AB Herding Dog Rescue

30/10/2024

24/10/2024

**CROSS POSTING**

These 2 cuties are looking for their furever homes. Check them out at Cochrane & Area Humane Society (see original post).

Any Malinois lovers out there? 🙋

Sporty and Posh really Wannabe your best friend! They are looking for experienced homes that are familiar with the traits of this breed. They are super smart and ready to learn! Say You’ll Be There at the shelter today to meet these bundles of fun!

20/10/2024

When you get your 8 week old puppies, please keep these images in mind. Their bones do not even touch yet. They plod around so cutely with big floppy paws and wobbly movement because their joints are entirely made up of muscle, tendons, ligaments with skin covering. Nothing is fitting tightly together or has a true socket yet.

When you run them excessively or don't restrict their exercise to stop them from overdoing it during this period you don't give them a chance to grow properly. Every big jump or excited bouncing run causes impacts between the bones. In reasonable amounts this is not problematic and is the normal wear and tear that every animal will engage in.

When you're letting your puppy jump up and down off the lounge or bed, take them for long walks/hikes, you are damaging that forming joint. When you let the puppy scramble on tile with no traction you are damaging the joint.

You only get the chance to grow them once. A well built body is something that comes from excellent breeding and a great upbringing-BOTH, not just one.

Once grown you will have the rest of their life to spend playing and engaging in higher impact exercise. So keep it calm while they're still little baby puppies and give the gift that can only be given once.

By Patricia Crespo
Photos Veteriankey.com @62 days

*Many Bones are not fully fused until 13mo of age.

05/10/2024

04/10/2024

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!
It may be really disappointing and frustrating when our dogs are not the social beings we expected them to be.

Many believe dogs should just naturally get along with other dogs, after all they’re the same species.

Some believe the “unsociable” dog has a behaviour problem that needs to be “fixed”.

Early, appropriately timed and correct socialisation is vitally important, but sometimes despite all of this, some dogs are just not that sociable.

Sometimes this can be improved, especially if the cause is from a negative experience, but genetics, breed tendencies, individual personalities, health and age all contribute to tolerance and sociability, which also change throughout life.

If we, as a human species, don’t get along with everyone we meet, how can we expect our dogs to?

Do we label every person that has an argument, doesn’t make friends with everyone they meet, doesn’t like every other person, prefers not to socialise - as having a problem that needs to be fixed?

Why is it so easy to accept that every individual person is different than to accept that every individual dog is different?

When we have done what we can to improve our dogs’ social skills, we need to accept and acknowledge our dogs for the individuals they are, allow and respect their choice of whether to be sociable or not and never force interactions that a dog is not comfortable with.

04/10/2024

The final grant round for 2024 is now on. Canadian & US groups are lumped together again so I'm not sure if we will make it into the top 10 of the combined category for the bigger grants but, for this round only - every USA and Canadian charity that gets 15,000+ votes will share an extra $11,000 grants pool no matter where we finish on the leaderboard!*

We already have 873 votes carried over to this round (ends December 31) & now we know that we keep our vote total until we get a grant! So every vote does count eventually.

Again, thank you so much for supporting us in all the ways that you do!

Help them share in $1,500,000 worth of grants this year

04/10/2024

Your Friday funny! Hee Hee!

02/10/2024

Hailey is a sweet girl, looking for a job. She is very much a border collie & will go looking for a job if you don't provide her with one.

Welcome Hailey!

Hailey came to us today from Alberta Herding Dog Rescue. She was cleaned up and is searching for her forever home.
Check out Hailey and all the other available pups!

https://www.albertaherdingdogrescue.ca/

01/10/2024

16/09/2024

Tee hee!

Friday Funny

10/09/2024

Well, what was supposed to be a quick trip into Calgary & back became a bit of a road trip. Heading home on the 1A towards Cochrane, I saw a duck on the side of the hwy just sitting there. After a little bit of arguing with myself, I turned around & went back to find it was still alive but obviously wounded.

So out of the truck with a soft blanket that I happened to have on hand & picked her up & tucked her onto the console beside me. Of course, as someone who only carries a flip phone, I had no way of looking up the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation, which I know is in Madden & on my way home. So I drove to Cremona Veterinary Clinic first to get directions & back tracked to the AIWC just in time (after a couple of wrong turns) to get her into their care before they closed for the day.

So it will be a long night at home but at least the little duck has a chance to survive.

07/09/2024

Adolescence occurs between six months and 18 months of age—a time when guardians typically struggle the most with their dogs. Some guardians are so overwhelmed and underprepared for this developmental stage of their dog’s life, they choose to surrender the dog to a local shelter or rescue group. In a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science found that the majority of the surrendered dogs (47.7 percent) ) were between 5 months and 3 years of age (M.D. Salman,John G. New, Jr.,Janet M. Scarlett,Philip H. Kass,Rebecca Ruch-Gallie &Suzanne Hetts, 2010)

The neurobiology of adolescence is fascinating, with some key events that alter both the structure and function of the brain.

During canine adolescence, changing s*x hormones effect the animals stress responses. Adolescent dogs have a decreased ability to process information they are receiving from the environment including the presence of dogs, vehicles, people, or really anything around them. They behave in ways that might feel frustrating or upsetting for the dog’s person.

The connectivity between the frontal cortex (responsible for decision making) and amygdala (responsible for emotional processing) decreases, resulting in less behavioral control. We see increased risk taking and more sensitivity to fear.

So what does this mean? This could mean that what was once no big deal to the dog now feels scary; what was once easy to do is now stressful; what once made sense is now confusing. At times, the world can feel like ‘too much’ for the adolescent dog.

As your puppy undergoes this transition into adulthood their inner world is intense, even chaotic. Many pet owners experience an increase in undesirable behavior and find themselves becoming increasingly frustrated. In turn, our own frustration and impatience can cause us to act unpredictably. This adds to our puppy’s inner turmoil. When the inside and the outside are both unpredictable it can be difficult for our dogs to adjust.

If you have an adolescent dog, what can you do? You can give your dog the time and space to observe what is going on around them when on leash at a distance away from the activity when possible. You can give your dog long walks to sniff and explore in nature, giving their brain time to decompress. You can offer your dog a quiet space to sleep so that they can consolidate memories effectively. You can continue training various skills, breaking them down into easier steps that can be generously reinforced.

By understanding what our adolescent dog is experiencing we gain greater compassion and understanding. When we approach adolescence with patience we create a world that is predictable and gentle so our puppies grow up to be their best adult selves.

27/08/2024

Heeeheee!

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20/08/2024

It is a crisis situation right now....

CRISIS in ALBERTA for PETS

I think it’s important that the public wise up and clue in to what these places are having to resort to now, which they never euthanized before, but are having to make that extremely difficult decision. Some have closed or thinking of closing for this reason alone.

07/08/2024

Yay! Pickles (fka Bailey, 4 mos BCx boy) is working on his 30 day trial adoption. Fortunately, he has Layla (ABHDR alumni) to show him the ropes.

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26/07/2024

This is AMAZING! Thank you to our little community of friends and supporters. We will make this last as long as we can.

We also received another donation today that will allow us to get some Bully Bunches & Munchie Bones for the pups. They don't get those as often so it is great fun to see them enjoy one occasionally.

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26/07/2024

Echo (nka Lily) and Casey (and the resident cat) are getting along famously! She looks very happy & content, which makes me very happy. Love getting these updates!

25/07/2024

Another big thank you going out to Cochrane Global Pet Food! Their donation bin was full & Graham Stranks picked it up & dropped it off this morning. Literally just as we ran out of dogfood for the house groups.

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22/07/2024

Hey, Folks!

We hope you & your four legged friends are coping with this heat wave.

I hate to say this but we are running low on dogfood again. Paula (post below) has graciously agreed to organize a fundraiser again. Last time she was able to purchase 60+ bags of dogfood for a much better price than we can buy at the store.

If you could help us out again, we would greatly appreciate it. You can either send $ directly to Paula or send an etransfer to [email protected] (please note "dogfood" in the msg) & will make sure that Paula gets it.

These dogs are relatively "happy-go-lucky" with few, if any, issues to deal with.  If they have an issue, it is generally a single behaviour that can be managed with reward based training using treats and/or toys.

22/07/2024

BWAHHAHAHHAHHAHAA!

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07/07/2024

To say I'm "prouder than heck" for Kiwi (fka Shenzi) is an understatement!

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06/07/2024

Looks like a good match!! Fingers crossed she continues to impress during her 30 day trial adoption. And look how pretty she is once she's had a bath (or 2 or 3...)!

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