Meet Rusty, the newest member of our family. 

 Rusty is a 4 year old English Setter.  We got him from a friend on the 22nd on June {08}, and let me tell you, he is a GREAT dog.  We are completely in love… 

So, why, do you ask, is this blog titled “Reeducating Rusty??”  Let me explain. 

First let me give you a little bit of insight into my family..  I am a trucker’s wife.  I have another blog on here about that subject in itself…  http://mamaerin.wordpress.com/ . I have two young boys born 12/04 and 08/07…  At the time of this publishing they are roughly 3 and a half and 10 months…  With them alone I have my hands full. 

My husband and I bought our first house last year.  We were given a puppy; a chocolate lab.  A friend’s dog had babies and we were deemed a good home so we were given a puppy. 

We were given Hershey about three days after we moved into this new house.  I was pregnant with M, our youngest, at the time, and the house needed some remodeling.  I’ve never had a puppy before and was relying on my husband to teach me how to teach her.  I tried, and for my first time I didn’t do so bad; considering I was also raising two little boys attachment parenting style {if you are unfamiliar with that type of parenting style, this blog gives a superb definition of the term…  kudos!  http://www.apparenting.com/what_is_attachment_parenting.html } …

Long story short, my poor baby Hershey got aggressive.  It wasn’t totally my fault {at 10 weeks old, when she was in the back yard the Electric/Gas company guy both maced and beat her…  She was small then…  And I was home.. }, but she got aggressive nonetheless.  She attacked me and with lots of tears and much regret we had to re-home our one year old dog.  G, our oldest, told everyone who would listen how Hershey attacked and bit his mommy.  It really made him sad and I am really sorry he had to see it. 

Anyhow, on to Rusty.  The day we surrendered Hershey to her new owners {we found someone to take her into their home and reeducate her} I posted to a wonderful moms group that I am a member of how sad and broken up I was about losing Hershey.  Our house was so empty without a dog. 

The next day, Father’s day actually, I got an email from my friend.  It read something like this.  “Hi.  I read your post about having to get rid of Hershey.  I’m so sorry to hear that.  I don’t know what kind of dog you are looking for to replace her, but we have a dog we are looking to re-home…  He is a purebred English Setter from a hunting line, although we have never taught him to hunt.  He’s sweet and great with kids and animals.  He’s in good health.”  She goes on to tell me more about him and how great he is { and he is fantastic!}…  Then she tells me why she wants to re-home him…  “I feel bad because Rusty just doesn’tget the attention he deserves here.  He spends a lot of time in his crate here because my husband just isn’t a dog person…”  {These are not actual quotes, just summations…}

So I called up my husband who is miles away..  He says we can take Rusty!  I was bursting with joy!  We’re getting another dog!!  Yay!! 

I find out some thing about Rusty in the course of the next few days…  First, he was crated a lot more than I think they wanted to admit.  I love my friend…  But…  Second, this poor animal is very, very fearful.  I don’t understand it.  I’ve done some research on English Setters, and come up with nothing but this: 

Temperament
Gentle, affectionate, friendly, without shyness, fear or viciousness. 
~AKC  http://www.akc.org/breeds/english_setter/

English Setters are great family dogs.  And Rusty is a PERFECT FIT for our family.  But we do need to break him out of his shell.  He is very fearful.  He is TOO WELL BEHAVED.  Call me weird, but I like a doggie kiss now and then; Rusty won’t lick.  He wants to, you can tell he’s holding back, but he won’t.  His first day here I even put steak juice on my hand and he refused to lick it off!! 

Rusty is very loving.  He SOAKS up all the attention he is given here.  He is at my feet lying on my left foot as I type.  We love that in this house.  But all the time he spent in his crate before he needs to get used to being active again; he has two little boys that are gonna keep him on his toes!! 

We already seem to hold a special place in dear Rusty’s heart.  He is already guarding us.  He went NUTS when my father came over the other day and came up to the gate while we were in the back yard.  He wouldn’t let him near!! 

My goals with Rusty are this:

• GET HIM TO GIVE KISSES!!
• Break him out of his shell…  He is so reserved…
• Make him less fearful…  Teach him that the world is amazing, not to be feared!
• Get him back in shape!
• Get rid of the evil crate!  If I have it my way he will never have to endure that thing again…
• Get him to walk better on a leash…  Yes, he’s good at it, but with a prong collar… {ouch!}  I want him to stop pulling and just learn to walk briskly and calmly…  Enjoy it!

 I think, after awhile, we can do this.  I know that Rusty will always love our family.  I know that the family that had Rusty before us loved him, too, and also had the best and greatest of intentions.  These are things that I know. 

I hope that I can change the things that I set out to change.  I hope that my family and I can help Rusty to break out of his shell.  My family and I can be pretty persuasive when we put our minds to it, ya know.