The gang from the Vancouver SPCA

[Scuba]

Spencer has been adopted.
Ginger is being fostered at the moment.
Shadow has been transfered to the Burnaby SPCA shelter.

Yellar, the chubby fellow who was in ISO last week has also gone to a forever home.

Today I got to walk Cane, he is an American Bulldog Mix. He is pretty big and solid. Looks all tough and mean but is really just a big softie. Pretty smart too, got sit, down, wait and some other stuff all squared away. I had thought that Shadow was easy to walk since I didn't have Cane to compare to, well boy was I wrong. Compared to Cane, Shadow would be like a bat out of hell. Cane, so far is the only dog that has even remotely shown that he understands the concept of heeling. Most easy going dude, no pulling at all but loose leash for the whole walk. Didn't want to chase cats like Spencer or take me for a run like Cracker. Only thing was that near the end of our walk, he rolled around in some dried up cat poo!!
Should have seen the face of the volunteer who started petting Cane when we got back after I told her what he was just doing five minutes ago.

There were too many volunteers and not enough doggies (which is a good thing) so I just walked Cane, then took an ISO dog out again. This time it was a Rottie mix named Cappy. He is quite a handful and shows quite a bit of aggression towards other dogs. In the end we had to cut our walk off at 40 minutes because of my bladder, kind of envious of these guys that can just pee here and there all they want.

Anyways, it was a goodnight all in all.

PS. Cane drools quite a bit, but I think it gives him character.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Yay for Spencer

Aww look @ Cane that face is just asking for kisses

[Love4himies]

Originally Posted by growler

Yay for Spencer

Aww look @ Cane that face is just asking for kisses

And I bet he would return the kisses with some super sloppery ones .

I second the "yay for Spencer"

[chico2]

Cane looks great,hopefully someone will come around to adopt him
I was hoping Ginger had found a home,there is something very special about an older dog and Ginger the Rottie has a face just asking to be loved.
I am glad she is in a fosterhome though,hopefully a failing one

[Scuba]

Here is a picture of the guy.

[Love4himies]

Oh Cappy, put on your "adopt me please" face when people walk by so you don't have to stay there long!

[Scuba]

Sorry for not having any stories and pictures for last Monday. It was Victoria day, a statutory holiday, and being a new volunteer I didn't know that there are no evening sessions for walks. Nor did any of the staff or coordinator notify me by phone or e-mail. Five other volunteers showed up with me and we were just standing around. Finally after waiting 20 minutes, I decided to hop the fence and try to look for the head coordinator's contact phone number which is posted up on a bulletin board outside of the volunteers' room. It was whilst looking for this number that I noticed that there was a note up stating that there would be no evening walk sessions for that Monday. What a screw up.

[Scuba]

Anyways here are two more pictures and some small updates.

Cappy has been adopted
Mason has also gone to a forever home
Got word from the Burnaby SPCA that Shadow has gone to her forever home
Cane was adopted as well

First dog is Chewy, he is eight months old. Second dog is Laddi, he is nine months old.

[Scuba]

Chewy is an American Staffordshire Terrier cross, he was quite a handful for the first five minutes. Almost as bad as Spencer on his worst behavior. Once he settled down, he was pretty easy to walk. He would still pull a lot of the time though and is strong so I can see him being a problem to walk for some of the other volunteers. Also he was an one dog liquid poo producing machine tonight. No blood or anything so I am not worried, just didn't give him any treats. He is a pretty smart boy, knows sit and down. Will do them even without treats provided he is paying attention. Walking pass a park with some children playing catch, it was pretty funny watching him being mesmerised by the yellow ball. His head kept going this way then that way following it. Wanted to run after it as well when they dropped it. Near the end of out walk, we encountered this lady who had been weeding her garden and she had all these really pungent smelling weed in this little red wagon that she was pulling along. Chewy decided that he needed to have a good sniff of that and got his nose right into them. That wasn't enough so he just had to climb into the wagon as well. After a while he decided he could best help this nice lady by emptying her wagon for her and proceeded to pick up the bunches of weed in his mouth and deposit them all over the sidewalk. Got chatting to her and complimented me on Chewy having really nice markings. I told her that I am only a volunteer with the SPCA and she mentioned that that was where she got her dog from. It was pretty cool. After Chewy decided he had enough, I picked up everything that he had made a mess of and placed the stuff back into the lady's wagon.

[Scuba]

Only walked Laddi for 30 minutes, there was an over abundance of volunteers tonight and not enough dogs. So glad that I was the first one there and had Chewy all to myself for over and hour. Laddi, since he just came back from a walk when I took him out was pretty mellow. Only problem is that he pulls a lot. From the picture it is hard to tell but he is a big fellow. He is a Beagle and Great Dane cross. His shoulders are a few inches pass my knees. Even though he is tall, thin and lanky, he is really strong. The other thing is that he has this obsession with bicycles. He sees one going by and he justs wants to go after it. He freaked out two people. The first one was a little boy, Laddi was barking at him and straining at the leash. This was all after a play bow of course, but I don't think the boy understood that Laddi was just trying to play. I could see that he was really scared. The other one was this lady on a bike that I didn't see until the last second due to some parked vehicles. Laddi pretty much dragged me into the road that time, freaked out the lady a little. I was a little worried myself for a second as well.

This is a pretty serious issue that needs to be addressed. Laddi isn't being aggressive, he just wants to play. The problem is that he is big and the the way that he expresses himself can be intimidating to a lot of people which leads to misunderstandings. The way that Laddi was behaving and getting on caused a lot of the pedestrians to shy away.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Four dogs adopted great news

Chewy is just adorable

Laddi will need some extra work from someone like you who knows how to read his signals

[angeldogs]

That's awsome the dogs are finding their forever homes.Chewy
Laddi is really cute and i can see in the pic that he is a big boy.with some work you will have him working good around bikes.

[Scuba]

First up is George, GSD X Bloodhound. He gets excited easily and is nervous around new situations. There were a few times where he was flinching this evening from sudden loud noises. Like a scooter starting up, car backfiring and slammed car door. Otherwise he is a good boy. He doesn't pull and if you are firm with him, he will stop and sit at every intersection or any time he crosses a street. Just have to let him know what is acceptable and what is not. He wants to play, really likes any toys that can squeak.

[Scuba]

Second guy is Sam, GSD cross something not specified!? He doesn't pull on walks which is very good. Will stop and wait at intersections but I couldn't get him to sit on command tonight (will work on that next time). He seems to get excited by anything fast moving. Like runners, bikes and cars. Will stare and pull a little in that objects direction. However, there is normally a lot of big tells and it is just a little tug, nothing at all like Laddi, so that you can anticipate him. He wanted to check out a dead pigeon at the side of the road near the end of our walk but I put a stop to that and just kept him walking.

[Scuba]

Normally I only post pictures of dogs that I have personally walked but this time I just had to post the picture of Pip. She is a Pomeranian cross, no one is sure with what. Most of the people reckon her other parent was a stuff animal of some sort. She is only about 3 months old, but has loads of spunk for someone of her size. Pip is really friendly and playful towards people. Gets easily excited.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Sounds like you had a good walk w/George & Sam tonight dead pigeon not withstanding.

Pip is adorable wonder what's the story w/his eye, they don't mention anything

[Love4himies]

Aww Pip is so cute.

Sam just thought the pigeon smelled "interesting"

Sounds like George has had some training.

Are you told anything of the dogs' background?

[chico2]

Scuba,it's great there are sooo many dog-walkers,the adoption-rate seems pretty good,but there are no shortage of dogs streaming in,I am sure:sad:
Little Pip will be gone in no time,no doubt,what an adorable little fluff-ball
How on earth did a Great Dane and a Beagle manage to mate

[Scuba]

I am still not sure if Pip is a boy or girl . I will check the next time I am at the shelter.

Love4himies, we don't really get told much of anything. If you want to know any information on any of the dogs or puppies, I find it best to just talk to a volunteer or coordinator that has walked with or interacted the most with that animal. A lot of the info and stuff that is up online or the notices on the kennel put up by staff is just cut and paste jobs. I even saw one where they didn't do a good job and a dog's name appeared twice

Example: Spot Spot is a very easily excitable dog...

I find that at the SPCA I need to do a lot of my own leg work to get information that I want, like no one telling me that there were no walk sessions for the evenings this past Victoria Day.

Chico, sometimes there are more volunteers than there are dogs or puppies, which is good. Some nights, hardly anyone shows up. After having been at the shelter for a couple of months now it is sometimes quite a bitter sweet moment when I walk through the kennel area. It is sad when I don't see familiar faces. Yet, at the same time I am happy that the animals have either been adopted or fostered.

No one knows how Laddi's parent hooked up and just the other night one of the coordinators was joking that it was pretty grotesque just to think about it.

Also, it is not just dead pigeons that I have to worry about, it is pretty much anything gross and disgusting that these boys and girls can get their paws into or on to that I have to keep my eye on. A few of them have a thing for cat poo for example.

[Scuba]

Sorry for the late update, I have been waiting for a picture to be posted on to the SPCA website. Unfortunately that is not feeling very well at the moment and since he can't be adopted yet, his picture is not online. They only post adoptable animals.

Pip has been adopted
Chewy has been fostered (Bully Buddies, I think they are a rescue group on the west coast)
George has been transfered to the Burnaby SPCA shelter (Kind of miss the big guy)

Once the dog is feeling 100% and is up for adoption then I will post a picture and some more info.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Good for Pip

Yes Bully Buddies is a British Columbia rescue org for all bully breeds - Chewy will get more exposure with their site as well

for George too

[Scuba]

The dog that was feeling poorly from last week is in the hospital under observation. They want to collect a stool sample and run some tests. I did see him when a nurse was taking him for a walk, when up and said hi to the fellow.

Tonight I walk Sam, again (please look to previous post for picture). I got him to sit and stuff this time which is good. He still gets excited at certain things, like squirrels and neighborhood cats. But a little firm and consistent guidance will have him walking again. Also, he didn't try to get into anything disgusting this time. When we got back to the shelter, somebody had taken out the kiddie pool and filled it up. Sam, just jumped right in and was splashing around. Even though I had taken him for a walk for over an hour, I handed him off to a mother daughter team for a second walk. I did say goodbye when they came back. He was such a goof.

[Scuba]

This is Quyla, I am not sure what she is. She is about one year and nine months old. Her ears had been cropped before, not sure the story behind that. She is shy to strangers and unfamiliar situations. However, once she warms up she is such a sweet heart.

[Scuba]

Quyla had been for a walk before I got her but she was still full of bean so I took her for two lapse around a dirt track near the SPCA. After that we went back to the shelter and it was her turn to splash around in the kiddie pool. She was pretty cute.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Quyla is adorable She's got some of the bully breeds in her for sure.

I'll bet all the dogs were loving the pool being out today especially w/the heat

[chico2]

OMG,it looks like someone cropped her ears with scissors,poor girl,she's still smiling though.
Some jerk tried to make her look mean,but her personality was not in her ears.
Hopefully someone will love her and take her home

[Scuba]

Quyla has been fostered
Sam has been adopted

I had a chance to walk Ebony tonight, she is going to her forever home tomorrow. Adoption pending, hence no pictures, she is a black lab. Very pretty and affectionate. I was really lucky to be able to take her out for one of her last walks at the shelter.

The dog that was feeling poorly and in the hospital is now back in the regular kennels. His name is Lucky, he is a Shar-pei. There are still some stitches around his eyes and he is still on a controlled diet for his gastrointestinal needs. He was pulling quiet a bit on the leash and all excitable, not at all like when he was poorly. Took him for a run just to burn off some of that energy before a long walk. He is so different now, they way he acts and interacts with things. I am really happy for the guy. I guess he is still recuperating so no pictures online yet. Just imagine a Shar-pei with black mascara around his eyes.

[growler~GateKeeper]

YAY for Sam

Good for Quyla getting fostered, this should help with her shyness in unfamiliar situations

I'll bet Lucky was just so excited to get outside for a walk & run

[chico2]

for Quyla in her fosterhome,hopefully it will be a"failed"one..
and good luck to all the others
Thank's for reporting to us.

[Scuba]

Laddi got adopted, the staff had been working on his bicycle fixation the last couple of weeks and he finally went to a forever home

I am not sure what has happened to Lucky, I didn't see him in the kennels tonight and I have been diligently checking the SPCA website every day the past week trying to see if they put up a picture of the guy or not. I will try to ask around tomorrow.

Tonight, I took Tiger out for a walk first, he is a GSD cross with something. In this picture he looks a lot smaller than he really is. I would not call him the smartest dog, but he knows a lot of the basic commands. Plus he is really friendly and easy going. He would literally walk past cats or other unruly dogs without even a glance in their direction. Basically, he is a really good boy. Only thing is that he can be a little mouthy. He is not mouthy like a puppy where it can hurt sometimes or be annoying because the puppies are chewing anything they can get their paws on due to teething issues. With Tiger, it is more a case of he is really affectionate and his way of expressing it is to try to insert your hand, arm, ear (any other body parts) into his mouth and slobber all over it (insert name of appropriate said body part).

Tiger didn't want to go anywhere near the kiddie pool like his other canine buddies but I did give him plenty of water. I played a little with him at a playground area near the shelter as well as a nice long walk. Got him to go down the slide and through a tunnel. It was so funny watching him. Half way through our walk, we also just chilled out for a bit under the shade of a tree since it was pretty hot out tonight.