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Likes: Rowena loves a good LONG game of Frisbee Fetch, playing with "her" kitten Solace, K9 Tag with her friend Chloe, and being with Mom (& Dad too!)
Pet-Peeves: She hates our "down" days, getting wet, showers, getting brushed, humans who move too fast when she can't, she can't stand bouncy and hyper dogs, & dogs that don't know about the "No-Contact" rule that applies during dog play
Favorite Toy: Frisbee, Soccer balls, tennis balls, her kitten Solace, & best friend- Chloe the Puggle
Favorite Food: Core Wellness Dog Food, Premium Edge Adult. She does NOT steal food from plates or bags etc.
Favorite Walk: She loves a good off-leash walk/romp in the City Forest or the field (Saxl Park) with Mom & Dad, but tolerates a leash walk if she has to.
Best Tricks: Saves taxpayers thousands of dollars by assisting her human so well that her human stays out of hospitals and out of crisis!
Arrival Story: ROWENA IS A CERTIFIED SERVICE DOG... My little Rosie came into my life to become MY guardian soon after I finally decided to search for the puppy that would be trained to become my service dog. I had wanted a Border Collie for so long, I knew that would be the breed I would get. I had researched the breed for years, talked to people who owned and worked with the breed and also spent years researching what it would take to handler-train my own service dog. I finally knew it was time to go for it. After a lot of searching, I found a local breeder who had puppies available. Out of 3 available pups available, she was the only girl. Her 2 brothers had different patterns of black & white, were shaggier looking and looked more rolly polly, where as she had the typical black & white border Collie pattern and her hair wasn't as bushy. They also were very shy . She was just this petite little tumbly thing, But there she was! Full of spirit and smiles, tail dancing in the air, head high as she pranced around like all eyes should be on her while her 2 brothers shyed away against the wall. She was right out there, tail up, looking around and she came eagerly to us. When I picked her up, she looked at me and proceeded to lean herself against my body, resting her head on my shoulder. She had chosen me. That is where my adventure with that little 9 pound, 9 week old bundle of energy began! Many months later, we are inseparable. She has been with me 24 hours a day (pretty much) since she was 9 weeks old, has gone everywhere with me and has become the love of my life (Sorry, Dear Husband!)
Bio: ROWENA IS A CERTIFIED, TASK -TRAINED SERVICE DOG. (She passed her Public Access Test on 10/21/2007 ! WOO-Hoo!). Since 10 weeks old, she has taken a couple of beginner's obedience courses (The breeder offered one free... 7 weeks once a week for an hour. Rosie was a bit too feisty and a very social butterfly in her first class- we came back when she was about 7 months old for a second class there. However, she did graduate both times!), The breeder offered a Beginner's Class, and we would later (drop out of one class and never went back to one training facility) take a basic, intermediate and an advanced obedience class to study for her Canine Good Citizen Test. She (We) passed her CGC test in May 2006. She is a quick learner and responds well to being corrected AND scolded... like she understands (almost) exactly what I am scolding her for She not only stops the behavior, but often doesn't repeat it either. She has calmed down a lot since her puppy obedience classes and is no longer the class socialite or the class mischief maker. Since we have passed her public access test, I have been looking into seeing if she can be a therapy dog as well, or if that would be too confusing (different rules than a service dog... not so strict) and will probably be training and testing for that this coming year (2008). We now have a very good training consultant who trains service dogs... mostly for children with Autism, but does others as well. I have taken Rowena everywhere with me since the day I got her and about 98% of the time she is very well behaved in public places. (Remember that not even the best trained service dog is perfect! No living thing on this planet is a robot.) I have a blog that I use to track her progress and our life together (and track the other embarrassing 2% of the time when she hasn't quite been very professional in public). The Blog is a celebration for my love of Border Collies, my love for Rowena and my joy of training my own Service Dog... (needs updating badly) http://jaydensrowena.blogspot.com/
Forums Motto: It's ALL about the Frisbee!! Dogster Local Spots I've Marked: Tail Waggin Training Center The Groups I'm In: ♥ Steve Irwin Memorial ♥, ..:: Herding Breeds Association ::.., .:.School Fur Graphics .:., GOT TRICKS???, Me & My BC♥, Administrators of Catster & Dogster Groups, All About Surgery/Orthopedics, Australian Shepherd's that are deaf and blind., BCs of Canada, Border Collie Mania, Canine Good Citizens and Neighbors Group (US, Cesar's Dogster Pack, Champ's Champions, Deaf But Not Dumb, Great Danes Unite!!!, Lets Paw-tae!, Maine Service Dog (Animal) Owner/ Trainers, Maine Street, Molly Inspires Foundation, My Maine Dog, New England Service Dog Meetups, Oregon Outdoors, PSD Service Dog, Service Dog Ethics, Service Dogs Group, Service Dogs Of Maine, The Herding dog Lovers, Therapy Dogs International:, ~~~~OREGON DOG LOVERS!!!!~~~~
The Last Forum I Posted In: How much does your Border Collie weigh?
Dogster has had this ad regarding this tag from Red Cross, advertising that a microchip is not enough. Perhaps not always, but my human says that it is. You see, I have a Home Again Microchip. My human can change or update any of my chip information on the internet at her own site, add new pictures just incase I become lost and update contact info. There is a phone number that someone can call that will give them Home Again and they can look me up and find my humans if ever I get lost. Identification tags are crucial for every dog or any pet animal that can wear a collar (cats and dogs basically). On my tag, I have tons of information. It says first of all what my first name is and that I am a service dog and I should not ever be parted from my human. VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION! Along with an address etc. I have the Home Again phone number which is a toll free number... followed by my identification number so that if I am found, a person can call Home Again and tell them my ID number which when poked into a computer at Home Again will give them all my information, so that they can get me home to my human as soon as they can. My tag even has a small photo of my face on the front. No it is not reflective, nor does it have that flashy red cross on the front, but it has plenty of information if ever my microchip is not enough. Right now, if you look at my first profile photo, you will see the tag hanging to the side as I push the button to open the door. That is the front of the tag. Mom pays a little extra to have access to my information on the computer every year, but I have found that my human is willing to put in that little extra to make sure that in case I AM seperated from my human, Home Again can help me get back to her!
Make sure your dogs and cats have collars with good tags on them with clear writing or engraving that is deep enough not to get worn off easily. Find a tag that will let you fit as much info as possible, license your dog, and place these tags onto your dog's collar. A dog license and rabies tag can also be traced back to you, and let's people know that this dog is loved and belongs somewhere already. Make sure you know what you would do with your pets in case there is an emergency and you must leave your home.
So we headed out the door today to run some errands- one accross town to get my human's meds. After the first stop at the post office (we walk), she starts making me stop every so often, and heel, and then she'd switch direction and do circles telling me to heel and then she'd stop again. I'd just start to get ahead and get a good pace and she'd say firmly "Stop!" If I didn't, she's tell me to back up and heel or she'd give me a quick tug to let me know I was a bit away from her side. Then she'd say "Forward!" and off we'd go, and then "STOP". She did it on a loose leash, she has the leash around her waist so she can just walk without her hand on it. So again, I'd get a pace going, catch a scent and kind of swerve a bit, whatever and then "STOP". And then back up again. She didn't like the fact that when she'd say stop I would kind of continue forward... not fast, but forward beyond her and not sit like I am supposed to when she says STOP. So she decided she would hold the leash. She held on lightly and when she would call a stop, she would hold fast to the leash so I would HAVE to stop. MMphhhH! And if I wasn't sitting, she would abruptly put me into a sit. I know how to do this stuff, but what is so very important about it? So after a while she would release the leash again. Of course if I stopped, I got praise... if I was also right next to her. If I stopped and sat and I was right next to her, I also got a treat! However, if I wondered ahead, she wouldn't give me a thing unless I backed up and came back and sat. And then she stopped treating me for that.
Basically, I think we did this for over 2 miles, to the pharmacy and to frisbee and home. She says she is trying to teach me to heel, but it seems like a waist of time, stopping every two seconds and switching directions every once in a while... almost stepping on my right paw more than once! What can I say, I like to go my own pace and don't mind the constant pull of the leash around my neck. My human calls me an air head because I'd rather do my own thing most of the time. She says I am stubborn and obstinate and then with an evil laugh says that she is as well. I don't get this HEEL thing and I hope my human doesn't start making a habit of doing this "training" with me whenever I am on a leash, though it does get my attention!
I hope my human got the medication she needs today and TAKES THEM! I don't know what her problem was today!
(Rosie gets a refresher... A service dog's training is never done.)
I haven't been allowed to play for such a long time because of my foot and because my friend and I play so rough together, but this past weekend there was another dog at the field by the river... well it wasn't just another dog really... it was another Border Collie. His name is Huxley. I met him a couple years ago when he was only about 6 months old, now he is taller than I am. Anyway, he was playing fetch the tennis ball with his man human. Mom let me meet him and actually let me off my leash! Hux and I did a quick greeting and then the ball was thrown! We both ran for the tennis ball! It was so exciting and it was good to have a Border Collie to play with because, well, they play the right way. Basically "No Contact". A lot of chasing and mirroring, trying to outwit each other with herding games... but other breeds just don't seem to get it. Even my best friend doesn't get it! (She's a Puggle for those of you who don't know). Huxley knows that it's all about the ball (or whatever is being thrown out there) and that nothing else matters. So we ran after the ball together. Mom let me and my foot didn't bother me much at all! I didn't even have to wear those stupid sneakers to protect my toe! Now my Mom takes me down there to play every evening after it cools off and we play hard and then we walk down to the river's edge under the big bridge and I take a cool off dip. Then we walk home and I am thoroughly happy after that. I am presently impatiently waiting for mom to decide that it is cool enough for us to go down and play some more! Something about Air quality and Heat index and UVs... whatever! Just get me down there!!
If it's not a Border Collie, it's just a dog. (A border collie made that up)
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