ACT RESCUE AND FOSTER CHINWAG -...

ACT RESCUE AND FOSTER

CHINWAGAUTUMN 2014

ACT RESCUE AND FOSTER CHINWAG | AUTUMN 20142

ABOUT ARFARF is an incorporated association of people in the ACT and surrounding NSW region who rescue dogs from euthanasia and foster them in their own homes for as long as it takes to find them loving permanent homes. The dogs are de-sexed, vaccinated, wormed and micro-chipped before going to their new homes.

IN THIS ISSUEThink outside the Box—Training Fun

Kids Book Reviews

Kids and Dogs

Where Are They Now?

Events and Happenings

Latest Adoptions

CONTRIBUTORSDallas Burkevics

Lucy Baranovsky

Lucy Butterfield

Aine Dowling

COVER: RUSSELL— WHAT A CUTIE!Russell is an almost four-year old Toy Poodle and is currently available for adoption.

Russell has his own ARF page http://fosterdogs.org/tess/russell-2/ and you can meet his ARF friends at http://fosterdogs.org/available-dogs-gallery/

FROM THE PRESIDENTSummer holidays are over and here we are, off to a flying start in 2014.

Our fantastic temperament testing teams continued their vital work in the searing summer heat at Domestic Animal Services

and Queanbeyan pound—all praise to them as well as to our foster carers who continually pull out all stops to find places for the beautiful dogs needing help.

Summer and autumn are the busiest times for our stalls team, particularly during our annual appearance at the Canberra Show. We hope many of our readers were able to visit us there—we always love to catch up with you at these events.

Our stalls team will be at Dickson Shops on 4 April, 2 May; Charnwood Community Carnival (Charny Carny)on 22 March and Collector Pumpkin Festival on 4 May.

Tickets for ARF’s 2014 Mother’s Day Raffle with its fantastic prizes are now available. See our website for details. And stay tuned to our website and Facebook for more news in the autumn months.

We really appreciate your support.

Wendy

Wendy Parsons, President ACT Rescue and Foster

ARE YOU AN ARF MEMBER? IT IS CHEAP, EASY AND YOU KNOW YOUR $15 A YEAR IS GOING TOWARDS RESCUING DOGS FROM EUTHANASIA IN THE ACT

AND SURROUNDING REGION. TO JOIN UP GO TO THE WEBSITE WWW.FOSTERDOGS.ORG AND CLICK ON THE ‘JOIN US’ TAB AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

ACT RESCUE AND FOSTER CHINWAG | AUTUMN 2014 3

Living in Canberra with its weather extremes doesn’t always make it easy to exercise your dog. Walking when it’s 40 degrees or minus 5 is not always on everyone’s to do list—including your dogs. Fortunately, there are heaps of things you can do at home to keep your dog interested, tire the mind, and build a great bond at the same time.

YouTube and the Web are great tools for finding new fun things to do with your dog; you are only limited by your imagination. There are endless things you can do for any breed or age of dog, and for owners of any ability. Training should be fun and short sharp sessions are best, so 5 – 10 minutes before you go to work and while dinner is cooking is perfect. You will be amazed by how keen your dog is to learn more.

Scent detection is a fun game for inside or outside that you can take as far as you want. Hide treats, toys or food around the house or yard and have the dog find them, or go so far as teaching your dog to find a particular scent which you can attach by key ring to your car keys or phone so they will never go missing again. You can even set up a row of boxes with a scent hidden inside and train your dog to ‘alert’, or let you know which box the scent is hidden in. If you’ve got kids, you can involve them by having them hide in the house and getting the dog to find them.

Trick training is another really fun inside/outside option for tiring your dog. You can start with teaching your dogs the easier tricks like spin

and high five which are quick to learn but will be great to show off to friends. As you progress you can teach complex assistance skills like getting a drink from the fridge or turning on and off the lights—how handy would that be! YouTube has endless videos on assistance skills, and what is great about tricks is that once the dog learns one or two they find it a lot easier to learn more.

You can also easily make your own agility set up in your yard, it doesn’t have to be a professional version or at a dog club. Small tunnels are available from Bunnings for $10 and plumbing pipe with connectors can be used to make jumps and weaves. Attach a hula hoop to trees or walls for a great tube jump. Things you find around the garden like buckets, bricks and boxes can also be used to teach your dog to climb in, up, through or over. Learning to ride a skateboard is also awesome fun! There are heaps of ideas on ‘urban agility’ for backyards and also while out walking.

So while it may be hot there are so many things you can still do to train and tire your dog at home that will take less than 30 minutes a day. Make sure you post your photos to our Facebook page; we’d love to see how they go!

Top tips for training

• Google ‘charging a clicker or marker’ for dog training before you start

• Use soft smelly tasty treats like lunch meat, BBQ chicken, leftover roast or dog roll cut up in small pieces so it goes down quicker. Shop bought treats are over-priced and not always good for your dog

• Make sure you take the treat allocation out of your dog’s daily food allowance so we don’t end up with fatties, and

• If you aren’t having fun you aren’t doing it right!

Pics: Maisie finds the treats (left) and Gracie practising her Royal wave (top)

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX—OR IN IT!BY DALLAS BURKEVICS


KIDS BOOK REVIEWS BY AINE DOWLING

MADDIE ON THINGSThis is the story of a man and his dog—a man who travels America and visits all 50 states in one year together with his rescue Coonhound, Maddie. This book will appeal to everyone, kids and big kids alike. The story is light but interesting, and the pictures are fabulous, although I did have a sneaky suspicion that quite a few of them are superimposed, but that said, they’re brilliant anyway, and Maddie is the perfect model.

Maddie on Things by Theron Humphrey (author and photographer), Chronicle Books LLC 2013. Also available in Kindle

The following two books are early readers for young children. The first is the childrens classic Where’s Spot? This book has been around for what seems like forever and is a constant feature in junior libraries. The second, Dex The Dog Goes To The Farm, is a lovely little book that helps teach numbers and colours.

WHERE’S SPOT? I could not believe I found this. This is a revamp of the very first Spot book. The book evolved from a bed-time story Eric Hill told to his two year old son, and was originally published in 1980. Hugely successful it spawned an entire series of Little Spot Board Books and convinced Hill to give up his day job and become a full-time writer. Now with brighter pictures that leap off the page, this eternal puppy is garnering a whole new generation of fans. A great little read-aloud book or early reader.

Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill, Putnam Juvenile. Also available in Kindle

DEX THE DOG GOES TO THE FARMThis is the story of Dex who spends a day at the farm and seeks out lots of new friends to play with. The words are simple and repetitious, and the pictures are actually beautiful photographs of Dex with different animals in farm settings. There is also a section at the end of the book on teaching your child to read. Suitable as a read-aloud book, or early reader for children 3 – 5 years.

Dex the Dog Goes to the Farm by Katrina Kahler, How to Help Children 2014


KIDS AND DOGS—YES OR NO?

REPRINTED FROM WHY SUPERVISING KIDS AND DOGS DOESN’T WORK BY ROBIN BENNETT

It’s sound advice given frequently: Supervise your dogs and kids while they are together.

Breeders warn parents: ‘Don’t leave the dog alone with children, no matter how friendly the breed’. Veterinarians advise: ‘Never leave a dog and a child in the same room together’.

Dog trainers explain: ‘All dogs can bite so supervise your dog when you have children over’.

Everyone knows the drill. So why doesn’t it work? Why are there an estimated 800,000 Americans seeking medical attention for dog bites each year, with over half of these injuries to children ages 5-9? The bites are not a result of negligent parents leaving Fido to care for the baby while Mum does household chores, oblivious to the needs of her children. In fact, I’ve consulted on hundreds of dog bite cases and 95 per cent of the time the parent was standing within three feet of the child watching both child and dog when the child was bitten. Parents are supervising. The problem is not lack of supervision. The problem is no one has taught parents what they should be watching.

Parents generally have not received any education on what constitutes good dog body language and what constitutes an emergency between the dog and the child. Parents generally have no understanding of the predictable series of canine body cues that would indicate a dog might bite. And complicating matters further, most parents get confused by the good intentions of the child and fail to see when a dog is exhibiting signs of stress.

The good news is all of this is easy to learn! We can all get better at this. Here is a simple list to help you improve your supervision skills:

• Watch for loose canine body language. Good dog body language is loose, relaxed, and wiggly. Look for curves in your dog’s body when he is around a child. Stiffening and freezing in a dog are not good. If you see your dog tightening his body, or if he moves from panting to holding his breath (he stops panting), you should intervene. These are early signs that your dog is not comfortable.

• Watch for inappropriate human behaviour. Intervene if your child climbs on or attempts to ride your dog. Intervene if your child pulls the ears, yanks the tail, lifts the jowls or otherwise pokes and prods the dog. Don’t marvel that your dog has the patience of Job if he is willing to tolerate these antics. And please don’t videotape it for YouTube! Be thankful your dog has good bite inhibition and intervene before it’s too late.

• Watch for these three really easy signs to see stress signals in your dog. All of them indicate you should intervene and separate the child and dog:

— Yawning outside the context of waking up — Half-moon eye – this means you can see the whites of your outer edges of your dog’s eyes — Lip licking outside the context of eating food.

• Watch for avoidance behaviours. If your dog moves away from a child, intervene to prevent the child from following the dog. A dog that chooses to move away is making a great choice. He’s saying, “I don’t really want to be bothered, so I’ll go away.” However, when you fail to support his great choice and allow your child to continue to follow him, it’s likely the dog’s next choice will be, “Since I can’t get away, I’ll growl or snap at this kid to get the child to move away.” Please don’t cause your dog to make that choice.

• Listen for growling. I can’t believe how many times I’ve heard parents say, “Oh, he growled all the time but we never thought he would bite.” Dog behaviour, including aggression, is on a continuum. For dogs, growling is an early warning sign of aggression. Heed it. If growling doesn’t work, the dog may escalate to snapping or biting. Growling is a clue that you should intervene between the dog and the child.


To pet owners, particularly those who also have children, thank you for supervising your dog! As a dog trainer and mother of two, I know that juggling kids and dogs is no easy feat. It takes patience, understanding, and a great deal of supervision. I hope these tips will help you get better at supervising.

Robin Bennett CPDT-KACo-Author Knowing Dogs Staff TrainingCo-Author Off Leash Dog PlayAuthor All About Dog Daycarewww.RobinKBennett.comwww.TheDogGurus.com

UPCOMING ARF EVENTSWe have lots of happenings in 2014, including heaps of stalls,

fetes and BBQs

If you can help out at any of our stalls and BBQs please contact our stall organiser extraordinaire Carol at [email protected]

In 2014 we also need helpers for our annual events including the Mother’s Day Raffle, and our major fundraiser for the year—Trivia Night.

If you can help in any way with our events please contact [email protected]

Hi, I’m Gemma, and I’m modelling my new coat from Café Press.

You can get heaps of ARF stuff on line and donate at the same time. You can get water bottles, bags, clothing, mouse mats and geeky stuff—and a fabulous coat like mine!

Visit www.cafepress.com.au/actrescueandfoster and get your cool ARF stuff today!


WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY LUCY BARANOVSKY AND LUCY BUTTERFIELD

Mallee by Lucy Baranovsky

Now I may be a bit biased in writing this update as I am the one who adopted Miss Mallee Moo! Mallee came into ARF care back in November 2012 from Yass pound and was a bit of a handful; she was very excited

and just wanted to play and have your attention. With lots of love and patience from her wonderful foster carer Lisa, Mallee’s behaviour improved immensely.

In late January of 2013 I saw Mallee’s picture on the ARF Facebook page and I then looked her up on the website to view her profile, the more I read about Mallee the more I fell for those big brown eyes and her cute cattle dog markings. We already had our Kelpie cross Alice at home; she was 18 months and in need of a friend. The next day I contacted Lisa to find out more about Mallee, that weekend my partner Daniel and I made the trip out to Lisa’s property to meet Mallee, as soon as we rounded the corner and saw her in her yard I knew that I would be taking Mallee home. She put her big paws up on the gate and gave me a look of such love and kindness there was definitely no doubt in my mind. After a successful yard check and an introduction with Alice, Daniel and I adopted Mallee on 3 Feb 2013!

The day we took Mallee home was a great day for all of us; she was smiling the whole way home. We brought her into the backyard to an awaiting and very excited Alice, it had been only four days since their first introduction but it seemed like Mallee and Alice had known each other their whole lives. It’s been just over a year since Daniel and I took Mallee into our home and our hearts and I couldn’t be happier. In that time Mallee has collected a few nicknames along the way, Mallee Moo, Missy Moo and The Mooster to name a few.

Mallee often spends her days cuddled up with Alice on the couch or chewing on her Kong and she loves peanut butter! On weekends Mallee and Alice love to go on car trips with their Mum and Dad and enjoy listening to music and Mallee’s favourite is Bruno Mars—she likes to sing along to all his songs. I can’t thanks ARF enough, and especially Lisa Whitney, Mallee’s foster carer for saving her and allowing me to have one of the sweetest cuddly dogs I have ever known. I am thankful every day for our two beautiful dogs.

Coota (formally Frankie) Lucy Baranovsky

Frankie, now Coota (named fondly after his roots) is living the life he always wanted.

Frankie came into ARF care from Cootamundra Pound in mid-November 2013. An unrecognisable breed he came to be called a ‘Premium Cootamundra Blend’. After a big car trip back to Canberra he really came out of his shell by playing with his wonderful foster brother Jasper the Japanese Spitz. On 2 December Frankie had a name change to Coota and was taken into his forever home where he has an older brother Ned and a younger sister Elle (both Jack Russell Terriers).

Ned and Coota absolutely adore each other and enjoy playing together. Little Miss Elle is a true pocket rocket and keeps Coota on his toes but he tolerates her playfulness very well.


Tigger by Lucy Butterfield

Tigger was my very first foster dog with ARF. He threw up in the back seat of my car on the way home from the pound but went on to be a great house guest. Tigger was an easy going, friendly foster ‘wombat-dog’ with a stunning brindle coat and slightly longer legs than a typical English Staffy.

He was found in the drop off pens of the Queanbeyan Pound and I fostered him in early September 2013. A few short weeks later he’d left my care and started his new life with Judith and her family in the best home a friendly young Staffy could wish for.

After that first ignoble trip from the pound to my house, Tigger was a great car traveller—head out of the window to catch the wind in his broad jowls given the chance. His shortcoming was that he seemed not to have walked on lead before, and initially, he clawed his way along the footpath with his belly low to the ground, scrabbling towards some unnamed destination with all his strength.

There were several people interested in adopting Tigger, but one family stood out. Judith already owned Judge, a sociable three year old dark brindle staffy and she was looking for a friend for him. Dogs can sometimes take a while to warm to each other, but not Tigger and Judge. Almost immediately after introductions they were barrelling around Judith’s backyard, dashing under shrubs and rumbling with each other.

A word from Judith, Tigger’s new owner: Tigger is doing really well and is a joy to own. He gets on really well with his older brother Judge which makes me very happy because I was a bit worried about whether two male staffies would get along. His favourite pastimes are snoozing on the couch and eating, and he adores his human brother Ben. Tigger’s other favourite things to do are wrestling with his brother Judge and going for a walk around Mount Rogers Reserve to meet all the other dogs. He loves meeting people too. All round I think he is happy and we are too.

A word from Tigger’s new brother Judge: I’m glad Tigger’s here, he’s kinda cool, but he snores. I like hangin’ out with him. Woof!

A word from Tigger: I’m (sort of) sorry I chewed the nice quilt and the chair and the other things. But I’m not really sorry I dug into next door’s place to play with their dog just after I was adopted because that was heaps of fun. Woof!

Sir Reginald (or Reg to his mates) Lucy Baranovsky

Sweet and gentle Sir Reginald had a couple of false starts in his transition to a new and happy life. He was fostered twice and he spent a bit of time in foster care with Dallas Burkevics during a back-and-forth game involving neglectful previous owners and a trial forever home which didn’t work out. It was all pretty confusing for the poor guy but he coped well and his great nature made us foster carers happy to spend more time with him.

Reg was very playful and spritely for a relatively old gent (11 years old). He had a bad habit of taking off like a shot to meet another dog on the other side of the oval but he was very friendly with everyone he met—two-legged and four legged—so there wasn’t much worry, and his recall improved with a little bit of training. He quickly became best mates with his elderly Mastiff/Ridgeback foster brother Franky. Even though Franky couldn’t keep up when it was play time they were great companions.

“Although it was sad for Franky and the rest of our house to lose Reg, it was brilliant to see him go to a loving and committed family. It was obvious that he was going to fit in perfectly and have a great life at his new home. There was an immediate bond between him and his new family. Within five mins of meeting him, one of the girls, who had always been a bit wary around dogs, was racing around the oval with him 100 metres ahead of the rest of the family. It was very touching visiting Reg in his new home a couple of weeks after he was adopted. As soon as the front door opened a large dog had jumped up on me licking my face and whimpering excitedly. His reunion with Franky was equally enthusiastic.” Adam (Reg’s foster carer).

Reg is now living good life with an amazing adoptive family where he will stay happily ever ARF-ter.


EVENTS AND HAPPENINGS

ARF@ANU O-WEEK ANU O-Week Committee invited ARF to participate in their welcome to new students on Tuesday 11 February. We had a stall in the shade for brochures and calendars, and extended the invitation to the new (reformed) ACT Greyhound Rescue. A big thanks to Ian Warden (Canberra Times ‘Gang Gang’) and Canberra Times photographer Katherine Griffiths.

Dogs and carers included Baxter and Jimmy (with Tess), Clover (with Kirsten), Max (with Helen), little Felix (with Ruth), and Bobby and Slim Dusty (with Gabby Openshaw from ACT Greyhound Rescue). All were HUGE hit with students and ANU staff alike.

Baxter—8 year old Border Collie (who came with his brother Jimmy) with student Nick Schmidt. Both Baxter and Jimmy are available for adoption.

The ever smiling Bobby (from Greyhound Rescue) with student Noah Hartley

Bobby and Slim Dusty with Gabby from Greyhound Rescue

The lovely Clover with students Minne Featherstone and Milena Selivanov. Clover has recently undergone eye surgery and will be available for adoption as soon as she’s fully recovered.


ROYAL CANBERRA SHOWThe 2014 Royal Canberra Show was held from Friday 21 – Sunday 23 September, and the indomitable Carol was there for the entire three days! Unfortunately, we were only permitted to take one dog only on each day and were not allowed to walk them as we had done in previous years—which somewhat lessened our exposure to the Canberra community as unless you passed the stall you wouldn’t have known we were there.

That aside, we had a great weekend and Marty was a great ambassador for us on Friday; plus the two lovely greyhounds Oscar and Syd. We made $1524.50 in sales and $303.20 in donations, an increase of $400 on last year’s stall, and many thanks to KPMG sponsorship. All money raised goes towards vet fees and other doggie expenses.

Many thanks to all our helpers over the weekend including David and Sue Robinson, Barbara Peek, Rita Jensen, Caroline Wood, Barbara Mapley, Linda and Trevor Jinks (first timers), Aine Dowling, Deanne Shegog, Lyn Boyer and Marty, Dallas Burkevics, and Lucy Baranovsky (transported the marquee), and not forgetting our bakers of biscuits including KPMG staff, Greyhound Rescue group, and Allison Drake.

ARF’s new mascot, Sharpie the Shar Pei, guarding the stall

Syd getting lots of pats

Marty checking passing traffic


CAPITAL REGION FARMERS MARKET @ EPICFinally the Farmers Market has it all! Fruit and veggies, meat and fish, breads and cakes, plants and flowers … and now … ARF!

ARF had great morning at Farmers Market on 15 March. With the usual treats, toys, dog coats and jammies, and tickets for our awesome upcoming Mother’s Day raffle, Carol and Jamie Lynn—ably assisted by Finn, Felix and Lexi—were busy bees chatting to everyone about ARF and what we do.

Carol and Jamie-Lynn

Carol packs up at Farmers Market with help from Finn and Felix.


LATEST ADOPTIONSARF had lots of adoptions in Jan – Feb so we chose a few of our puppies and a few ‘golden oldies’. So good to see the older ones getting a second chance. If you’re interested in adopting one of our gorgeous dogs go to http://fosterdogs.org/available-dogs-gallery/

Bob (4 – 5 months) Rescued 22 January Adopted 2 February

Rho (14 weeks) Rescued 4 January Adopted 1 February

Swampy (14 weeks) Rescued 4 January Adopted 6 February

Tiffy (around 20 months) Rescued 19 January Adopted 15 February

Oreo (11 weeks) Rescued 6 January Adopted 2 February


Teddy (almost 8 years) Rescued 17 December Adopted 19 January

Josie (8 – 10 years) Rescued 28 December Adopted 13 January

Drizzle (2 years) Drizzle was ChinWag Cover girl for Summer 2013. Rescued July 2013 Adopted 13 February

Jimmy and Baxter (8 year old brothers) Rescued December Adopted together 23 February

Butler (9 weeks) Rescued 11 January Adopted 15 January

Oreo (11 weeks) Rescued 6 January Adopted 2 February


WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR AWESOME 2014 RAFFLE SPONSORS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER):

Aussie Poochmobile

Blondus Doggus

Canberra Bikes & Kayaks

Carol Anderson

emBODYment PT

Fernmark Inn, Brogo

Good Guys

Masters

MOI Jewellery

National Library of Australia

PennyFit Yoga

Songland

Supabarn

Teatro Vivaldi

Vikings Group

Weston Acupuncture

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