If I had guidance and got skilled and confident enough, I'd love to pay it forward by volunteering at the local shelter to make the dogs there more adoptable. About me. I'm 37, divorced, no kids. I was a pharmacist, but have been on long term disability since 2006. I was diagnosed in 2005 with a very rare spinal cord disorder called syringomyelia (common in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, as a matter of fact). Basically, instead of being a solid rod of tissue, my spinal cord became hollowed out in places and filled up with spinal fluid, creating cysts inside my cord called syrinxes. I've had 2 neurosurgeries. The first one was a cervical laminectomy where they cut out the back half of the vertebrae in my neck (C4 to T1), so now my spinal cord is essentially exposed back there, covered only by the muscle in my neck. The 2nd surgery, they cut into my spinal cord itself and inserted shunts to drain the built-up fluid inside there. I deal with constant, chronic severe pain all over my body, similar to the types of pain people with MS or fibromyalgia get. I have complications and extra pain in my neck from the surgeries. I have very strict activity limitations, making some of my dogs' misbehaviours (especially their pulling on walks and leash-reactivity) literally dangerous for me. My dream would be for Victoria to come help me in person, but I'm sure every single person on this board has said that, lol.
I have all the time in the world to work on training them, but I don't know how. Let's see, what else can I tell you? I am very anti-BSL and fight against the pit bull ban here in Ontario, Canada. I grew up riding and competing but had to give up riding due to my health. I worked as a groom for Olympic gold medalist Eric Lamaze back in 97-98 (the pre-Hickstead days). I've written a novel about show jumping and am working on editing it before starting the submission process.About my dogs. I have 2. The one I had first is Boomer. He's a 5 1/2 year old, neutered 80 pound Golden Retriever. I've had him since he was a puppy. He's basically a very good boy. His biggest problems are pulling on walks (very painful and dangerous for my neck, so he doesn't get walked as often as he should, especially in the winter when there's the added fear of slipping and falling), leash-reactivity, getting over-excited/overly-friendly with company (jumping on them, pestering them and not leaving them alone, trying to climb on their lap), and not wanting to "give" his toys when we play fetch. He wants to play tug-of-war, which I obviously cannot do, or else he drops it only to snatch it up again when I try to pick it up to throw it.
My 2nd dog is Luna. I adopted her from the local shelter just over a year ago (Dec 12, 2010). They told me she was 4 at the time. The teenaged daughter from the family she belonged to tracked me down on facebook and I found out she was actually 11 at the time. She just turned 12 on Dec 17. She's the funniest looking little thing. I'm certain she has Corgi in her because she has the stocky, barrel-chested build with the short short legs. Otherwise she looks like a black lab, but only with 3/4 of the length of her legs cut off. She weighs 35 pounds. You'd never know she's 12 with the way she runs around the back yard, playing with Boomer etc. I've learned a lot about what her life was like in her old home, and she ruled the roost. She and Boomer get along great (but she can get over-aggressive with her play so I have to keep an eye on her when they play in the yard). However, she HATES all other dogs, especially small dogs, and especially hyperactive/yappy dogs. She's territorial of the yard, running the fence in a red-zone anger if people walk their dogs past the house, trying to push her way under the gate to get at them. If she got hold of a small dog, she'd kill it. This is a problem because my mother has a Pomeranian and my sister has a Schnoodle (15 pounds or so) so I can't take Luna to visit them, and they can't bring their dogs here. I'd love to take my dogs out to my mom's (she lives in the country on a lake) but would have to leave Luna at home. I'd love to offer to watch my sister's dog when she goes to work, but there's no way I could trust Luna with her. She also pulls on the leash, and is even more leash-reactive than Boomer, so she also doesn't get walked as much as she should because of the pain it causes and damage it could do to me. Her other major issues are getting very possessive to the point of nasty if she has a rawhide or something and you try to take it from her, and growling/snarling when you try to pick her up or clip her nails.
So that's me and my family! Well, there's also my cat and my hamster, but they're fine, lol.
I look forward to being a positivity-sponge and learning as much as I can from all of you!
