Today is the last of my little series on Miss Molly Brown. Her mom tells us a little of how Molly is learning to be a good girl.
We took her to obedience classes once she was done with intensive
PT and at first she was the WORST student in the group. She yelled at
the other dogs, and jumped all over the instructors when they came to
see her. And she got so excited about going to obedience class that she
screamed in the car the whole way there! Still, she made huge progress,
and clearly adored everyone she met, and wanted to climb right onto
them so she could wash their whole face with kisses. After her second
set of obedience classes, she was the best student in the room,
intensely focused and picking up new things in a flash.
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| Learning to greet friendly strangers. |
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| Graduation |
Training for therapy dog work has mostly been
helping Molly learn to have more self control. She's thrilled to meet
people and go places, and very little scares her, but she doesn't
realize that charging up to people so she can love them might be a bit
intimidating. We do a lot of impulse control exercises, and practice
having patience around other dogs and people. We're still working on a
really solid "leave it" and supervised separation (3 minutes alone with a
stranger while her people are out of sight). She is a really willing
little dog, and spends all her time trying to please her people and show
us how sweet and funny she can be. It's great to have a dog who wants
to dress up and be fussed over, is small enough to pick up and snuggle,
but is also strong and sturdy enough to go for a long walk or play a
wild game of catch.
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| Girly girl! |
She still has some issues with her leg if she plays
too hard or walks more than 5 miles. She's on a joint supplement and we
have a standing prescription for painkillers if she overdoes it. She's
still really brave, so we have to keep an eye on her to know when she
needs a painkiller-she never cries or fusses, just gets quiet and snorts
a bit when things hurt. We put heat packs on her leg if it seems stiff,
and keep her as active as possible without making her sore.
Her thundershirt (since you asked) is to help with
getting acclimated to new things. There will be all sorts of medical
and cleaning equipment on the therapy dog test, and we practice checking
out new things with the shirt, on, then take it off for her next
encounter with a "scary" vacuum cleaner. It's really helped shorten the
time it takes for her to become accustomed to new things, and she's
learning a lot about the world!
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| Rocking her Thundershirt |
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| Working on sit & stay downtown |
Our best guess is that she's a pit bull/boxer mix,
given her deep chest, narrow waist, and crazy underbite. She's also one
of the most vocal dogs I've ever met, and will tell you what she thinks
if dinner is late or something isn't just so. She likes puzzles and
searching for hidden treats, so we have a whole box of puzzle feeders
and other toys that we play with often. She's great at using her front
feet to work her puzzles, and she'll "punch" doors if they're not open,
and sometimes even smack her people in the shins if she thinks we're
teasing her! She's great with other dogs, and has helped us with
several more foster dogs since she arrived here, and adores people,
especially children.
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| With her foster sister, Byrd, who is in her furever home now. |
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| Molly admiring Bruce, she loves ALL the boys. |
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