Annie And I Have A Plan Part 1

Many people don't always understand exactly what fostering rescue dogs is all about. They have a misconception that it is all snuggles and love and then the dog is adopted into a forever home where the snuggles and love continue. lol, WELL not exactly. Don't get me wrong, there are snuggles, there is love, but there is a bit more to it.

Annie is a lovely girl! She is a snuggle bunny, she is loving. She is easy on the eyes and she appears to be house trained. All fabulous qualities! But there is always something we can work on, just like humans, we can always improve our selves. So Annie and I have a plan for some tweaks and we want to share it with you. This is what fostering is all about, helping the dog in our care to be healthy and to work on behaviors with them that might need a little work. Luckily Annie is up for the challenge.

Annie says "let's do this thing foster mom and dad".

We are breaking it down into three parts and soon you will see how it all fits together.

1) Annie needs to lose weight. She is 2 lbs heavier than when she was adopted a year ago. Because Annie is a small dog, a type B rattie with a long back, it is so important for her to be at her ideal weight, not to mention the overall health benefits that will go along with her weightloss. 2 lbs is a lot on a little girl. Our goal is 11 lbs, she is exactly 13 now. We will accomplish this easily with high quality food, portion control, and exercise. No mysteries here.

2) Annie has little to no recall. In other words she ignores her name and does not seem to be interested in coming when we call her. This is NOT a sign that she is stubborn or clueless. This is just a case where most likely a strong recall was not reinforced over time with lots of practice. Recall is very important for the safety of our furkids. We will be reinforcing for this sweet girl that coming to her humans when she is called is fun and really pays off! I bet she will have this down in no time she is after all a very smart terrier girlie.

3) Eye contact. This sort of goes along with recall, but it is more about looking to us for cues on what is next. Making eye contact will be fun and easy to train.

Our promise to Annie is that all this training = fun times with her foster parents. There will be no scolding or pressuring to get it right. We will do the same with her as we did with Tim, lots of yummy treats and we will break it down so she doesn't get confused.

So I did say yummy treats and I did say she needs to lose weight. Stay tuned to find out how these two things can actually go hand in hand/paw in paw.

Annie now at 13 lbs

Annie a year ago at 11 lbs. No problem getting her to this point, we will show you how. And I promise she will not be starved. No crash dieting, all healthy stuff with a few tricks thrown in. :)