As of last night, I have a new teammate on my puppy raising team. He's a natural with guide dog puppies, very sweet, and a pretty good cuddler too. He probably doesn't need an introduction, but I'll introduce him anyway. His name is Saxon.
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| Saxon the career change |
Last week, Saxon was career changed from Guide Dogs for the Blind for confidence issues around unfamiliar dogs. When Saxon was 9 months old he had an encounter with an off-leash husky while walking through a quiet neighborhood. The husky jumped out of the back of a car, and from what I understand, charged Saxon, knocking him to the ground. The husky's owner came over yelling and pulled his dog off of Saxon and was very apologetic as he took his dog away. While there was no blood drawn that day, the encounter planted the idea in sensitive Saxon's brain that dogs with pointy ears are scary, and dogs he doesn't know are not to be trusted.
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| Saxon and Norton supervising my kibble spill in the kitchen last night |
We worked with him throughout his time as a puppy to build his confidence and he improved quite a bit. GDB continued that work when he went back for training and he improved even more, but they found that when he was guiding his trainers, he still needed a lot of encouragement to walk past other dogs on the street. This means he can't be a guide dog for someone who can't see why he is slowing or stopping in the middle of a sidewalk, and it wouldn't be fair to ask him to work in conditions that make him uncomfortable anyway. So Saxon was released from training at Guide Dogs and I got to say I wanted him back.
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| Saxon lounging on the bed, reunited with his stuffed animal toy cat |
It is hard not to be disappointed and frustrated that Saxon's guide dog puppy journey ended this way, especially considering my
hyperawareness of issues with off-leash dogs. I've been through all the
what ifs a million times in my head, shed some tears, cursed every husky I see, but I always come back to the same conclusion: each of my puppies ends up exactly where they're supposed to be, and Saxon just belongs here with me.
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| Saxon showing off his new collar that has mustaches on it! |
And when I think about it that way, I couldn't be any happier.
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| Saxon and Norton have become fast friends. Here they are cuddling together this morning. |
Good for you! I'm glad he got to come home.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home, Saxon! It looks like you have a great job as the newest puppy raiser in the family! I share your frustration with off-leash dogs, Mandy.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home Saxon! :)
ReplyDeletewelcome home Saxon!
ReplyDeleteGood for Saxon and good for you.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home Saxon! Last year Stetson got attacked by an off leash German Shepherd. We had to take a trip to the emergency vet because Stetson had a deep gash in his tail. Luckily Stetson had enough good experiences with German Shepherds and other dogs in our neighborhood that he didn't end up with any fear issues.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back Saxon! I love his collar. I am going to get me one of those!
ReplyDeleteHaha God, dogs are such smart animals. First time seeing your blog. I like it!
ReplyDeleteI love dogs too :)
http://mefrain.blogspot.com/2012/05/when-my-dogs-died-and-do-animals-go-to.html
Wow!!! I'm so happy for you and Saxon! I'm also surprised because you've had other opportunities to keep cc's. Was it something in particular about Saxon, or more about conditions in your life? What good doggies to not be all over that spilled kibble!
ReplyDeleteA little of both, Mimi. :)
DeleteSo sorry to hear about the career change, but it's great to hear that he has come back to you. I'm with you that ulitmately, the dog decides what they can and can't do and where they need to be. Saxon needs to be with you. You took him as far as he could go and thankfully got him over many hurdles by doing that. HRH had many similar fear issues. So I understand where you are coming from. It is super frustrating to have unleashed dogs and irresponsible owner out there who create these life changing situations. Keep up your good work!
ReplyDeleteI read the whole sordid story, from last October! How horrible for you. It's the scariest thing to get attacked by dogs. You did the right thing and handled it all very well :-)
ReplyDeleteI am caretaker for a breeder that belongs to GDF and we were out on a neighborhood walk. I noticed big iron gates that are usually closed were open. There was a woman with 3 dogs, bull mastiff and 2 bull terriers. I knew they were going to come after us as soon as I saw them. We were almost past the gate when the mastiff bolted towards us, followed by the little ones. The woman just stood there calling them back - she couldn't believe they wouldn't listen to her! The mastiff bit my dog's tail, but luckily didn't break skin. The woman finally came to get the dogs away from us - and here's the kicker - they did not have collars on! So she would grab one or two, they would wiggle away and attack again. She finally got a strangle hold on the mastiff and told me to just kick the other dogs away.
I didn't kick any dogs, but we hightailed it out of there! I called the police to report so there would be a record of the incident. I later found out they had attacked another neighbor - in her own yard!
I now carry a big stick whenever we go by that property. I hate irresponsible dog owners!