Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

This was my first thought, too. Shadow and Luna are especially close and I've not committed enough to Luna's self control that she's steady in enough situations that I can have her "present but not involved" when working with the other two Labs yet. That's a job for the summer! So in order for the others to get my full attention - and for them to focus on me fully - it means me taking them out individually, or at least without the chocolate terrorist. Probably not feasible in your household yet? Do you have anywhere you could go and have one dog in the car or in a crate while you train with the other? Obviously bearing in mind all the factors like remaining in the immediate vicinity and heat concerns.

 

He is getting better with that, but I still have to watch him like a hawk. Carbon understood very quickly what were his toys and what he could play with/chew on. Paul - not being here consistently and also being a terrier - is taking longer to get the idea.

Right now not so much mainly because i have to crate Paul if he's left completely alone and he still howls the house down. It was a shock yesterday that he stopped howling in the car, so there is hope for the house crating as well. Also I see a mild degradation in Carbon's behaviour whenever I take Paul. He's really happy to play with him and I think that having Paul on walks REALLY motivates Carbon to go further/longer, but some of what I taught him goes out the window and we have to retread when Paul visits. That's a concern.

Paul's here for the weekend, so we'll see how it goes. I also have a good lead for a new Bodeguero rescue group in the UK. Too early to tell if it will be helpful, but you never know.

One would have to stay in his crate at home alone - otherwise not feasible to take them both along and leave one in the car with the heat. Not sure how detrimental it would be to leave one alone for say and hour or so? Or I could just do mini-sessions with one downstairs/in the garden, while the other is upstairs in his crate?

 

I'm thinking back to @snowbunny's time in the uk, when the three dogs couldn't be together without very close supervision, and she had to play 'musical crates' in the car to be able to walk them all...

Could you do some training sessions starting at home? Since Carbon is the calmer one, leave him in the crate and walk Paul, then swap them over leaving the (now hopefully tired) Paul in the crate while you walk/train Carbon? These wouldn't have to be long sessions, as they would be more about focus and training than exercise.

 

@Emily_BabbelHund our posts crossed!

 

Precisely! Even better if you could work on them in the same room - so the one in the crate is getting rewarded at the same frequency as the one you're working with (to start with) so that they learn that not being the centre of attention is valuable, too. I didn't do enough of this with Squidge as a baby, but did a lot when I had W&S as pups together and it paid dividends. You can then work towards having the crate door open, then just having the other dog settled on a bed. It's a lot of work if you're not going to have them together full time, but it's important skills for them to learn, and helps with their independence (and crate training) too.

 

(me thinking of Paul staying in the crate with the door open or settled on the bed)


OK, I'm being a bit silly, but I do get the idea of working with one while the other is in the crate. I'll try some different things this weekend, so thanks for all the tips.

The real issue with Paul is what to actually do with him in the sense of taking him out of the shelter. I've made the commitment to Carbon that he's not going back ever, but that's with a LOT of behind the scenes support. I don't have the resources to do that for Paul right now and obviously the more I keep him at home, the more attached I get. But if I can help him with his training, give him some happy times out of the shelter and get the word out about him online so that he can get adopted faster (or at all), maybe that's already something worthwhile.

One step at a time...

 

It's been a rather crazy day of rescue dog (and cat) hijinks and YouTube seems to be boycotting my upload, so I bid you goodnight with a photo that kind of sums up Carbon and Paul's relationship.

"Is he really that excited about a shell? A SHELL? I mean, if it was a hamburger buried in the sand, I'd get it. But come on... I really can't be bothered to walk all the way over there to look at a stupid shell."



It's all right, Carboncito, tomorrow is another day.

 

Buried hamburgers - wow!

 

Aw bless.
I know that look

 

Or buried sausages?

 

Where.......Annie

 

Come on down to Spain, Annie, we'll find you some beach snauseges.

 

Pongo has just pricked up his ears

 

Cassie is packing

She did actually eat a sort of shell on our recent beach trip, I'm not sure what type, quite big, it seemed to have a chalky texture, she crunched it like a bone

 

Mollie was a nuisance on the beach for eating seaweed roots, which made her throw up

 

Lilly enjoys the delicate crunchiness of mini crabs on the beach.

 

Molly will often crunch up a small empty crab shell on the beach. It never seems to cause her any harm.

 

Aww love that photo - I have a similar one...but the roles are reversed, Belle looks like "all that digging for a lousy stone? If it were a buried slice of pizza....." as Scooby digs, enthusiastically, for his prize.

 

Can we have a bus trip to Spain, Pongo, Cassie and friends, and have Big snauseges hunt on the beach.............Annie

 

Ooh yes, there's an idea Cassie would love to hunt snauseges in Spain