption event.

The morning of the event, my family and I were on our way to adopt a different dog - an 8-year-old border collie. But we saw our Svetlana there, and we just fell in love. She was so sweet and gentle.

We had to take her to the vet for an antibiotic shot before we could go home. So, we took her to the vet and then to the pet store to buy her a new leash, collar, and harness and a BUNCH of toys and treats. My two-year-old son was so enamored with her that he even offered to share HIS favorite toys with her. Then we came home.

When we got her home, she was still just timid and shy. She didn't know how to play with toys or eat doggie treats, and she had a horrible case of kennel cough and some worms. So, we just loved her as much as we could.

After a week on baytril, she started having nosebleeds every time she got her medicine. So, back to the vet we went. She spent three weeks on clindamycin, and is now right as rain.

Svetlana (or Sweetie-Dog, as my two-year-old son calls her) now plays with toys and neighbors, eats treats, and is doing well with her training classes. She can sit, down, stay, "leave it" (and she has particular fun with the leave it command when we put a treat on her paw). She is getting the hang of recall and heeling. She's well groomed and well loved.

She is a completely different dog now than she was when she came into our family a month ago. The shy, timid dog who was afraid to play with toys and didn't know how to eat treats is now the belle of the neighborhood, and is starting to train to become a therapy dog. She has been a great companion to me when my son was with his dad, out of town, for almost three weeks, and I don't know what I would do without her now. She is my son's best friend, and my fiance's constant playmate. At the end of the day, though, she just wants to sit in my arm chair with me and fall asleep.

They say we rescued Svetlana. I think she rescued us.