Our new family memeber will be her soon

[inDetail]

I just wanted to share for all dog fans out there. Our pending adoption has gone through. The best is the story.
She is a 2 year old Plott Hound. Her and her sister were found roaming the Kentucky suburbs. The neighbors would put out food and water for them and one morning a local who happened to live near by found both of them. They snuck into her kitchen through her dog door ate her dogs food and fell asleep on her floor. She was a volunteer for the Humane Society and contacted a friend of hers.
She is now in the Dawgs in Prison program in FL. If you have never heard of it the program, at this particular prison is run by the county with the local humane society manages the training, selects and screens the inmates.

All the dogs selected are screened for the program for the ability to become a family dog. Once selected they are put through a 8 week training program. Each dog has a 3 inmate team. All the dogs live with the inmates in barracks with the other dogs and their teams. The inmates are trained by an outside professional trainer. The dogs live with the inmates and they are responsible for care, feeding and training of the dog.
We have been waiting for years to find the right dog for our family the chance finally came. With our hectic schedules training a dog even a Plott from the start to the entire family would have been near impossible especially when you marry into a cat family and have a 7 year old.

She will be graduating 10/16 and be here 10/17. She will be trained in all the majors: sit, lay down, stay, heal, on and off leash commands, drop it, leave it, eat when told to, house and crate trained. She was tested with the inmates and our Humane Society contact in all our concerns. How she did with small children, challenging boundaries, barking and ease of transfer training to other people. She passed them all with flying colors.

It actually makes my family and I feel great not just because she is a rescue and she is getting a second chance. We are helping inmates at second chance when they finally leave prison to have a skill and profession they can pursue.
Now we just have to finish the fence.

[addysdaddy]

Wonderful news and the best of luck with your new "pup." Life is missing something without a dog, but than again I'm partial and one of those dog people. Post up a picture when she arrives. I had to Google Plott Hounds as I've never even heard of the bread - a very interesting dog.

[BillE]

GREAT story!

You MUST post some pictures of the 'new baby'.

Bill

[dad07]

congrats on the new addition!

[Flash Gordon]

I would be afraid to share my home with someone who has been in prison






:D

[inDetail]

Here are some pics from the Humane Society contact during a training session.
We always get the "I've never heard of a Plott Hound" question. I found out they are the state dog of NC.
My wife and I met one when we were on vacation in Cooperstown NY and we never looked back.

[BillE]

Nice lookin'!

Sure has a 'proudness' about her. Being 'rescued', I'll bet she'll be full of love also.

Bill

[tuscarora dave]

Here are some pics from the Humane Society contact during a training session.
We always get the "I've never heard of a Plott Hound" question. I found out they are the state dog of NC.
My wife and I met one when we were on vacation in Cooperstown NY and we never looked back.

She's beautiful for sure, congratz!!

Have you been involved in or been brought up to speed on the training process as far as how to follow up providing work for your new dog to do on a regular basis?

I think this prison training program is a great thing for both the dog and it teaches the inmates responsibility and the care of something that's absolutely reliant on them. Win win and a win for society at large because maybe it's a snippet of actual rehabilitation for someone who may have returned to criminal activity once on the outside again.

One thing for sure, if you don't provide your new dog with a job to do on a daily basis, she'll find her own job to do. When they find their own job to do it's usually something that gives me some sort of cleaning up the house job to do. They're not that great at deciding what would be a good job for themselves.

With my dog Colt, he thinks it's a good Idea to shred full rolls of paper towels all over the house if I haven't been providing enough work for him on a regular basis.

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd323/tuscaroradave/002_zpscce5f4f8.jpg (http://s528.photobucket.com/user/tuscaroradave/media/002_zpscce5f4f8.jpg.html)

To provide him with enough work, we do daily drills of sit, down, return to sit, lay back down, show me your belly, up, sit and lastly a nice long stay (at least 45 seconds) during the 45 second stay I am dishing out his food and placing the bowl on the floor. Once I release him from stay, he gets to eat his food and an atta boy pat on the head as a reward for the hard work.

Another thing I do to provide Colt with steady work is to require him to sit as I walk through a doorway, then release him from the sit command once I am through the doorway. It challenges him to remain obedient and shows regular leadership from me so he knows for sure he's not the leader of the pack.

We do the earlier mentioned drills outside on a 30 foot training lead as well for the occasional training treats, and praise every time he does a good job as he does it, (impeccable timing is so important) then as a reward he gets to play ball with the leader of the pack. (me)

I'm not trying to be a dog training know it all but these are a few things I've been freely given by a great dog trainer and great friend. I do it all on a daily basis, it takes very little time to do, It makes me as proud as I could possibly be of the dog, and it keeps the dog well balanced.

Just passing it on.. TD

[Pureshine]

We have two dogs love both of them :) Wish you good luck with the family member :)

[inDetail]

Thanks everyone.
We are very involved in keeping in contact with our Humane Society contact for the adoption. Her vet visits and health condition. She put on 4 pounds so that is a sign of a happy dog. We get weekly updates about her progress and new photos. We are trying to set up a webcam introduction with her before her graduation. We have detailed notes about her daily routine when she gets fed and type of food, play time and training time.
The program has sent all the information on how they were trained. How commands are delivered and hand signals. It's all positive reinforcement training. We will also be getting a DVD from the actual trainer who volunteer's it goes over all the training commands and how to deliver them. Her team of inmates also write a letter about the dog and their time with the dog to the adopting family
We know it's going to take time to have the training commands moved to our family but the seeds are planted.
The root is for her to trust us. She needs to know she is part of a new pack but she follows the family leads. It may take some time with each member of the family but it will work out.
If your dog is not getting enough mental stimulation while you are away from home leave a radio or TV on it might help.
We plan on a radio and putting her crate in the kitchen so she can see out the sliding glass doors. Maybe some birds will keep her eyes occupied. We also have the sweetest most laid back dog friendly cat so I'm sure she will be picking a spot on top of the crate to sleep at some point.
We constantly talk to her about her new sister and that she is a dog and we won't let anything happen to her.
My brother has two black labs one has serious behavior issues. They use a Kong Wobbler to keep him busy. It's very effective if you use regular food for training it will keep your dog occupied trying to get part of his dinner out of it.
She is crate trained and I am taking off work for a week after we get her home. Work with training and bonding time until she imprints on her new pack. I will slowly increase my time away from home until I'm up too about 5 or 6 hours. That's gonna be tough because I need to be far enough away so she can't hear or smell me.
Thanks again for all the congrats. It's getting closer and we are so excited. We had some tough days like when your daughter asks questions and usually the same one's for 7 straight hours. Since then she is fine and getting accustomed to the idea of having a dog how they are different from cats and that it's a responsibilty.

[inDetail]

Hey Guys,
Finally an update. Our dog's arrival has been delayed until 11/16. Bad news she tested positive with a mild case of heart worms. We all thought it best for her to remain in FL for another month. Those of you who never dealt with heart worms, it's a long expensive process and not fun for the dogs.
She has been treated and is on the road to a full recovery. She's not happy being on "bed rest" for a month but that is what it takes. No playing with the other dogs or exercise. She is just with her training team and other people.
Good news she did graduate and is still training while she is down there. She was voted most improved dog in her class.
She looks great and we are so very excited to see here. Gives me more time to finish up the back part of the fence. Line poles going in this weekend.
They have been so thoughtful and supportive of us and Siri. I can't explain how awesome it is to have people doing this for dogs who need a second chance.

[VISITOR]

hopefully you'll have the new family member soon, that's terruffic!