Brady
Harley aka Barney nka Brady must hold some sort of record for
weaving his short life in and out of a number of homes and names in
his first 16 months of life. At 40+ pounds, he’s big, with big teeth
and a big habit of play nipping and throwing his adolescent terrier
alpha attitude around.
Brady, was wearing his current family out. Though he was bonded to
the husband, Brady was a bit of a brat around the wife. They were
torn about turning him back over to WIN, but finally decided it was
best for their family. WIN needed someone to foster him. I had lost
my boy Blue, a WIN boy, suddenly on April 3, 2009, and I wasn’t sure
I was ready to open my heart to a “problem boy.” Blue had been a
handful of terrier energy who literally bound into my life nine
years ago forcing me to learn everything I could about misbehaving
dogs! He then became my assistant in fostering a string of foster
dogs in the years that followed. (If you are interesting in reading
about the typical response of WIN volunteers in the cross country
WURL [Wheaten Underground Railroad League] that made it possible for
me to adopt Blue and his subsequent life in Minnesota with me, check
out his story at:
http://www.wheatenrescue.org/win-success-2001-Blue.asp)
I was ambivalent about fostering Brady….I knew that he was not
going to be a short term foster, and was worried about how I was
going to send him off to yet another home after months of working
with him IF I could stop his biting and overbearing behavior. We
were days away from picking up a 18 month old Irish coated wheaten
boy, named Miller from Vermillion Kennels in Duluth, MN. If we took
Brady, Miller would have to wait. Breeder Barb Peterson, with whom I
had been friends for years, told me to do whatever I needed to
do….Miller would wait for me. I had recently remarried and wondered
if this was going to be fair to John. It had always been simple
working with dogs when the dogs had only me to answer to. I knew
Brady was smart enough to work the system, if John and I weren’t
consistently using the same responses to him. Brady’s last family
had really given him a “leg up” in life having spent hours obedience
training him When we initiated Nothing In Life Is Free, demanding
that he “perform” for anything he wanted, from food-- to petting
--to being let outside, Brady knew what he had to do. I typed out
the “rules” on a piece of paper on the fridge door for John…and he
stuck to them. Brady had come to enjoy his alpha status and didn’t
take kindly to being relegated to the bottom of the totem pole. We
had to make him “last” in anyway we could make him last…last one out
the door, last one to eat, last one to get a toy. My female, Maggie,
made sure he appropriately respected her position. Maggie would
prefer to be known as “Her Royal Highness”. We almost felt sorry for
him, but knew that dogs do not bite the alpha—he had to be
completely “fired” from his job as self-appointed alpha. And
climbing on our bed or the couch and then growling when told to get
off WAS NOT acceptable. He could not be allowed on the couch or our
bed, making him equal to us. He was so darned cute, it was hard to
resist…but alpha terrier that he was, that was not going to happen
for months, if at all. And, being a “pup” exercise was key in
working with him….a tired dog is a more obedient one. He had been
exercised regularly in his last home and we continued the routine
and walked him at least 2 miles a day. Wearing Brady out wore us
out, but it worked.
The play nipping was yet another issue….John and I walked around
with bruises and cuts on our arms and legs, looking like we’d both
lost in a paintball contest. Brady could NOT contain himself in
greeting us….his mouth AND those big teeth were all over the place.
We finally discovered that a high frequency noise remote trainer
worked, stopping him in his tracks when he was in frenzy nipping
mode. Brady slowly became more or a “typical misbehaving adolescent
terrier”….not perfect by any stretch of the word, but manageable. At
our last family gathering, he “worked the room” behaving like a
perfect gentleman.
Now WIN needed to find him a home—one that would consistently
continue making him toe the line. Most people seeking a rescue dog
were interested in a “normal” dog. The list of possibilities was
slim….days turned into weeks, and weeks to months. I watched as
Brady looked adoringly at John after a half hour of playing fetch,
it was apparent that Brady was not going anywhere. We called Barb
and declined Miller, a difficult decision for us too…because in some
ways Miller was already “our dog”. But Brady had fewer options in
life and it seemed very obvious that his “forever home” was right
here… and Blue, who probably knew how this would all turn out from
the beginning, would approve.
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