Ben - ADOPTED!!!

9/18/09 Ben (Benjamin) has arrived. He was able to catch a plane ride with Maggie from Indianapolis to So. St. Paul. He is a 2 year old Black-Tri Aussie who is obviously stressed out by his trip up here. So far he is a little growly and snappy, but I'm just chauking it up to the stress of leaving his family, going on a plane ride, then an hour car ride...I'd be crabby too. He is still intact so will be getting neutered here shortly, and seems to have some obedience training. Here are a few of the initial (not so happy to be here) pics of him. I'll get more (hopefully better) pics of him in the next few days.


9/19/09 As I had hoped, Ben is doing better this morning. I took him outside, put him on the chain and hung out with him in the back yard. He discovered the neighbors cats in the window and was interested in them and wanted to get closer but didn't show any signs of aggression. On the relinquishment form it states that he would "chase" the neighbors cat but nothing else. He gave me a few kisses on my hand and even jumped up to sneak a kiss on my face while we were outside. I brought him inside and fed both of the dogs, then back outside. He played with Cache a little, but wasn't overly excited, just followed Cache around the yard.

Mike came outside and Ben walked up to him to say hi, Mike was able to pet him without any growling or issues. We took a few pics of him, he didn't want to really hold still so they aren't great pics, but at least they are outside of the kennel LOL we even got a little video clip of him that I will post below and on my blip.tv account.

http://aussielvr07.blip.tv/file/2622336/

Anyway, so far things are going better then last night. He is crate trained, but has lifted his twice this morning in the house on our way outside so I'm not sure how "house" trained he is. He is a quiet dog, I've only heard a bark once and that was after Cache barked at people walking on the street. I think in a few days he'll feel better about being here and will start to open up more and be himself.

Here is the video clip from this morning.

9/28/09 Ok where to start, Ben met my neighbor last week, he growled and snapped at her but she totally didn't listen to me when I said to just ignore him and she did the typical baby talk and approached him...needless to say it wasn't great. A different friend came over a few minutes later and did what I said and there wasn't a single growl or anything out of Ben but I had left him in the kennel just in case. My friend Karyn came over the next day and totally ignored him, I took him outside then let him in and let him hang out for a bit. She continued to completely ignore his existance which seemed to worry him and after a minute or two he started to kiss her hands and forced her to touch him, more like a "Hey Lady! don't you see me???". So she pet him for a moment then just stopped, he was an absolute angel with her.

Thursday I took Ben to Melissa and Pauls, he did good, everyone took turns just grabbing the leash and making him walk with them. Melissa and Paul took pics of him and after the "photo shoot" for the other fosters Cynthia brought, we got to play on the agility course (YEAH MY FAVORITE!!!). Ben did really good, I was pretty proud of the big moose LOL we did a jump, then the A-Frame, then another jump, then the tunnel. It didn't take him too long to figure out what he's suppose to do even though I don't think he had really ever been started in Agility before, but he definitely likes doing it!!!

Mike and I went out of town for the weekend and left the dogs with Joke. I guess Ben decided that the Pantry door was his spot of choice to pee on over the weekend. He hadn't pee'd on the door until this weekend but has been corrected for peeing on everything else LOL. Joke had a friend come over which I guess Ben wanted to eat him (Cache did too the first time he met him so maybe he just has that "ora" about him). For the most part though Ben didn't give Joke too much trouble which was nice.

We got home late last night and I wasn't sure how Ben would react since we've been gone a few days, but holy cow! what a welcome wiggle butt, whining/whimpering, bouncing, kissing...now times that by two 60lb dogs! It was quite the reunion LOL

This morning when I let the dogs out again after breakfast they were playing and having fun flipping each other over and running and jumping, typical play at my house, but when I brought them in I couldn't help but notice this very foul poopy smell, I looked at them closer and sure enough, Cache's legs where pretty much covered, and Ben (always the one on the ground) was well, just pretty much covered - YUCK! so, BATH time it was. I started with Cache since he was just his legs, and then moved to the full bath set up for Ben. I asked him to get in the tub only twice and he climbed in!!! Then the water, still good, shampoo, no problems, rinse-condition-rinse, holy cow! I made it through the entire bath without a single issue YEAH!!!!! He was actually better then Cache has ever been! turned around when I suggested it, stayed standing and never even tried to get out of the tub until I said OK lots of treats for this guy now :-)

10/12/09 Last Tuesday I took Ben to his first Obedience class. BCRMN has received a "punch card" for our foster dogs at Water Edge Dog Training Center in Buffalo where it's $5 to take our foster dogs to a class. The class that I took Ben to had started 3 weeks prior so the dogs in there where already a little a head of us on their training, but I have been working with Ben on Down, Stay, Come, Lets Go (Heal)...already at home. Ben did a GREAT job! He gave me 100% of his attention and even though he didn't know some of the things that we did he tried really hard to please me and do the right thing :) I couldn't have asked for anything more of him. He was a really good boy!

Thursday morning I took Ben to the vet to be Neutered, Microchipped, and get his Rabies shot, he was a little growly and snappy at the vet tech but I stayed with him and held him while Dr. Jerry gave him the sedative, then 15 minutes later I helped get him on the table and help his face while they gave him the shot to put him under for the surgery. They text me as soon as they were done and I went to pick up a very drugged and sleepy Benjamin. He was able to walk/wobble out to the car, but I needed to help him get in the kennel, he wasn't quite stable enough to do it on his own yet LOL at least I didn't have to carry him out, we had weighed him earlier in the morning and his an amazing 67 POUNDS! which for him is perfect! he's not a fat dog, he's very thick and muscular and is at his right weight :)

This morning we woke up to 3 inches of snow so I just had to take a few pics of Ben and Cache playing in the back yard, Ben seems to really LOVE running around in the fresh white stuff, and stopped to eat some of it quite often LOL they didn't want to come in for about 45 minutes.

All in all Ben is doing really good with us here. He is Fear Aggressive, meaning that he isn't a very dominant dog, but has learned that if he growls and snaps at people they will leave him alone. Meeting new people is really our only obsticle right now, obviously he will have a hard time being adopted if he appears to want to eat who ever is coming to see him. Even though Ben is fully vetted now and technically is available for adoption, I am going to keep him for a while longer and work on his socialization skills. He really is a big lover and very sweet, but he is terrified of new people so we are working on changing/correcting that. I have faith that he will come around soon :)

11/3/09 Ben was moved to a new foster home with BCRMN, the board had made the decision that while he is doing good with me, they feel he would benefit from new surroundings and people.