Friends, I have had a few folks recently express a desire to see where I do what I do. Tour the facilities, if you will. So, with absolutely nothing to hide, here it is, in all its boring glory. Hard to have guests as visitors to this island of misfit toys can be disruptive. Pretty soon we will be moving to a place where we can offer better, more welcoming, comfortable viewing areas for the people, but for now we must muddle through More on that later. So, it aint the Ritz-Carlton, just a humble little house in Beaverton. My business partner owns the house and embraced our partnership to the point of offering his house for my activities. He did, however, have an ulterior motive or two...he wanted help for his dog and he also saw the potential to partner with someone with doggie skills in an effort to save the lives of dogs that are at risk due to behavioral issues. He is very interested in this cause and his business and real estate background make him an excellent office manager, skills I clearly do not possess. I had often thought it would be a good idea to rehab dogs in a house setting so as to more closely recreate the environment into which the dog would be entering or returning. When the opportunity came up, I jumped on it. We turned the house into a kennel for dogs with issues, the aim being to help them return to or come to balance and acceptable behavior so as to reduce the risk they end up surrendered and put to sleep because of unacceptable behavioral issues. We average anywhere from 15 to 20 dogs at any one time. It can get very busy around here. But, in my mind, the more the merrier...and the more dogs, the stronger the power of the pack. With good leadership, it is the most powerful medicine for what ails most dogs. JMO The kicker here is that we are very close to moving the operation out of here and into a much bigger place. Still the house type setting, but doubling the capacity...and improving on the concept with various ideas we came to as a result of our current situation, including the idea of day care in a convenient location for dogs that are, shall we say, excluded from other day cares for unacceptable behavior. The funding is in place for the current plan and there is even extremely good odds for substantially increasing that level of funding and achieving our long term goal of becoming a non profit so we can then move into much larger facilities with the focus on offering high quality behavioral help for doggy issues to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. The timetable for that is still kind of murky, but so far the effort I am making to put together a coalition of trainers and other dog folks along with a coalition of money people is moving forward with reasonable alacrity. So, this video is just a random moment that shows kind of the current set up. Everyone lives in a kennel (except, of course, Jeremy...as for me...no comment), but they all either get out in small groups or if they are not ready for that, alone until they can. Additionally, all of them get out of the crate, free roam of the house for a certain period to allow them the opportunity to go on their own to all the various dogs and start to try to figure out how to do that safely. I follow discretely and correct if anyone starts to feel all Lord of the Flies. Everything is about structure, including the way they receive rules, boundaries, limitations, praise, treats, recess, love and smushy stuff, etc. All of it tailored to the needs of the individual. The video starts off on the deck, which shows a couple of water dishes where they all get their water. Down the stairs is a bit of a mud hole, but very few of them mind. The ones that do do what they gotta do up on the deck. I clean it up as we go on the deck...every couple of days down in the back yard. I had a service doing it, but they didnt work out and am currently looking for someone who wants to come in a couple of times a week to clean up...dirty business, this dog game... The video continues past the kitchen (important they are exposed to all we do, including cook and clean and vacuum and shower and and and all the normal stuff that happens in a normal house) and into the living room/main shelter area/my office...and then down the hall into the bedroom/secondary area. They all get shuffled around often so as to expose them to as many of the others as possible...and so I can see which tend to get along and which dont. It shows the level of barrier aggression, resource hoarding, etc. The treadmill is a critical part of this rehab/boot camp/spa strategy...recreates the mental and physical challenge they need to feel as though they overcame on a daily basis, to one degree or another. A job. The stationary bike is supposed to be for me...but I have zero motivation to exercise any more than I do...but I guess the calories in part of the equation is really the problem, not the lack of exercise. But I digress. Thank you all for your interest in my little operation and I welcome comments or questions. Nasty comments from the nattering nabobs of negativism (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Safire) will be deleted and ignored. Just dont have time for it. Constructive criticism is always and forever cherished as an opportunity to learn...which is the most valuable gift of all.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 18:18:19 +0000
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