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