Avery girl is a one and half year old German shepherd mix who is my obedience, trick and agility dog. She is super sweet and loving and just wants attention all the time. She has a lot of energy and loves to trains much as she can or play with the ball outside.
She is a rescue dog I got while attending school at Starmark Academy in Hutto, Texas. While attending school, we were assigned at least one rescue dog if we didn’t already have another personal dog to train with. The first day I met her, she was in a building filled with a bunch of other shelter dogs. She was the only one not barking just leaning up against the run cage. Right when I pulled her out she was so calm and just loved to be pet, we loved one another right away. She was a green dog, which just means she didn’t know any type of obedience and I had to train her and use her throughout school to pass a bunch of different test.
We had the option to adopt our rescue dog or dogs that were assigned to us and I knew right away from the moment I met her that I would adopt her. About 4 weeks in, our instructors gave us the “okay” to adopt dogs if we wanted too. She came home with me right when the adoption paper work went through. The shelter was not sure where she came from, so I don’t know anything about her past but I could tell she was just super happy dog and was just overjoyed to have a new home and be loved.
Avery and I went through basic-advanced obedience, competitive obedience, clicker tricks, agility and service dogs tasks. Some of her clicker tricks she knows is bring it (retrieve), pull, spin, turn, put em up (puts her paws on the wall), sit pretty, bow, weaving in and out of my legs, touch, paw and “beer me”. Yes she knows how to go to the fridge and get me a beer, It’s awesome!! She also loves doing agility and she is very good at it, she has got all the energy to do so. Some of her service dog tasks consist of heeling by a wheelchair, going under a table and laying down, and help take off clothing.
She does has a bit of dog aggression towards new dogs. I first noticed this when I brought her home to my pug while in school. She does very well around other dogs as long as they don’t come up to greet her. Every new dog I either don’t let the other dog greet her or if I plan on introducing them I use what is called “continued exposure”. It just means that I keep her in her crate around another dog or dogs and get her used to them. Sometimes it takes a week, sometimes it takes several weeks, every new dog is different. Now, she lives with me and my pug Marchello here in North Carolina in a house with 11 other dogs. She gets along with everyone just fine. Avery and I continue keeping up with her all that we learned in school and try to continue improving everyday. She now has her canine good citizen certificate and I use her all the time as my show dog while working with new clients.
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