Malibu 19-105TD
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Monday, June 28, 2021
It has been about 20 months, give or take since I have updated Stella but I thought sharing her experience might be helpful for others.
First off, to her humans and all humans, Stella is so sweet but has occasional moments of rambunctiousness. She just celebrated her 3rd birthday on May 2, according to her Turkish passport.
Stella came to me in July of 2019 because she was reactive to other dogs. When she first arrived, my stepdaughter also moved back home from college with her cat. Stella had a very intense interest in little critters outside so it was no surprise that when the cat arrived, her initial reaction was 'good...dinner is here'.
If Stella even saw the cat, she went crazy. So we separated the house into two distinct and separate areas known as the cat area and the dog area. We made sure that both dog and cat had plenty of room to roam and plenty of human attention and interaction and we settled in a nice routine that worked very well. Everyone knew it was important to keep dog and cat separate and that even getting a glimpse of the cat would send Stella into a frenzy.
Regarding her reaction to other dogs, it was pretty intense. One trainer described her reaction to another dog as 'explosive'. That is not exactly the adjective you want to hear someone describe your foster dog.
Since that time we have worked with trainers and a vet behaviorist to try to get her to feel differently about other dogs. While her behavior is reactive to other dogs, we have managed to get into a routine that allows us to bring her on a daily 2 mile walk and have gotten her to the point that when she sees another dog out our big picture window overlooking the neighborhood (which was a lot during the pandemic) we can calm her and she hears us and listens to us.
That might seem to be an ordinary feat but know that when she has crossed over her threshold into a frenzy, a filet mignon couldn't get her attention away from the dog she is barking at, so the fact that she will listen to us when she sees a dog outside is a big success.
Back to the cat: Somewhere along the line, probably 6 months in or so, Mona decided that she was not going to let the dog dictate how she lives her life. She started breaching the gates and coming into the dog territory. The first time it happened we were afraid that Stella was going to harm the cat but it turns out, Mona knew something we didn't, or was braver than we were, but she kept coming over. And Stella started accepting it.
But Mona also decided she was going to be in charge so she let Stella know that if there was anyone that was going to get hurt in an altercation, it wasn't going to be Mona. As time went on, we settled into a routine where dog and cat co-existed...but to keep Stella in her place, every once in awhile, Mona would walk by her and give her the one, two, three sucker punch (never making contact of course) and that was just enough for Stella to respect and understand that Mona was not dinner.
In fact, every once in awhile, Stella would get excited and play bow to Mona, which Mona didn't care for so there was no fairy-tale ending where they played and snuggled but they did co-exist peacefully, until Mona and my step-daughter moved out to their own place about a month ago. I think Stella and Mona both secretly miss each other.
Stella is still a work in progress and I am not sure if she will ever be able to be within 20 ft of another dog and not react but we will always keep working with her and trying.
In the meantime, we have grown to love her fiercely as she is a sweet, perfect, cuddly dog when there are no other dogs in sight. Stella's story is atypical of a golden retriever but it happens.
Recently, with a trainer, we tried to carefully introduce Stella to a black chow chow named Chloe. I think it would have surprised many people to see the sweet Golden Retriever being the aggressor and the chow chow calmly laying down not reacting at all. I think its an important lesson: you can't judge a book by its cover.
Some updated photos of our journey with Stella aka Bonkers...if you knew her or met her, you would know why she has earned that nickname:)
Sunday, September 8, 2019
It’s been a while since we gave an update on Stella (Malibu).
Stella has charmed the entire household with her sweetness and her crazy puppy zoomies. No matter how much activity she has during the day to keep her occupied, train her, and wear her out, she still has these zoomie episodes at night and it makes us laugh so hard. We cannot help it because in the midst of her zoomies, she is just cute and funny!
Despite our best efforts to work with Stella and the cat, Stella just can't get used to the cat and she goes bonkers when the cat moves. If the cat remains calm and like a statue and doesn't move, all is well. But as soon as the cat moves, its game on and Stella goes berserk. For that reason, she cannot live with a cat.
Stella is still very reactive towards other dogs. We were hoping it was the very common leash reaction variety where dogs show reactivity to other dogs when confined/constrained by a leash but when the leash is removed, they do just fine with the dogs and even engage in play with them.
Unfortunately, that is not the case with Stella. We brought her to meet another RAGOM dog from Turkey, Tannin, who is a very calm and good with all dogs who likes to play. But sadly, Stella spent the entire time barking in poor Tannin's face. I don't know about you but that kind of behavior is not going to win you any friends.
To help Stella as best as we can, we will be taking Stella to a class with Canine Coach that will hopefully help us to help Stella change the way she feels about other dogs.
Stella did meet a family who is crazy about her and wants to help get her to a better place with other dogs. While I take Stella to classes, we will be assessing her and her relationships with other dogs and working with the family to help them understand what she needs in her forever home.
Stella does great in the car and loves to go for car rides. We have started taking a morning drive to get me some coffee and to get Stella a doggy bagel.
Stella had adorable sleeping positions as well!
Today as RAGOM celebrates Goldzilla, it is rainy here and Stella has gathered her toys for some indoor fun.
Wish us luck as we try to help Stella to feel differently about other dogs.
Monday, July 22, 2019
Stella has moved to a new foster home in Minnetonka, Minnesota. She is estimated to be about 18 months and is petite little peanut, so I will be curious if she grows anymore or if this is it for her. She is what I would describe as an adolescent in terms of energy and some of her behavior.
She has good manners and doesn't get into anything she shouldn't (only plays with her toys) and is not destructive but she has bouts of craziness that I would normally associate with a younger pup. She will all of a sudden get a little bit crazy, running around and she tries to play with us and can get mouthy when she does that.
She LOVES everyone she meets but she is jumpy when she meets people. Because of the mouthiness and the jumping, I think older, dog savvy kids would be best for her forever home, although we will work on these behaviors with her. Additionally, Stella is very sweet and a cuddler. She is kennel trained but can also have free roam.
As far as other dogs go, Stella does have some reactivity when we meet other dogs while walking on leash but she did do well with other dogs in doggy daycare in her previous foster home. Many dogs have this issue as the leash can represent a barrier or a feeling for a dog that they are trapped or cannot get away from something that is unknown or scary to them.
So in the absence of being able to escape, they do their best to ward off the threat and that is where you will see a dog on a leash barking and looking aggressive when they meet other dogs when they are on leash and that can be referred to as leash reactivity or some people call it leash aggression.
We are working to make her feel safe and secure so she trusts us and doesn't feel the need to protect herself. Additionally, we are going to be working with a trainer to help to change her emotional response to meeting dogs on leash so it feels like a positive interaction rather than how she is feeling about it now.
Stella gets zoomies and loves to run them out in the backyard and since we have a fence she can do that. I also believe the fence has lessened her reaction to seeing other dogs as she doesn't feel 'trapped' by the leash (my interpretation, of course).
She also has a high prey drive. She can get pretty laser focused and when she is focused on a squirrel or bunny, she cannot be called off, which is pretty typical of dogs with high prey drives. For all of those reasons, Stella will require a fence in her forever home.
The other thing I noticed is when I have used a tie out with her or when I was using a long training lead for safety reasons, she will start to grab at the lead and starts tugging at it and trying to pull it out of our hands...and she is strong...so another reason why a tie out is not a good solution for her.
Because of her high prey drive and current reaction to dogs, boundary training or an invisible fence would not be an appropriate solution for her.
Overall, Stella is a love bug and a typical velcro golden and we are happy to have this opportunity to foster her. Her positives far outweigh the items we are working on!
Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Let me introduce Malibu, a darling, petite girl from Turkey. Malibu is her RAGOM name, but we call her Stella, and she definitely responds to her new name.
Stella is a healthy pup, house trained, crate trained, respects baby gates, great in the car, is good with adults and older children and knows the basic commands. She is a little girl at 45 pounds and is about 1½ years old. Everyday exercise is a must to maintain her mellow demeanor!
Stella does get overly excited when she sees other dogs. She can pull and bark and carry on. With some dogs, she seems to do this in a friendly “let’s play” manner. With other dogs, she reacts in a very unfriendly manner.
Stella could possibly live with another dog, but there would be no way of predicting that without having her meet the dog. She can definitely be happy as an only dog, as she is now an only dog in her foster home. It is imperative that she have a forever home where encountering other dogs would rarely happen.
A physical fence is required so that Stella could get enough exercise. Stella needs daily vigorous daily exercise—more than just walks.
Lake life is new and exciting to Stella. The lake was a big, scary unknown at first. Now, she loves to wade, but hasn’t tried to swim yet. She also loves to ride in the boat. She is a very cute passenger!
Another of Stella’s favorite things are sticks—the bigger, the better!
To summarize, Stella is a very loving dog and looking for a home:
- With lots of love!
- Where her owners are willing to exercise her every day.
- Where she will not encounter other dogs very often.
- With adults only or children over 13.
Sweet Stella can’t wait to find her forever home!
Unavailable: Malibu is not yet ready to be adopted, and we are not currently accepting applications for Malibu. Please watch for her status to change to Adopt Me before you submit an Inquiry for Application or, if you've already submitted an Inquiry for Application, before you email our application team.