April's Rescue was Casper a two year old neutered male, who had some problems. Casper originally came from rescue to the recent owners, after having been neglected. They were not able to deal with his issues and placed him into rescue.
Casper lived with me for several days. In that time, we found that his past abuse had caused some anxiety problems, and that he was a very loving and wonderful Bichon with no manners and no concept of how to behave in the house. He was on medication for allergy, which in fact was an anxiety state. This is common in Bichons who are not properly trained.
With crate training and a belly band to minimize marking in the house, so that he would not continually have to be corrected, we began positive reinforcement. It worked! By Friday he was off his medications, needed few changes to his belly band, and had learned to respond to his name and praise. He turned into a lap-sleeper, sharing my recliner with 1-2 other dogs at any given time. My poor legs!
I have limited time I can keep dogs in my home, and this one needed more work than I could provide to make him the stellar housepet he should be. To that end, I contacted Small Paws Rescue, as they have a foster home that is perfect for such dogs.
At last report, the foster mom is planning to keep Casper, renamed Cas-bee. She has children and dogs, both of which he loves, and say he looks much like her beloved Bichon who died of illness at an advanced age last summer. Best wishes to Cas-Bee on his new home and a new life free of negelect and anxiety - I wish it were always so simple.
If you want to rescue a Bichon, and we do not have currently available dogs, please do contact Small Paws. Small Paws handles many more rescue Bichons than we can, due to their national network and dedicated volunteers. They have been good people to work with, and I recommend them highly. You can contact them at Smallpawsrescue.com.
© 1997 dyane.kirkland@swbell.net
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