Week 5

We had a couple of emotional classes last week.  I asked the kids put themselves in their dogs paws and write a story about their lives.  Where did they come from, how did they end up in the shelter, how do they feel?  In these stories the kids tend to write their own stories.  When the girls were done writing the stories I asked them to read them out loud.  After two of the girls finished their stories A.W. raised her hand.  With tears in her eyes, because her two best friends had just read their stories, she said, "They just wrote their own stories".  The kids usually either don't notice this or they don't say anything.  When A.W. said that, several of the girls started to cry.  Then they continued reading their stories.  It was nice to see them get so emotional.  They were feeling for each other, showing the empathy and compassion they were learning from the program.  It was one of those days that when I get into my car to drive home, I break down, not because I'm sad but because I'm so happy for them, so proud of them.
In our next class the kids wrote about their experience at the Macomb County Animal Shelter.  Some were happy with what they experienced and others were disturbed.  C.A. was pretty upset.  She saw her dog, Lilly, in the kennel and realized how much the dogs must feel like them, locked up.  A.W. was upset because the moment she saw the dogs in their kennels she realized how her family must feel when they visit her at the JJC.  J was happy because Missy was barking when she saw her and J had never heard her bark before.  A.M. was upset because Casey was kennel aggressive and he seemed very upset to see any of us. 
One of the girls, K, wasn't able to join us at the shelter because she hasn't been in the JJC long enough for them to trust her to go on a field trip so she decided to write about how she feels about Bella.  She wrote how proud she is of Bella, how much Bella has learned in such a short time.  Then K wrote about how she has lost so many people in her life that she has this big hole in her heart and Bella has filled that hole.  K wrote that now that she knows that hole can be filled she will be able to let people in again and not push them away.  THIS IS A HUGE STEP, A BIG REALIZATION!!! The entire room cried when K read from her journal, the girls, the JJC staff, and myself.

This is a pic of the kennels at the shelter.  Looks a lot like a jail cell doesn't it?  It's really more like solitary confinement since most of the dogs only get out probably 15 minutes a day.

Week 3

I can't believe we are already done with week three and going into week four!!! Time flies when you're having fun! The girls and the dogs are doing great. This is probably one of the best classes I've ever had, although, I'm pretty sure I've said that several times before. :) Let's do a little run down here:

MP, J, and Missy:
Missy is our red and white Husky. MP started off being lazy and J did most of the work. Turns out MP isn't lazy at all, I think maybe she just needed some time to get used to the environment and get comfortable with J and Missy. Missy also seemed to be lazy and it looks like she was doing the same as MP. Funny how most of the time the kids end up picking dogs that are just like them! It happens all the time! Missy is a typical Husky and is slowing moving through her training. J is working very hard. She likes to get things done and get them done right. J is very worried about Missy. She is constantly saying things like "Is Missy sick? I think she's sick, she doesn't look right today. She seems tired. Why is she tired? Are you sure she isn't sick?" If I had to take a guess I would say J has probably lost someone significant in her life to an illness, maybe her mother, father, or a sibling. MP has lost someone, her father, when she was very young, well, she still is very young. Maybe that is why the two girls are working so good together too. Hmmmmm. Food for thought.

AM and Casey:
AM and Casey are moving right along. AM's first dog was a nut. Casey is a nice change for her and she is enjoying just being able to work on the the basic obedience and not have to work out the problem behaviors. Casey is one of those dogs that is good at trying to mimic a person's voice. I've seen videos of dogs like Casey but this is the first I have witnessed! AM will say "I love you" in a howling voice and Casey will mimic it and it actually sounds like the dog is saying "I love you"! I will get it on video and post it as soon as they perfect it.

MM and Skittles:
MM is really enjoying the training. Skittles is extremely smart. MM has taught Skittles to sit, lay down, army crawl, paw, come, stay, and is now working on leave it. Most dogs don't make it this far in the six weeks they have to train. I wish we were able to work outside with this dog, she would be a great candidate for the agility course. I have never seem a St. Bernard on an agility course so that would have been a site to see!

CM, AA, and CiCi:
CM is working on a GED (General Education Degree) so she isn't able to be with us for every class so AA is doing most of the work. AA gets a lot more done with CM isn't there. AA seems to be a little over-powered by CM and won't do much with her around. CiCi is a difficult dog to work with indoors. She is easily distracted and REALLY wants to play with the other dogs so in a small gymnasium it not easy to keep Cici focused. AA did a great job of it today though! AA made sure to keep CiCi's back to the other dogs and they were able to get a lot done today.

CA, AW, and Lilly:
This is the perfect team! These girls are really working as a team. They discuss what needs to be done, how they are going to get it done and then do it! Lilly is one of the sweetest dogs I've come across. She's pretty young, maybe a year old. She has that soft coat of a Golden Retriever but she's snow white and stalky like a Pit Bull. One of our staff seems interested in her. He has been looking for a dog for a while and I think he has finally found her. :)
I love when the staff adopts a TP dog. This will be the third at the JJC. I myself have a TP dog too, not from the JJC though. Lukas is from Teacher's Pet's summer camp for kids, Kamp K9. Lukas was about 40 lbs., could barely move, always had his tail tucked, kept his head down low and could barely eat. He is now 89 lbs, eats like horse, gallops down the street with his tail and his nose held high. We couldn't have asked for a better dog.

MW, K, and Bella:
Bella, Bella, Bella. I seem to be saying that a lot lately! She's getting better with the nipping but the girls still have a loooooooong ways to go. Bella is turning out to be a little more difficult to work than I had expected. I knew it would be a challenge but WOW! We've had many injuries because of her nipping. Fortunately I have received most of them while harnessing her and the girls have just had a couple scratches. I am considering putting a muzzle on her Wednesday to try to work on getting her focused and keeping her that way and then remove the muzzle and see if the girls can keep her focused without it. A muzzle doesn't hurt a dog at all. I muzzle Lukas at the Veterinarian because if he feels the slightest bit of pain he will bite. He wouldn't bite me or my family but he will bite the Vet. I wonder how many times a Vet gets bitten throughout their careers???

Okay, here are some pics!

Missy

Bella

Lilly

CiCi

Skittles

Casey