Beagle Mafia

So Capo can sometimes get attached to our fosters. Which is so odd to me because I am the likely one of us to have attachment issues. For some reason since I started doing rescue, I have learned to keep a distant separation of our fostera. Not one did I wanted to keep forever.(although for whatever reason every single foster we take into our home seems to never leave)

We have had this one particular foster for several months. We saw her on a transport as she was on our way to a humane society and we just could not let her go. We agreed to take her in a "foster". She is not even a beagle yet a basset/coonhound mix. During her foster stay, she has had three particular families interested in her. Each and every time, Capo would not agree they were the right fit for her. This last potential adoptive family was perfect in every.single.way except them worked from 7-4 and went to bed at 9. Most of her time would have been spent in a crate and we did not feel that was the right kind of life for her.

She has literally been the only foster that we have had to turn down homes for. There is just something about her. She is just a sweet sweet soul, so gentle, cuddly, focused and I could gush all day. Even though all of that is true, I still was determined to find her forever family. Capo on the other hand literally begged me to keep her. He is literally head over heels about her. Sooo I made a deal with him that if she could be a "working" dog and not just another pet, we would keep her.

I have always wanted to do therapy/service dog work but I never thought we owned the right dog who could pass the certification. Well that is not true, I have one dog who I think can and will once I get trained. This particular dog totally fits the mold. She is highly trainable and seems to have a natural ability to do this.

I found a lady in my area who has been training dogs for over 20 years for their K9 Good Citizen and TDI certification. She even does it for free as part of her ministry. Yup, even better she is Christian and feels that God has blessed her in this area so she doesnt feel like she should be charging. While that is awesome and very generous of her, we offered to make a donation to her church instead. She happily agreed and off we went to train today.

Miss SQ(the dogs initials) did WONDERFUL! She is such a natural. In one hour she did a sit, stay, come, wait, heel, come off leash, a close sit, roll over, and a down. I was absolutely amazed. I will admit she did much better for her trainer then when I took over. I am the one who really needs the training. Lol! She also did great for Capo. The trainer feels like she will be certified in just about 4 weeks and is SURE I can even show her. She is that confident in Miss SQ is going to be one amazing therapy dog. I am confident I am not having smoke blown up my nose because remember this is all for free.

I worked with her all afternoon one on one. We even worked in a pet store where distractions were plentiful and yet she still stayed focused. I also found this product that her trainer was using and I swear its like crack for dogs. Its my new arsenal. I even started to work with some of my other dogs and they all did a sit and down easily when offered the reward of that good stuff. I am even thinking of biting the cost bullet and switching completely to those products.

This is going to be a lot of work but in the end a very rewarding experience. I am going to order her therapy dog in training vest tomorrow. My new hobby yay!