Introducing Rizzo

This week I got a new dog.  She's learning to work outside with me and so far is doing incredibly well after just three days.  I found her at Petsmart in Westminster (Denver), where she was available for adoption through her foster home with The Good Dog Rescue.  She was originally a stray from the reservation in New Mexico, then ended up at the rescue and unfortunately was adopted out and returned twice.  This was likely because she's extremely high energy and intelligent, needing more stimulation and more of a job than busy families could offer her.

The rescue wasn't sure of her breed, and had her listed as a heeler mix on the adoption paperwork.  While I love all dogs, I really cannot have a heeler here working with me outside with the horses.  Heelers have an extremely strong herding/nipping instinct, which works ok for moving cattle but not at all for horses.  If a dog nips at my horses, the horses are likely to go after the dog and hurt him.

However, this dog didn't look much like a heeler.  She had been with her foster for about a month, and she had exhibited no herding traits, not mouthy or nippy at all.  After I described what I was looking for, the foster said that this little dog would be perfect.  I introduced her to a friend's horses, and when she showed no interest in them at all, other than to behave submissively when the horses stared at her, I decided she was worth a try.

I brought the girl home to see how she'd enjoy ranch dog life.  She was ok the first day, but the first night she demonstrated a phenomenal set of lungs.  She can yip, howl, bark, and yodel with the best of them, and at an extremely high pitch!  After a couple hours of drama from her crate Miles the border collie finally bellowed at her to knock it off already, and then she was quiet and seemed to go to sleep.

The second day I took her walking in the back forty with Kasey and Mahzi, and she did pretty well.

She liked jumping up on the cross country jumps and getting treats for posing for the camera.

That night she settled much more quickly in her crate, and with less instruction from Miles.  When she's with me she's incredibly chill, napping and lying around.  If she can't get to me, though, she has some tremendous separation anxiety.  This fits with what her foster told me, that the last family to adopt her and then return her didn't really crate train her, they just put her in it when they would leave.  Between that and being returned twice, I'm not surprised she has some separation anxiety.

However, it is significantly better each day, and I do think that it's something I can train out of her.  Once she realizes that there is a predictable routine here, she's here for life, and I always come back, her confidence will likely improve and the anxiety will go away.  Plus, working so hard during the day goes a long way towards making your crate, or "private bedroom" look appealing with a bowl of food and water in it!

After watching her carefully and evaluating her temperament, size, and conformation, I'm pretty sure she's a rat terrier.  She is built like one, at just over a year old and about 20 lbs, 16" tall she falls in the appropriate range for the size of the breed.  Her vocalizing is also typical, since rat terriers were created by farmers to take care of vermin in barns and they used beagles to create this breed.  Fortunately she doesn't have the obstinate nature of a terrier, and she's very eager to please and affectionate.  My only complaint is really the vocalizing with the separation anxiety, but I've had many dogs from rescues in the past with these issues and I have yet to find one I couldn't get resolved.

Since she's a rat terrier, and I love the Muppets, I decided to name her Rizzo.  That character is an extremely intelligent rat who is always wondering why the others didn't just do what he said to start with?!  The name she came with was Jazzy, but since we already have a Jasi living here someone had to change their name and it's easier to switch a dog's.  Rizzo sounds enough like Jazzy with the Zs that she responds to it great.

Today Rizzo started really working with me and the horses.  I generally tether train my dogs and do this for a week or two before I begin off-leash work, but with her separation anxiety she sticks super close to me, and I was concerned about exacerbating that particular issue if I over-emphasized her staying close to me.  As a result, she likes to be near enough that she can see me and get to me, but she's very respectful of the horses and their personal space.

For example, I was working Ferriana the mare in the round pen today with Rizzo and Miles with me.  Initially Rizzo stood behind me in the round pen, but then was tempted to chase the horse a little.  I cautioned her against that with my voice, but Rizzo couldn't resist.  She began running behind the horse, and started barking.  At this commotion the horse slammed on the brakes, spun around, and stared Rizzo down like an angry bull.  Rizzo backed off in a hurry!  This series of events repeated maybe three times, and then Rizzo decided it was better to go lie in the shade at the side of the arena with Miles rather than aggravate a 1000 lb animal.  Smart girl!

I worked on trailer loading with this horse as well, and Rizzo watched super carefully.  As soon as she realized what I was trying to get the horse to do, she hopped into the horse trailer and waited in the front to demonstrate for the mare.  I rode two other horses in the front fields today and Rizzo stuck right with me, never getting under foot, but keeping up with us really well.  When I went in for lunch, Rizzo ran up the stairs to the back porch, had a beverage from the dog water bowl, and took a nap while I ate.  She was ready to go back to work after her brief siesta, and now that it's evening she's out feeding horses with Jasi.  I've never had a dog figure out the job this fast before, and she seems to love it.