This is blind Mitch, a handsome Husky who came to us a year ago. You haven't heard much about him since then because, to be quite honest, for a while there we weren't sure what we were going to do with him. He arrived with an alpha personality and a dominant "don't mess with me" attitude, and as long as he got his way, he was sweet and playful. But when he didn't get his way, we could have a problem on our hands.
So we enrolled him in Camp Rolling Dog's "attitude adjustment program" — think Marine boot camp for wayward canines. He had to learn quickly exactly who was the boss around here, and who was the pipsqueak, no-account, mush-for-brains Husky who had to ask permission before he could lift a leg on the nearest fencepost.
What we learned in working with him was that 99% of the time, he's a wonderful dog. It's that other 1% we had to focus on. As a result of his dominance issues, he is in a yard by himself during the day because he has the kind of disposition that is unpredictable with other dogs. He likes to race around with them and play, but he plays rough — and if another dog growls to tell him "Mitch, back off, that's too much," he'll whip around and pounce on the other dog. So, Mitch has to be in a dog yard by himself, though he has the other dogs all around him in the adjoining yards.
He's a highly strung alpha who had to learn to accept that his person is the real alpha — and for that to happen, his person needs to be a bossy, dominant alpha. [Alayne says: "Well, guess who had no problem filling that role!"] As a result of working with Mitch, we haven't had any problems with him in a long time … and now he shows a deferential and respectful attitude towards us. But his social skills with other dogs remain a challenging "work-in-progress."
This just goes to show you that a disability like blindness doesn't prevent an animal's true personality from flourishing — but nor did his blindness contribute to, or worsen, his dominance issues. It's just who he is.
I originally was going to title this post "Turbocharger," because that's how much energy he has — this boy is in constant motion:
I would give anything to have 10% of his energy level!
—
Still No. 1!
Please keep voting for the ranch every
day in The Animal Rescue
Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge.
Thanks
to your votes, we came in third nationwide and won $3,000 for the
animals in the previous contest. Now we have a shot at No. 1 and the
$20,000 grand prize! Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote. Please ask
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Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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