So, last Saturday, Music and I went to our monthly jail (pet therapy)
visit. It's a pretty new program, and what we talk about is sort of
an evolving thing and depends at least in part on who shows up
inmate-wise. Women volunteers can't visit male inmates unless they're
accompanied by a male volunteer, and there's only one male volunteer
in the program so far, so I had only visited women before last
Saturday. I've been going with Diane, who is a friend as well as a
board member and Auction Queen for our rescue group, but her mother
died of cancer last week and she was obviously unavailable Saturday.
I met Ed, the lone male volunteer, at the jail; he's 75, is a
long-time collie and Sheltie man and was accompanied by his 7 year-old
rescue rough collie, Beau. Beau stuck his nose where dogs do and
Music did the same, and I was relieved to see that Music appeared to
harbor no breed prejudice as a result of meeting Fawkes the weekend
before.

This facility is a typical county jail and houses mostly inmates
serving time for misdemeanors. There are sometimes inmates who are
either awaiting trial or awaiting transfer to a prison for violent
crimes, but we don't see them. The inmates are grouped by low
security (green outfits) and high security (orange outfits) and I
don't know what criteria is used to classify them. We do a separate
session with each group. There were no women interested in
seeing/petting/hearing about rescue dogs last Saturday, and since we
had the option of visiting women or men, we opted to meet with men.
At the first session, we took the dogs off leash and Music started
wandering around the conference room. His timing was perfect; Ed was
just explaining that you can't train a dog to herd. I noted that you
can't train a dog not to herd, either, and that as we spoke Beau was
doing a nice herding demonstration with Music. Beau apparently felt
that Music should stay closer to Ed and me, and was doing his best to
get him back to us. He was pretty laid-back about it, no nipping or
vocalizing or anything, just kept coming up behind him and kind or
urging him forward. Music was completely confused - not particularly
bothered or annoyed, just "what? What am I doing? What do you want?"
I'm sure I found the whole thing a lot more interesting than the
inmates did, but there you go.

We spent quite a bit of time with the first group of 3 men - must have
been close to an hour, because we ran up to lunch time and had to wait
half an hour to see the second group. I've always been impressed at
how different types of therapy work really tire out the dogs, and they
were less interactive during the second session (I'm sure it had
nothing to do with the fact that all the treats Ed brought had been
handed out by the first group). Music collapsed on his mat and one of
the inmates sat next to him most of the time. The jail would never
send us inmates who might hurt the dogs, but naturally I keep a very
close eye on how Music reacts to everything - the automatic doors are
very noisy and even those make him start a bit - the Late Great Zeke
had an experience at a nursing home years ago that unnerved him and
that kind of thing can ruin a therapy dog. Anyway, Music and his
buddy were fine. Beau wandered around the room a little and kept
coming up and standing next to Music on his mat and they'd sniff each
other. Music puts up with the butthead brothers standing over him at
home but wasn't bothered by Beau, at least not that I could see. I
was pretty happy about this, because I'd like to do more visits with
Ed.

The other really cool thing is that Ed said he never brushes Beau,
just has him groomed about every two months. I was under the
impression that rough collies need to be brushed pretty regularly or
they will mat, because when they shed the hair doesn't fall out. Ed
said Beau does shed in clumps but that he rarely matted, maybe
occasionally behind the ears. He said Beau's grooming requirements
were not unusual for a rough collie. Since I dream about a biddable
dog with a built-in recall and collies have always been on my (long)
want list, I was excited. Anybody want to rain on my parade and tell
me the truth: that Ed's off base?

Mustang Sally

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...

Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets certified!!
Jail sounds fun!

The other really cool thing is that Ed said he never brushes Beau,
just has him groomed about every two months. I was under the
impression that rough collies need to be brushed pretty regularly or
they will mat, because when they shed the hair doesn't fall out. Ed
said Beau does shed in clumps but that he rarely matted, maybe
occasionally behind the ears. He said Beau's grooming requirements
were not unusual for a rough collie. Since I dream about a biddable
dog with a built-in recall and collies have always been on my (long)
want list, I was excited. Anybody want to rain on my parade and tell
me the truth: that Ed's off base?

You kind of have a choice with hairy dogs in my experience (1 keeshond, 1
samoyed and lots of opinions of others who own same) - you can do a really,
really thorough grooming once a month or six weeks, or you can do a quick
brush out three or four times a week. I'm of the less frequent groomers
since the kidlet was born- Tok gets a heavy duty rake out about every six
weeks. I try to pay attention to "mattable" areas in between - behind ears
mostly, as I've had to cut out mats behind his ears if i let things go to
long. Even when i do, no one ever notices. Toklats hair is as you
describe - the dead hair doesn't shed out all over - you have to brush it
out. (I'm considering a furminator! hope its appropriate for his coat
type) You'd actually be surprised at how little coat maintenance you really
need to do except during a big shed - and you'll know because you'll feel
the hair clumping.

Kaviks hair DID shed out all over. And the only place he ever got matted
was behind his ears also.

"Beth In Alaska" wrote in message
mmunications...


Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets certified!!
Jail sounds fun!


Boy that sounds funny! It could *so* be taken out of context!!!

Atty has done therapy work at the local juvenile residental detention
center. She loves it because she can actually play with the kids, as
opposed to being all prim and proper for the little old ladies with the thin
skin. Of course, we throw in a little obedience demo, dog stories and
plenty of treats. The kids love to get her to do her tricks. And of
course, she's happy to oblige.

The questions they ask drive me nuts, though..... Is she trained to fight?
Has she ever attacked anyone? Then I have to hear all about their dogs and
how they're trained to attack and kill.

The sad thing is that I've run into former students.

Sue and Atty

On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 21:08:08 -0800, "Beth In Alaska"
wrote:

Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets certified!!
Jail sounds fun!

I'm not sure if fun is the word for it, but so far it's good. Zeke
and I did mostly nursing home visits, and with Music I've been trying
to decide, too, where to go - I wanted to do something different. But
the hospitals in our rural county don't have pet therapy, and I'm
tired of having to drive an hour to everything. A few weeks ago I got
an email from a hospice company that has patients in nursing homes and
assisted living facilities in our town, and they were looking for
teams to visit them. It's close, and we'll start doing that if they
can ever arrange to get my TB test done. So since nursing homes seem
to be where the need is, I'm kind of glad we're doing the jail visits
because it is something different.

You kind of have a choice with hairy dogs in my experience (1 keeshond, 1
samoyed and lots of opinions of others who own same) - you can do a really,
really thorough grooming once a month or six weeks, or you can do a quick
brush out three or four times a week. I'm of the less frequent groomers
since the kidlet was born- Tok gets a heavy duty rake out about every six
weeks. I try to pay attention to "mattable" areas in between - behind ears
mostly, as I've had to cut out mats behind his ears if i let things go to
long. Even when i do, no one ever notices. Toklats hair is as you
describe - the dead hair doesn't shed out all over - you have to brush it
out. (I'm considering a furminator! hope its appropriate for his coat
type) You'd actually be surprised at how little coat maintenance you really
need to do except during a big shed - and you'll know because you'll feel
the hair clumping.

I'd definitely be a less frequent groomer - I haven't been very good
at grooming the Borzoi and they do tend to mat. I figured collies'
coats would be similar to the Borzoi's, but apparently not, which is
good news. There may be a rescue collie in my future some day.

Kaviks hair DID shed out all over. And the only place he ever got matted
was behind his ears also.

I fostered a Samoyed once and was surprised at how very different his
coat was from the Siberians'.

Mustang Sally

"Sue and Atty" wrote in message
...

"Beth In Alaska" wrote in message
mmunications...


Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets
certified!! Jail sounds fun!


Boy that sounds funny! It could *so* be taken out of context!!!

Atty has done therapy work at the local juvenile residental detention
center. She loves it because she can actually play with the kids, as
opposed to being all prim and proper for the little old ladies with the
thin skin. Of course, we throw in a little obedience demo, dog stories
and plenty of treats. The kids love to get her to do her tricks. And of
course, she's happy to oblige.

The questions they ask drive me nuts, though..... Is she trained to
fight? Has she ever attacked anyone? Then I have to hear all about their
dogs and how they're trained to attack and kill.

thats depressing as hell and hopefully just bravado.
maybe not juvie detention for us.

Beth In Alaska wrote:

"Sue and Atty" wrote in message
...

"Beth In Alaska" wrote in message
communications...


Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets
certified!! Jail sounds fun!


Boy that sounds funny! It could *so* be taken out of context!!!

Atty has done therapy work at the local juvenile residental detention
center. She loves it because she can actually play with the kids, as
opposed to being all prim and proper for the little old ladies with the
thin skin. Of course, we throw in a little obedience demo, dog stories
and plenty of treats. The kids love to get her to do her tricks. And of
course, she's happy to oblige.

The questions they ask drive me nuts, though..... Is she trained to
fight? Has she ever attacked anyone? Then I have to hear all about their
dogs and how they're trained to attack and kill.


thats depressing as hell and hopefully just bravado.
maybe not juvie detention for us.

When I sub in the learning disabled and behaviorally disabled classrooms
I get the same sort of questions. I tell them, no of course they're
not trained to attack and kill - it's my job to protect them, not vice
versa. And that, nevertheless, I've seen my 40 pound border collie
knock a 250 pound judge off his feet when he stepped into my dog's path
in the runback area.

Which leads to exclamations along the lines of "Nah!", and "Uh Uh, no way!"

Which leads into discussions about the speed of the fastest land animal
(biology), and about what percentage of that velocity a ballistic BC
might achieve (math), and given his weight, what kind of force might be
generated upon impact (physics).

Which leads to laughter at the idea of a judge being knocked on his ass
for not paying attention, and additional question on how you get a dog
to do those things (fun, treats, love of the game, pure showing off...).

Bonus points if one of the scariest kids went to grade school with your
daughter and you've gone to his birthday party and he's played at your
house and testifies, "Yah Huh, true dat, she got these dogs and they do
anything she say, just because, and sometimes she don't even say nothin,
just flick her hand, and they just know."

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 6 Aug 2008 21:08:08 -0800, "Beth In Alaska"
wrote:

Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets certified!!
Jail sounds fun!

I'm not sure if fun is the word for it, but so far it's good. Zeke
and I did mostly nursing home visits, and with Music I've been trying
to decide, too, where to go - I wanted to do something different. But
the hospitals in our rural county don't have pet therapy, and I'm
tired of having to drive an hour to everything. A few weeks ago I got
an email from a hospice company that has patients in nursing homes and
assisted living facilities in our town, and they were looking for
teams to visit them. It's close, and we'll start doing that if they
can ever arrange to get my TB test done. So since nursing homes seem
to be where the need is, I'm kind of glad we're doing the jail visits
because it is something different.

You kind of have a choice with hairy dogs in my experience (1 keeshond, 1
samoyed and lots of opinions of others who own same) - you can do a
really,
really thorough grooming once a month or six weeks, or you can do a quick
brush out three or four times a week. I'm of the less frequent groomers
since the kidlet was born- Tok gets a heavy duty rake out about every six
weeks. I try to pay attention to "mattable" areas in between - behind
ears
mostly, as I've had to cut out mats behind his ears if i let things go to
long. Even when i do, no one ever notices. Toklats hair is as you
describe - the dead hair doesn't shed out all over - you have to brush it
out. (I'm considering a furminator! hope its appropriate for his coat
type) You'd actually be surprised at how little coat maintenance you
really
need to do except during a big shed - and you'll know because you'll feel
the hair clumping.

I'd definitely be a less frequent groomer - I haven't been very good
at grooming the Borzoi and they do tend to mat. I figured collies'
coats would be similar to the Borzoi's, but apparently not, which is
good news. There may be a rescue collie in my future some day.

Kaviks hair DID shed out all over. And the only place he ever got matted
was behind his ears also.

I fostered a Samoyed once and was surprised at how very different his
coat was from the Siberians'.


Kaviks coat was actually almost as bulletproof as a sibes except finer. He
could roll in the mud, be black and filthy, but when the hair dried, the
dirt fell right off (on the carpet of course) and he was white again.

Tok's hair is very different -much harsher . I think collies are more like
Tok.

"Kathleen" wrote in message
...
Beth In Alaska wrote:

"Sue and Atty" wrote in message
...

"Beth In Alaska" wrote in message
icommunications...


Snipped great story about jail therapy dog visit!! i've been trying to
figure out where pirate would like to go the most when he gets
certified!! Jail sounds fun!


Boy that sounds funny! It could *so* be taken out of context!!!

Atty has done therapy work at the local juvenile residental detention
center. She loves it because she can actually play with the kids, as
opposed to being all prim and proper for the little old ladies with the
thin skin. Of course, we throw in a little obedience demo, dog stories
and plenty of treats. The kids love to get her to do her tricks. And of
course, she's happy to oblige.

The questions they ask drive me nuts, though..... Is she trained to
fight? Has she ever attacked anyone? Then I have to hear all about their
dogs and how they're trained to attack and kill.


thats depressing as hell and hopefully just bravado.
maybe not juvie detention for us.

When I sub in the learning disabled and behaviorally disabled classrooms I
get the same sort of questions. I tell them, no of course they're not
trained to attack and kill - it's my job to protect them, not vice versa.
And that, nevertheless, I've seen my 40 pound border collie knock a 250
pound judge off his feet when he stepped into my dog's path in the runback
area.

Which leads to exclamations along the lines of "Nah!", and "Uh Uh, no
way!"

Which leads into discussions about the speed of the fastest land animal
(biology), and about what percentage of that velocity a ballistic BC might
achieve (math), and given his weight, what kind of force might be
generated upon impact (physics).

Which leads to laughter at the idea of a judge being knocked on his ass
for not paying attention, and additional question on how you get a dog to
do those things (fun, treats, love of the game, pure showing off...).

Bonus points if one of the scariest kids went to grade school with your
daughter and you've gone to his birthday party and he's played at your
house and testifies, "Yah Huh, true dat, she got these dogs and they do
anything she say, just because, and sometimes she don't even say nothin,
just flick her hand, and they just know."


Smiling at you for liking the kids no other teachers like. My mom is one of
you.