Chief

Chief will be joining the HOPE Dog Program on Friday, March 10th! He is approximately a year old and has spent the last few months recovering from a broken leg. Since he’s now off crate rest, this playful puppy is showing his boisterous, goofy, and loving side. Chief will greatly benefit from all that HOPE has to offer and there is no doubt that smart puppy will immediately win over the hearts of all of the HOPE Family! Stayed tuned for more updates on this guy!

Chief is being sponsored by Furry Friends Network.

6/02/2023  Chief is doing GREAT! He continues to grow and learn. He is the favorite of so many here at the prison.

Chief had another week of not destroying anything in my cell that wasn’t his. He continues to be calming down. I’ve been keeping him engaged with lots of playtime with his toys, and of course, play yard time with his girlfriend, Bella. They love each other so much!

Jaida and Chief also played outside, with muzzles on, and it went well. They got a bit rowdy when treats were involved, but who wouldn’t?!

Hazel and Chief have also been playing more together. They are doing well together.

Chief and the new dog, Luke, are now buddies. They are able to now be around each other and also play together.

Last week, Chief went on a visit to F Block and did super well meeting new people.

Chief got GOLD STARS this week for playing with Jaida off leash (both had muzzles on).

5/26/2023 Watching the relationship between Bella and Chief continue to grow has been amazing. They are inseparable. Chief still likes to take control when it comes to the toys that they play with, but Bella is teaching him some lessons in sharing. They are so cute together. When at distance, Bella gives a bark knowing that Chief is around. Chief gets all excited and can’t wait to get to her.

Chief and Hazel are also doing great together and are playing a lot more.

Luke and Chief met each other on leash and did well, although Chief has much more playful energy than Luke.

Jaida and Chief’s relationship is growing stronger. They are continuing to play and be around each other.

Rocco and Chief are cool. Just a lot of barking. LOL.

Chief loves crowds of people and all the attention they give him.

Chief gets Gold Stars for not chewing up anything except for his toys. He’s doing much better when I leave him out of his crate when I’m gone from my cell.

5/19/2023  This week, I’ve been continuing to work with Jaida and Chief, and there has been improvement. They are able to now be around each other, on leash. They even play and go on walks together. Hazel and Chief are also doing so much better together. And. . . Chief and Bella are inseparable! They always enjoy their play time together.

Overall, Chief is doing really well. He has not torn up anything this week–LOL. He’s also doing well working with the other handlers and obeying them when they give him commands. So proud of him! He’s also doing much better when I bathe him, although he still gets a bit mouthy with the towel when I dry him off.

Chief is still unsure about the new dog–Luke–but I think it’s just because Luke is the new dog on the block and Chief is curious.

4/28/2023 Chief continued on his path of destruction this week, shredding his bed. He had been doing so good too! Even though he’s not doing so great in the crate, he continues to shine when it comes to meeting and playing with other dogs. This week Chief and Jaida played together on leash, went for walks together, and even showed promising signs that they might like to play together in the future too. Chief, who usually likes to be in charge, ended up letting Jaida take the lead and sniff him, and then even copied her play bows and other play signals. It was adorable to watch!

Chief is working on learning some new tricks too! For him, its important to keep adding things to his repertoire, otherwise he gets bored and checks out of training time.

4/21/2023 This week we have been working on allowing Chief to remain out of the crate for short periods of time, on his own. He has been doing well with this, and we’re hoping it continues. As it seems that lately, when left in his crate, he becomes Gumby-like and will stretch and reach outside of the crate, grab whatever he can, and SHRED IT INTO TINY PIECES. So far his “body count” includes his winter coat, the handler’s winter coat, blankets off the bed, he’s tipped over food and water bowls! This boy keeps us on our toes! When the handler returns to the cell, Chief won’t even look at him and he looks so sad! So we are working on an alternative to crating, while still working on shorter durations in the crate, and trying to figure out what we can do to prevent him from reaching anything outside of the crate.

Chief and Bella continue their love affair and he continues to enjoy running the fence with the other dogs too. Recently, a tour came through the prison and Chief did great! He greeted everyone calmly and politely, and wasn’t overwhelmed by the 15-20 people walking through! He’s even learning to wave hello and goodbye.

4/14/2023 Chief is really coming into his name! He’s finally settling into training, doing and learning new things every week. Although his favorite thing to do is still to play with Bella. They make such a cute couple and more importantly, she doesn’t care that he doesn’t always want to share his toys. He won’t share with the other dogs, but he’s 50/50 on sharing with Bella.

Recently, we got the pool out for the dogs and Chief is convinced that he can swim in just a few inches of water. There is NO convincing him otherwise!

4/07/2023 Chief (noun) “the leader or ruler of a people or clan”…or of female HOPE Dogs 

This was a fun week for Chief! His leg is feeling much better after some rest and he’s been enjoying the beautiful weather with the other dogs. A few days ago he played with Bella for about 2 hours out in the play yard! Watching them play made my day! They were gentle with each other, rolling around and running in the yard. They even shared a water bowl and then laid down and rested next to each other.

Chief also played with Hazel on leash. It was short and sweet but it went well. They also enjoy yelling at each other while running the fence line together.

Training-wise…let’s just say Chief has a very short attention span  but he’s food motivated so we keep sessions short but frequent.

3/31/2023 Chief was great this week. He played with Bella
in the day room “on leash” for about 35 minutes, and played with Rocco. outside, also “on leash.” He seems to enjoy other dogs and play time. I did have to crate rest him for a few days as he seemed to be favoring the leg he had surgery on.

We have been working on his basic training, and he is doing well. Still working on his focus and keeping him engaged. He is doing much better in the cell other than tearing up the toilet paper and poop bags! He has been calm and learning what’s mine and what’s his.

A tour came in this past week. Chief did great with all the people and the other dogs in HOPE. Chief will be ready for adoption soon!

3/24/2023 Chief’s Handler has been hard at work teaching him new things and Chief has been hard at work keeping things out of his mouth.

It has been two weeks and Chief is settling in fine! He loves to be around people, is loving all of the attention and even managed to learn some new things too. This week we’ve worked on:

-Play Dead

-Roll Over

-Left and Right

-Going up and down the stairs

He even got to play with two of the dogs on the block too, Rocco and Bella! He is such a goofball, jumping around and throwing paws! He’s just having a blast no matter what he’s doing!

He can finally have a dog bed in his crate without destroying it and even have some alone time in the cell without destroying things. Its still only a short amount of time, but before he would “steal” things right in front of my face!

We are still working on stay, learning that he should keep his mouth to himself, and that he has to be toweled off after a bath without shredding the towel or having to be muzzled. He’s just goof!

To make this goofball a part of your family, apply here, https://www.hopedogs.org/adoption-application/?animal_name=Chief

3/17/2023 New Kid on the Block, Chief, a.k.a. Mr. Ball-O-Fun got to know his handler and some of the other pups during his first week with HOPE.

Chief, Mr. Ball-O-Fun as I like to call him, has been just that and more during his first week!  Overall, he was pretty great. His first couple days, we took it real slow. I did not have him out of the cell much, as I wanted to build that really strong bond with him. We worked on some basic commands, and he did well with that!  He is still very young, so he loves to play. Keeping him engaged is not hard, but keeping him focused while being distracted is pretty difficult. He needs some work on that!

After the weekend, he spent some time with each handler, ran the fence line with Rocco, Jaida, Bella, and even Finn!  There was some barking, but did not see any aggression, just more of a HEY COME PLAAAAAAAAAAAAAY with me! He’s just an excited boy. I had him out a lot just playing and running, burning off some of that energy. He definitely loves people, has little to no fears that I’ve discovered so far, and he’s very curious when it comes to carts…maybe I can get him to push one?

In the cell I have to keep an eye on him, as he LOVES to just chew on things.  Let’s see, so far he has ripped some blankets, laundry bags, a pillow, chewed my shower shoes…but I don’t want to make him seem too bad.  I did learn that once I bring out all his toys, he plays with those instead.  He responds well to “no”, which I use to interrupt the naughty behavior and say, “leave it” and offer him a toy instead.

The most enduring thing about him is that this boy loves to cuddle!  And when he wants to cuddle, you cuddle because he also thinks he’s a lap dog!  I also learned that he does not like the bath, and wiping him down with a towel or wipe, gives me all the exercise I need for the week. He thinks its a game and will grab at the towel or wipe and rip them to shreds!  So we are working on muzzle training, along with teaching him to enjoy bath time.  He definitely doesn’t like his paws touched, so that’s another thing we will be working on too!  He’s already learned to give me his belly and roll over! Towards the end of the week,  I was able to put a dog bed in his crate he did not rip it (yet), but he still continues to nose and paw at the crate and tries to get out when I leave the cell.  He’s getting better, but it will take