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Adog was definitely notpart of my five-yearplan. My husband,Alex, and I had twocats, a busy work life,

a hearty helping of familycommitments and no time foranother mouth to feed. Myconfirmed dog lover of a husbandalways toyed with the idea ofbringing home a pooch, but I didn’twant to deal with alfresco bathroombreaks every couple of hours,kennelling the poor beast every timewe went on vacation or thenightmare of recriminations fromour two cats when they realized afilthy, drooling alien had infiltratedtheir territory.

But I eventually came to see theromance of having a happy, snoozingdog at my feet. We started visitingshelters, wondering if we could find asweet, lovable dog of our own.

L O V E A T F I R S T S I G H TOne November afternoon, Isearched the animal adoptionwebsite Petfinder.com for dogs inmy area and pulled up a picture ofan adorable mutt named Curly. Thesite said he was a three-year-oldDoberman-Lab cross. I e-mailedAlex the pic. “Let’s go see him,” Alexwrote back. Uh-oh.

So we went. Alex and Curly tookone look at each other and fellhopelessly in love. I panicked. But

▲life≠your pets

DoggoneIt!

They call it puppy love,but adopting a shelterdog can have its ups and downs. Here’s howwe’ve mastered life with Artie – and we lovehim to bits!

B Y C H R I S T I N A A N S O N M I N E

P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y

J 0 - A N N E M C A R T H U R

Alex and Tina are allsmiles with their lovablehandful of a pooch, Artie,who was adopted froman animal shelter.

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two sets of pleading brown eyes was toomuch. We agreed to take Curly homeand foster him for a week, “just to see.”I knew there was no way this dog wasgoing back. We rechristened him Artie.That was one-and-a-half years ago.

L E A R N I N G O N T H E R U NWe adopted Artie from a dog rescueorganization because we believe inadopting homeless animals. Our firstcat was a stray, and our second camefrom the local humane society.

Our first frustration was that Artie’srecords were missing. The mom-and-pop shelter we got him from told us thatArtie came from Ohio, but hispaperwork hadn’t made the journey.

About a week into Artie’s tenure atour house, we were wringing our handsover his behaviour. He was an

affectionate, happy dog at home, but anightmare on the leash. He lunged ateverything – garbage trucks, teenageboys in hooded sweatshirts andespecially other dogs. We didn’t takehim for obedience classes right away,figuring that he needed some time tobond with us first. We could teach himat home, right? Mistake number 1.

Alex picked up some trainingbooks that focused on positivereinforcement. He worked with Artieevery day, going over commands andrewarding him with treats. Artie knewthe basics – Sit, Stay, Down – but hisperformance was entirely dependent onwhat was happening around him. If theroom was quiet and he wasn’tdistracted, he behaved. But if there wasso much as a mosquito in the room, heturned into a raving delinquent.

Artie’s lack of focus was incrediblyfrustrating to us, but we couldn’t figureout why our training was failing. Weknew if he didn’t learn to behave, wecould have a problem on our hands. If hewouldn’t come when we called in thebackyard, why would he come if his nosewas following a scent down the block?

T A M I N G T H E B E A S TBy early spring, we had settled Artie intoa routine with daily walks. He wascalmer, but still snarky with any maledogs that were bigger than he was. Weassumed he just had a wee Napoleoncomplex. What harm could it do?Mistake number 2.

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When we brought Artiehome, our cats, Mr. Tippyand Cocoa, looked at uslike we’d slapped them.

They hid for a month.But thanks to Artie’s

paws-off-the-catsattitude, they roam the

house again – evensharing the foot of thebed with their former

nemesis in colder months.

.comCesar Millan, world-famous

dog whisperer, shares the

10 questions you should

ask before adopting a pet.www.canadianliving.com

Do Shelter PetsHave MoreProblems?

When considering where to get a

pet, some people shy away

from shelters, assuming that the

animals in them are more troubled

than their purebred counterparts, but

that’s not the case.

Shelter animals are surrendered for

myriad reasons, and some animals do

have legitimate physical or behavioural

problems. However, the same can be

said for an animal coming from virtually

any source, says Dr. Gary Landsberg, a

veterinary behaviourist at Doncaster

Animal Clinic in Thornhill, Ont. It all

depends on the animal’s socialization,

personality and experience. Many are

surrendered because they aren’t a

good fit for their family. A mischievous

Jack Russell, for example, is a bad

match for a couch potato but might be

excellent for someone who wants to

play and run all day.

Bonus: Shelter animals are often

in adulthood, so there’s some degree

of predictability in the behaviour.

Caution: Shelter pets have a

slightly higher chance of coming home

with a mild but usually treatable illness.

The best precaution is to take your new

pet to the vet for a complete checkup

on the way home from the shelter.

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One afternoon we stood in front of our house, chatting with ourneighbours. Artie was on his leashbeside Alex, sitting for a change.Another neighbour’s son came walkingdown the street with his family’s lovablegolden Lab. Artie hunkered down,flattened out his tail and walked towardhim – to say hello, we thought. Howwrong we were. Artie sniffed the Lab’sear, then grabbed his neck and bitdown. The Lab squealed in pain, andeveryone – Alex, me, the neighboursand the poor little boy – jumped in towrestle Artie off. We realized, shakily,that this was a close call and that wewere lucky that the Lab’s owners areincredibly understanding people. Theycould have read us the riot act. We feltoverwhelmingly guilty. We blamedourselves for not doing enough to trainhim and determined that we had to takehim to an obedience class.

S T A R P U P I L SWe enrolled Artie in basic obedience ata reputable dog-training school in Ajax,Ont., where we live. The school taughtclicker training, in which the dog isrewarded for performing a commandcorrectly with a tasty tidbit and a clickfrom a little metal device. The idea isthat eventually the click replaces thetreat and the dog works for that soundreward just like he would for a treat.

The class instructors werewonderful. When Artie misbehaved,they gently took us aside and helped uscalm him down. But it happened really,really often: Artie reached his saturationpoint about 15 minutes into each hour-

long session. The other dogs, theirconstant movement, the unsureterritory – these multiple stimuli weretoo much for him to handle, and hereacted by whirligigging at the end ofhis leash. The instructors gave us amercy pass at the end of the course andtold us that maybe Artie would benefitfrom some one-on-one training – or asession with a certified behaviourist.

And so, even more disheartened,we met Dr. Gary Landsberg, aveterinary behaviourist in Thornhill,Ont. We showed him a video of Artie’smanic behaviour and told him aboutthe dog-biting incidents (by now, he’dalso bitten another dog at the vet’soffice). Landsberg diagnosed Artie ashyperreactive. Rapid movement – adarting rabbit, another dog rushing upto greet him – drove him to reactexplosively. To manage this problem,Artie would have to “learn to earn,” saidLandsberg. We would have to teach himthat nothing – affection, food, treats –came without a price. He’d have toshow us that he could focus and behave

calmly before we gave him any rewards.By doing this, we’d reinforce our rolesas pack leaders and Artie would learn tolisten to us, even in stressful situations.It was a hard philosophy to follow.

Then Landsberg said somethingthat floored both of us. “Sometimes adog has limitations; you have to acceptthat certain things just aren’t possiblegiven the dog’s personality. And that’sOK. You may never be able to walk himoff leash. But he’s still a good dog inother situations.”

In our zeal to “parent” Artieproperly, we’d never considered hislimitations. We always believed that hewasn’t the perfect dog because weweren’t trying hard enough. And weassumed that he had to be the perfectdog. We never considered that he couldjust be our wacky, high-strung mutt.

After that session, we switched to ahead halter, which fits around the noseand head. Alex worked hard to get himcomfortable with stimuli at a distance –he started by getting Artie to sit quietly 15 metres away from something exciting,then gradually decreased the distance asArtie behaved. Artie is now able to sit lessthan a metre away from a strange dogwithout going nuts. He can even greetsome unfamiliar dogs, though we usuallypractise another of Landsberg’s rules:end on a positive note. As soon as Artiegreets someone with a friendly tail wag,we say goodbye and move on.

Though Artie is mellowing with age(as are we), there continue to bechallenges. He’s still high strung andstill hates the golden Lab down thestreet, but despite the headaches, he’sour dog. We’ve learned to love him justthe way he is. •

FINDING THE PERFECT MATCHLook for a reputable shelter that will work with you to find the right

pet for you and your lifestyle, says Christine Arnett, director of marketing

and communications at the Ontario Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals. Expect the following.

> Any relevant health-related information the shelter received about theanimal when the animal was first surrendered

> Any matters that shelter staff have observed, such as separation anxiety

> Specific behavioural or health information, such as whether the animalseems to be good with children or other animals

> They should ask you plenty of questions about your lifestyle to make surethe animal is going to an appropriate home

A WALK IN THE PARK?A dog requires daily walks – regardless of the

weather – so take a walk every day before

you bring one home, says Dr. Karyn Jones,

a veterinarian at the Ajax Animal Hospital

in Ajax, Ont. If you’re still excited after a

few weeks, go ahead and bring a furry friend

home. If you’re glad to stop, think twice.