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

[Anatine]

Poor Delta! We've never had to deal with snakes... It's stressful enough thinking about cars, cats, and off-lead dogs

Yesterday, Quorra had a great morning walk. We went to the Glen in our town, and played fetch with Quorra for a bit. Midway through, a little Westie puppy came in. The owner let her off of the lead, and she made a bee-line for Quorra and her tennis ball. The Westie b!tch was 4 months old and very all over Quorra, jumping on her face, following her, and harassing her. Quorra acted totally grown up, and made us very proud! Where before she would chase other dogs, bully them a bit, never leave them alone, and was very insistent; she this time allowed the puppy to crawl all over her, didnt snark, continued to play fetch with us etc. And even when the puppy took Quorra's ball, she didn't harass her, just followed her at a distance, and looked to us for guidance, and we got her ball back for her.

Compared to only a couple months ago, where if off lead, she would just tear after any dog she saw, and would be almost impossible to call back and took a lot of vigilance and management from us. She really has improved. With the Westie puppy, and other dogs we've met recently, she has been coming when called, and her focus has really switched to us

[jacksdad]

some info on copperheads...

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/gaston/Pests/re ... erhead.htm

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/repti ... erhead.cfm

[Erica]

Delta is doing absolutely fantastic, barely limping and behaving as he normally does. He and Opal are stealing a toy back and forth at the moment - Delta grabs it and trots to the back door, then Opal grabs it and carries it to the den, then Delta grabs it...aaand there he goes splashing in the water bowl. If I hadn't seen the thing myself I wouldn't think it was a copperhead bite.

Wonderful to hear Quorra's progress!

I hope Jasper feels well again soon.

Thanks for those links jacksdad - I saw the first one last night, but the second has lots of interesting info.

[Swanny1790]

I'm glad Delta is doing so well. A high percentage of the time (I've forgotten the exact number since I've lived so long in a region of no venomous snakes) a snake does not release venom during the bite. Maybe this was the case for a very lucky little one.

Everything is good here at the house, and I'm packed for the trip back to work tomorrow.

Judy, I'd consider a swap for Aumaruq. It would be a pretty even trade, though. You'd probably have to go through Trish, though. She and that big goofy black dog adore each other. He's a handful, but he runs straight and pulls hard.

[gwd]

He's a handful, but he runs straight and pulls hard.

Sounds like his owner.........

[Sweetie's Human]

Erica - I'm so glad to hear that Delta is OK. Almost all our snakes would cause a much worse result, so I think you and he are very lucky.

Judy - believe it or not, there are days when, just for a second, I would consider the swap! Luckily for Sweetie and her best mate The Boy (OH), those days are few and far between. But I can assure you, they do exist! I love my girl to bits so I'd never *actually* swap, but being the owner of a very 'special' dog I can sympathise with you.

Of course, with the swap you'd need to have ready plenty of unscented baby wipes (both ends!) and fawn-coloured clothing and ear plugs and towels and pillows for a start...

[lucyandbella]

Judy I'd swap Bella. Not much of a nice trade though for you, on top of weird anxiety quirks she is fear aggressive toward people and dogs. After a leaf fell on her while going potty last week she is now afraid to go, holds it for as long as possible, runs immediately after she is done, and hides behind my legs.

She also almost ate to death before. She got into a bag of kibble for only a minute and ate probably a weeks worth if food for her size. She looked like she was going to have puppies, slept stretched out, couldn't get comfortable, it was scary. Then on her first walk after...I'll just say there wasn't enough bags to clean up what happened . And it was in front of other people's houses!

[JudyN]

Oh, L&B - having potty issues because a leaf fell on her bum definitely qualifies Bella for the 'special dog' club Maybe I'll hang on to Jasper after all

He threw up last night, and did another poo puddle this morning after breakfast, but nothing more since then. I had a hair appointment and wondered if he'd be safe to leave in the house, but he was fine. He does seem quite tired though, and had another 'tweaky rear end' moment after lying down in the sun for a while, though he was moving fine on our morning walk. I'm assuming that either he'll get better on his own, or he'll get bad enough that there's something the vet can actually diagnose - obviously the former would be better. If I took him at the moment he'd probably just be prescribed lead walks and maybe an anti-inflammatory.

[Nettle]

We are on lockdown. Babydog has kennel cough. Others are fine, thank goodness.

damndamndamndamndamn

Babydog is actually almost 6, so no problems with imune system - but still known as Babydog.

[gwd]

We are on lockdown. Babydog has kennel cough. Others are fine, thank goodness.

damndamndamndamndamn

Babydog is actually almost 6, so no problems with imune system - but still known as Babydog.

It's going around in my area too.

I'm getting an upper respiratory thing myself......... tell babydog I sympathize.

[jacksdad]

glad to hear Delta is doing well.

sorry to hear babydog has got the cough.

[Erica]

Delta's first puppy class was today. The trainer in charge is wonderful, as are the helpers. Delta's great at sit - even in puppy kindergarten with ooh, eight? or so other puppies? I didn't count - after the first lure-sit he would sit on vocal cue every time. Down was trickier, but he did get used to it and happy with it eventually. Eye contact was trickier, but it was very busy. He got better as class went on. He was good at coming when "called" with cheery happy silly noises, and also was quick to remember no mugging the hand stuff. Playtime he was in a separate pen from the majority of the population, along with a somewhat unsocial shiba inu and some timid little tiny fluffy thing. He was pretty good - I was able to call him away from little fluffy most of the time, when fluffy got scared and went to hide in a corner or something. The first session he just sniffed the shiba a bit, sniffed after little fluffy, then we just putzed around in the pen to get them moving and investigating the things (some boxes and a tunnel). In the second play session the shiba did a bit of play-bowing and got Delta to chase him. They bounced around a bit and then it was time to calm down again. He was great at getting chill again after exciting stuff. There were also play-with-your-human times, which were fun with chasing the tuggy toy and tugging a bit. There were several guys walking around doing practice meeting people stuff, which is good. Hmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something. We're both a bit fried after that. Lots of fun! He did well.

Time to go prep a duck for him a bit more. I gave him the legs for breakfast this morning but he didn't eat the bones and left some meat on them that I guess was hard to get. I'll boil those up for training treats and just trash the leg bones. Maybe the ribs/spine stuff will be easier for him to eat. Ducks have lots of really thick skin though, wow.

[MPbandmom]

I hope babydog is feeling better Nettle.

Glad to hear that Delta is fine from his adventure with the snake. It sounds like the puppy classes are going well too.

I didn't sleep very well last night. OH and his learning curve again. He is a sensitive soul and doesn't take helpful suggestions/critique particularly well. Last night, when we arrived back home from our outing with the dogs, there was a child on a bicycle who stopped beside the back portion of the van. OH got out and went to get Sirius out of the van to take her into the house. He told the child that she could go on by, but she declined. I was still sitting in the driver's seat waiting for traffic to clear so I could get out. I thought the child had turned around and headed back home. OH proceeded with getting Sirius out of the van. She immediately charged at the child who apparently hadn't moved. This got the child to moving. OH seemed to think this was a bit amusing. He commented that the child had gotten a bit of a scare. I never get Sirius out of the van if there is anyone within 2 houses distance of the van on either side, or if anyone further away is heading towards us. Sirius kind of got him back for getting her out when he did though because in addition to the child, there was a cat.

We were scheduled to be joined on a walk this morning by a couple of our samoyed friends. I spent a lot of time last night trying to figure out how to explain to OH the difference in Sirius when we are with the Samoyeds, without having him decide he wanted no parts of walking with the other dogs. I was also trying to figure out how to stress the need to keep her under threshold when we go out, again without him pitching a little tantrum and stating that he just won't walk the dog anymore.

Sirius seems fine with the samoyeds. She is kind of a hard one to read though because she has enough sense about her that if close enough to other dogs, she generally will not behave in an aggressive manner. She seems to click with the sammys though, as in she seems to consider them her people. I have not totally decided if it is the fact that they are a spitz breed or because they are fluffy and white and kind of sheep looking. She has never tried to herd them though. It is the other dogs that may appear when we are with the sammys that become the problem. Again, I have several possible theories as to why this is. One, usually when we join the sammys on one of their walks, we are in a generally more stimulating environment where I have to be on top guard. I am more relaxed with her around the sammys because they are a known to me, however all of the other dogs and people that may be milling around in the same area are not, so she may be feeding off of my stressed vibes. She may in general just be more stressed herself and while the sammies are close and she doesn't want to upset them, other dogs are further away and in her aroused state she reacts more strongly to the other dogs. She may be in herd protection mode and feel that she has to protect her "flock" from the scary outsiders. I already know that she will resource guard Sky from being petted by strange people, so it is possible that she would extend that protection to the sammys.

I know I don't always manage her in a manner that keeps her under threshold. Sometimes I have a brain glitch, or things happen too quickly or in a manner that I can't react quickly enough to keep her below the "chase scary away" level of reaction. But I am very concerned that OH is not grasping the gravity or need to be proactive to prevent her from someday going off on the wrong person. Recent things that I have seen as a big fail in management on his part, he has seemed very nonchalant about. Maybe I am being overly critical and expecting too much of him too soon. I can't trade dogs with him while walking because he can't handle Sky's energy level, strength, and size.

He loves Sirius very dearly. He is now referring to her as "his dog." He would be absolutely devastated if poor management caused harm to come to her. I just don't know how to point that possibility out to him without him taking it the wrong way.

[Nettle]

I hesitate to be sexist, but I do find most men to be re-active not pro-active, and it can take the devil of a lot of work to get them to change. Also I find as a rule that men think if it hasn't happened it won't and women think if it can happen it will.

No matter how much men pay for my opinion, there is usually a little frisson of snark that I am telling them what to do. As I get older and less interesting to look at, I find this is reducing.

If the lovely men on this Board could point me to a way I can get chaps to accept I know what I'm talking about and actually do what it takes without a pout or stamping, I'd be obliged for that wisdom. Having to be tactful when actually I'd like to slap them one and then be explicit can be very wearing at times.

[Sweetie's Human]

Poor Babydog with the kennel cough. It's an awful, awful thing.

Glad to hear that Delta's puppy class went well. He sounds very clever.

We're just back from an early morning whiz around the dog park. Sweetie wanted to run, which involves one of the humans running alongside her . So off they went with OH at a slow jog and little Sweetie a blur of legs beside him . Because she has all that loose skin, it sort of rolls up and down her body as she runs. And her paws go in all directions. It looks so uncoordinated and it's hard to describe so I must put up a video of it.

She was invited to play by a staffie and a something-oodle and she politley told them both 'no thank you very much'.

Sardines for breakfast when she got home and now she's giving OH a hard time because he's making his own breakfast and not sharing with her

Hopefully we've worn her out enough that she'll have a big nap once any hint of food is gone!