Miss Manners

Neah is what I often call a "rough dog" or a "green dog" or "shelter fresh".  I doubt she's ever lived in a house. I don't think she was on the streets for a long time, but she probably lived outside in a yard or as a dog on a farm when she was in the Central Valley of California.

These young, "green" dogs have very little impulse control, no real understanding of what it is to work together WITH a human rather than just avoiding them because they (humans) are so irrational.  Green dogs don't know that tables aren't for jumping on and carpet isn't grass that you can pee on.  They are often described as "wild" or "stupid" when the reality is just they've never known that there can be a benefit to working with a human and no human has taken the time to calmly and gently teach them about living in a house.

The thing is, we are talking about terriers.  These are smart little creatures (sometimes smarter than the humans they end up with, IMO) and they can learn things at a speed that I still find amazing, no matter how long I've worked with them.

Neah is no different. She's crazy smart and loves to work her brain.  Especially when it causes bits of kibble to rain from above like manna from heaven.

Typically after a successful potty break, everyone comes inside for some fun training stuff. Langley and Frodo are old pro's at this.  When we have a new foster dog the new dog doesn't get why the other dogs are sitting there doing nothing - just staring at me - when I have a bag full of treats clipped to my waist.  Neah jumped and tumbled and tried her best to get the treats from me as I handed kibble repeatedly to Frodo and Langley for their calm behavior.  She was a blur as she tore around trying to grab it from my hand.

Neah, the whirling dervish, trying to get a treat while Langley and Frodo sit calmly

Finally, after realizing her method wasn't working she tilted her head, looked over at the boys and then plopped down into a sit. Tada! Jackpot! She finally got her treat.  Of course this was so exciting she jumped up and tore around and the treats stopped. This time it was a matter of seconds before she figured out what happened and she sat down and looked up at me expectantly.  Sure enough another treat.

She still has a ways to go. We've just gotten started and there's a lot to learn - we human's have a lot of expectations when it comes to what we find acceptable behavior.  But Neah is a quick study.  She just needs someone who will take the time to teach her without yelling or anything negative. Because the reality is that underneath  the rough exterior is a diamond of a dog: smart, loving, athletic, and with great dog to dog skills. Now we just need to find her a human with a skill of being patient and loving so she can be the dog she was meant to be - brilliant, confident and crazily happy.