Totally Terra

I got to interact with Ash a little bit as a puppy, but then only saw her every four or five months since Bella and I had to go back to Flagstaff for school.

With little interaction, rules, and direction, this little ball of cute fuzz became quite the out of control terror. She destroyed and chewed many things out of boredom and lack of exercise, stole food from people’s plates and off the counters, harassed and chased the cats, treated people like play toys (she would run by and jump up and hard nip the person as she went by-playfully, but it was still not appropriate), had extreme resource guarding (guarding a person’s plate from dogs sitting next to her, or food even behind closed doors or from the other side of a big room), she did not respect other dogs’ signals and any correction from another dog could escalate into a fight from her end, and she wasn’t potty trained (as soon as she would come in, she would pee on the carpets). She killed and ingested small animals-lizards and birds, and chased and harassed the cats. Without interaction from her person or much training, my grandma relegated her to an outside dog-she put a blanket outside for Ash to sleep on, unless it was too cold and then she slept in a crate by herself in the playroom. The first time I brushed her, her hair behind her ears was severely matted that I almost cut it out, but managed to brush out without doing so. And she didn’t even know her given name “Ash;” she thought her name was a kissy-noise and only responded to that.

Almost at her wit’s end, my grandma was going to re-home Ash and find a ranch for her to live on. My brother said he wanted her, although he couldn’t take her to college with him since he would be living on campus-I said I’d take her until after he graduated. So she came to Flagstaff with Bella and me in the Fall of 2012.

She joined Bella and me on our adventures-from camping to walks in the forest to Yappy Hours and fostering. She joined us in learning tricks, our photo taking, studio training, practicing Agility with a local club, and a little Frisbee.

Training was intermittent-especially after Kronos joined the family in the Winter of that same year Terra came up to Flagstaff with Bella and me. And yet Terra has come so far. She has had her first professional photo shoot and traveled across the country with me for BlogPaws in Tennessee. She’s achieved her Canine Good Citizen and Advanced Trick Dog Titles. She’s attended Kyra Sundance’s Do More With Your Dog Trick Training Workshop and loves working for food-she is extremely food driven and will work with anyone who has food.

Terra is a sassy, high prey drive, high energy, bossy, independent girl although she loves giving people kisses.

A few extra puppy pictures: