Gramercy looking good in the harness

Given we are currently foster free (our new girl is arriving later this week) I thought I'd share a bit more about Gramercy body progression.

 

In the 5 months Gram has been with us, he's lost a good amount of weight and we've worked through a variety of harnesses that fit him. If a dog is a puller/gets over excited on leash, I personally find that the wonder walker is better if you can get a good fit.  This allows you more flexibility during leash work and gives you the option of using a 2 point of contact leash.  When Gramercy first came to us, the wonder walker didn't fit well because of his full barrel shaped chest and the increased girth around his front legs.  So we had him wearing a puppia soft harness

 

We also didn't walk Gramercy much prior to his surgery because his body just couldn't last very long.  So, while he did loose weight before the surgery it was slow going.  

 

January 5th - I had to special order size medium long belly bands for his because he was so round.  I also had to really loosen up the soft harness strap to fit his barrel body.  Poor dude had no waist line!

 

Gramercy had his surgery on March 23rd and 2 weeks after his surgery, we were given the green light for short distance walking.

 

Since his surgery we were frequently tighten up his soft harness....

 

Gramercy April 10th

And then he was able to fit into a wonder walker, size small

Gramercy April 25th

And now, he's wearing a wonder walker, size toy!




Gramercy May 19th

Gramercy is going to be living out in a rural area so, the soft harness will likely be what he's walked in since he's pretty good on a leash. However should he start bouncing around and walking out of balance, his mom's now have to option of using a wonder walker and a 2 point of contact leash if any work is needed!

Before & now pictures of Gramercy

As everyone knows, Gramercy had spine surgery back on March 19th.  I thought his "fans" would be interested to compare pictures at the 2 month mark. And of course see how great he's doing.

 

March 20th

May 19th

March 20th with his funny hair cut!

May 19th and look how great his fur is looking - that's due to good food and the coconut oil!

Lookin good & feelin good!

Gramercy ready to start his new life - which beings on May 23rd!

Gramercy helping to pick out new toys

Syncline's adopters who are a wonderful couple, gave me a very nice thank you card and a gift certificate to All The Best!  So Gramercy and I headed out to purchase some new toys for future foster dogs.

 

Gramercy LOVES toys so he's the perfect guy for a toy tester.  Here's the two he picked out - funny that they are both pink! Gramercy could not wait to get home and really test them out.

 

I was trying to get a picture of the toys and clearly Gram was a bit impatient!



"Ok Gram, go test..."



"This one is amazing!"

Gramercy was pretty funny with this toy - it has an empty bottle inside it that makes noise. 

 

 



"Ok ready for the elephant..."

 



"This one is sooo soft and easy to love!"

Syncline AND her pink bunny have been adopted!

 No big suprise that Syncline found a home so quickly and it's a pretty awesome home at that! Syncline is going to be living pretty close to us so, we may very well see her and her new parents out on walks.   We are really happy to have fostered this funny little gal and help her find a wonderful new home.  I'm looking foward to hearing about her adventures and I'm sure we will also see her at the rattie meetups.  Syncline and her parents have already signed up for doggie class at my favorite froce free dog academy - I know they will all have a wonderful time!  So happy life to you sweet, spunky gal - you are going to no doubt going to be loved and very well cared for.

 

Getting ready to head home to her new amazing parents!



Kisses to pink bunny



 

As you will see from the video below, of course we HAD to send pink bunny with Syncline!

Some other really good news... because Syncline's parents chose to adopt, they not only rescued her but they saved another rattie by opening a foster spot.    So HUGE thank you to them for giving a second chance to TWO dogs who are no longer throw away rattie's.

 

I spent time yesterday, working with our other volunteers to save a very sweet girl who clearly needed a second chance.  Her first chance for a happy life was pretty sucky.  So be on the look out for news of her arrival which will be around on June 6th.



Syncline and the feeders

As you can see Syncline is doing great after her spay!  I decided to have her try out some interactive feeders and overall she did pretty great considering these were her first tries.

 

Sycline eats similar to D'light - a delicate eater who isn't in a huge hurry.  Can't say that about Gramercy and Catty!  So we started of slow and turned her eating time into fun time. 

 

Whenever you are introducing your dog to a new item, make sure to go slow to see how they react.  If the seem worried or nervous, figure out how to lower expectation to create success. You wouldn't be expected to solve a rubix cube your first try!  Remember that games, interactive toys/feeders are meant to be fun and increase confidence.  You the human play a vital role in helping to shape your dog's experience.

 

Last night we tried out the tornado

 

 

The moving parts did cause some worry - thus her checking in with me. With some assurance, she wanted to keep trying.  Had she not gone back to the feeder, I would have picked it up, emptied the food, put the feeder back down on the ground and scattered the food around the feeder.  My thoughts behind this are that she would get to eat near the feeder, it wouldn't be moving and we would end with a positive experience. 

 

This morning we tried out the busy ball!

 

 

 

I was really impressed with Syncline quickness in figuring out the busy ball - smart girl!  She's such a baby doll who is really going to blossom with some time and life consistency

 

 

After all that work it was time for a rest and fun with the squeaky squirrel.

 

 

 

More of Gramercy & Syncline

Here's Gramercy & Syncline the night before her spay surgery...

Gramercy asks "Are you asleep?"



Syncline says  "no way man!"

 

All the noises are coming from Gramercy.  He's very vocal when playing!

Syncline's first leash walk

These video's and pictures were from last Saturday and you will see that Syncline does pretty good on a leash.  Which is impressive given I doubt before foster care, that she'd ever worn a harness or even walked on leash.

 

My Catty is dog reactive so we always intro a new foster by going for a walk.  This helps to get the dogs (who are usually both anxious) moving and we work towards a side by side walk.  If I introduced a dog head to head with Catty it would not work as she's a fearful dog who reacts with her teeth.  And a face to face/head to head greeting is awful and can create instant chaos for a variety of reasons.  So this method is a nice intro for both dogs.  After so many fosters Catty seems to know the drill and there were no issue between her and Syncline. 

 

So, off we go.  I started Syncline with a regular leash hooked to the front of her harness.  As you can see she was pulling. 

I switched leashes with Catty, putting the 2 point of contact and Syncline and tada - no pulling at all.  Over the next couple of day I had Syncline walking on a 2 point leash and we did progress to a single point of contact leash.  I would recommend that if your dog is a puller or just doesn't seem balanced while walking go buy yourself a 2 point leash - it quickly makes a huge difference for the dog and you too!

It was hot on Saturday and Catty wanted to stop for breaks.... funny girl!

 

 

Cute little rattie girls

Syncline says "That was a ton of fun"
 

I will tell you that Syncline likes to walk, walk and walk!  She's the first foster we've had in a good while who can keep up with my Catty girl who is a walking fiend.