What are you and your dogs up to today? Part 2

[DianeLDL]

Diane, he's finally quietened down, thank goodness. We'll be heading off for bed in a moment so hopefully he'll settle down OK. He had a pain relief injection when he was under, which could have worn off, but I don't think the pain is the problem - it's a reaction to the drugs he had.

It was because of health & safety that I couldn't be with him - something to do with the gas that is needed for a full anaesthetic. I haven't had a problem with looking at the wound - I don't know why, I don't feel as bad as when I see similar wounds on TV. Maybe I know I have to be strong for my lad OH is avoiding looking at it though - bless your OH Diane

Do you know what metal Sandy's tags are made of? Some people can't wear any metal other than gold (unless that's just what they tell their partners ) so he could be sensitive to the metal. Can you get plastic tags, or rectangular tags that slide onto collars?

Many adults also react to the gas they use during anesthesia, so I am not surprised. OH hates anesthesia since he doesnt like not being aware of what is happening (his law enforcement training?), so when OH had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from his forearm, he had only a local!

I believe thst you having taken care of kids and seen and dealt with all kinds of scrapes and injuries, you are able to look at the sugical wound. Me, as an RN, I have no problems with it, too.

I am glad that Jasper is finally settling down. He probsbly just needs a bit of reassurance like young kids. Also, the surgical area may be bothing him. At least, he can't reach the area. Bless your OH, too. It is funny how some men can handle all kinds of stuff, but looking at a surgical area, they can't do it.

He has had these tyoes of metal tags for four years now, but he could have developed an allergy. This is not the first time he has scratched the area raw. Problem is that they are the official licenses-one for his rabies and one for city of Albuquerque license. And the third is from Home Again where Sandy is registered and has an 800 phone number in case he gets lost, anyone can call them and they can confirm his microchip and has all of our phone numbers, etc.
I will see of there is a plastic pocket or something that can hold these licenses. I think it is probably because they hang down and itches or just bugs him, i could also see about sewing something, but I would be afraid that if it is fabric, then it may not dry if wet. Anyway, I will look into what I may be able to do.

Have a good night. Sandy sends his healing licks to Jasper.
)))Hugs(((
Diane

[Erica]

Diane,

Look for "pet tag silencers." They're made to keep tags from jangling together but most will have the side effect of being s kind of pouch you can put all the tags in. A quick google search showed me these: http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Spot-Pet-Si ... B0017JE522

You may be able to find something similar in a pet store. Good luck! Whether it's just the motion of the tags or the metal itself, the pouch kinds of things ought to help a bit.

(Funny anecdote about rabies tags: Zeus somehow manages to bend and mangle his tags. I'll see if I have a picture!)

Judy, so glad Jasper is feeling quieter hope the night goes well for y'all !

Edit: Oh yes, exciting news: Delta has begun to lift his leg to pee! It's still 30% lifting, 70% squatting, but that's still an improvement

[Sweetie's Human]

Diane do you use a harness for Sandy? Sweetie had some hair off the top of her chest and we discovered it was the harness rubbing. We bought a harness that fitted differently and she was fine after that. Just an idea.

Glad Jasper has quietened down a bit. I hate coming out of anaesthetic. It's bad enough when you know and understand what's happened, so I can only imagine how distressing it would be for a dog, who has no concept of operations, etc. Poor baby - Sweetie sends pug-hugs.

I'm off to NZ again on Tuesday and OH will follow on the Saturday. We're over there for a family wedding so we can't get my parents to Sweetie-sit for us, as they'll be with us. So Sweetie is going to stay with our friends who have a golden retriever x standard poodle who Sweetie gets along with. She'll be with them for a week. I've spent the morning writing up lists of what OH mustn't forget to take over to their place on Friday night when he drops her off (I'll already be gone by then) and lists of Sweetie's habits and idiosyncrasies for our friends (eg, eye-boogers, what needs to be wiped when, etc. They really are wonderful friends!!). It's made me realise what a complete nutcase I really am!! Luckily, my friend is equally mad with her own dog. She tells me she makes the same list every time they go away and her mother comes to dog-sit.

Anyway, I'm just so happy that Sweetie is going to be in a home where she will be loved and cared for properly. It's the first time we've been away together since we got her.

[JudyN]

What wonderful friends to have, SH - enjoy the wedding

Jasper slept! He didn't come up with us and slept downstairs. I heard him whining quietly at 5am and called to him but he didn't appear and soon quietened. He was whingy and unsettled again when OH got up with him at 7am and still had wild staring eyes, staring into space at times, but he's now sleeping quietly. The poor lad - whatever's going in his brain, it must be so confusing!

[bendog]

Lucky you have friends you trust to leave sweetie with, I hate leaving my dogs!

I've been dog sitting all week for a spaniel and although I've been seeing my dogs every day for walks/cuddles, and OH has been off work all week, it has been taking it's toll on me and my dogs

Even Sash has been wagging her tail like crazy when she sees me (she never wags her tail at anything unless she's barking at something, or searching for food)

I feel so awful leaving them as they all stand at the door and give me sad eyes wanting to come with me
And OH text last night saying Poppy is really moping
Still, only 2 days left, and it's good money so I can't afford to turn jobs like this down.

I tried bringing Poppy over for a night last time I dog sat here (with owners permission) but the spaniel spent hours just trying to pester her and hump her and pops was really really doing her best to tell him off nicely but he wouldn't take the hint and it wasn't fair on her as she was getting really annoyed, and not fair on spaniel either as I ended up putting him on lead near me to stop him doing it and he just whined constantly instead. Since I am paid to look after him I wouldn't feel right crating him just so poppy could be loose. They walk together all the time, but he just wouldn't settle with her in the house even after a long walk together.

[JudyN]

You wouldn't want to have dogs who didn't care if you were there or not though, Amy

I've just thought... stitch removal Are Jasper's stitches likely to be self-dissolving or not? If not, how long will they need to stay in for, and how traumatic (for Jasper, for me and for the vet) is removal likely to be?

Jasper looks much more himself now, though still has whiney moments. He's had a lead walk (no off-lead for a couple of days at least and I'll probably not let him off till after his check-up on Tuesday) and showed off his war wounds to the lady in the pet shop. We'll take him out again shortly as I don't want him to suddenly get a burst of pent-up energy later.

[jacksdad]

step away from this thread a couple days and Jasper gets wounded.

So, I have seen Jasper's wound...what did the other "guys" look like?

Jasper needs to work on his story and make it a good one.

OH, and tell him...Chicks dig scars

[JudyN]

You never know JD, it could have been a roe deer antler that did the damage, and who knows how the roe deer fared? Jasper did get a lot of attention from the laydees this afternoon, but unfortunately it was the human laydees who wanted to fuss over him. He had a grumble at a bouncy young laydee puppy, though I'm not sure if this was because he was feeling vulnerable, or he could sense my fear of him being bounced on.

One thing worse than a guardy dog is a guardy dog with a poor appetite He wouldn't eat his tea, which I'd put in the conservatory, but wouldn't leave it either - then he asked to go out into the garden which meant me walking past his tea... then as I opened the door to the garden he had a 'moment' because he thought I might be trying to get at his food

So I had to stand in the corner with my back to him, with the door into the conservatory and the door into the garden open and OH wondering why it had suddenly got cold in the house, while Jasper decided that the only way of keeping his food safe was to force it down his throat. All is peaceful again now, but I'm quite surprised he hasn't thrown up

[bendog]

. wouldn't want to have dogs who didn't care if you were there or not though, Amy

True, some of the dogs I walk at first barely seem to realise that their is a human attached to the end of the lead
Of course I'm sure that they are very affectionate and loving at home but I like that my gang check in with me, and generally listen and want to interact.

I think, rather than missing me as such, mostly my lot will be just really really bored at home with OH though, I've been walking them, but usually they would be getting some mental stimulation too throughout the day, even if it's just a handful of kibble chucked in the garden to sniff out, or a brief run through of a couple of tricks. I often feel like I don't do enough with my dogs, and in a way it's true because I don't give them nearly enough 1-1 time, and don't very often these days spend time working on new things, or training things that need to improve, but it's so much part of life now to occasionally grab a handful of treats and do something with the dogs, or play tuggy with them, and when OH is in charge he just sleeps all day and expects them to sleep too

Spaniel owners back on Monday. Whenever I start dog sitting him I always panic how I am going to cope with his energy, and by the end of the week I think I'll miss him when I leave! It's so much easier to fit training games and food puzzles into daily routine with just one dog! I've been giving him his kibble in a different (homemade) food puzzle every night, and his wet food in Kongs. But because he is a spaniel and he LOVES scent games, instead of just handing him his Kong I've been hiding it and then sending him to find it, and we do this about 3x a day, making it harder as the week has gone on.

I'd love to be able to do more of that kind of thing with my lot too but it's a logistical nightmare with a food guarder and trying to do it individually when the others don't want to be patient and wait their turn.

[JudyN]

Jasper had his check-up today, and is healing up nicely. Stitches out in a week, and ideally I'd keep him on lead for a few more days, mainly so he doesn't catch the wound & stitches on anything. He's been really good on lead, but today he's beginning to fray at the edges He's running ahead of me and getting mouthy if I go upstairs before going out for a walk, and this evening he wanted to play - and play rough. Then he went into humpy mode. I told him to settle down on his bed, then I picked up a toy and said OK to release him from his bed - but he clearly thought I meant 'OK, you can hump me now' Destruction boxes and training planned for tomorrow!

It's funny, as often on walks he spends almost all his time mooching and sniffing and doesn't do that much running - and I've been letting him mooch and sniff and go down all the little side paths he wants to. But off-lead mooching and the occasional run must make quite a lot of difference after all. I dread to think what he'd be like if he ever needed crate rest, it would be an absolute nightmare!

[Erica]

Delta kept swallowing 6" bully sticks whole (chewing them was too much effort or something). Here's my solution:


Hopefully the 36" stick lasts a few more dinnertimes for me! Breakfast he takes a nap during, lunch I eat waiting for the kids to get out of school. Dinnertime, when he's awake and ready to play, is the most difficult meal for me to get him to settle down for.

Also, his grooming table got here a couple days ago. I'm going to make sure he isn't likely to try to jump off (...again) before I start grooming him or anything. I put him up there for the first time and gave him a high-value chew/treat (takes him less than ten seconds to eat), and then he jumped over my arm to get off the table to eat it. :/ So yeah, I'm being extra careful with him there. Thank goodness I didn't have him attached to the grooming arm/leashy thing then! I'm going to use a breakaway collar while we're training. The "stay on the table" will be simple open-bar/closed-bar stuff...treats on the table, put him on the ground, no treats...put him on the table, lots of treats, etc.



(The hand is to keep him from looking to jump off!)

[JudyN]

Aw, he's looking wonderful. Nice rug, by the way!

[JudyN]

With Jasper on lead, we can go to bits of the wood I can't normally take him as it's too close to the road. This afternoon we discovered a badgers' earth (I think) with several entrances:



Jasper was intrigued - if he wasn't on lead he'd have been down there, which could have had interesting consequences! OH reminded me that Jasper's breeder had mentioned that Jasper's dad had had a fight with a badger so maybe it's a family tradition I'm pretty sure he hasn't got any dachsund genes in him though

He's been calmer today after three hours walking. Shame I can't say the same for my dodgy knee

[mansbestfriend]

Jasper seems to be enjoying himself . Get well soon.

A foster GH is back for another stay, and he fit straight back in to our routine/s fairly well. Is a dream to walk and explore with, on a loose leash.

Kelly the KelpieXStaffy can sometimes still be a handful when walking. She usually responds to verbal cues well but mainly has a Kelpie-type mind of her own outside of that, which can get tiring. But (almost) all is well after she offers a big Staffy-type smile.

[JudyN]

The good news is that this morning Jasper did his first decent poo after his op last week... just after I'd ordered a ton of Tree Barks powder and probiotics. The bad news is, for the first time in his life, he's just scooted... on the new front-room carpet I wonder if his exemplary behaviour at the vet will continue if she has to express his anal glands as well as take his stitches out next week?

Hopefully now he's back on carcasses a few firm poos will sort him out.