About the Animals

May 17, 2019 TressaFM 0 Comments

My animals have been some of my greatest teachers! Here's a little about them:


Koa

 

Koa is our four year old husky-mix (or "muttsky"). Koa struggled with separation anxiety when we first adopted her but has come a long way, especially since we brought home our second dog, Muchacho. Koa is a dog with a strong and vibrant personality. She has been challenging at times, but has taught me so much, and working with her has been incredibly rewarding. As she's starting to get older it's been an adventure to watch her personality and preferences change from a wild and crazy, high energy and often high stress young dog, to the much more relaxed adult dog she is today.



Muchacho


Muchacho was found by a rescue group in Tijuana, starving, tic-infested, and diseased. His rescuers were doubtful he would survive, but he miraculously pulled through. I brought him home as a foster, but quickly "foster failed" when I saw his relationship with Koa develop. Muchacho had a rough start in life, so he can initially be reactive to new dogs and people, however once he gets to know you his quickly becomes a 60lb lap dog. Working with a reactive dog can be incredibly challenging and scary, but as with Koa, it has taught me so much, and I am grateful for my relationship with this insecure but adorable mystery mutt.




Dylan

One day, while working at Pep Boys, Evan heard a loud meow coming from beneath his truck. Dylan was a skinny little kitten, loudly demanding attention in the auto body parking lot and immediately began purring when he picked her up. We were concerned that it would be difficult to integrate a cat into a household with Koa, who has a high prey-drive, and weren't sure if we'd keep her, but she found her way into our hearts, and Koa has learned to coexist with the new feline addition to our family. As a part of the Karen Pryor Professionals Program, training an animal of a different species is a requirement, so Dylan has done some clicker training with me, and loves to learn!

Since we got Dylan at a young age and she has an unusually adventurous temperament, we were also able to introduce her to a harness and leash, and she has since become an adventure cat, and has been hiking and camping with us!

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