Dear Adopters ,

I've been waiting a bit to post to you about Max, whom I rescued in mid-December, because he initially needed some civilizing and socializing; but now I think he is at the point where he could be ready to meet the right adopter.

The photo shows him at time of intake, when he had recently been clipped all over. He's now got about an inch of coat and the beginnings of a bit of beard ; but if you are not used to clipped Bouvs, you will probably think he doesn't look like a Bouv. He will become a very nice looking Bouv, but it will take a couple more months.

Max is an unquestionably purebred Bouv and I have copy of his original sales contract and pedigree. Not from a really respectable breeder, but the third and fourth generations of his ancestors are as distinguished as any of the most respectable breeder's dogs.

Max is two and a half years old, neutered male, current on shots, current on heartworm prevention, and apparently in good general health. He is grey brindle, will have a decently harsh coat, and is docked tailed and cropped although his ears don't stand up, probably because they were not taken care of properly after cropping, with result that he looks like he has small cute natural ears. He's a nice looking dog overall and moves like an athlete.

Max is somewhat high energy and a bit more excitable, especially in response to moving things, as compared to the average Bouv. Just a bit more, not a hell of a lot more. So he'd fit into a more active home, ie one providing more exercise, rather than a more sedentary home. Activity level is one of the things I try to match between dog and adopter : the dog who would suit a jogger would not suit a couch potato and vice versa. I also try to match the adopter's level of training expertise and leadership qualities to the dog's level of biddability or mind-of-his-own-ness.

His surrendering owner did not provide him with leadership or a set of rules and routines and did not train him in basic obedience. She allowed and encouraged him to be pushy and rude in his demands for affection. She seems not to have socialized him much either with dogs or with humans. So Max came to me with some gaps in his education and was initially very avoidant of contact with strangers. I'm saying "avoidant" rather than timid or shy because the underlying temperament is not really a fearful one. Indeed he tends to be a bold dog in most regards.

In any case, at present after a number of socializing trips to the dog park, Max now appreciates strangers petting him and he often initiates petting as a normal dog would. I don't allow him to be rudely demanding with me, but require him to be polite and sit or obey some other command in order to be petted and I try to see he is equally polite with strangers. His adopter will need to continue this type of politeness program.

So Max is now operating off a new set of habits. These good habits will need to be confirmed and strengthened in his adoptive home. I've got him well started on most of the basic obedience commands too, with emphasis on Sit, Down, and Come -- and also "get back" which means to back up , a valuable correction for any tendency to forge ahead or pull on leash.

At the dog park, Max gets along well with other dogs, though he generally finds an adolescent intact male to try the humping game with -- and he is quite good at finding ones who will allow this. At home, he generally gets along with my own four dogs (two male, two female) but from time to time has had noisy and dramatic "status scuffles" (the kind of combat where neither dog intends to injure but just to convince the other -- and indeed these conflicts very rarely cause even minor injury), mostly with one of the males. Max might well be best off as the only male dog in the home, unless the other male is very subordinate or so confidently and benignly dominant that there is no conflict. I think he would appreciate a spayed bitch as companion and playmate. He does love to play chasing games with other dogs.

Max would be a very rewarding dog for an experienced Bouv person who has good natural "Alphatude", ie naturally a calm and confident leader, who reads dog's body language well, and who enjoys dog training. He would probably do very well in Agility or Rally Obedience and would be a good (on leash) jogging or hiking companion. I will NOT place him with someone who does not have prior training experience or is NOT willing to be consistent about rules and routines and requiring the dog to be polite and responsive.

Because Max is in the BCNC club program, his adoption fee is the BCNC's $500. I have proposed to the club that because of his need for continued training on a regular basis, I'd like to offer a rebate of part of the fee if the adopter earns an Obedience , Ralley Obedience, or Agility title with Max during the first 12 months. (The adopter or member of family would have to be the handler for this, as the purpose of training is to make the dog responsive to his handler. It doesn't do any good for the dog to respond to a professional trainer if he does not respond equally well to his own human family.)

Max is shaping into a very nice dog after having started off as a poorly brought up one. His story is the canine version of "An Officer and a Gentleman" -- though no one is offering me an Oscar for my role as the boot camp sargent. If you want to compete in Agility or just have an active companion, Max and you can each be the one to lift the other up where he belongs.

You can phone me, Pam Green , at (530) 756-2997 between 10 am and 5 pm (California time) to make a date to meet Max or to learn more about him.

 
 

UPDATE 3/03/07: Max was ADOPTED yesterday by one of our club's former adopters whose adopted Bouvier had passed away from cancer. we spent most of the day together so she could see Max in a variety of circumstances, including lunch at an outdoor restaurant. We also picked up a crate for him at the local thrift store for $10 and a Halti for him at PetCo. I have contracted with the adopter for a $50 rebate if she earns a CGC with him during the first 6 months and a further $100 rebate if she earns either an Obedience CD or Rally title or Agility title within the first 12 months. Even though the club has not authorized such a rebate out of their adoption fee, I am willing to pay it myself because that is how strongly I believe this dog needs to be kept in regular training during his first year. I am going to keep in close touch with the adopter to ensure that she is maintaining the "upper paw" of leadership with him. He is a wonderful dog, but he was not given any leadership in his first home and thus became rather rude and insecure. I've worked hard to turn that around, and I don't want to see him revert.

 

UPDATE 3/13/07 : Max is coming back, ie UN-ADOPTED. Everything was going very well the first week, but now it turns out that Max has a significant degree of Separation Anxiety. He does not handle being left entirely alone, and has had spells of defecating in the house and chewing on wood railings etc when left alone. He did NOT show any such problems in my home, although I was many times absent for a number of hours or all day long. But in my home he had the other dogs for company, and in his adopter's home he was the only dog. Very sad, and very unanticipated. I always advise adopters to spend the first few days (usually a weekend and sometimes a long one or sometimes adopter is able to stay home an extra day or two) making repeated very short absences from the home, going and returning in a totally calm and casual manner, because this tends to reassure the dog that it's OK for people to leave because they will be returning. That's all most dogs need. But dogs who have a real Separation problem need more. Because his adopter had gotten really really fond of him, it is not clear that she is really willing to give him up. Normally if an adopter brings a dog back, I consider that an irrevocable decision, but in this case I sent the adopter home with photocopies of protocols from the leading textbook ("Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals", by Dr Karen Overall DVM, head of the Behavior Services at U of Penn.) and said she could take several days to study the material and make a final decision. "Is that your final answer?"

Max needs a home where he is not the only dog. Ideally the other dog would be a spayed bitch. It would be nice if the home had a human presence for a fair bit of most days, but the presence of a compatible dog seems to work very well for him. As I said, he was just fine during my absences, including day long absences; and it now seems that the company of my other dogs was what allowed him to feel secure. Whoever adopts him will have to be willing to work through the separation anxiety protocols, so that Max will become a calmer and happier dog, as well as becoming a dog who can tolorate being home alone when needed.

 

UPDATE 4/10/07 : Max is RE-ADOPTED. Max's adopter missed him dreadfully and very quickly decided that she was willing to do the work to get him through his problem and to make the management adjustments (ie take him with her or take him to a pet sitter) when needed during the period while they were working for a cure. Her previous , now deceased, Bouv actually had a much more severe degree of separation anxiety, but it manifested in barking rather than in stress defecation and woodwork chewing.

To gradually cure Max's separation anxiety she is prepared to do the classic protocols for teaching a dog to be comfortable when left home alone by the method of lots of tiny departures then slightly longer departures and so on, plus protocols to teach him that her most obvious pre-daparture signal, ie picking up her briefcase, is now a signal for him to relax by going to his open-doored crate or to the laundry room and lie down peacefully to recieve treats and / or massage or petting. She will be giving this pre-deaprture cue many times a day, then encouraging him to go to a resting place and relax and be rewarded. Thus the cue that used to be a cue to become anxious will become a cue to relax.

Luckily Max is just fine by himself in the car (some separation anxious dogs are fine in the car and others are anxious and may tear the car to pieces) and she lives where the weather is safe for a dog to stay in the car on most days (windows partly opened of course).

Luckily she mostly works at home and only needs to be gone a few hours at a time. Luckily she is able to afford some paid pet sitting and , even better, has a friend whose young dog would welcome a visiting playmate and also a stay-at-home neighbor who has a dog who would welcome a visiting playmate, ie thus obtaining some unpaid pet sitting (in exchange for reciprocal favors of course). Luckily Max is OK with humans absent if another dog he knows and likes is present (some separation anxious dogs are OK when another dog is present and some are not). So she is arranging for exchanges of play dates at her home and at the playmate's home with the two dogs mentioned. The goal is to develop two sets of bilateral pet-sitting relationships where the dogs feel very at home in both homes in the pair and the two owners feel absolutely at ease taking care of each other's dogs. (It is a good idea for any person who lives alone to develop such a buddy system for dog care, even if your dog has zero problems being home alone.)

 

And if this does not work out, well there are two other experienced homes who would very much like to have Max and who are well prepared to deal with him. But I have great hopes that his adopter will be successful in ameliorating his problem and managing whatever does not become cured. She's motivated enough and she is smart enough and she has been provided with protocols (methods) that have been used sucessfully on many dogs and that have been adapted to her own situation.

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created 2/12/07	revised 4/10/07
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