Battle of the Antler

Neah and Langley have been getting along great.  They wrestle, they play tug, then they wrestle some more. They even chillax together next to each other in their crates.

Langley with his piggie on the left; Neah snoozing on the right

While Neah can be a bit submissive with people, she's not at all that way with Langley and recently this had Langley quite flummoxed since he's used to always getting his way when other dogs are involved.

Neah picked out an antler from the toy bin that she thought was the very best thing EVER.  She carried it around and then curled up with it on the couch for a good chew.  Langley, who has not noticed this antler in the 3 months its been in the house, suddenly decided that if Neah thought it was that good then it really must be the best thing ever. 

So he tried the move that is so successful on Frodo.  He charged at her full speed, stopped short and kind of snapped at her head.  Neah didn't even bat an eye.  She continued to chew and was completely unimpressed. When that didn't work he stood over the top of her as she lay there chewing and chewed on her ear.  Still, not even a flick of the eye in his direction.  This antler was that good.

Langley finally sat down, perplexed, and stared at Neah, trying to solve the puzzle of how to get that dang antler.

His next plan was to just creep on over, gently bite the other end of the antler and slowly pull it out of her mouth. She continued to chew. He tugged harder and she bit down harder. Finally, after having enough, she let go of the antler, growled and snapped at him grabbed it back and sat down again to chew.  Well, Langley figured he was at least on to something and tried again.  This time her reaction was more sudden.

"Back away from the antler, NOW!"

After letting him know she wasn't to be messed with, she chewed a little longer and then got up and went in search of the kneecap she had seen in the toy basket, leaving the antler on the couch. Langley quickly claimed the antler and sat there but it was a bitter victory since she didn't care about it any longer.

Langley: "what just happened,here?"

He sat there with his prize for a bit until he couldn't stand it any longer and had to go check out what other treasure she might unearth from the depths of that toy basket.

Training two at a time

Neah's so smart that my training methods have kind of back fired on me. When we are outside, Langley and I do a lot of work on him being able to stop his compulsive snuffling for gross stuff to eat and check back in with me. He has learned to check in and sit in front of me and he gets a treat when he does this. Since he needs to be able to stop obsessing long enough to pee, this is an important lesson for us.

Well, Neah ALSO needs to pee while she's outside. However, when she saw Langley and I working she decided to join in on the training exercise and get in on the treats. Every time I'd look down, there she was waiting patiently in a perfect sit, ears straight up and peering at me expectantly. 

One of the rare photos of Neah with her ears in their natural state

At first I treated her for it. But then I realized, she was so focused on me and the treats, that she was unable to take the time to pee. I had taken a dog that was great at going outside and immediately peeing and was starting to turn her into a dog that was too distracted to remember to pee.  Langley's training to break from distractions had become Neah's distraction.

While I may just be a dumb human, I try to learn from my mistakes and I've started to do separate potty breaks and Neah gets rewarded for going to the bathroom but not for checking in, like Langley does.

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.

Neah and her Epic Ears

Chances are that if you are a big fan of rat terriers, your partial to rattie ears.  You know, those big radar dishes sitting on top of their head and able to pick up the sound of a treat bag opening from a mile away?

All their ears are cute but some of them are pretty hilarious. But Neah's ears are in a class of their own.  She has epic ears.

First off, they are pretty dang large.  I've seen larger, but the ear to head proportions are still a bit surprising.  But it's not just the size that is great about her ears, it's her talent of positioning them.

For the most part she's got cute folded ears that flop, flop, flop as she runs and wrestles with Langley.

But, if something is really surprising to her, watch what can happen:

Or sometimes if she's a little confused, this seems to happen:

And when she really, really, really wants you to give her a treat, up they go, saluting that bite of jerky in their full, epic glory:

 

 

And yes, she is as amazing as she is cute. Langley, Troy and I love her already.  Tilly's opinion is "meh", and Frodo's is "WTH? Where did Langleyette come from?!!!"

Kill the piggie part 3: stretched pork

After being thoroughly shaken to death, then being opened up for squeaky removal, Mr. Piggie has moved onto his third role as a tug toy.  Langley was a bit worried at first because he was pretty sure Neah was just stealing his toy from him but once he realized they were playing his favorite game of tug, he was in heaven. Beware - lots of barking in this.  Not from Neah and Langley though, but from the fun police, Frodo and Tilly.

Neah and Langley - separated at birth?

Playing with a Holey Roller - she likes to throw it like Langley does

While I won't say that Neah LOVES Langley.  She is getting used to him and actually really enjoys wrestling with him.  They have the same style and mouthiness with each other and Langley is absolutely over the moon when he gets to wrestle.  We try to keep him dragging a leash though so if I see that she is needing a break from Langley's intensity I can step on the lead and she can have a time out. Typically she wanders around the room and then comes back for more after a breather.  I'm guessing that after she has a little more time to get used to him, she's going to feel more comfortable and able to put him in his place.  She tends to be a bit submissive but I think  right now a lot of that is just getting used to new people, dogs, house, climate....  It's a lot of change to adjust to.

I actually got a bit worried as she really looks a lot like Langley now that I see her in person. I mean really, really looks like him.  They play the same, play by themselves exactly the same, bounce the same.  She is in no way as intense as he is, is a bit shorter and her coat is longer, still... It's enough to freak a person out a bit.  At least it seems I was correct and they are going to keep each other busy.

The ups and downs of life with Langley

I think the most trying thing for me personally with Langley is that he's a 2 steps forward, 1 step back kind of dog.  This makes me crazy.  While I realize the overall movement on our path of training is forward, I am a linear person and those one-step-backs discourage me so much.  I try my best to stay even and not get so excited when he does something wonderful (like today when he went to the door when he had to potty) or get dejected when he seems to immediately ignore the epiphany that I was sure he just had (like when he peed in the middle of a dog bed 15 minutes after letting me know he had to go out.)  But it's tough - that's how I roll.

Playing with a JW Cuz and rolling in a horde of toys on the couch 

But then, just when I am at my most frustrated he does something sweet and hilarious - like when I was busy doing rescue paperwork on the computer and looked down and he was lying on his back right next to my chair, all 4 legs straight up and chewing on a toy.  Or, like in this photo (sorry for the blur - Langley's not one for staying still for a photo) or video where he just happily plays by himself, rolling around on the chairs and couch with a favorite toy and then falling off accidentally and opening a can of whoop ass on the toy because he's pretty sure it pushed him off.

He's a hard boy not to love.  And the more you love him, the more frustrating he can be.  But I suppose that is how all relationships are.