About The Foster Zoo

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We have decided to blog our adventures again. So much has changed since we last blogged. Bella and Shiloh both went to their forever homes and they are in wonderful families. June Bug got adopted. We quit fostering dogs after those adoptions because Tanker's epilepsy got bad. We quit doing therapy dog work because Tanker's epilepsy got bad. Tanker passed away June 9th, 2013. We adopted a senior border collie named Shania Tankerbelle in his memory. We still have our two cats, Sweet Pea and Little Bit. Wes has started rescuing pitiful bettas from Wal-Mart and we currently have seven. We have a camper. We camp. We have focused on giving our animals the best lives possible. We are The Foster Zoo Crew and we like to have fun.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Therapy Puppy Training Session #1

I said I was going to start taking one dog at a time around the block and then spend time training in the driveway individually.  Who am I kidding?  Not today.  I am too tired and have too much else going on to train one dog at a time today.  Bigger fish to fry.  (Sorry in advance, Wes, for comparing you to frying fish. ;)

The dogs needed to get out and stretch their legs and I really need to start training these puppies!  So, what did I do?  I leashed up four dogs and went for a walk. 

The road that runs behind our house is not busy.  I spent many of hours walking Topher and Tanker up and down that road when we were training them to be therapy dogs.  There are deer on that street.  There are cats on that street.  There are boats.  Sometimes there are kids riding their bikes and playing in their yards.  There are plenty of distractions to work around and expose dogs to.

Bella and Shiloh did EXCELLENT!!!

There was a birthday party going on with loud music, kids playing volleyball, kids yelling, running, and singing.  I thought, oh my goodness, this is going to be a disaster!  It wasn't.  The puppies did awesome!  All the kids ran down the driveway and asked if they could pet the dogs.  There were probably 15 kids surrounded around us.  Tanker and Topher love kids.  The puppies apparently do too!  If I had my phone with me, I could have taken the cutest picture of a little boy hugging Shiloh's neck.  It was adorable. 

This walk proved one thing to me:  Neither Shiloh or Bella will have difficulties on the walking through a crowd of people or around distractions on the therapy dog test.

When I got home, I worked with all four of them in the driveway for a little bit.  Wes came out and took our picture.  The dogs did really well.


I put everybody in a sit and a wait.  They were all attentive.


Then Tanker got distracted and wanted to go see Wes. 
 I must add that I walked and trained without treats.  For 13 week old puppies, I'd say the did really well.  They are very attentive and are pretty eager to learn.  They will make great therapy dogs!
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2 comments:

  1. Nous sommes les trois chiensMay 21, 2011 at 11:55 PM

    I think that must be so cool to see in the neighborhood. You seem to have a talent with them.

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  2. Lindsay, Wes, and The Zoo CrewMay 22, 2011 at 1:35 AM

    I'm sure people thought I was crazy walking around with four dogs. However, I am proud to be the crazy lady with four VERY WELL BEHAVED dogs! I did get compliments on how calm they all were.

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