Weekly Training Update (Sept 25)

PERSONAL AD: Fearful, occasionally snarky 5yo, F, BC seeks suitable dog friends for play dates. Must take well to clumsy, sometimes grumpy, and often bossy attempts at social engagement.

Ever since Lilly’s Best, Best Dog friend Katie, the borzoi, moved away, we’ve wondered if another such canine match exists. Not only did their personalities mesh, but thanks to Katie’s impressive dog-dog skills and infinite patience with Lilly’s style of bossy-noisy border collie play, the two girls became easy companions.

I am confident there are many dogs with whom Lilly could share walks, hikes, and training classes. I suspect, however, that a Katie level of off-leash, hanging out and/or playing comfort will be much harder to find because Lilly’s social skills are so rudimentary.

But, there is a new borzoi in town, so we introduced Lilly to him this week. He is staying with Katie’s former family as a foster, with an eye toward adoption.

His name is Valinor Golightly Thundercrest JC (call name Thunder). He is a 3-year-old retired conformation dog (aka “show” dog). If you click through, you can see photos of him as a tiny pup (scroll all the way down) as well as some beautiful shots of him in the show ring and in lure coursing. Very handsome boy.

We introduced Lilly and Thunder yesterday on a short leash walk up the road and back. They shared several polite face and butt sniffs on Thursday. They walked nicely together.

Thunder seemed worried or wary in general, but he has had a long week that I’m sure is disorienting. Long drive, new places, new people, etc. He also got some kind of cut on his shoulder recently, so maybe that was hurting. See how he held his mouth closed and is a little squinty. (I’m having trouble getting the 2 photos and video below to show up all at once, so if it doesn’t work in the post, look in comments, where I’ll try to add anything that is missing.)

Lilly looks a bit tense in this shot, but I think it’s more the camera than him that made her tighten up. I took another photo, thinking I got her smiling at him, but she must have clammed up and blinked because her face only looks slightly less like this.

At first Thunder refused any treats from me. So, I gave them to Lilly. Once he saw her munching away, he asked for another try, and I managed to give him several treats during our walk.

We visited him again today after our usual 3-mile walk. We let the dogs hang out off leash in Thunder’s backyard, and things were fine at first. Nice polite face sniffing, etc. Lilly even did the smart thing and simply sat when he showed prolonged interest in her butt. They poked around and sniffed some things together, but then Lilly got a little snarky with him after we played One Treat for You, One Treat for Him. When she curled her lips and growled at him, Thunder barked and jumped away. Since she persisted with the bossy display (stepping toward him and showing her teeth), we took Thunder inside and left Lilly outside alone … while I helped upload some video of Thunder showing his funny swivel ear action.

As the video loaded, I sat on the floor and fed Thunder several treats. He seems to get the idea now, which makes me happy.

Lilly didn’t seem to fuss or worry at being left outside in the yard alone. She just laid down on the back deck while the rest of us went inside. I didn’t mean for our departure to be a BUMMER or attention withdrawal, but I think Lilly may have interpreted it as such because when we came out again, she jumped her jitters out and was all kissy to me.

Pat and Thunder walked with me and Lilly up to the road and down to our house. Lilly showed no signs of wanting to sass him again, and Thunder seemed MUCH more relaxed today. He had a nice smile as we walked. I didn’t want to stress him with the camera, so I’ll try over the weekend to get some shots of him looking less worried and more happy.

So far, he seems like a nice, mellow guy. Whether he and Lilly can be more than walk-date friends remains to be seen, but it’s always good for her to have exposure to new dogs who don’t scare her.

Katie Update
Katie’s first home after leaving our valley did not work out. She stayed there only a few days, then she spent several weeks with a foster and was placed again last weekend in a new home. The rescue person who housed Thunder for a couple days happens to know Katie’s new family and says they told her it was “love at first sight,” so our fingers and paws are crossed that this is a happy and permanent match for Katie because she deserves all good things.