[olivionary]

Baltic Winters Sled Dog Association: Rescue Round Up

This Baltic Husky appears fairly aggressive so will need some extra work.

owner;; galaxy~nova
full name;;
call name;;
age;; 8 years old
gender;; Male
colour;; Agouti
genotype;; kk/awaw/bb/DD/Ee/gg/II/SS/tt
have all the tasks been completed?;; Incomplete

No posting until galaxy~nova has posted their claim! You have until 8th April 2016.

[Galaxy~Nova]

I am claiming my Baltic Husky!
full name;; ND Dark Knight
call name;; Jasper
tasks;;

Task 1 - Welcoming your new dog home - Complete
Dear Journel,
Today I picked up a dog from the Rescue Round Up event. They have located many starving, close to death dogs, and I hoped to provide one a safe home. It was early in the morning, so, I drank my Starbucks latte and headed out the door, petting and stroking my dogs. They yapped and jumped over each other, and they howled as I pulled out of the driveway in my white Chevy truck.
When I got to the rescue center, all I could hear was barking and howling. I eagerly went in to fill out the adoption form. It took awhile for it to be accepted, and I watched countless dogs leave the building. Many were in crates, and those who weren't were skinny, and had their tails tucked. Many dogs had numerous scars on their bodies, and I wondered what they had gone through. I was deep in thought when they called me up to the front desk.
The receptionist smiled," Thank you for volunteering to give these dogs a home. Your form has been accepted, and your dog will be brought out soon. He is very aggressive, so please keep that in mind when handling him." I nodded, and peered through the door's windows as two volunteers carried out a large crate. I could see a rigid figure in it, and tried to see the husky's face. The doors parted, and the crate was placed on the floor. I crouched and looked through the bars. I saw a large brown face and smiled. However, he began to growl softly, and I realized that he did have an aggression problem. He was just as bony as the other dogs, but seemed bigger, or fluffier. It could be that his back fur was rising, giving him a stronger appearance. After taking a few minutes to let this sink in, I gestured for the two volunteers to help me haul the heavy crate into the back seat of my truck. I fastened the crate to the truck and geared up the engine. As we drove home, I looked in the rearview mirror. His eyes were fastened on me, never glancing away. He had a sort of regal elegance, and I began to think of a name. He was strong, dark, and regal. I thought of what names would fit him, and thought for many minutes, when a name popped into mind.
"Dark Knight," I gasped. That was it, the perfect name. I began thinking of a call name, and the simple name of "Jasper" came to me. Before I knew it, we were back home. Dogs started barking and running out of their pens, and I saw Jasper start snarling. He crawled into the corner of the crate. I sighed. I heaved the crate out and struggled to carry it to the back where he had his own personal enclosure. I opened the gate to his new getaway, and opened his crate door to the pen. He dashed out and whipped around, staring at me. I sighed, and emptied dog food into a shiny new bowl, along with one for water. I pushed it in, but he kept staring at me. it was only when I backed up that he came to his food, and he growled while he ate. I began to wonder how I would deal with this aggression.
Task 2 - Bonding - Complete
The next morning I jumped out of bed, ready to work with Jasper. I went out to his pen, and the moment he saw me, he curled his lips back. I knew he would be difficult to work with, but I was determined to get through with him. I sat there by the fence for a while, and dropped bits of treats through the holes. I could see he wanted them, but I could also he the frustration in his amber eyes. He pawed the ground, and I rolled a treat closer to him. He laid his ears back, and quickly snapped up the pellet. He looked at me, and I wondered what he was thinking. I continued rolling out the treats, but I never got him within three feet, and if I moved to fast he would jump back and growl. I threw a dog treat into his pen, and he jumped back. He pawed the toy, and delicately picked it up. He went to lay down, and began chewing on it.
I wanted to see how he did with other dogs, so I brought out my baby Willow. He instantly jumped back, but he quickly came to the fence to sniff her. HE began bristling, but Willow, used to hostility, remained calm. She lowered herself, and slowly wagged her tail. HE continued the growling, but it slowly lessened. He moved back, and Willow bounced into a play crouch. He instantly retaliated, and Willow shifted towards him. He eventually started becoming less hostile, and I smiled happily. I let Willow out a little looser on the leash, and they began to play crouch with each other. I wasn't sure if I would let them in together, so I returned Willow to her pen. I then gave him another treat, this one only two feet away. Although he hesitated a little, he didn't flinch away as much. I was happy with this process. I began minimizing the distance between the treat and us, and soon, it was only a few inches away. I didn't think he would bite me, so I stuck out my hand with a treat on it. After a few minutes, he quickly grabbed the treat and jumped back. I repeated this until he was fully comfortable with retrieving the treat out of my grasp, and then, I put an empty hand out. He quickly licked it, and he stiffened when he tasted no treat. Jasper tilted his head and looked at me. I put my hand out, and he pushed my hand with his muzzle when he found no treat in my hand. Eventually, he rubbed his face against my hand, and I rewarded him with a piece of chicken. He gobbled it up and looked back at me for more. I thought I was ready, so bravely, I pushed through the gate into his pen. I was worried on how he reacted, and he bristled a little. However as soon as I sat down he came over to investigate. I hid pieces of treats around me, and he darted in and out to snatch him, but many times he would brush against me, which I wanted, so that he could get used to being handled. We did this for a few times, and I even saw his tail wag a few times. We were making great progress, and when he wasn't afraid of brushing up against me as much, I decided I would try to pet him. I held out a treat in one hand, and while Jasper tried to eat it, I slowly tried to pet his snout with my other hand. He quickly backed up and snarled, and I believed it was because he did not see my hand approaching. So this time, I kept both my hands up so he could clearly see them both. After many attempts, I finally began to brush his matted fur. Then, I rewarded him with the treat. Instantly, he understood that when he allowed me to pet him, he was rewarded. He began to trust that I wouldn't hurt him, and the amounts of time he growled dramatically decreased. Over the next few days, we did the same exercises, and he began to warm up on me. By the fifth day, he would run to me when he saw me. We were making great progress.

Task 3 - Gaining Confidence - Complete
Over the last week, we have been working on Jasper allowing me to touch him. He still is a little flighty at times, but he has really improved. So today, I wanted to have him fully trust me. If he was going to be on my team, he would need to be used to sudden movements, loud noises, dogs, and allowing me to touch him without hesitation. When I walked down to his kennel, he jumped up and stared at me. I crouched down and held out my hand. He nudged it, and I stroked his head slowly before I rewarded him with a piece of pork. Slowly, I entered his pen, and stroked his head thoroughly. Next, I took a plastic bag I had tied on a stick, and waved it back and forth slowly in front of him. He growled lightly, but I continued waving it. When Jasper realized the bag wouldn't harm him, he began to relax. When he would relax for a few minutes, I would speed up the movement, and wait for him to relax again. 20 minutes later, I had the speed very quick. It was just a white blur. I repeated the steps with different objects, and when he quickly adjusted to them, I used my arms. I started swinging them slowly. He stared at me , and started bristling. I waited patiently, and when he relaxed for a while, I swung them a little faster. I continued to process until I could walk around him with my arms swinging.
Then I wanted to work with loud noises. I took out a pot, and began banging on it lightly. He lowered himself, and bared his teeth. I sighed, and made a softer noise. I waited for him to relax, and gradually increased the sound level. He seemed to do fine, until a certain point, and no matter how many times I restarted, building up, he would shrink away. I figured I could use a thunder shirt to deal with that problem, but I would work on it some more.
Next, I brought out some more of my dogs, including Willow, but only brought one out at a time. He stiffened a little when I brought out Willow, but relaxed when he recognized her. They played a little through the fence, although he would get a little aggressive at times, and I would pull Willow back. I pondered over whether to let Willow into the pen, but I decided to see how he reacted to the other dogs. I then brought out Sorence, and tensed at how they would react. Sorence strutted up to him, and he started to snarl. Sorence began bristling, and I began to regret my choice. However, they still sniffed snouts through the holes in the fence. I was worried to see if they would erupt in snarls, but luckily they both relaxed. I rewarded them both with treats, and allowed them to sniff and interact for 20 minutes. I brought out both Sorence and Willow, and they all played together. I decided I would let Willow and Jasper interact with each other, but I brought out a friend to supervise and help if anything went wrong. Luckily, as soon as I let them out, they frolicked with each other, and although sometimes we thought we might remove Willow, they would run off again happily. After they were both tired out, I decided it would be a great time to work on our trust together. I wanted to put on a collar or harness, and maybe the thunder shirt, but I really wanted to be able to pet him everywhere with no hesitation. I began stroking his head, constantly rewarding him. When I petted him on his back, I felt his muscles stiffen, but I comforted him and rewarded him with treats. I began rubbing his spine, shoulders, and flanks, praising him happily. It was when I petted his stomach that he went crazy. He jumped away from me, snarling with his lips curled back. It pained me to see how a dog could be transformed into a aggressive creature. I got him to calm down, and started again. This time, I slowly worked my way down. He was calmer this time, and when I stoked his underbelly, I rewarded him heavily.
Over the next few days, I worked on everything we had been struggling with, especially the noise. Two weeks later, I had gotten comfortable enough to the point I wouldn't need to worry about him in normal situations.
Task 4 - Training - Complete


I hurried outside with all the gear needed to pull a sled. He still needed to get used to wearing all the gear, and I felt as if that could take a while. I hauled down the sled, a rope, and a log. I was out of breath, and placed my hands on my knees. I hurried to bring a collar and harness into his pen, and petted him for a while, and gave him his daily food. He had improved alot since we had gotten him. His cuts were much less visible, and he had gained a lot more muscle and weight. He investigated the gear quickly, pushing his snout into the nylon materials. I chose a plain grey harness for him, although it wasn't the best material. I stroked him a lot near his neck, and grabbed the collar. I clicked it open, and slowly wrapped it around him. He looked uncertain, and after a few moments, clipped it, and let him free. He tried to look at it, and scratched at his neck. He looked stunned, and I laughed for a few minutes. I called him back and wiggled it around. Once or twice he would pull his lips back, and whenever he did so, I would ignore him for a few seconds. When he allowed me to wiggle it around, pull on it a little, and take it off and on a few times, I rewarded him. The next stage was to put on a leash. When I came back with the rope leash, he jumped back. He must have seen this as a threatening object, so I allowed him to search through it. It took him a while to approach it, but when he realized it was harmless, he was fine with it. I picked it up again, and he looked at it warily. I called him to me, and treated him when he came. I grabbed his collar, and clipped the leash to it. He jumped back, and began attacking the leash, biting, squirming, and running away. When he calmed down, he just walked around with it, and I gave him a piece of salmon. I picked up the leash, and stood still. He tried to walk away, but the leash constricted him. He struggled to pull me, but his weakened body was no match for my already conditioned body. It took awhile, but he soon figured out that if he stood by me, he would be treated, and not choked. We practiced walking together, and I was surprised at how easily he figured out to walk by my side. Whenever he pulled, I would stand still, and when he stooped we would continue. When he walked perfectly by my side I would praise him. After about 45 minutes, he would walk by my side like an angel.
I decided to teach him basic commands such as sit, down, and stay before moving on to more complex instructions such as hike, haw, gee, and whoa. I walked with him to a clear spot, and held a treat in front of his nose. I held it above his nose, so he would look up, and back, so the pressure would go to his haunches, resulting in a sit. I rewarded him, and praised him. He licked his nose, and I repeated a few times. When he seemed to understand the basic idea, I introduced the command to him. He sat, and after a while, he could sit on command, and hold it for about a minute. I then moved onto down. I got him into the sit position, praised him, and while keeping the treat in one hand, placed the other on his back, so that when I led his body into the down position, he wouldn't get up. He slowly crouched into a down position, and I treated and cheered. Like sit, I repeated before introducing the command and refreshing his focus. Finally I instructed "stay". I held his leash, held my hand out, and stepped back. Quickly, I would step back and reward Jasper. By the end of the hour, I could leave him in stay in both sit and down for five minutes straight. I was extremely proud of him. We did the same thing with the sled commands, walking left as I said haw, and right as I said gee. We would say hike and go, whoa and stop, and repeat the whole process. We did this for about an hour, and we were tired. But, Jasper was able to do it by himself. I grabbed the harness, and put in around him. He was so tired that he didnt try to argue, although he fidgeted when it wrapped around his stomach. I attached a rope to his harness, and tied a small log on. He whipped around to smell it, and walked around it curiously. I issued a command, and he looked extremely confused. I picked up the leash and tried again. This time he obeyed, and we went through commands while he pulled a small log. We progressed to bigger, heavier logs, and when I figured he was ready, moved him onto a sled. He pulled it around happily, and I brought out Willow and Sorence. I let them play for a while, although sometimes, Sorence looked very annoyed. I harnessed up the two females, and hitched up Sorence as the wheel dog. I then hitched up Jasper as a team dog. I finally brought up Willow to be the leader. I saw Jasper try to twist and turn around, but Willow growled at him until he got into position. He didnt argue luckily, and I stood on the sled. I issued out the command, "HIKE!" The dogs lunged forwards, and Jasper almost got tangled up, but Sorence nipped his tail. We mushed around a training area for a few minutes, and whenever Jasper tried to slow down, he would be nipped by Sorence, and he didnt have time to return it, so he kept on running forward. We turned , stopped, and started again. When the dogs all looked tired, I un-harnessed them and returned them to their kennels. I praised Jasper so much. He had improved sooo much.
Task 5 - complte

[Venatici]

hello there! we are currently going through archives and saw you were marked as incomplete, so we are fixing this in the archives right now!

we welcome you to check out the new lines and species thread should you be interested in getting this baby a glow up:
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=123&t=4330394

hope to see you there <3