Our Newest Great Love: Token Joined Our Family + Pup Learning Favorites

On Friday, January 30th, we brought home our newest great love and family member, Token. Our second daughter. We love her so much!

It had been just 3 months and 3 days since we had to let our baby Deacon go to sleep. We have a big love for pups, but we had no intention of bringing home another baby so soon after our legend, our sweet Deacon, went to heaven.

I met Token at the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter (WCRAS) in Georgetown when I went to pick up a pup as part of their Doggy Day Out program, to bring them for a Bring a Shelter Pup to Work Day with me. I was supposed to pick up Gabriel, who seemed to be an Akita (maybe mix). When I got there, thankfully for Gabriel, he had gone to a foster home (cue the confetti). Since then, his foster adopted him (Happy Home, Gabriel!).

There were two other pups that I could take out, I had mentioned my love for Shepherds when they shared about Token, but I let them know I wanted them to choose based on who would be best for the adventure I had planned and who it would be best for. Token it was.

I met her in the play yard. When they brought her out, I could tell she was a cautious, gentle girl. We took our hello slow, and she quickly warmed up to me with treats. Treats are one of her love languages.

Long story medium, as Jorge says, Token knew I was her momma before I did, and after a Saturday visit with Jorge (with still no plans of fostering or adopting her), then a planned Tuesday park adventure the next week (by then the fostering talks had grown), and that park adventure not being able to happen (maybe we’ll share more on that later), a plan to foster turned into our girl joining our family. I’ll share more about how Token joined our family and about her in another blog.

It’s been about two weeks with Token. Life with Token, just like with our other pups, is full of love. And like our other babies, she’s got big feelings.

Token is such an incredible pup. She’s so intelligent and eager to please, and is a dream in many ways. She loves me so much, and happily shows her love and appreciation in the most adorable Token ways. She learns quickly, has such good manners, and so far, is easy to walk on a leash and doesn’t seem to be reactive to other pups when we’re in the neighborhood. I love how much energy she has and that she has a crazy drive for smell (and food : D), and that she loves to play. After a few days at home, I learned she has a wildly good whistle recall, she comes running to me so quick and happy, it makes my heart feel so full.

Chloe and Sebastián haven’t met Token yet, we’re planning that for a little further out, after Token settles in more and we feel like the time is right for Chloe and Sebastián, too.

Token is super cautious of men, scared, really. She loves her poppa in her heart, but not quite in real life yet. She’ll come up to him for treat tosses or take treats from his hand, and give his hand a little lick sometimes, but Jorge is mindful not to move quickly, to use a calm voice, and he does his best not approach her facing her. He’s usually got his back to her, is facing sideways, or sitting down, and he *does not* make eye contact : D. They are making tiny progress, but big progress for Token, and I hope over time, she’ll realize just how wonderful and loving her poppa is.

With how much I love Token, I was not prepared for how emotional it would be having another pup so soon after our sweet Deacon. That’s been hard in a lot of ways. I knew it was soon, but I knew we had a connection, and I wanted to save her from the shelter, and to do our best to give her the home that she deserves and needs. Love prevailed over logic. Not just logic about it being so soon after our baby Deacon, but about what it would mean for the dynamic of our home, and likely challenges with Chloe and Sebastián and Token, due to all of their personalities and preferences. With a lot of hope, love, and work, we’ll be doing our best to help Token heal and learn (and of course be happy and adventure), as we do, too, and for all of our babies to get along, with the dream of them getting along happily.

I also underestimated, or really, didn’t even think much about, the amount of time and effort that would be needed to help Token settle in and learn, so that she can be a happy, confident pup. When talking about bringing her home, I was mostly focused on the logistics of bringing her home, like our home being ready for her (which was so fun, I told Jorge I was nesting : D), and us having a safe setup and plan for her being here with Chloe and Sebastián, and the same for them. We are committed to doing our best to help her so that all our pups can live their best lives possible together.

Thankfully, we’ve had lots of experience with pups with big feelings, and a range of them. Because of that, we’ve learned a lot from our vet, who we love so much, trainers, and resources. These are some of my favorites, and ones I’ve been learning from again since Token has come home or would love to again at some point. I’ll be sharing more about what we’re learning and working on over more blogs and posts.

• Susan Garrett – We were introduced to her training when we were learning with Sebastián at DePaw. We love her Crate Games and I’m interested in her Recallers course. I really like her podcast and YouTube, too. She teaches based on positive reinforcement.
• Method K9 – I first discovered Stephanie and Method K9 through Instagram, years ago. We’ve previously worked with her and another trainer at Method through virtual sessions. Through that, we joined Method K9 Institute, which offers subscription-based online learning in the form of videos. The way she teaches and communicates is clear, direct, provides a solid understanding of dog behavior and the reasoning behind their training techniques, as well as easy to follow instructions. Although I understand how a balance of positive and negative reinforcement can be effective in behavior modification, we have chosen to stay with positive reinforcement methods. We have not adopted all of their approach. As with many things, we’ve stayed with what aligns with us.
• Every Dog – They offer group and private sessions, with online options, too. They are unique in that they offer financial assistance for training, if this is helpful in moving forward with training. I’ve volunteered with Every Dog for their group classes, and we’ve done private sessions for Sebastián. Kay Damron is no longer with them, she relocated, but she is one of my absolute favorite behavior trainers we’ve ever worked with, and that’s where we found the most value for our learning and Sebastián’s with Every Dog. Everyone that I’ve met at Every Dog is great, their group classes are equally as valuable, depending on what you and your pup need. I also love that you can rent their agility room, which we’ve done for Sebastián to adventure in. We plan to do this again for all of our pups, even if they adventure separately : D.
• See Spot Behave – We were introduced to Debbie and Diane of See Spot Behave through Kay, of Every Dog, because we were needing to add in-person at-home sessions, and this wasn’t an option through Every Dog because of where we live. Debbie and Diane have been great to work with, and we’ve continued to learn so much. I appreciate that they truly take the time to understand us and our pups (we have only done sessions so far with Sebastián), and that they educate us so well along the way. I appreciate when people are patient, thorough, understanding, and truly teach to educate, and this is very much them.
• Veterinary Behaviour Consultants – It’s been years now since we’ve worked with Dr. Martin and Debbie, but what we learned was incredibily helpful, and at some point, I can see us potentially working with them again. Like Kay and the team of See Spot Behave, they took the time to learn about our pups and evaluate them, explained what they learned and their recommendations, gave us a very detailed plan of how to move forward, and were available to help with questions along the way, even in between sessions. One of the advantages of working with them, is that they can prescribe medication (if it’s needed as behavior support for behavior modification) and train.
• Scent Work Across Texas – Michelle is such a great teacher, and the set up of her classes are perfect for our pups. The classes we’ve been to are designed so that the dogs have a very limited, if any, view of of each other, and the class takes place in a large open room, with limited distractions. The nosework classes are so much fun. We’ve only taken her classes with Sebastián so far, but plan to with Token, too, and I would love for Chloe to go one day (I’m not sure if even with how well the pup setup is, that the environment would be for her). I wish I would have known about nosework classes when our Deacon was younger, I’m sure he would have loved them. We did do some sniffari’s at home that were scent work based, and he loved it.
• DePaw Dog Sports & Training Academy – Another Sebastián adventure. We took two different types of classes with Sebastián, Puppy Foundations and Pre-Agility, and had such a good experience at DePaw. This is where we got introduced to Susan Garrett’s Crate Games and where Sebastián started learning agility skills. Part of the reason we haven’t gone back with Sebastián is his reactivity to dogs. We still incorporate a lot of what we’ve learned at home, at the park, or out an about.
• ChatGPT – I couldn’t leave this one off. I use ChatGPT often, and it’s been so helpful as a pup resource. One of the ways I use it is by giving a prompt, including details about Token, or our other pups, what is going on that I’m waiting help with or to learn about, and including the trainers or methods that we like to use, and see what comes back, giving more information or asking more questions if needed.

My main focus with Token, besides us showing her lots of love and that she’s safe, has been on a steady, sustainable routine and foundational skills. I’m also working on getting Token more comfortable with being alone, and micro progress with her poppa, her house (crate), car rides, and party mask (muzzle): all of which bring on anxiety and big feelings for her. She’s getting a solid foundation, and happily interacts with each of these, including her poppa, and the car as long as it’s not moving, for short amounts of time.

We love our Token so much, and I’m dreaming of the day when she’s more settled, and she’s playing and sunbathing in our yard with Chloe and Sebastián, with baby Deacon there in spirit.