About Me

My photo
My name is Lesli Hyland. In my fifty three years on this earth, my home and my heart have been graced with the company of twenty eight dogs. Many came to me as seniors. All of them taught me something and helped determine the course of my life. I became a dog trainer because of them. I met my friends because of them. My husband and I are are forever bonded by our mutual connection to them. Currently, as a Dog Walker I have access to other people's dogs and I am allowed to experience their unique personalities. The dogs make me a better person by forcing me to closely examine my motivation, my actions and my choices. Everything I do affects their behavior, safety and happiness. It is an awesome responsibility. The dogs keep me honest.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Sweet Baby James

James has arrived!  After a tearful handoff from Claudia in NH the ride home was uneventful. He was quiet as a mouse and did not get carsick , which I guess is an issue for him. Belle kept us company on the trip so  James would come into our group back home with her.

My plan of attack for the introductions worked great.
1.  Leave James/ Belle in car.
2.  Let my other dogs out into the yard to release their penned up energy and MOM IS HOME craziness.
3.  Put Tucker and Mamacita into my 12 X 12 kennels in the yard.
4.  Bring Belle/ James into the yard.
(interesting note that times sure have changed...Pogo would've been locked up in the good old days!  Now his age has mellowed his reactivity.  He sniffed James and that was about it)
5.  Cubby, Lupie and Tawnie followed James around as he checked out the yard, then Tawnie stuck close to me, the Chihuahuas went up on the deck (wanting to go inside-cold!) and Pogo toddled around while James marked here and there.
6.  MC and Tucker were barking like idiots.  When MC shut up I let her out of the kennel. She charged at James in her blustery, hackles up way, he ignored her and after a couple more barks at him, she decided he wasn't a monster and started playing with Belle.
7.  I took Tucker out of kennel on leash.  He was VERY interested in James in his doofy, intense way.  He kept trying to hump him (not allowed due to size, age and newness of James) and he followed James around with me trailing behind.  Eventually Tucker got bored with it all.

James was completely non-confrontational through out the entire process.  He was a saint with Tucker, who is really an idiot socially!

8.  Inside the house I let James check out his new digs then gated him in kitchen with me and rotated dogs (one or two at a time) in with us.   

9. In and out from the yard through out the day...crated for dinner and for the 1st half of Super Bowl (Bri and I went to our local bar)...Out again with all the dogs when we got home...crashed on dog bed next to my chair to watch Super Bowl 2nd half...with no one paying him any mind at all!
10.  Slept in a crate in our bedroom and is still snoozing as I type! 

WELCOME HOME JAMES






Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. DonnaFebruary 5, 2013 at 6:44 AM

    Wow....it can't get much better than that. Especially not reacting to either MC or Tucker.
    Good luck with your new family member!!

    P.S. - Don't know where the heck I got "Frankie" from. LOL!

    I'm gonna have to start writing your dogs names down like I do with my cousins' kids that I rarely see. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. JodiMarch 3, 2013 at 5:26 AM

    That is great! My Sampson is getting snarky in his old age and I really believe that even though I attempted socialization with my pups, neither one knows how to properly greet. :-(

    It was crates and gates when our daughter was home at Christmas with her Bull Dog puppy. He just wanted to be around the dogs and neither one of them wanted anything to do with him. After a couple of lunges by Sampson it was just easier to keep them separated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. my dogs, my worldApril 9, 2013 at 5:44 AM

    did your dogs get much socialization with other dogs as pups?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)