Frazier went to school today and, believe it or not, he wasn’t the class clown …
In December, BD Malone of Beastie Darlings and Meredith Minkin of Canine PhD donated a six-week barn hunt course to raffle off at our Merry Terrier Holiday Party. We had great participation, but with a room full of rescue volunteers and supporters, what do you think happened? Yep, one of our volunteers won the drawing! She had entered in hopes of taking one of our rescue dogs to school … and that’s exactly what she did today … with, um, five other Team Russell volunteers in tow, cheering him on. We’re crazy like that. (Thanks to BD and Meredith for letting us crash the course!)
After years at rescue, Frazier spent his afternoon learning fun new stuff instead of redecorating his kennel.
Today was mostly about learning the ropes … which meant meeting the rats. If you’re like most of us (i.e., animal lovers), you may be concerned about these little critters in all this. After all, they are the “prey.” We are happy to tell you that no one gets hurt. The rats have their own little room in the joint (hammocks included), are protected by heavy-duty, aerated tubes when giving chase, and receive “treats” themselves when they finish their job. In fact, they were all peering at us anxiously, ready to come out and play, when they saw the dogs. “Let’s play!”
Frazier was interested in the sweet, little girl he met today, but didn’t truly get focused until hot dogs were introduced. 🙂 You know who was very interested in her? Hannah! Meredith met with Hannah yesterday for an evaluation and found this girl (who we’ll blog about more soon) to be perfectly suited for rehabilitation. She has improved by leaps and bounds in just the past week! But, again, more about that coming later.
Check out Frazier (and Hannah) meeting little PomPom for the first time. Aside from hot dogs, he wasn’t the “hungriest” in the group (an adorable little mini Chi took that title!), but we have no doubt he will be. He was born to do this!
Here’s another video of Frazier “meeting” the hay bales for the first time. If you know Fraz, the fact that he didn’t pee on them (which is a big no-no in barn hunting) or redecorate them was amazing in itself.
Thank you so much to BD and Meredith for this opportunity to give this little man a “job” to do. He may never compete, but the chance for him to get away from rescue once a week and learn new stuff is phenomenal for this man. Who knows, he may go on to do great things and find that forever home he’s always dreamt about because of this … We can’t wait to see how things progress.
Barn hunting is just one of many things that Canine PhD and Beastie Darlings provide. They teach a plethora of things, from basic manners, to reactive dog reform school, to agility and nosework. We love their understanding of the dogs and positive reinforcement, and can’t sing their praises high enough. Please check out their websites to learn more about the classes they offer.
