Hi everyone! Newbie here!

[alpha sheltie]

I guess I'll introduce myself first.

I'm Ashley. I'm 16 and live in Vancouver, BC with two dogs. I've loved dogs for as long as I can remember. I'm an (newbie) dog sport fanatic. I'm training my dogs in advance obedience now; I hope to have them earn their CD title next year. I'm also hoping to have them do flyball, agility and hopefully have them tested for herding instinct as soon as I find some clubs and a herding clinic.

Now for the dogs. I have two dogs, both sable male Shetland Sheepdogs. Kai, turning 2 on the 29th of July, is my first dog. He was from a breeder in Hedley, BC. Kaedyn, estimated to be 5/6 years old, is our newest addition (came home September 17th, 2003) and is our first rescue. He came from the Vancouver Animal Shelter. I was there on my first day as a volunteer dog walker and fell in love with him within the first five minutes of being there. He has been the biggest challenge I've ever come across but he introduced me to the wonderful world of dog training and rescuing. Because I was forced to learn more about training because of his problems, I realized I loved it and am planning to become a trainer someday soon.

Here's a picture of the two taken last week. Kaedyn is on the left, Kai is on the right.

[glasslass]

Hi! and Welcome!

Beautiful boys! Beautiful photo!

Don't know if you've browsed through old posts yet, but we (the Board) have a sweetie, Sadie, that you have to see! I'm sitting here now wishing for a picture of her and your boys together. Are your boys vocal clowns too? I have been just enchanted with Sadie's pictures and now am looking forward to seeing more of your boys.

Would love to hear Kaedyn's story!

Luba? Get those photos out! I see a Collie Face-off coming! So these guy are smaller . . . . tell Sadie there's two (2!!) of them!

[alpha sheltie]

Thanks for the welcome!

I was curious so I searched for posts by Luba. What a cute face Sadie has!

Haha, one of my sayings is, "if it doesn't bark, it's not a Sheltie." My boys LOVE to talk. Kaedyn's the really friendly one. He loves to have conversations with our neighbors.

I hope you all like photos. I've taken a new liking to photography so I'm very rarely seen without my digital cameras.

Kaedyn's story is a bit long but I'll try my best to fill in the details.

Kaedyn was found wandering (near the Oakridge area for any fellow Vancouverites). His past owners would let him walk himself and the neighbors got ticked off. They called animal control. AC couldn't catch him because he always got away. One day, he wandered into someone's yard and was cornered. He was kept with that person until AC came to pick him up. He was taken to the Vancouver Animal Shelter where he was kept for 7 days (this is a required period to allow owners to pick up the dogs and for them to assess the dog before being put up for adoption).

On September 14th, it was my first day as a volunteer dog walker. He was in the second kennel and it was just love at first sight. He looked scared, it was heartbreaking. I was with two other friends who tried dragging me away to actually go walk the dogs. I just couldn't. I called my mom that very moment to tell her about this gorgeous dog. We weren't really looking for a dog. We talked about getting a second one one day in the future.. but we never expected to get one so soon. I told my mom about him and we were back the next day to show everyone (my mom, brother and sister) the dog I was talking about. They all loved him. My mom and I didn't even talk about it. She just went straight to the desk to get an adoption form. Apparently, 6 other people applied to adopt him but we were chosen.

Then on September 17th, he came home with us. Kai and "Milo" [Kaedyn's original name..which he didn't seem to know] met on neutral territory (the pound office) cause I didn't want to risk having any disagreements. They were fine for a couple hours. When we had play time that night, Kaedyn got a bit snippy and attacked Kai. We broke it up right away and tried reintroducing them slowly. Kaedyn would immediately snap at Kai, even if it was an on leash introduction. We worked for about two weeks, he just wasn't getting any better. I didn't want to give up though because I knew it wasn't his fault for being like that, it was his owners' fault for raising him like that.

Coincidentally, I was taking Kai to a new trainer for basic obedience classes and really liked them so I ended up signing Kaedyn up as well. He got worse before he got better. He started getting dominant with me. He had already learned down (being the smart boy he is) but he refused to do it for me. He growled everytime I asked and he even bit me on the lip when I made the mistake of towering over him and asking him to down. After that, I worked even harder with him and he started getting better. He went from a naughty, dominant dog to a perfect angel within 7 weeks. He got so good that he inspired me to try to train my dogs to get into obedience trials.

He's still a bit naughty at times. He lunges at people but I suspect it is due to fear. He's not dominant (with people) at all anymore. He acts rather fearful. He also came to us at 16 pounds (he was TERRIBLY thin!), he was handshy and had no training. I suspect he was abused. He was also terribly filthy and matted. He's my naughty boy but he has really changed since September.

Here's Kaedyn the first day I saw him.


Kaedyn at 16 pounds. It was disgusting.

[Lucky Rescue]

Welcome to you and your beautiful dogs! The plans you have for them are very impressive.

The new guy is a very lucky boy - it's wonderful that you didn't give up on him!

[glasslass]

Poor baby! Knowing how much hair he has, it hurts to look at how thin he was. He hit the jackpot! Good for you for persevering. How do they interact now? Are they both neutered?

[alpha sheltie]

Yep, both are neutered now. I didn't want to deal with the extra testosterone, haha!

They're the best of buddies now. As I was typing my reply, they were both playing and running around the living room (at 7am!) Kaedyn still gets a bit grumpy and tries to convince Kai he's top dog but Kai has never lost a fight. They very rarely fight but it happens now and then. They've only had small fights but Kai always ends them because he's so much bigger. He only fights if he's forced. He's a lover, not a fighter.

[Luba]

Well welcome, walk on the red carpet on your way in

Lovely furbabies you have there!! They're so sweet and yes shelties and collies talk to you a lot don't they

Sadie's a rough collie mix with who knows what LOL but she's my cutie pie!

Kaedyn was so thin in that pic! What people don't realize it's harder to tell in dogs that have long coats like shelties and collies. Your poor baby looked so fragile!

They do look wonderful now though!!

It's lovely to have you on the board!

[daisy18216]

Welcome to the group!!! It's great to have you and your boys here!!

I'm very happy that you saved this little guy's life and brought him home.

For a young woman, you know what you want to do, and I'm glad that he was able to help you make your decision. I'm very happy for you and knowing that you want to become a trainer, that's great!!!!

Good Luck on becoming a trainer, when your well known I can say I know her!!

[Iggette]

Hello Ashley.... and welcome to the board. Your puppies are just beautiful.

Your future plans sound awesome, to be a trainer and also into photography maybe you can take pics of peoples pets while training them sounds like a fun life!!