While that's nice to hear (and thank you for being so kind), I'm a very little cog and I go in fits and bursts. The real "assets" keep going the distance. I get sad and tired and have to take a break. Frankly I also don't know how much good I'm doing at the shelter where Carbon is at. Even spending three hours, that means walking only 3-5 dogs. And more and more I just want to walk Carbon, Paul, and Arturo the Podenco...which is not fair to the others. To say something more optimistic, I will say that they finally let me pick up poo yesterday. Why is this a big deal to me? Because it means that I can now walk into the pack of 70 and not have the toughest of the galgos mob me. It was pretty terrifying the first week (lots of barking and teeth showing) and I just refused to go into the large enclosure. Not my proudest moment! Now however I feel pretty 'zen doggie woman' that they accept me. It's a real triumph when a galgo that looked like he wanted to take your face off changes his tune enough to let you pet his long soft neck.
I think you’re being too hard on yourself and devaluing your efforts based on what others do...I see what you’re doing for the dogs you do work with and do champion as really heartwarming and you’d def be my go to person for advice on any of the shelter dogs you’ve worked with when it’s time to adopt another dog Which probably won’t be anytime soon as 3 is already a lot
You do what you can and it does make a difference every little thing helps. Your 3 little friends would miss you
Hey, guess what I learned today? Carbon is only one year and four months old! The daily shelter worker (very sweet young woman) had told me that he'd been in the kill station for two years, so I assumed he was at least 2-3 years old. But he's so floppy when he walks, he seems much younger. His teeth are also in very good shape - most are brilliantly white but he some bad tartar in the back that would come off with a little elbow grease and patience. No wearing that you often see. The big kahuna shelter manager came today and I asked her about him. To be honest, I was kind of afraid to find out if he was much older than I thought, as that makes potential adoption harder. She went into his records and found out that he was in the kill station in Jerez, then transferred to the kill station at Chiclana. He was first surrendered in Jerez at 6 months old (reasons unknown but I imagine for being a regular crazy six month old Lab) and has been on lock down ever since. The refuge picked him up along with Paul and Moro (a funny little 'dwarf' podenco) a month ago. She said that they try to get the ones out of the kill station that have been in the longest. She re-iterated that really his own problem - why he was in the shelter so long - is because he's black. I told her about his fans in the UK (and elsewhere) and she was very excited. I don't want to get her hopes up, but I did want her to know about the training I was doing with him, how well he was doing, and that I was willing to drive him to the UK (or elsewhere). On a lighter note, we both had a laugh about how much weight Carbon has been gaining. He is a total chunk now! I thought I was the only one who could slap on 5kgs in a week. He actually had to have a lie down in the shade on our walk today. At first I'm thinking, "Oh no, he's got EIC!" But then I took a proper look at him (removing my rose coloured glasses) and realised...nope, he's a tubmeister and this is first 'hot' (22C) day we've had. Poor Carbon, I feel his pain. He also finally learned to sit today. He's been a tough nut to crack on that one, but the heat helped today. I just stood still with a treat and waited and waited and waited and finally....OOF... down went the butt and jackpot jackpot jackpot treats. Then I got him up, walked a little further, and then stopped, watched him and....down went the butt and jackpot jackpot jackpot. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he was SO proud of himself for figuring out what the crazy woman wants. What a smartie patootie!
Oh, he's basically the same age as Squidge! How sad to think if it was her in the shelter for just being typical Squidgy when she was 6 months old But yay to him learning the sit! One thing I found working with some of the shelter dogs is how much harder it is to train them in those first few sessions than a dog that's been trained from a puppy because they just don't understand the concept of how to learn using positive reinforcement methods. When they have that lightbulb moment of "you mean, if I do this, I get a treat?!", it's really special, and once they do, it's all guns blazing from thereon in
Yep, 100% this. They have to learn how to learn. I was really encouraged by the session in the car yesterday and now the sit. I know it seems a small deal, but the look on his face! For me, it's really interesting because I'm starting to understand what people say that Labs have 'willingness to please'. Working with Carbon is completely different from working with a mastin (or mastin cross) or a podenco. Bodegueros have a bit of it - but they move on to something else quickly and it's harder to get them to come back to it. With Carbon, you can see the wheels turning inside his eyes. And he remembers everything! He knows now that every time we walk by a house that has a barking dog behind the fence, it's treat city. He doesn't break a stride, doesn't even LOOK at the other dog. Just, "Hey, it's treat time!" Come to think of it, maybe I'm more than a little at fault for his current waistline considering how many treats I'm going through a day with him.
Yeah, there are a lot of bad stories - it's very hard to understand. As my rescue friend Miry says, you focus on the dogs, not on the people who put them where they've ended up.
Hmmmm.....if only Carbon, Paul and Arturo could get access to a laptop and someone showed them how to post on the "Random Hoomans" thread. I bet they'd have some interesting views on how much value you are adding....
I have a feeling they would need to use a lot of Spanish a la Toby the Bodeguero. By the way, heard an English person say "Carbon" today and I almost thought, "Who?". So in case any of the boys ever do access a computer, here's a primer: Carbon - equal weight on both syllables - "CAR - BONE" Paul - equal weight on both syllables - "POW - ELL" Arturo - pretty much how you think it sounds. Though for some reason I keep calling him Arthur. He looks like an Arthur to me.
And don't forget to put a soft roll (a bap?) on the R Up where we are, there's a stronger emphasis on the end. So it's more "carb-ON"
Just realised this could well end up in an animated discussion of breakfast and tea products throughout the various regions of the UK
Yep, you gotta have that roll on the 'r'. But I thought that was a going overboard with my linguistics fetish. And agree, if you're going stress one syllable more than the other technically it's on the 'bon' as the correct spelling is "Carbón". Funny, maybe that's a local thing that they just kind of shout out all the syllables the same. Well, if they even say them. This region is infamous for just dropping most of the word: Casa - ca', cumpleanos = cumple', pared = pa', hasta luego = ha'go I guess Carbon is lucky that they don't just call him "Carb" and make him sound like a dietary measure.
Yep, the first time I visited Seville, I was excited to hear the Andalusian drawl. I was upset, on taking one of the very touristy carriage rides, that I could understand the driver perfectly. Until, that is, he started talking on his phone. Well... wow. His entire conversation appeared to be a single word, taking about three minutes to complete
Yep, that pretty much sums up the entire dialect down here. It is 'challenging' for a non-native speaker!
As it's a holiday here in Spain, different shelter hours so less time for walkies. I was feeling pretty low, so I very selfishly said "Give me Carbon and Paul" when they asked me which dog(s) I wanted. Yes, I even stepped over snarling Cobi to do it. The regular 45-60 minute walk I do took over 2 hours. Why? Well, first there was Paul trying to eat the tops off all the cow pats. They ran the full herd of 60 or so cows down the path that we take a couple days ago, and with the heat, the pats have been baked into lovely pies - a crispy top crust and luscious 'custard' within. Paul LOVES this. And while Carbon on his own completely ignored this treat, Paul has been a bad influence in teaching him the glories of cow poo. Yum, yum. The first time Carbon got in a taste a few days ago, he kind of smacked his lips and made a face like he'd sucked down something nasty. "Great," I thought, "he thinks it's disgusting and won't go for it again." WRONG. I guess it's like people always tell me about wine and cigarettes - it's an acquired taste. Well, now he's acquired it. The other slow down factor was that every so often, Paul had a go at Carbon or vice versa. Then it was a happy ball 'o dog play fighting. Carbon likes to put Paul's whole head in his mouth. Paul likes to try to stretch out Carbon's facial skin like taffy...or go for the vampire hold. Occasionally Carbon might just treat Paul's back leg like a chicken drumstick. Hey, what is one less leg amongst friends? They don't hurt each other, but it really sounds (and looks) intense. I just try to keep their leashes from getting tangled and doing real damage. It ends by Paul asking to be picked up ("Oh, save me from that big bully!") or Carbon hiding behind my legs ("Oh, save me from that little sausage head!"). But the what REALLY slowed down the walk was Carbon's infatuation with "sit". Remember, we just learned this yesterday. And so far, I'm not putting a command (verbal or hand) to it. I'm just waiting for him to offer the behaviour and then treating. You can guess my mistake, right? The entire walk, Carbon sat and waited for his treat. Over. And over. And over. And over. And frankly, he's just so darn cute (and so darn proud of himself) that I MAY have continued giving him treats for doing it. Sigh. When I did dial down the treats, he started laying down. "You liked my butt on the ground? What do you think of my whole BODY on the ground? Huh? Good? Right?!". And yes, I MAY have told him he was so handsome for doing a down as well. And I may have given him kisses that left lipstick on his nose. Maybe. By the last 1/3 of the walk, I was treating him for GETTING UP. Smart dog. Who is training whom? On a side note, we ran into chickens too. Paul wanted to get much closer (as in having a chicken in his tummy) but Carbon just looked intrigued and then looked back at me for his treat. "See, chickens are my friends, just like cows and dogs who bark behind fences.. NOW FEED ME!" Did I mention how fat Carbon is getting? I guess free feeding at the shelter + a gazillion training treats do NOT do a body good.
