Rajah, the "dog whisperer" in training (story continues, p4)

[MeanLaureen]

Go Rajah.. Go Rajah!

From one dog rescuer to another.. great job!

He looks a lot like the dog that I had to take my Grand Am 4 wheelin' across a median strip to save back in the fall. LOL!

I haven't tried any dog whisperer techniques yet. I need to watch that show. I usually use either the Salami/Ham/Bologna technique AKA give the dog your lunch to get him in the car. Just used that one a few weeks ago when I stopped traffic during rush hour on a bridge over a river to rescue a dog trapped by traffic.

Or I use the milkbone method - Reilly always stashes his extra cookies that he scores when he goes to our pet friendly mall (a lot of the stores give the dogs cookies when you come in to shop ) Reilly eventually gets full and we just collect the cookies ALA Trick of Treat and he "buries" them in my car - in the seat cushion, under the floor mat, in the console. Usually I can dig up one of them to lure a dog in the car.

Glad to see another kind heart out there

 

[Rajah]

Looks like a Basenji mix. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/basenji.htm
I hope you find his home. You did a very nice thing.

That's him!! Thank you!

 

[sammi]

Whatever he turns out to be he's absolutely sooooo sweet and so are you for going to all that trouble to rescue him.

In Ontario right now the police are investigating a serious problem as someone's been putting out "laced meatballs" and chicken, which have so far has killed 3 dogs and made a lot of little guys very sick! I cannot imagine why some "people" do such terrible things to such innocent little fur babies!

Congratulations for being such an animal lover! Good luck with finding his owner.

 

[imsorry]

Okay, here he is. I've got a better picture on the camera, but it's in raw format and I'm not sure how to convert it and DH isn't home yet. Sigh. So I'll share it later.

Y'all tell me what he is. LOL! And his ears, when folded out and alert instead of back, make his head appear MUCH larger.

OOhh, he is beautiful!! The same color as my Snappy; a dog my sister rescued from the street before I was born. We had him for 14 years!!

I wish I could adopt him! I see why you could not resist helping him. Good for you!

 

[Dodie]

I agree that he looks very young. I'd be surprised if he's much more than a year or so old - still a "puppy."

I hope his parents find you and him soon! You've done a good thing - a thing I've done myself a few times. Many people would have just sped off, leaving him to fend for himself.

 

[MsDisney23]

What a wonderful thing you have done! He sure is sweet, I hope you find his owner's, keep us posted.

 

[luvwinnie]

A girl after my own heart! I even rescued a parakeet once in New York CIty!
He is so cute.

 

[alliecats]

While you have the camera out...I'd love to see a picture of Ana Kitty, all grown up. Hint hint.

 

[hiwaygal]

Looks like a Basenji mix. http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/basenji.htm
I hope you find his home. You did a very nice thing.

That was my first thought too...kinda looks like my Buddy.

Rajah, if you don't find his family...I can help put you in touch with a rescue group for basenji's and basenji' mixes. They might be able to help too!

 

[Rajah]

Oops Allie. LOL! I'll see if I can get some kitty pics updated soon.

 

[Maleficent13]

Oh, he's so adorable!

 

[Rajah]

Doggy Saga, part 2

Got home last night with no sign of posted signs for people looking for a lost dog. And, no sign of the signs DH was supposed to post, either. *argh*

I did stop by the store and get some dog food (same type my mom feeds Dolly), and a toy squeeky ball for him. Got home, and found him very calmly and contendedly curled up in the dog carrier. Another clue that he's been well treated and trained. He was definitely hungry... jumped into the food readily, but also not like a dog who has been starved, either.

Well, I hoped we'd find his family by walking him around the neighborhood. So I took him for a walk. First I had the fun job of putting a collar on him. I had all those spare collars I used to make harnesses for the cats when we were evacuating, so I used one of those. Which was fun... he was too excited to hold still long enough for me to fit the collar to him.

But, once I got collar and leash on him, he was pretty well trained. He settled into a proper walk before we got to the end of my driveway (that is, staying to the left, equal to or behind me). Another clue that either he's been leash trained, or is a very intelligent dog. I did have to use some of Cesar's techniques for training a dog to walk properly, but either his techniques really do work that fast or the pup had been trained because it didn't even take 3 minutes for him to be walking properly.

Took him on a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood. He only showed interest in 2 houses, and no one answered there. He was very friendly to all the people we stopped to ask, including a couple of kids and a couple of small dogs. No one had seen him before, though. But I did get several offers that if we didn't find his home, they'd take him. So I know that this dog won't have any problem finding A home if we can't find HIS home.

I do think I've narrowed down the part of the neighborhood he comes from, though. And it's a fenced-in area, so I couldn't walk him in there. But when we started heading that direction, he got very excited and he wanted to go in the gate. So I think he belongs in that gated community.

Brought him home and put him back in the pen in the back yard again while I sat and rested. 45 minute walk is a long walk for me. LOL! But I didn't want to just leave him outside so I struggled with getting everything into the house and he took up residence in the pen in the foyer.

The cats are all very cautious of him, but also very curious and rather welcoming. Sienna even jumped into the pen with him a time or two. And he was very well behaved, whimpering a little but not putting up too much fuss nor was he terrorizing the cats.

After I finished dinner, I took him out in the back yard and gave him the ball.

He transformed from sweet dog into superfasthyperdefinitelylovestoplayandrunincirclesandwhereisthatballgivemetheballthereitissqueekpouncerollziprun.

Yeah, he's still young. LOL! I think he's either fully grown or nearly so, because he fits his paws, but he's definitely not a very old pup. He provided a good 20 minutes of superhyper entertainment as he ran all over the back yard playing with that ball. And, he knows 'fetch'. Another sign he's got a loving family out there somewhere.

After 20 minutes of playing or thereabouts, I took him back in and into the pen. He wanted my LAP, not the pen. I finally got tired of hearing his pleas and let him out as long as he was polite to the kitties. Which he was. He never approached them with aggression yesterday, just curiosity. And he spent a good 30 minutes curled up on my lap until bedtime.

Come bedtime, I put him back in his pen and had no problem with him staying there at all. So he's been crate trained, as well.

I think he pounced at the cats once early this morning as the pen walls had been re-arranged, but the cats are more curious about him than concerned. And this morning I fed him then took him back out in the back yard to run for about 10 minutes. Came back in and he wasn't done playing... he pounced at Ana and Gabi in the same way Dolly does to get them to chase her. Not aggressive, just playful. But Ana and Gabi wanted nothing to do with him. LOL!

DH is also afraid of him. *facepalm* This dog's teeth are smaller than our cats', his nails are not nearly as sharp as a cat's, and he's not nearly as agile as a cat. Yet he scares DH. LOL!

I've nicknamed him Daxter from that PS2 game Jak and Daxter, because he reminds me of that ... er... whatever Daxter is. LOL! But I know I can't keep him even if we don't find his home. He does aggrivate my allergies just a bit, and he's too hyper to keep with the cats. I still feel we'll find his family here within a couple of days, but even if not, I know who I'll ask to take him. There was one lady I met on the walk who totally fell for him and he really liked her, to. So she's my backup home.

I'll have some more pictures later this afternoon.

 

[cherylp3]

Have you taken him to a vet or someplace that they can check the dog for a microchip?

Cheryl

 

[imsorry]

Have you taken him to a vet or someplace that they can check the dog for a microchip?

Cheryl

I was just about to post the same thing. I was thinking since he seems so well trained and cared for, he might have one. Good Luck!!

I wish I lived near you - I would love him!

 

[Rajah]

Haven't had the time to do that yet, no, but that is in my plan if we haven't found his home soon.

More pics:

 

[Rajah]

 

[Rajah]

And now there are messages left with the local vets, and I'm waiting for the local SPCA to open so I can leave a "found" notice there. I did post a found notice on their boards.

 

[lovetheparks]

What a cute dog! He's so lucky that you took him in and are doing so much to find his family.

Looks a little bit like my rat terrier in the face - definitely from the side view.

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

This was such a fun story to read, Tammi. What a lucky doggy to have you find him! He is such a cutie!! Holding that that big ol' ball in his mouth!

About 6-8 weeks ago I had Katelynn (9) in the car with me and there was a big dog (like a lab) in the middle of a busy street eating something on the road. All these cars were honking at her and she just kept on eating. I thought for sure she was going to get hit. So I pulled over and Katelynn and I got her out of the street and went to a couple houses nearby but she didn't belong to any of them. She had a collar on but no tags and I really didn't know what to do. There's no way I could keep her. But I wasn't going to just leave her there either. So we took her to the animal shelter and they checked for a chip but she didn't have one. They said they would keep her and try to find the owners and gave me her ID # and said I could call to check on her to find out what happened. Of course Katelynn wanted to keep her but she obviously belonged to someone so I knew someone would be looking for her (plus Katelynn already has a dog and I have 4 cats!) Later that day and the next day I drove around the area looking for Lost Dog posters but there were none.

This story does have a happy ending though. I called the animal shelter 3 days later I think and they said her owners came to get her and her name was Sage. They of course wouldn't tell me the owners name or address but I really wanted to know at least what street they lived on because I wanted to know just how far she had wandered. Guess I'll never know. She was so incredibly sweet and well mannered! I'm glad her owners got her back.

Anyway I hope you find your new houseguest's owners. He sounds like a great dog and I bet they miss him tons. Can't wait to hear how this turns out!

 

[Pooh93]

I have to comment again what a sweet face he has!!