Update: January 1-18, 2013

Notes by Dulce Garcia and Lynn Rodriguez

We had an orientation session for new volunteers last Sunday, January 13. We had a great turnout and everyone got to meet our doggies in boarding. We hope to have another volunteer session in February and will keep you posted. Thank you to everyone who attended the orientation and we look forward to seeing you at the kennel!

As of right now, each dog in boarding has different needs relating to both training and behavior. We would love to give all the dogs a basic training program but that seems to work better after they are in a foster or forever home. It's a little hectic at the boarding facility and the staff does not have time to reinforce the lessons learned in training so the process can be a little slow. We think the best thing we can do is work with each dog’s priority issues. Here are the most important ones:

Tita

Tita was abandoned by uncaring owner(s) in Houston’s East End, Hidalgo Park area, an area known for “dog dumping”. She was on the streets for several months before we rescued her in October 2012. She was in bad shape with a terrible skin condition; certain parts of her body were raw and bloody. She has recovered and is doing well. She needs to work on no jumping and no mouthing; also loose leash walking. 

Renata

Renata used to be known as Princess and some of the kennel staff may still call her that. She lived in Houston’s East End where she spent her life tried to a tree. A caring neighbor signed her up to be spayed by Barrio Dogs’ FixIt project on 12/1/12; after she was spayed and vetted that day, we realized we could not return her to life tied to a tree. The owner agreed to surrender her to us and we had a contest to pick a new name for her. We picked “Renata” which means reborn in Latin, a name that symbolizes the new and better life that is in store for her. She needs to work on no jumping and loose leash walking.

Lady

Lady was rescued in October 2012 by a police officer who does a great deal to help the animals she encounters during her patrol in East Houston. She found Lady on the street and took her home; unfortunately, her other dogs did not get along with lady and attacked her. She has been in boarding since then. Lady had a growth on her back leg; when it was removed, we learned it was cancer. We are currently debating treatment options.

Lady has been having on and off incidents at adoption events (reactive to other dogs). At boarding, the situation is managed by keeping her away from other dogs. Considering that she has cancer and has already gone through one surgery, we don't want to add stress to her situation. She seems to have days when she feels down and days when she is happy. We think her reactive behavior derives from her cancer and related pain she may be having; in the future she will need to undergo a behavior modification program to address those issues. Her ideal home will be a quiet one.

Buffy and Cooper

Cooper has been adopted by AFHA volunteer Buffy Martines. He had been in boarding for several months before we began working with him. When rescued, his face was scarred and the vet guessed he may have been used as a bait dog. He responded very well to contact with volunteers, was responsive to training and certainly enjoyed our attention. We think AFHA’s work with Cooper made him more sociable and adoptable and we wish him and Buffy the very best.

Copper recently went into a foster home and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it works out. He was a puppy when we found him in a dumpster two years ago. He was sick and emaciated and has lived most of his life in boarding. Tauna Ready knows him well and is the ideal person to talk more about his personality to you. His issues derive more from being undersocialized and spending most of his life in boarding. We hope his foster situation works out and that we don’t see him back at the kennel.

Burgie

Copper

Harietta

Harietta and Burgie are new at the kennel. They were rescued in January 2013 from a car lot in the East End. The car lot owner said they were sleeping under the building which is why they were covered with fleas. They have been vetted and spayed and we are getting to know them. We are keeping them a run together with a blanket. Burgie the boxer will come right out of the run but Harietta needs to be pulled out with a leash. Yesterday she tried to bite the leash off and refused to walk but the next day she came right out. Dogs are amazing and resilient and we have high hopes for both Burgie and Harietta. We will be evaluating them soon and can give you more information about their training needs after that.

 For more information, please contact lynn@barriodogs.org or dulce@barriodogs.org