We met with Rose’s personal trainer (The Spotted Dog Obedience Training: anna_mann72@yahoo.com) the evening of May 23rd. After taking a long walk with us Anna somewhat jokingly said, “I can’t help you – this dog is already perfect!” Anna gave us some instruction on how to work on a few concepts with Rose: Focus, Sit-Stay, Down-Stay, and Come. We think that Rose already knows most of this stuff and it’s just a matter of waking that knowledge up and reinforcing it again. Over the last few weeks I have been working a little each day with Rose as Anna instructed. Rose is incredibly responsive and happy to work – of course, that could be the result of the chicken jerky treats she gets during the training session!
Rose saw an orthopedic surgeon on June 2nd. He doesn’t believe that Rose is experiencing any pain from her hip dysplasia. In addition, he didn’t see any evidence of spinal neuropathy, which is great news. He didn’t think that Rose was a candidate for a total hip replacement surgery and considered her to be doing really well, especially in light of how her x-ray’s look. I’ll probably get yet another opinion because I’m just paranoid that way.
Okay, so here’s the biggest and best news: Rose, Mouse and Duchess have been ‘dating’ since May 26th! I’ve been treating their getting to know each other (all up close and personal) just as I would a bunny bonding session. Rose and the bunnies have been fabulous. Rose knows that I expect her to lie down for the entire session (about 15 minutes). She will turn her body from left to right to watch the bunnies wherever they are, but she stays down the whole time. The bunnies mostly ignore her, but will occasionally hop up to smell her, or to touch noses with her. The bonding takes place in a space about 6’ x 6’ with nothing in it, just us. I try to remain in the background as much as possible, and just stay alert to supervise.
After bonding several times over a period of about one week, I moved the bunnies and their house from the second bedroom back to their original place in the living room. I just missed the rabbits too much for them to be in that bedroom any longer. For now they must be locked in their house except during these three times: when I am directly supervising run time, when Rose is out for her morning and evening walks with Ed, or during the bonding session.
Rose has been an angel with the bunnies, very patient and gentle. Mouse is getting braver and braver in interacting with Rose, regularly touching noses. Duchess doesn’t seem fazed by Rose during the bonding sessions, but hasn’t approached her outside of a bonding session yet.
I’ll be continuing with Rose’s individual training and with the bonding sessions a little bit every day. Stay tuned for more bonding updates!
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