Tucker was born May 1, 2011. His mom is a purebred White German Shepherd Dog and Dad is a Husky mix. Mixed with what is not known.. Lab, maybe? Hard to say.
I rescued Tucker on February 17th, 2012.
Tucker is my dog's littermate. My son was irresponsible and allowed his dogs (mentioned above) to breed.
My son sold Tucker to a woman who totally underestimated what it was going to take to raise and train a White Shepherd/Husky mix dog.
She brought him home and quickly put him in the backyard.
He remained there.
The bigger he got, the less interested she was.
He was put on a prong collar and it was left on him for months - to the point his neck became discolored. Thankfully there were no phsycial injuries. She eventually threw in the towel and called my son to say she had to get rid of Tucker -- he could come get the dog or Tucker was going to the shelter. Tucker had no chance at the shelter. For one, it is a kill shelter. For two, three, four and five, he'd never been inside a home, was not housebroken and had no manners. He was going to be a dead dog.
When I got wind of the situation, I took Tucker home. Here I am picking him up:
Note he is on a chain, attached to the prong... and notice his neck discoloration. He is filthy dirty. The vid may not show it, but he is just dirty, dirty, dirty. It goes layers deep.
Here is Tucker, coming into my house. He's never been allowed in a house, except for brief times as a puppy. He doesn't know what to think. He's stressed.
I have three dogs already - one of them Tucker's littermate. My dog's name is Bailey. Bailey has had a completely different life. A great life. A life a dog could only dream of. Lots of time, attention, love, training.
The vid below is Tucker's brother, my dog, Bailey. THIS could have been Tucker's life. Tucker could do these things, had he been properly worked with and trained. He IS smart enough. He can certainly still be trained for Obedience and that is what I intend to work on to make him more adoptable. It is possible that Tucker has a few more of the Husky genes - possibly making him a bit more stubborn - but that doesn't mean untrainable by any stretch. And I should also add, Bailey is only at the beginning levels of Obedience, so he (and I!) have a long way to go yet. :) The only reason I'm adding this vid is just to show the difference in what you can have if you work with the dog vs what you will get if you shove it in the backyard. :(
Tucker has had none of this type of work. Tucker didn't even know "sit." Tucker is a very, very human-friendly dog. He's attention starved. He's never had it. He almost gets stressed when he gets an overabundance of attention. He doesn't know how to take it. I work with him every day. I wear him out with playing and small periods of training. He is currently on a "two week shutdown" plan that was highly recommended to me by an experienced rescuer. It is working well. Tucker is a strong dog and combine that with no training, and he is challenging, but he is so loving and wanting to please, it makes it far easier to work with him. His neck sensitivity (or lack thereof, due to the prong on him non-stop), does present a challenge.
We're making progress, though. Here is Tuck learning to sit: Not bad for a dog that's been outside all his life. Good boy. :)
The biggest complaint of the former owner was Tucker's jumping up. While I was there, he was jumping all over her (and me!) and she was flailing her hands all over... making it quite the fun game for Tucker. That's what she didn't understand - she was making it a game. It was the only attention he could get! so of course, he loved it.
It sure didn't take long to get him away from jumping off of me.
Note that this is the dog that was ditched for jumping up. And the same dog who couldn't even "sit" only a few days ago.
This dog is trainable. This dog is loving. This dog needs a strong, smart, loving handler who has the time, energy and devotion. It's really that simple. I have to find a good owner for Tucker. I already have too many dogs. I am going to continue to work daily with Tucker to make him more adoptable.
Please keep checking back on Tucker's progress..... :) If you might be interested in Tucker, please contact me, but first know that I won't let him go unless under the right conditions - for HIM. I didn't rescue this guy so he could go back to a similar condition. (Please page down for what I believe Tucker needs.)
~ February 24, 2012 ~
Tucker was neutered today. Poor guy. He came home with the cone of shame. He doesn't like it, to say the least. He was really stressed and scared.
Once he got in the house and in his crate, he crashed.
~ March 1, 2012 ~
Things are moving along. Here's a pic of Mr Tucker from tonight: (He's slowly earning house privileges. :)) That nastiness from his neck is going away, too. I keep scrubbing at it. He might get the cone off this Sunday. He is healing up, but not as nice and clean as I might like. I won't post his penis pics, though. :)
Mr Tucker continues to show me that he is a very nice, very human-friendly dog. He loves to give me kisses and really loves nice belly rubs. He gets a bit overwhelmed rather quickly sometimes. He doesn't seem to know how to process so much attention. He's not had it -- his attention has been negative, so you can almost see the wheels spinning in his head that it is a little confusing to him. But he responds so positively!
He rarely jumps up on me now. A quick, simple OFF puts all four paws on the ground. He'll go into a nice sit and stare up at me, tail wagging. Of course, he gets many kudos for this. :) I rub the top of his head, and then he'll turn sideways, so I'll rub his side.. and then he's on his side, beggin' for a belly rub, which he also gets. I kiss him all the time, and he's super gentle. No teeth. THIS is a NICE dog. A super nice dog, with lots of energy and lots of desire for love and attention. I wish I could keep him, but I can't, because I own his brother, (Bailey) who needs just as much devotion, energy release, exercise and training. I can't do it properly with them both.
~ March 4, 2012 ~
Tucker and my dog Bailey were introduced offleash on neutral territory today. Here's the outcome of that:
March 26, 2012
So much to update, but where to start? I'm going to be leaving things out for sure, but I'll do my best....
Tucker has come a very, very long way. Maybe not a miracle, but something like it. :)
He is still prone to jumping up, but it is much worse when he is on a leash or tethered. He just wants access to the person so badly. Once he is calmed and gains that access, he may still try a jump or four, but he quickly discovers it is unacceptable and he "self-regulates." What I mean by that, is he turns his body sideways against the person for a side rub. Once the human and Tucker get to that point, he doesn't often jump up any more. Sure, he might test the waters here and there, but as long as the human does not allow it, he goes back to turning sideways for a pet. The worst jumping up occurs when the human starts flailing their hands all over the place. Tucker sees that as an invitation to jump more. Turning your back on his jumping up is ineffective as well.
A few recent pics:
He's a wonderful dog but his jumping up does need managed. (He never/rarely jumps up on me anymore at all, but new people could be a problem, and the new owner would need to be ready to deal with it! It isn't that hard, but consistenty in training is key!)
He does not walk nicely on a leash, or anything close to it. This is my next project with him. He pulls very, very hard and is very strong.
His POSITIVES at this point!:
He knows sit, shake.
He will "down" if lured with a treat. (still working here).
He knows "wait" for his food/water to be put down and given the okay before he goes to it.
He has a solid 20+ second stay.
The boy is totally capable and willing to learn.
He loves to please. He loves people. He is dog friendly, too, even though he does play hard.
He has potty trained easily. He still does not have unsupervised house privileges, but he has earned full house roam now and I've had no issues with him eliminating in the house. He's never eliminated in his crate.
He does well in his crate and likes it -- goes in willingly when he's worn out.
~April 12, 2012~
Tucker continues to astound me. In good ways. He is a nice dog. I know I've said that repeatedly, but it is true. So true. It will be one of the hardest things ever to give him up.