Quincy, from Polish straydog to Dutch service dog

Two weeks have passed and we're off the Cortavance all together... :D And for now, Quincy is doing well without it. This coming Friday evening we will be doing our exam for the "Dog safety in traffic and public" course. A course we did this winter...each Friday evening, in the dark :D We had to walk certain routes through town and on the route there would be vollunteers from the dogschool who, for example, would pass us on skates or a bike (and the dog of course is not supposed to bark or lunge etc), or asking us the way while holding shoppingbags in their hands (and swinging them of course :D ), traffic lights, visiting terraces while the dog would lay calmly and out of the way, passing other dogs, musicians, etc. All kinds of situations you can encounter with your dog when you walk on the streets and shoppingmalls and such :)

On April 9th, we will start with our 4th course :D Can't wait... Sports and play for the very advanged ;) We will be doing some agility, balance and coordination, hoopers, treibball, etc all kinds of fun stuff :)

A little over a week ago we had our first experience with Balance and Coordination since one of my friends is studying to become a traner in that area and she needed dogs to practice with :)

Here's Quincy doing some balancing on an airmatrass :D
https://youtu.be/9OrNh7WjAbI

And here we are doing some excercises with crates. You can tell it's a first for both me and Quincy...I have no clue what I am doing, hahaha...I'm busy getting her over the crates but not experienced enough yet to get her in the right positions, to lead her the right way....we're both searching and learning :)
https://youtu.be/2xAUq8xPVO0

And that she is a happy girl...is easy to see in this video. This is my livingroom, most of the time...Quincy playing, squeeking, making a mess with her toys scattered all over the place... :)
https://youtu.be/eEfrJEvhSVU

And of course, her work... We cuddle, the phone rings... I don't have to say a thing :)
https://youtu.be/G0_lHxOhbbU

And for fun, we do some "service dog agiliy" which of course doesn't exist but it's kind of like agility just not with obstacles. We run a course through the livingroom where Quincy has to perform service dogs tasks...and that is just for fun indeed :D
https://youtu.be/c72MrrhQ_x0

My little black beauty and brains... ;)

Saskia and Quincy :)

Love the video's of Quincy. She is a smart, beautiful dog. But then why not. Look at what a great mother she has.
Love Sonja, Apollo

Thank you, Sonja... Life with Quincy is such a joy, my beautifil black haired Polish girl :D

Sas and Quincy :)

Quincy on a bed of wood anemones... :)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

She is such a beautiful girl!

Another month has passed :) Quincy is back on the Cortavance spray for her itching but doing well. She had her yearly exam and her teeth were cleaned. All bloodresults looked good and she did well :) We passed our "Dog Safety in Traffic and Public" exam with all A's... and today we had our second lesson from our new course "Sports and play for the advanced" :)

Here we are training some at home after our first class. She has to sit up with her front paws in the air and then she has to switch sides as she lays down...kind of like fitness for dogs :D
https://youtu.be/YzAIRPzzQMk

Here she is just having some fun with her toy cow:
https://youtu.be/qYXdfsMPJDY

Playing with her friend Maybe:
https://youtu.be/KeftbiDxVTE

And today's second class:
https://youtu.be/OfnsGDu2wWc

I have such a fun life with Quincy, never a dull moment with her around :)

Saskia and Quincy :D

It give me great joy to see you and Quincy enjoying your lives together so much! You are both beautiful Souls and such a blessing to us all!

Awww, so cute! She really is full of life and I think it would be fun hanging out and living with Quincy too.

:)

Love, love, love seeing you and Quincy learning together! Also great that her annual exam went well.

It's been a little over a month since I last updated :) And since then, nothing has changed. Life with Quincy is simply wonderful, her allergies being the only thing that causes us some grief every now and then. But she's as happy and as playful as a dog could be..."inhaling life" with everything she's got :D She'll be turning 4 next month but not slowing down at all :p

Well, time to share some more video's ;)

This is during our "fun class", close to our "Kings Day" when everything turns orange here in The Netherlands...and so did the dogs :D
https://youtu.be/AVxkcO9Bwa4

Off leash through the petstore:
https://youtu.be/AVxkcO9Bwa4

I had to spent some time at the hospital and was hooked up on an IV...the IV started beeping when it was done, Quincy can't be bothered with the noise :p
https://youtu.be/AHflknIa-iQ

Our fun course of may the 14th:
https://youtu.be/dQB-DGfNyH8

Running, jumping, squeeking her toy...all at the same time:
https://youtu.be/evrCeIJltjc

Her allergy-shot followed by a cuddle:
https://youtu.be/o4cCvENemJI

Even when she's outside relaxing in the sun, when she hears something drop...I do not not have to say a thing or call for her, she will come and pick it up:
https://youtu.be/-1yeK6CWpfI

And yesterday's class:
https://youtu.be/WSe_QCIAxZw

They say it all...we're very happy together :)

Sas and Quincy :)

Quincy is such a treasure and seeing the two of you together just does the heart good. :)

Absolutely yes to what Sharlene just wrote above!! :) :) :)

Hi! I watched your latest videos this weekend and enjoyed them so much, I went back to the beginning of the thread and watched some of those, too! I am so thoroughly impressed by Quincy's progress... and yours with her.

I hope to finish going through the thread this weekend, but didn't want to wait until then to comment. You two are such a joy to watch. :)

Shana

Oh Sas, the allergy shot video brought tears to my eyes. The stillness that can only come from a complete trust while she is being poked with a big needle, not a peep out of her and we are talking about a dog here. There are no words that can express what I feel of her. No wonder your life with Quins is wonderful. She's absolutely the best! Sending you both hugs. Song

Yes, she's something else indeed :) It's not even 2 years ago she came to live with me, not knowing anything at all, not even the word "sit" :) So scared, she would pee on my pants, laying on my lap in my wheelchair... :D Afraid to open a drawer because ewwwwwww...it moved :p Or to close a curtain because again ewwwww...it moved :D Our first course we took, she was scared of everything, the tunnel, the cavaletti...and look at her now :)

Can't say it any better than with this song...
https://youtu.be/UFF1wJN75Z0

And I DO tell her, every day.... :)

Saskia and Quincy :)

In the past month, we've had 2 celebrations :) First Quincy's 4th birthday on June 17th and secondly, on July the 2nd, she was here exactly 2 years :) And not a day goes by that I am not incredably grateful for having her in my life :D

I clearly remember how that little black girl, stepped into my backyard, my home, my life and my heart...and how she, after an initial shy and fearfull start, put on her seven-league-boots and changed herself around and learned everything she needed to know to become a certified service dog, in just a little under 6 weeks time :D

And look at us now, 2 years later, many hospital visits later, many trips to stores and pharmacies later, countless times of undressing later, countless times of closing the curtains later..., 5 certificates later in obedience, trafic safety and sports and play and now hoopers, she is thriving and loving every minute of her life, every aspect of it :)

Here's a video of an ordinary walk, something we do several times a day:
https://youtu.be/KdK5KjSNFiQ

Here's our first introduction to Hoopers :
https://youtu.be/V3KqbdvkqW0

Here she is in the shoe store with me:
https://youtu.be/6khXghqiIqE

Here she gets me a drying cloth after I did the dishes:
https://youtu.be/BqlKW9ofsWw

Here it was extremely hot, too hot to go for a walk, so we went for a ride instead :D :
https://youtu.be/e-nuFoS1Tkw

Here she gets me the old dishbrush I use to clean the snail traps:
https://youtu.be/UzuV-Y8J4j4

Here she gets me the remote... :) :
https://youtu.be/HnsxrTRq6X8

And she has a special harness when we go to our hoopers course...she knows where it's at:
https://youtu.be/bFa09RbC_vE

Hard to imagine now that she used to chase every duck or goose she saw... :
https://youtu.be/tYr6EZrqxI8

Hoopers training, gets more difficult every time ;) :
https://youtu.be/24RZabfXRwQ

Well, that should keep you all busy for some time... :p

Saskia and Quincy :)

Hey Saskia,

It may be the computer I'm using but besides the first video all the others are the same, with the hoopers.

Happy belated Birthday, Quincy!!!!!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY QUINCY!!!!:D

We are extremely grateful that both of you are in our lives and vital part of our K9C family.

Hugs,
Kathy

Oh my... :D I will change that right away, sorry folks ;)

And thank you for the birthday wishes... :)

Saskia and Quincy :)

Changed it, should be all differant videos now :)

I'm at work so don't have time to watch these now (but oh how I want to!!)

Happy belated birthday, Quincy!!

Ah yes, the time differance...it is evening here but not there yet :) Quincy is part doxie...still can't get over that :D Hope you get of work soon and can enjoy a calm and quiet evening, with or without the video's :)

Saskia :)

Belated Happy Birthday Quincy!

The video was great:) Quincy is so adorable, thanks for sharing this.

Quincy is part doxie?! Ah she is so cute! I love her ears!!! :D

The videos were wonderful; she is so intently focused. Such a good, smart girl. Thank you for sharing them!

Shana

Thanks all for the (belated) birthday wishes :D

Yes, I had a DNA test done on her and she is 50% Giant Schnauzer ( :eek: ), 25% smoothhair Dachshund ( :eek: ) and 25% Mudi :D If you look at the parental lines, and they go 4 generations back, than one line (either her dad or her mom) is all 100% purebred Giant Schnauzers, all 4 generations. The other line, the three generations the furtest away, are all purebred smoothhair Dachshunds and the last generation ( so the direct parent of Quincy) is a cross smoothair Dachshund x Mudi . So Quincy's father or mother was at least 4 generations back 100% purebred Giant Schnauzer and her other parent was a mix Dachshund x Mudi (with nothing but Dachshund in the generations before). The ears had to come from somewhere, right? :p Both Schnauzers and Dachshunds have floppy ears... So yes, she is part Doxie...who would have guessed :D But it is the Mudi character (for the most part) and looks that are most obvious :) What the heck is a Mudi...? :D http://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/mudi/ They have a somewhat longer fur but other then that, she resembles a Mudi pretty closely :)

Saskia,

She is just adorable and so smart! She makes me want to go home and train all four of my dogs...

WOW! What a mix of breeds.

"What the heck is a Mudi?", is right! I read the DNA results and searched to find the same link you provided... yep, must be where those ears come from. :D The picture on the top of that page looks so much like her, from what I can tell. Interesting how that is one of the smaller parts of her DNA but she looks so much more like that breed than the others.

I missed Quincy's birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Quincy!! You adorable girl!

Isn't she just a hoot! So smart and loving and willing. Gosh never seen a dog so willing to just do whatever is asked of her.

About time for some new video's :D

Quincy helping me with putting on my coat, quite unusual to see a service dog helping putting clothes on ;)
https://youtu.be/1b0Bd65OhT0

Enjoying our time together...
https://youtu.be/H4w63ECmGVc

And today's Hooperclass, our 5th :D
https://youtu.be/AwtmaEM09Bg

Someone in class today said Quincy was about to become the new Hooper Champion ;) But I told her, that I really didn't care about the Hoopers but that to me, Quincy was the champion of being happy, the only "championship" that counts...in my book ;)

But what I mean is, that I do not care if she exels or not...as long as she has fun, that's the only purpose of going to class...having fun :D

Saskia and Quincy :)

She is amazing, Saskia! How do you do it? I have all I can do to get my dogs to sit. Sibbie has that down pat now, and whenever she gets out of hand I make her sit and stay for a minute to calm down. They all know how to sit and give a paw. We are working on that with Sibbie now, but that is as much as I have been able to teach them. None of them will stay or come on command.

Well, I of course have the advantage of having just one dog and she gets all the attention, training and freetime exclusively...that helps a lot ;) And secondly, I picked her for her ability to learn and for her sheer joy in "working" that also helps a lot :D Ans thirdly, I spent a lot of time connecting with her, creating and deepening our bond...in my opinion even more important then any other training :) We play a lot, we go for walks a lot, we do the Hoopers class just because Quincy likes it so much, we cuddle a lot and we sleep together...all things hat will establish a strong and firm bond :) And about the walks...they should be walks "together" and they should be fun and fullfilling. Not the same round every day, not pulling the dog because he/she is sniffing somewhere too long and you're in a hurry... Try to go for walks with your dog...and pretend being a dog too :p Sniffing is essential! Do not drag your dog away from that highly interesting spot, not even if it takes them 5 minutes to complete their sniffing. Show interest in that spot, look in that direction...let your dog know you understand the importance. And, be a little crazy...let your dog decide where to go on a walk and in what pace :D Make it a joined experience ;) Walking the dog...is for the dog. Cause it spend a long time alone at home perhaps because you were out working. Or because is stayed indoors a lot because you were busy....doing things. If you go for a walk, make it count and make it dog time :D And besides, sniffing is very calming, satisfying and tiring to dogs. You'll do your dog a huge favour if you change routes with every walk, if you let him sniff his little heart out, if you let him decide his "dog" pace instead of making him rush because of our human schedules... It's things like this, that will create a strong and intimate bond with your dog and that will make for a willing and participating dog when you train and "work" with him :)

Some Quincy "at work" :) Getting her harness, getting me a chocolatemilk and putting away her harness...still so happy with her "work"

https://youtu.be/m-fOd01NHdE


Sas :)

I continue to be amazed at the skills that you have taught Quincy -- you are both remarkable! :D

Wow! Quincy is lucky to have you.
Love Sonja and Apollo

You are both amazing!

She is the light of my life... :)

Saskia :)

There are many times when I can't sleep and my heart is heavy that I go to YouTube to watch your videos.....they always lift my spirits. You and your babies are oh so special, Sas.

Awwww Leslie... :)

We've entered november already, can you believe it? :) Time goes by so quickly...but it is time well spend with Quincy at my side :D She's doing extremely well, in every way possible. Even her atopy is quite well under control for the past couple of months :D And things can change in a heartbeat but for now, I'm really and truly happy how well she is doing :) It's "hard work" the implement everything needed to make sure she stays the best possible, but well worth it :)

As far as I am concerned, I am deteriating slowly and live becomes increasingly harder. The Oxycodon had to be stopped because it made me very ill. Under the supervision of a specialist, I have tried every painkiller available and they all made me very, very sick. But without painkillers, I cannot function anymore so I had to do something. Finally I said, give me some cortisones because I cannot go through one more day in the state that I am in.... And so they did :) Thankfully, I deal very well with the cortisones, they do not make me sick (or hungry, or thirsty... :D ) and I feel sooooo much better. So, since about 2 months now, I am on a daily dose of Prednison :) Of course, they come with a whole bunch of other pills (calcium, potassium and then some) but I can live again...and make it through the day :) Of course it's not a first choice drug but if everything else fails, it's all there is left. And my life is now... right here and right now :) For now I am happy with my Pred...and if and when the side effects start popping up and become bottersome... Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there :) (I feel like I am in the lion's den with my Pred use :p )

Our Hoopers teacher made a video of Quincy, last saturday during training and I am sooo proud of my little black beauty :D She can now go through 4 Hoopers and around a barrel on just my voice :D Normally in Hoopers, you use arms for directions and you can even walk along a bit in a 3 x 3 meters handler area. I cannot do all those things, so no gestures, no walking along, just my voice....and Quincy is the only one who can do what she does :D All other still struggle with going through 2 Hoopers, let alone go around a barrel ;) And we all started our Hoopers training at the same time... Miss Quincy is amazing ;)

https://www.facebook.com/Mascha1975/...3934588964994/

There hardly is time to film it, she's that fast ;)

All our best to all my friends here...

Saskia and Quincy :)

Sweet Sas, I am so so glad you finally decided to try the pred. Steroids are tough, no question, but they are also life-savers. I saw my dad come back to life on pred and over time he was able to cut his dose back to the barest minimum that still worked so he missed a lot of the side effects for quite some time yet still got the benefit of the drug. Whatever it takes, I am happy to hear you feel better and stronger today. YAY!!!

I tried to watch the link but it says it's not available at the moment so I will try again later. I am sure it is precious, and amazing, as always!

I tried to Saskia, same thing. I am glad you are feeling better!