Alvin
Alvin sticks out his tongue when he is nervous
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Our New Marketing Stategy
I make a lot of jokes on here but in all seriousness, I think I just came up with a good marketing tool in getting Alvin adopted.......with the increasingly weakening belief that I am actually going to be able to part with the boy. If it were just about my needs, the adoption papers would have been signed, sealed and delivered about three months ago but if we find a home that meets more of his needs than I am going to let him go. Chances are that the process of letting him go will include me holding on to the ankle of his adopter, while screaming, why? but one way or another, I will let him go. I have come to the realization that chances are slim to none that Stevie is ever going to get out of this loony bin because there just aren't many homes that want to adopt a geriatric, deaf, sight impaired dog that sometimes wets the bed. I'm the kind of person that would want a dog like that and she's already here, but Alvin still has some hope of getting sprung from Casa Crazy. I feel a bit competitive when it comes to getting him adopted because it's a challenge. We are up against a never-ending supply of cute, young, cocker spaniels that actually seek out touch and I am learning more and more that people gravitate towards dogs that allow their owner to pet them. Go figure! So, with the deck stacked against us, I realized that my mom just created a great adoption tool. For those of you that didn't read it yet, my mom is printing out all of Alvin's blog entries and putting them into a binder. She is about halfway done because goodness knows that I am a prolific writer and that's putting it nicely. Others would just term it as the woman that can't seem to shut up and turn off the computer. Anyway, the binder looks really, really nice and includes all his adorable pictures in color. I am going to take his book to the future adoption events because the other dogs may have a lot to offer that Alvin can't but none of them will have their own book. Who doesn't want a dog that has his own book? Talk about a conversation piece on the coffee table that Alvin's busy circling! My mom already created "business cards" for him but a book just ups the ante! I decided that I am going to give a copy of the book to his adopter. Anyway, I just thought I would share our new marketing strategy. Be afraid all you other dogs at Camp Cocker because we're coming on strong at the next event!
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Concerning Alvin's copying behavior - make full use of it to train him. When my dog was young he was great at copying other dog behavior. We used to go to puppy class and if another dog did something the right way and got praise for it, then Stan would copy and lap up the praise. He only needed to see something once. The funniest thing would be to crouch lowish and pretend to be hunting / stalking ( a tennis ball or anything - he didn't care ). Stan would take one look at you and get right by your side but a little behind, crouched down and ready to pounce. He would then stealthily creep along next to you, always a little behind, in hunting mode. He loved this game of hunt and chase the tennis ball. He was a weimeraner / lab mix. I think many hunting dogs are trained to hunt by sending them out with another competent hunting dog. They learn by copying. Perhaps wolves do? Hunting dogs have probably been bred for this behavior. Perhaps some hunting spaniels are trained this way and Alvin has this skill. Stanley was also very sensitive to touch, although with time, practice and treats this improved. I can only tell dog people this but - he learned to use different barks, almost like talking. When my son was young and bothering him he would use a "telling off" bark and sounded exactly like me telling my son to stop.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed that Stan would circle and run back and forth trying to pick up scent information. Again this is the way that hunting dogs work when they are tracking - they often zigzag back and forth over very wide areas, trying to pin point whatever they are searching for.