Maizey  came to my home on  5/23/22

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Born 7/4/21, Maizey will be 1 year old on the Fourth of July.  Her original owner surrendered her in Columbus Ohio when they learned that Maizey is severely dysplastic.  She was placed in a home in Kentucky in April with a young owner who knew about her hip issues, and planned to have her vetted as soon as possible... then she promptly went into premature labor.  So, after 2 days in the new home, Maizie was left mostly alone in the new home while her new owner stayed at the hospital with her new baby, for about 6 weeks.

 

I kept in contact, just because I wanted to make sure that they had the behavioral help they would need... so I texted about once a week, to check.

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Last week (May 17), her new owner texted me to ask for help... with the new baby home, she didn't have the time to give to Maizey's training, she had lost her job for taking time off to be at the hospital,, and she was struggling.  I offered to take the dog and get her the care she needs... and the offer was accepted.  I got offers of help within minutes from people I trusted, and on the 21st she was transported from Kentucky to Columbus Ohio, where she was boarded until Monday when I picked her up (when I was off from my nursing job).

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Crazy Maizey is just very sweet.  She loves being touched, which includes grooming, and is very good about nail-trimming when there's squeezy cheese involved.  To date, she's had no accidents in the house... as with all fostered dogs, she's on an outside-to-pee schedule until both of us learn the other.  She's a little wary of men in suits (I walked her in a local cemetery, and there was a funeral service going on... a couple of people came to greet her).  The first day, she was on a tether.  The second day, she was in whatever room I'm in, still on the tether.  Today, she's loose in the upstairs (she doesn't attempt the flight of stairs down to our living room... I don't know if it hurts her, or if she's just never dealt with long flights of stairs).   She was pretty matted... her fur is that mid-rough length, and she's blowing coat... and her nails were overgrown.  I've brushed her out, got most of the blown stuff off of her, and trimmed her nails.  We're working on the tight mats behind her ears... apparently, she's never had clippers used on her.  Her bite becomes very hard (stress) when I turn them on... I'm working on it.

 

She just came and whined at me to go outside (YAY!!  First time to alert me!!)

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She's not so hot on-leash, but she's only been here for 2 days.  I started her on a no-pull harness immediately, but she was still very 'pull-y' (she's about 120 pounds)... this morning, we started working on acceptance of the head collar.  She's already worn it once on a short walk, so now I'll just make it a rule that she has to wear the collar to leave through the front door (no fence up front).  Once my dogs figure out that they only go for walks with the head collar on, they BEG to get the headcollar on.  She walks right beside me, with the headcollar.  We live in a very rural area, so we haven't run into any people or other dogs yet.

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Maizie is very clingy, but St. Bernards tend to be clingy... she's good about being alone upstairs when me and Hubby go to bed downstairs.  She LOVES Achmed... the other 2 cats are staying downstairs (their choice).  They're very dog-savvy, and have both been around lots of dogs... they'll figure it out.

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Maizey is doing really well on the headcollar... I don't let her go for WALKS without it, so she sits happily to have it put on (the Premack Principle, one of those little caveats of using positive reinforcement methodology that says "if the dog likes it, you can use it to reinforce behavior... like toys, walks, non-jumping behavior).  She walks right beside me in the headcollar... I've never been an advocate of the heel position, but she'll relax and sniff around as we work, and she'll come to understand that the sniffing is allowed, with me.

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BIG news: I found one of those small battery-operated clippers that are used to groom nosehair or eyebrows... they're very quiet, and really only cut 1-2 hairs at a time.  The point, though, wasn't to actually cut hair... it was to help her get used to the sound and vibration so close to her ears.  She let me pretend this way for about 3 minutes... YAY!!

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I'll be getting a baby pool this week, and we'll see how she does getting a bath.  I've been eyeing something called the Funboy Splash Pad.

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More later, Brenda     NEW Update 6/23/22