An update for us- Chloe's arrival has been delayed due to one of the volunteer pilots needing to cancel his "leg" of the flight to bring Chloe to SD.
So, for the time being she is at my friend's house in CT and we're in the process of trying to re-arrange a flight. Or some other means of transport.
Anyway, Chloe's presence is not exactly "easy" at said friend's house. She didn't anticipate taking this dog on; she works full-time and doesn't have time to work with her as much as she needs. Right now it's a temporary solution to what's hopefully a temporary problem.
Chloe doesn't like her crate, apparently- which makes sense considering she was likely never exposed to one (properly, or at all) until now. Her long stay in the shelter no doubt led to some anxiety about being confined. She defecates, howls and screeches when crated. I currently don't know if she is destructive when left uncrated. Either way, with me being home, her "crate time" should be minimal- or if she behaves herself- none at all. I will work on de-sensitizing her to the crate with positive associations.
Housebreaking needs work & she is already in the habit of pottying only on concrete. Here, she won't have much of a choice- grass is it. I plan to umbilical-cord in the house & work on focus and manners.
Evidently she's just a ball of energy- nippy, scratchy, overzealous. I plan to spend a lot of time just working on handler focus and targeting exercises. When I'm not with her outside training or exercising her, we'll be inside working on "mental exercise" games. She kind of needs "doggy boot camp" and thankfully I am in the right place at the right time to provide that for her.
It sounds like she's got the worst of both breeds in the "energy" department and it's amplified- she sounds more like a young Malinois than an ACD OR a Basenji in terms of neurotic energy. Thankfully, she seems to have the ACD's biddability and the intelligence of both breeds…..I won't know until I have her but I am fairly sure I can work with that