Catching Up

It's been a busy summer so far full of vacations and super busy work schedules so blog posts have fallen down to a low priority spot on the to-do list.  Hopefully I can get things going again now that most of our time consuming summer activities are out of the way.

First off - Danzi's adopted! She found a great family in SW Washington where she has 2 furry brothers to play with and a nice fenced back yard. Her mom and dad just love her to pieces and we are sure she is going to be very happy in her new home.

Other than that, Seuss stayed at another New Rattitude volunteer's home that is just about a mile from our house. He was a charming guest (although I am guessing he was hard on her garden since he is an obsessed hunter) and got along great with her two tiny terrier/chi mixes.

Bored Seuss, waiting to be let out back to hunt

We have a new dog bed in our living room that I made out of reclaimed items and Seuss loves it since he can lie there and look out the window to watch for squirrels and crows to bark at. In fact all the dogs have taken turns trying it out and using it to give them a better view of the back yard.

Seuss on patrol

Sal squirrel watching

Frodo telling off crows

Chima takes her turn patrolling for squirrels while Sal rests

Cone Free

After nearly a month wearing a cone I am happy to report that Seuss has officially had his cone removed permanently.

He had to wear it so long because anytime it was removed he would chew off his scabs and we'd have to start waiting for them to heal all over again. Today he was officially scab-free and so off came the cone.

To celebrate he and Danzi had an impromptu wrestling session, initiated by Danzi. Everyone is happy that Seuss has lost his cone since he tended to deal with it getting in the way by just barrelling ahead and knocking things (and dogs and humans) out of his way. Chima and Sal were especially irritated by his coned butt-sniffing attempts.

He's still licking his front legs a bit but my hope is that once he gets used to having access to his front legs again that will stop.

The only time his leg seems to bother him now is after he's been lying down for quite awhile. Then it is stiff and he limps along for a minute or so. After that things are loosened up enough that he is free to terrorize the backyard squirrels with Chima and Sal.

Introducing Danzi!

Because we had already committed to rescuing a dog when we learned that Seuss was being returned we have ended up with full house. Mr. Seuss had a week to settle in and then yesterday our new foster girl Danzi arrived.

Soon after arriving and still pretty worried

Danzi is kind of a supermodel of sorts - long legs, and quite the pedigree. However she is a good example of what happens when a dog is purchased as an acquisition and not a companion. All the good breeding in the world won't make up for the attention, socialization and exercise that is needed by a young dog. Danzi spent her two year life in a back yard full time and was tethered near the back door of the house at night. The result was a bored dog who ended up doing a lot of digging - a choice activity for terriers with nothing else fun to do.

Checking out the back yard but sticking close to the humans

She didn't get the exposure to everyday things that puppies need to get and the result is that she is somewhat skittish. Not horribly but it is pretty stressful for a dog to have to experience so many new things at once.

Not too shy that she can't go check out a possible snack

She's only been with us for less than a day and we've discovered several things we are working on. She doesn't seem to have experienced stairs but after some worried attempts last night seems to be getting the hang of them. The TV also was pretty worrisome to her but she soon learned it wasn't able to harm her. And thirdly, she was a bit nervous crossing thresholds to enter the house from outside and we will continue to work on that. I am guessing things like the vacuum, dishwasher and washer/dryer will take her some time to get used to as well.

Regardless of her undersocialized start she has been great with the other dogs in the house (and there are a lot right now!). She loves people too and they don't seem like they worry her at all. And last night she did great in her crate for the night.

Overall she seems to have the kind of temperament where she is a bit nervous but is able to quickly work through things after having a bit of time to assess them at her own speed. I never force new things on dogs but instead like to let them make the choice to approach and explore something that worries them. The results are that using this technique they are able to work through things much more quickly. If I had dragged her on leash down the stairs I can guarantee you that she wouldn't be able to tear up and down them the next day like she is doing now.

She was tethered in the car on the drive home but still managed to get as close to the people in the front seat as possible. 

She is crazy fast and can jump in place a good 4-5 feet straight up in the air. The girl is quite the athlete. I look forward to seeing her relax enough to tear around with the other dogs in the coming week.

Seuss Settles In

When Seuss first arrived he was pretty stressed out and probably in pain from the swelling in his leg. He was grumpy and growly that day but I know better than to judge a dog from how they are behaving when injured and just getting out of a stressful situation.

I didn't know what to expect but now we are a couple days in and the leg is starting to heal and he is doing great. He's happier, his tail is up most of the time, and he's actually hanging out with the other dogs.

He and Chima like to watch for squirrels at the slider and sound the alarm should any evil rodents attempt to infiltrate their territory. And when outside he loves to tear around with the girls and joining in the hunt.

Chima and Seuss on squirrel patrol

Since all of my dogs tend to be pretty independent, he hasn't felt the need to be growly when they get in his space. Even during mealtimes when Chima loses her mind a bit, he has just chosen to move to the other entrance to the kitchen and avoid her.

He's still growly when he is sleeping and dogs or humans approach but we all give him space and I call to him from a distance so that he has the chance to wake up and approach me and doesn't feel threatened by me hovering over him.

Happily he is just about as easy a foster as I can get. Other than working on some reinforcement for him when other dogs are in his space we are also physically working on getting some weight on him. He was such an obsessed hunter on the farm he lived on that his metabolism sped way up. He's 27.5 pounds and I'd like to get him up to 31 which should be a healthy weight for him.

Making himself and his cone fit in a tiny bed when there is a large bed right next to it

I had forgotten about his silly extra long legs that look as if they are all tangled up when he sleeps.  Like Chima he seems to believe that the smaller the dog bed, the better the fit and he often chooses beds that are more sized for 7 pound Tilly than they are for a big boy like him.

Happy and Sad News

The great news is that sweet Mochi girl went home yesterday and as with everything else in life  she was very happy and excited about it. She got a pretty new purple flowered martingale collar and leash and said thank you with plenty of licks and jumping.

Mochi and her new dad and mom

The sad news is that we got a message from Seuss' adopters that he and another dog in the home have not been getting along and there had been a big fight that morning. Since things were escalating so badly and both dogs were injured it was time for Seuss to come back into foster care. Sometimes dogs just don't like each other and some dogs prefer a calm, quiet environment and Seuss wasn't doing well with young kids and 3 dogs around. It happens. So now we get him fixed up, assess things and then find him a home where he can be happy as an only dog.

He wasn't walking on his leg yesterday and there was a lot of swelling. I gave him a dose of anti-inflammatory and put a cone on him and then we headed to the vet first thing this morning. The vet was worried that the puncture wounds were starting to abscess. Poor guy had the very uncomfortable experience of having wounds scrubbed out. He was given an antibiotic injection as well as a prescription for antibiotics and hopefully that will do the trick. If not he will need surgery to clean things out and insert a drain tube so crossing fingers we see big improvements today. He has started to put weight on the leg so that is great news.

Otherwise he seems to be doing well. Still super great about his house training, still an amazing hunter. I had to have him on leash last night since he wanted to run around and hunt with the girls so badly. And he still loves all people and even had kisses for the vet and tech and butt wiggles after they had restrained him and scrubbed out his wounds. It's just other dogs he isn't a fan of and he is very grumbly and growly when he's around them now.

He is able to hang out with my crew but I make sure he is never alone with them for now and that he always has the option to leave the room if he wants some space. He's still calming down after a fairly traumatic experience so for now complete supervision is important.

Mochi's Adopted!

We are so excited to announce that Mochi has found a great home. She'll join a family with a Jack Russell, Rat Terrier and Border Collie and the Rat Terrier and Border Collie love to play! Mochi will be in heaven and I think she'll do her best to keep her furry siblings Savannah and Lou busy playing chase and wrestling.

More great news is that her family is very active in the dog sport of Flyball and are members of local team the Cascade Comets. She'll be training to compete and we think she'll do very well once she gets some more physical conditioning and training. There's not much in the world that she loves to do more than jumping over things and playing with balls. Frodo, Chima and Sal will be very happy to not have to stand in as her "jumps" any longer.

So congratulations to Mochi and her new family the Comphers! We can't wait to follow her training and see how she settles in with her new furry siblings.

More Mochi Playtime

While Mochi is great with the larger dog beds that we have and doesn't destroy them, she sees the little cat sized ones as wonderful plush toys and loves to throw them and give them death shakes.

She really wants to play with the bed and is hoping I'll stop paying attention so she can take it

Now I have her attention with the ball

Since this little bed is a favorite of Chima and Frodo I do my best to distract her with other toys and for the most part it works.

Chima, squeezing her 24 pounds into the XXS bed

It's nice that she's not very destructive with the plush toys since that gives her lots of fun options for playtime. The worst damage she's done is she shook a plush turtle so hard that it ripped his neck open at the seam.