Today my new dog Redeemer turns 2 years old. He came to live with me on Christmas Eve. He has lots of little quirks for us to work through together, and he is a real hoot. I'm learning all kinds of good stuff from working with him. The spot in my heart that hurt because Gabriel had to leave for heaven has a warm furry presence in it now. Gabriel is still there, too. Hearts stretch.
Like Believer, my assistance dog; Redeemer has nice nerves, high tolerance for pain/touch, and doesn't get upset by noises. These are important working qualities that are either there or they are not, things that you cannot train. You can train a dog in ways that somewhat compensates for weaknesses in these areas, but it's not really fair to put such a dog into a job that will expose him things that are stressful to a dog without the right nervous system.
Also like Believer, Redeemer loves to be praised--even from the first few days when he didn't know me!--and has a real work ethic. He loves to accomplish things. He wants a purpose in his life. He has one now.
He was returned to his breeder with some strange problems, but so far they are dropping away one by one. He was stressed by grooming at first, and apparently had been neglected to the point of mistreatment in that area. He had no training. He was a fence jumper. He was a sex maniac (Believer handled that with a firm paw!). Lots of accidents in the house for about the first 10 days. His undescended testicle will be removed when his high positive titer (no symptoms) to Lyme Disease and his ear infection are stable.
Like Believer, he is brilliant, extremely smart. He has a sturdy body of a very nice size to assist me. I don't plan to do therapy dog work with him as such at this point, but an assistance dog does a lot of informal therapy dog work in public. I will be encouraging him to be totally friendly and to believe that I do not NEED protecting.
Also like Believer, he communicates with me. No, I'm not talking psychics! He uses body language to tell me things and ask for things. He pays close attention to my body language. Believer helps me train him, just as brilliantly as she does everything else! I knew she would enjoy doing that.
Like Believer, he loves to tell me jokes. A lot of Tervs are like that. They love it when you "get" their humor. They are my four-footed antidepressants.
Happy Birthday, my darling Redeemer. And many more.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47
Let me also add my HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Redeemer.
