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Moki Jois
a demur 12-year-old blue merle heeler mix whose favorite
thing in life is to run free and explore the outermost
boundaries of wherever she finds herself—although
cream cheese frosting comes in at a close second.
Her favorite apparel is Terry’s Big
Dog t-shirt that proclaims, “We don’t
need no stinkin’ leashes.” Moki
was found running free and happy as a clam
in a large field. She initially chased anything
that moved, and provided Terry ample opportunity
to use clicker training and behavior modification
techniques to curb this oh-so-stimulating
habit. Her targets included a skiploader
(think heavy dirt-moving machinery), motorcycles,
bicyclists, pedestrians, joggers, and .
. . a helicopter. She now doesn’t
even glance at any of those pesky distractions.
Moki has attained her USDAA Agility Dog
Champion (ADCH) title and Elite titles in
NADAC. She, too, is still competing in agility
and participates in DogPACT’s consultations,
providing adolescent pet manners to a variety
of dogs who need practice meeting and greeting
other dogs.
Sandy Maeis a sassy 12-year-old
white spaniel mix whose favorite thing in
life is anything edible although, if she
had to choose, French fries would be on
the top of the list.
Sandy Mae has her USDAA Masters Agility
Dog title (MAD) as well as her Elite titles
in NADAC. In 2000, Sandy Mae had hip surgery
on both of her hips, but you’d never
know it! She is an active and energetic
gal, still competing in agility even though
she is about 90% deaf now. She is a also
one of DogPACT’s top working dogs,
logging in several hours a month teaching
young, adolescent dogs to learn to respect
their elders. She does this with sophisticated
canine body language and is extremely patient
with those adolescent upstarts.
Kiwiis the token male
and at age 5 is still his mama’s baby.
Affectionately identified as a Petit New
Zealand Bobtail Griffon, or PNZBG, Kiwi
has been clicker trained since 12 weeks
of age and has an ever-expanding repertoire
of behaviors.
Terry’s favorites are when he does “his
chores,” bringing in the two daily
newspapers and shutting the door behind
him, and cleaning and clearing the dishes
twice daily: he first licks each of the
four dog bowls spotless, then brings each
one to the sink. When Buster was still with
us, Kiwi finished doing the dishes with
the grande finale of shaking out Buster’s “tablecloth” and
presenting it in exchange for “dessert.” Kiwi
is slowly rising through the agility ranks
after a very scary bee sting at one of his
first trials, and now competes at the Masters
level in USDAA and the Elite level in NADAC.
Kiwi is also in training for musical freestyle.
Pretzel is
truly the baby of the pack at 11 months
of age (as of December 2006) and all of
10 pounds soaking wet.
Terry met Pretzel when she was a 4-month-old
pup, driving her owners crazy with puppy
nipping/mouthing, peeing all over the house,
and constant motion. Terry helped her original
owners solve the housetraining and nipping
problems, but Pretzel’s need for mental
and physical stimulation were more than
they had bargained for. When Pretzel was
6 ½ months old, Terry got the call
to find Pretzel a better home where she
would get the attention she craved. Terry
took Pretzel in as a foster (yeah, yeah,
yeah) and after an agonizing month of evaluation
and consideration (and still mourning Buster’s
death less than a year before), made the
leap and decided to keep her. Pretzel is
a real pistol and the life of the party.
Smart as a whip, with endless energy and
love of tug toys, Pretzel has already begun
agility training, tasted the thrill of lure
coursing, and gone swimming with the big
dogs (lifejacket on, of course). Terry has
gone from sharing her life with Great Danes,
and is constantly surprised at how much
she loves this little pipsqueak of a dog
who burrows under the covers at night and
is the last one up in the morning. |
