Christmas Day Happenings

All of the dogs received bones stuffed with pureed bully stick to keep them busy on Christmas and there was lots of excitement about their bone present.  Of course everyone wanted to try everyone else's bones but there were no scuffles. 

Langley enjoying a bully stuffed bone by Barkworthies

Frodo supervised as usual.  Don't feel bad for him that he doesn't have a bone or antler though because he had stolen a few of the other dogs' treats and stashed them downstairs with his bone where the other dogs don't get to go.  He's just supervising in case he can snag another one left unattended and add it to his illgotten treasure.

Then, after breakfast and a morning of fun, it was time to say goodbye to sweet Apple.  We packed up all her go home goodies and food and blankie and vet records, and drove over to the mall where we were meeting her new family for the handoff. 

Checking out Apple's go-home bag

She knew something was up and was a little nervous but I'm sure by the time she's home and has a few gets a look at all the new goodies that they have for her she'll  perk right up. The boys were pretty happy and even though you could etll they were excited they were calm and gentle with sweet girl.  Can't wait to hear back about how she settles in.

Apple and her new family, sans dad who managed to escape my camera

Stay tuned because Salish heads home next...

"Paws" to Celebrate

This year New Rattitude hit a very exciting milestone: rescuing our 1,000th Rat Terrier. For those of us volunteering for the group, it was a pretty revitalizing event that spurred us on to work toward that 2,000th dog milestone.

Salish and Apple: NR rescues number 1,000 and 1,010

As you may know, New Rattitude is a very fiscally responsible, 501(c)3 designated rescue group, that has even earned the right to be a GuideStar Exchange Member.  Our adoption fees are kept as low as we can to help with finding families, however, the costs of caring for the dogs, especially their required vetting like spay surgeries and vaccinations, exceeds the adoption fee.

For the most part we depend on fundraisers and the generosity of our supporters to help us continue the work we do, giving new, happy lives to thrown-away dogs.  Each December throughout the holiday season we have a holiday giving campaign and this year the goal was to raise $5,000. I'm happy to say we are very close to that goal as we enter the last week of this holiday fundraising campaign.

Can you help us meet this goal? Even $10 would help us - that would pay for a Rabies vaccination!  Any amount is greatly appreciated.  Head over to New Rattitude's Website to learn more about this great fundraiser.

I'm sorry to come begging on Christmas day, but the New Rattitude's mission of rescuing homeless pets is a great thing to beg for. And hey, if you give this week you can deduct it from your taxes!

Thank you so much for all your support for this great cause!

A Puppy for Christmas

I have been known to rail against the idea of people giving dogs as gifts. So many times we get parents who insist that their child is going to do all the work and the dog will be a lesson in responsibility. Poor dog! Or a grandma wants to adopt a puppy for a grandchild, or someone emails us that they "just need a dog by Christmas - any available dog will do."  So you can see why I got a little skeptical when the applicant wanting to adopt Apple said that she was going to be a Christmas surprise.

But if a person is going to give a puppy as a gift, this family is a great example of doing it the right way.  Their decision wasn't made overnight - they'd been considering what kind of commitment a dog would mean for several months and checking into information on breeds, etc.  Their kids were in school and far from the grabby toddler stage that can be tough on a dog. They understood that they were the ones who would be fully responsible for care of a dog and this wasn't something that you depend on a child to take care of.  Great, thoughtful parents who wanted to give their boys the pretty spectacular gift of the experience of growing up with a dog.

We even got to take Apple with us on the home visit and she met the kids under the guise that I was a friend of their aunts, who happens to work with service dogs, and needed to test Apple to see how she was with kids. I clandestinely did the home visit while they played with her and they proved to be gentle, sweet boys who will be really great with this tiny but rambunctious girl.

Apple's t-shirt to wear home on Christmas Day

And I left, really happy for Apple's future, and excited about how surprised the boys would be when they learn that Apple will be joining their family.  She'll head home to them in the afternoon tomorrow, after the initial hubbub of Christmas morning and I couldn't be more happy for her. Have a great life, sweet girl!

Time for the Thundershirt

Change is tough for for a lot of dogs and for Langley, it's tougher than most. While most of us celebrate these changes to routine - family visiting, time off work, lots of excitement - for the furry members of our family it really can get to be a bit much.

The addition of holiday decorations was a bit unsettling for him, and the new dogs (Apple and Salish) in the house was exciting and fun but sometimes a bit too exciting. I think the final straw for him was our son arriving home - something that made him crazy happy - but "crazy" nonetheless.

I could see he was getting stuck in the anxiety so today, when the girls started in on yet another round of wrestling, I put his Thundershirt on. For most dogs the Thundershirt just takes things down a notch, but I've recently discovered that for Langley it is extremely relaxing.  He comes over and will lie down next to me and chill - a concept that I formerly believed was not a possibility for him.

The Thundershirt works by applying even pressure on the body, much like swaddling a young baby works.

So after he got his shirt on, he played a bit with Apple and then climbed up next to me on the couch to just hang out while the girls wrestled on my other side.

Then, I decided to go downstairs and work on my laptop. I figured I'd try to take him with me and see if the calm continued. It did and he enjoyed another full 45 minutes of chill. 

It's a great tool for anxious dogs and if you're interested, you can read more about it and why it works on their Website.

Seven Pounds of Tough

Apple is a tiny little girl but she has no clue how small she is. In fact she tends to rule the roost, even though Langley and Salish are much, much bigger than her.

One of my favorite things about her tough act is her growl. It's impossible for a 7 pound dog  to put out a growl that does anything but make people chuckle, but she tries so hard. 

In this video she was especially vocal, so I thought I'd share it with you. To make it even funnier, she gets so wild in her play attack of Salish that she falls off the couch.

Rainy Days and Antlers

Apparently rainy, gloomy days are perfect antler chewing days.  The girls had settled down on the couch with antlers while Langley fluttered about in his oh-so-Langley way.  At first, Salish was hoarding both of the antlers but Apple managed to steal one from her and for awhile they chewed away in peace. 

But then Salish starting thinking she wanted both antlers again.

And then Langley decided he wanted to join the crowd and see what was going on.

After a couple scuffles broke out I decided that it was time for some quiet crate time with their antlers so they would leave each other alone, and also so I could get some stuff done around the house.  Salish gave a sigh and then went back to work on her antler.

Langley sat on his antler and nervously tried to decide what was going on and if I was going to give him a food toy.

Apple had one of the primo forked antlers in her crate that was just her size, however Apple decided that antler wasn't nearly big enough and started pawing at the huge elk antler that I had set atop her crate. Laughing, I decided to let her have it, even though it is almost half her weight.  Undaunted, Apple set to work. Notice in the photo that the antler is nearly as long as she is?

Now everyone is napping and I'm getting things done - happy times for all of us.

Brrrrr!

It's always a shock to the California dogs when they arrive in Washington. So many strange plants to sniff and the horrible (to Rat Terriers) rain that they are forced to step in and get their feet wet when they have to go outside for potty breaks.  Apple is great about tearing outside, getting her job done and then running back up to the sliding door.  Salish is still in that early state of shock though, tiptoeing across the spongey, squelching grass, sniffing the moss and ferns and lichen, and shivering in the cold.

Salish, Frodo and Apple, not wanting to leave the deck

As if the wet wasn't bad enough though, the last couple days have brought cold temperatures, high winds and even a little snow and sleet.  No one, especially this human, was happy about it.

 

Checking a fern to find out who was the last to pee there (answer: Frodo)

 

The wind brought down a lot of small branches the dogs feel the need to inspect each and every one

Apparently it wasn't too cold to play though as Apple and Salish had time for some chasing (and Frodo had time for some barking) in the back yard.  At the very end of the video you see Salish fly onto the deck. Who needs steps when you're a muscley dog?



 

I was ready to go inside where it was warm and I said out loud to Salish "So Lishee, what do you think of this weather?" This was the look that she gave me. 



Sit, wrestle, sit, wrestle, sit...

I always like to start doing some positive training with my foster dogs and get them used to clicker training before they head home.  Little Apple has been working on this and does a great job with "sit" and is starting to master a "spin" trick. She's so smart that she'd easily know a lot more if she had a human around who was a bit more consistent with her training sessions. Now Salish is starting her training and has joined Apple during "school" time.

As usual, our short little training sessions can get kind of wild since I'm bad about training one dog at a time. Our house has an open floor plan and doesn't work very well for separating dogs. When I do train 1 dog it ends up with 1 dog working and 3-4 dogs barking and complaining that they want to work too.

What I hope for in a training session is something like the above photo: calm, focused dogs, earnestly sitting and watching me for cues.

What I get is more like this though.

Or even this.

But that's okay by me.  As long as we are all having fun and learning then it's all good. A great training session should always feel like fun for the dog and the human and this one was definitely fun.

Wrestling and Racing: Salish Settles In

Sorry if all the wrestling posts are getting a bit boring, but I personally can't get enough of watching the dogs wrestle and play so politely. Since I've had my share of socially inept foster dogs, when I have a batch that get along well I can't wipe the grin off my face.

Salish has settled into life in the suburbs without missing a beat.  Her and the other foster dogs, Langley and Apple, have been enjoying three way wrestling matches and terrier races which are hilarious.  Like Langley, Salish is a silent wrestler, but Apple (perhaps to make up for her tiny size) loves to growl and trash talk when she joins in, as you can hear in the first video.

I still closely supervise play sessions since the size difference between Apple and Salish is so great, however, they seem to be doing fine together. I get worried that someone will squish Apple when they wrestle but she's a tough little broad and definitely holds her own during playtime. In fact, sometimes Langley, who is 3 times her size, gets a bit overwhelmed by her tough 'tude during wrestling matches.

Both girls have good applicants interested in them so I'm guessing their play dates are numbered.  They are making the most of their time together though with lots of wrestling, racing, and the occasional nap thrown in.

Double arrival: Salish and Hunter are home

We had a couple arrivals this week so this has been a great weekend for fur and family.

Salish discovered a great antler to chew on

Salish Salish, our newest foster girl arrived late Friday night and she has immediately stolen my heart with her big dog feel, beautiful athleticism, and her all around easy going, loving temperament.  Langley immediately loved her and his nervous play stage was over within a couple of hours which was a record for him.

Couch wrestling with Apple

Apple, in her completely fearless way, immediately started up a wrestling match, oblivious that at 7 pounds, she was a bit outmatched by 25 pound Salish.  No problem, though. They kicked back on the couch for a lounging wrestling match.

We're very happy to have Salish joining us. She had to wait an extra couple weeks to come up here from her temp foster home but it meant being able to save Apple, who was about to be euthanized, so it was worth it. Now that she's here, we can't get enough of her.

Langley could barely contain himself when he saw Hunter

The second arrival was our son Hunter, arriving home from University of New Mexico. While all of us, dogs included, were very excited to have Hunter back with us for his semester break, Langley was the most excited of all.  Langley absolutely adores Hunter and each week when we Skype with him, Langley will cry until he gets to come and sit in our lap and watch the computer. It starts as soon as he hears Hunter's voice.  They took a nice long walk together last night and Langley was in heaven.

 



All the dogs came to join in the greeting

Langley: Putting up with a puppy

Langley's a good boy when it comes to being patient with puppies.  Apple really, really loves to play with him (and steal toys from him) and he does his best to not get fed up. 

 

 

Even when he's ready to stop and do something else, like watch the backyard for squirrels in this case, he'll let her drag him back into a wrestling match.

But everyone has their limit and yesterday the limit was pig theft. Langley had decided to play with a bottle buddy pig toy and  Apple decided to join in and then attempt to steal Langley's pig.  At first he indulged her and tried to chew on the pig while she had the other corner. However, when she tried to steal the pig from him to play with it on her own, he appropriately pinned her, did a little growl and went back to the bacon.

Langley, enjoying his pig toy and a little time off from wrestling

 

Langley, sharing his pig

 

Apple starting to drag the pig away from Langley

It's good to remember that growling isn't always a bad thing. Puppies need to know they don't always get their way and a growl from a grown up dog lets them know when they are pushing things too far.  After the attempted pork robbery, to give Langley a break Apple was put into her crate with another toy and Langley was able to kick back and chew on his pig in peace.

Tug: Downsized

Apple loves to play with both people and other dogs and she is starting to get the hang of how to play tug.  The Bumi toy from West Paw Design's Zogoflex line is a favorite tug toy at our house and thanks to its toughness is yet to be destroyed.

Today she saw Langley and I playing a game of tug and wanted in on the action. The Bumi is almost too big for her little mouth and she gagged a little trying to hold onto it but she wouldn't give up.  Later she managed to steal it from Langley using a nice spin move.

 

Play Time with Apple

Sweet Apple loves to play and one of her favorite games, next to growly wrestling, is chasing her favorite ball. I bet you can't watch this video without a huge smile breaking across your face! Everything about Apple is cuteness overload.

Throw Away Dogs

As a society we are way too focused on the accumulation of "stuff" and never is that more apparent than during the holidays.  I'm not trying to be a grinch here, but it pretty sickening to see the crazy things that people choose to give as gifts - the automatic mini donut baker (cuz who can live without regularly turning out a batch of mini donuts), the coin counter that fits in your car's cupholder and digitally notes the amount in the jar should a thief be wondering whether it's worth breaking a window for....

However, the saddest thing I see gifted this time of year is puppies. Now, it's one thing if a family has been thinking about getting a dog for a long time, has looked into the time and energy that a puppy will need, and decides they are ready.  But too often it's a relative buying a dog for a child or an impulse purchase by parents without really thinking through the time a puppy requires.

The reality is many of these puppies that are so cute and roly-poly at Christmas, will be in the shelter as 8-12 month dogs this summer. People will have done no training and then are frustrated and angry when the dog is still not house-trained or has chewed up the furniture, so the dog gets dropped off at the shelter while the other gifts that kids have tired of get shipped to the Goodwill. Or sometimes they don't even get taken to the shelter, since people would have to pay to surrender a dog. Did you know that the way Apple came into the shelter is that she was thrown over a fence? Yep - that's what was listed on her kennel card. A beautiful, sweet natured, incredibly cute and spunky little dog thrown away.

As a rescue coordinator, every June we see a huge upswing of these teenage puppies at the shelters and there are always way too many to save them all. So help us rescuers out this year by spreading the word. Do your best in a gentle, non-judgmental way to educate people that a pet shouldn't be a gift. Talk to them about spay/neuter and hey, maybe gift someone a certificate to the vet to speuter their dog.  An easy way to start helping would be to share this link: http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/a-puppy-is-not-a-christmas-present  Post it on your Facebook page and share this message with others. It could save a lot of lives.

A Writhing Mass of Spots

Langley, Neah and Apple love a good wrestling match and it's fun to see them enjoying each other so much. We still have to watch Langley carefully to make sure he doesn't get too rough but for the most part, he is pretty good about keeping things gentle enough for Apple. And we have to watch Neah because she likes to chew on Langley's Thundershirt for some reason, as you see in the video.  But everyone seems to be enjoying the play. It's difficult not to have a big grin on your face when you watch 3 dogs having so much fun together. Don't you agree?

 

Apple-teeny

 

Apple is a teensy-tiny little gal but shhhhhh! Don't tell her that.  When it comes to other dogs she's pretty fearless and loves to play with them.  While Langley is pretty quiet when he plays, Apple likes to trash talk her wrestling opponents as you can hear in this video.  It's so incredibly sweet and cute but she thinks she's being really tough so we try our best not to laugh at her.

 

 

And Apple would also like you to know that you're never too young or too small to run with the big dogs as she proves in this video where she chases down Neah.



Langley and Apple: managed, slow introductions

Langley is a dog who doesn't do well with change. Moving his crate, the toy basket, changing a schedule - all of it makes him anxious and he starts ramping up.  Heck, a week later he's still a little worried about the Christmas decorations that have appeared around the house.  So you can imagine that bringing a new dog into the mix really throws him off.

That anxiety manifests itself in an upswing in compulsive behavior, trouble relaxing enough outside to remember to go to the bathroom, increased whining and barking, and just a lot of general insecurity.

While it's easy to get frustrated, and god knows I do get really frustrated sometimes, I've found that just stopping myself and giving him 1-2 minutes every now and then of my total attention in the form of massage, lap time, etc, speeds up his ability to deal with the change.

On Saturday he got a lot of this special time with me in the evening when Apple was out and running around with Neah.

When I noticed that Apple wasn't afraid of him and didn't get freaked out by his intensity, I decided to spend Sunday working on getting Langley used to Apple. Because of Apple's tiny size I need to be really careful with this though as Langley could unintentionally harm Apple when he gets into his frenetic play mode that is common when he's anxious.

Over the course of the morning he got several sniffing sessions with Apple in the crate and him loose in the living room.  At first after a couple sniffs all he cared about was trying to steal her toys. Since they weren't high value toys to him and were things he almost always ignored, I think this was some of his insecurity coming out - wanting to make sure she knew that "everything is MINE!"  But after a couple sessions of this his interest switched from the toys to Apple. Apple is very socially smart and she did lots of things to help Langley know she wasn't a threat.  Notice how she licks his muzzle a lot? That is something that puppies will often do to older dogs and the closest human words I can think to describe it is a sign of submission or respect. It's not a fearful submission, just a recognition of an elder. This behavior really seemed to put Langley more at ease.

Finally in the late afternoon we put Langley on lead and then let Apple out in the living room to play.  This way Apple had the option to move away from Langley if she felt overwhelmed and I could also make sure that Langley didn't get too rough in his play.  We put a Thundershirt on him, which I haven't used with him since back in August, and it made a HUGE difference.  He actually later fell asleep in my lap with it on and Troy, not realizing what was making him relaxed, asked me if I had given him some of his Xanax.

At first during the play sessions Langley was pretty frenetic but after a couple times we got to the point where he slowed down and really focused on his play partner and adjusted his play and height a bit. The difference is at first Langley plays with dogs as if they are inanimate objects without really interacting with them socially. Instead he plays with them like they are a really cool but slightly scary toy.  When he can slow down, then his focus goes outside of himself and the play becomes this dance of social interaction - something that is difficult for Langley but that he is starting to learn.  Watching this video makes me realize how far he has come.  In just a day and a half he has gone from being very anxious and frantic to being able to relax enough to play and interact in a socially appropriate way with the other dogs. This used to take weeks for him. Good work, Langley! This is great progress.

Who will play with Apple?

Apple in true puppy form is curious about everything and loves to play.  Today she spent a lot of time hanging out with "the girls."  Neah of course loved this and both Neah and Apple enjoyed the time sniffing outside and wrestling.

Spending some time sniffing with Neah

Hanging out and getting ready for a wrestling match

Tilly, my 10-ish year old dog, was less than impressed with the little whippersnapper who kept following her around. Apple was pretty fascinated by Tilly, I think because she's only dog in the house who is close to her size.  There was lots of sniffing and following of Tilly but she listened pretty well when Tilly asked her to back off. I love this video though - notice that Apple is frozen, tail flagged and getting ready to pounce.  Tilly, who is busy sniffing, gets caught completely unaware by a frontal puppy attack.

Sniffing hello

 

Tilly's skinny little shadow

 

 

Surprise! A new arrival

I've been super excited that Salish would be arriving soon.  She was scheduled to arrive next weekend and I have her file folder all ready for her paperwork, her collar and tags set out, an extra large crate set up for an extra large rat terrier...  Then I got a call from Lynn letting me know that two 4-5 month old Rat Terrier mix puppies were in danger and about to be put to sleep.  They had been at the shelter for a couple of weeks without interest so their end was near.

The problem was that Lynn isn't set up for temping puppies so she could only pull them if we could take them up here instead of the 2 dogs I had already planned to bring up for me and a fellow foster parent. We both agreed to the switch so the puppies could be saved and we planned for the male pup to arrive this weekend and then my pup (who would come up instead of Salish) would transport north on the 6th.

Then on Thursday at 5 pm, just hours before the transport was going to arrive to pick up the dogs, I decided that I didn't want to have to meet yet another transport next week. I called Lynn and asked her if she thinks she could get our new pup on this trip.  The transporter said there was room for her and Lynn managed to get her a last minute health certificate to travel and just like that our new baby was on the way.

Apple enjoyed some snuggle time yesterday

 

 

 

Her name is Apple (I don't think I need to explain the Washington tie-in here ) and she's a 4-5 month old Rat Terrier mix.  We think she may have some mini Dachshund in her mix as she's long and quite short.  At only 5 pounds she's the tiniest gal we've fostered in quite awhile, but her size doesn't slow her down, in spite of the fact that she's got a cold right now.  She's pretty confident and hasn't learned to be afraid of Langley (we're trying to keep it that way) and her and Neah play great together.  And did I say that she also loves to snuggle? 

 

 

My guess is that this cute young little gal will be adopted in no time and then sweet Salish can come up.  In the meantime, her and Neah are enjoying a lot of playtime together.