Janell

On a cool and blustery Wednesday nearly all of the dogs were eager for their first volunteer walk of the day. My initial choice was a very timid new arrival Ava, who was so shy no amount of coaxing could get her out of the kennel. I decided that my second choice would be someone who really wanted an outing. Janell's happy and enthusiastic manner won me over. She is a big lab mix, about four years old and was jumping-up-and-down excited to know she was going for a walk. As I got to her back door she was up on her hind legs to greet me; apprehension was creeping in. As soon as she saw the collar, she sat immediately on command and was quiet enough for me to get her ready to go.

As usual our first stop was the exercise yard for some obedience basics. Janell did just great at sit, down and come. She was okay but not terrific at fetch, very strange for a dog that is nearly all Lab. It was the impromptu game of charge that was initially unnerving. I typically let go of the leash and let the dog wander in the exercise area to let them have some free roaming time and to show me obedience when I'm not holding on to the leash. Several times I waited till Janell was at a far corner of the yard, then told her to come. She would come charging at me at full speed then come to a screeching halt just in front of me for pets and praise. As I said earlier, Janell is big and strong; had she jumped up, her momentum could have knocked me flat. Thankfully she knows not to throw her weight around. Once out on our walk I was happy to see that she did not pull and was quite good on the leash. She is happy to go wherever you want. We had a grooming stop before I took her back toward her kennel; she enjoyed the the brushing and additional attention.

As we reached her back door, her brakes went on. She did not want the fun to end. I pulled on her collar until I was afraid I was going to hurt her neck. That did not work. I maneuvered her front half into her kennel then shoved her rear; she sat down on my feet. Somehow I managed to get her into the kennel if I went in with her. The minute I removed her collar however, she shoved me out of the way and got back out the door behind me. The chase commenced, as soon as I got close enough to get the collar on, she pulled backward to get out of it. Thankfully another volunteer came into the back area so now there were two of us. Still no luck, she was quicker than both of us. At least the doors to the main dog area were latched so she was somewhat confined; this is what we thought until we saw her tail disappear through the door to the outer hall. PANIC. Fortunately she went directly to a closed door to the outside and stopped to sniff the bottom opening. Also fortunately the hall was empty of visitors. The other volunteer managed to get the leash he had made into a lasso, around her neck and we got her back to the confined area. With him pulling and me shoving and making sure she could not run out behind us, we managed to get her back into her kennel. Once latched in, she calmly ambled over to her water dish for refreshment. I calmly ambled out to my car and collapsed. A little too much excitement at the shelter today.