Food Fight

Well, it wasn't actually a fight, however Suki was getting VERY snippy about food time. I'll set the scene. The kitchen has baby gates on the two entrances, which can't keep Suki in, but if there's someone in the kitchen will keep her from wandering. When it's feeding time I mix up the food and vitamin supplements in the kitchen. Starting last week, Suki started rushing the baby gate and growling at Frodo whenever he got too close to the gate for Suki's taste. Of course, Frodo wants to stare longingly through the gate at the food being poured into his bowl and I didn't want Suki to start thinking she was top dog because she got to be in the kitchen during meal prep.

So out came the squirt gun and next barking fit she got a blast. This didn't seem to be effective, so next time I put her in her kitchen crate and made her sit in there while I fed Frodo. She whined and cried like she was dying in there.

The final step is something we've done with Frodo since he was a puppy. We put him in a sit-stay, set down the food bowl, and make him sit there until we release him. We're not trying to be cruel, we just want him to know that we are the boss and there's no better way to make this clear to a dog than to control the food bowl.

So, I let Suki out of the crate, put her in a sit-stay and set down the food bowl. As expected she rushed the bowl. I reached down and held her back and she nipped at me, so back in the crate she went. For a minute. This time after being put in the sit-stay she again tried to rush the bowl and again, I foiled her attempt. The third try's a charm, so again she was told to sit, and this time she sat there, every muscle of her body quivering and her eyes locked on mine, waiting for the signal that she could eat. I said "okay", our release word, and she charged the bowl, a little wiser for the experience. I still make her do this now, but she knows the routine and although she doesn't like having to wait the extra 15 or so seconds, she knows that I'm the boss of the food and unless she recognizes that, the food won't get to her stomach.

Suki's gift from the Easter Bunny

On Easter Sunday Suki received an unexpected gift from the Easter Bunny. As our son was hunting eggs in the living room, he pulled up a couch cushion and along with a Cuz and a Kong, found a half chewed nylabone - a favorite of both Suki and Frodo. She raced over to the nylabone, oblivious to the candy filled eggs, grabbed it before Frodo even noticed it and slunk under the coffee table to hide and enjoy a good fix of nylabone. She stayed under there for the entire egg hunt, the opening of candy, a couple jelly bean spills and more. Frodo on the other hand was riveted by the candy filled eggs, constantly looking for a chance to sneak in to score some chocolate or a Peep chick. This photo isn't the best, because it's dark under the coffee table, but here you see Suki enjoying her nice delicious Easter nylabone.

Suki: Training and playtime updates

We've been working with Suki on basic commands and she picks things up very quickly. She knows sit, stay and shake now, but the "lay" command has been difficult. Even on soft cushy carpet the best we can get is a crouch. Frodo is usually taking part in the training too, and while I am working on lay with Suki he will walk in front of her lay down and look up at me expecting a treat. When it isn't forthcoming he will roll over, and then sit up and put his paw up for a high five, licking his lips and looking hopefully at the treat. In the meantime Suki has gotten so excited that she is jumping up and down in place. Oh well. She knows shake now though! I suppose it would be less distracting to have Frodo elsewhere, but if I put him up in the bedroom he will just whimper and make me feel guilty.

It was nice (i.e. dry) on Sunday so they were outside with me while I was weeding the back yard. Frodo tends to forget that Suki annoys him when they are outside and will actually initiate games of chase by walking up to her with a pinecone in his mouth and then go into a crouch, ready for the chase. Around and around they go, beauty bark flying, soaring off the rock wall, leaping onto (and off of) the deck without using the stairs. It is hard to watch it without laughing.

Finally Frodo found a nice fresh, juicy stick and boy did Suki want it. She tried staring him down, pouncing on him, then staring and whining, and finally after about 15 minutes he let her have a quick chew on the end that he wasn't using. The photos below show her slow progress.


Staring


Pouncing


Begging


Sharing! (for a few seconds at least)

Shopping for Dogs

Every once in awhile I like to drop by "Tuesday Morning", a discount store that sells close-outs, to check out their pet section. Although the place is filled with crap, and I get a little claustrophobic there at times, they often have some great finds - including good deals on dog gear.

I've been needing a new comfy bed for the nighttime foster crate (now occupied by sweet Suki) so I could return some of the gear that the Ratbone state adoption coordinator lent me when we started fostering. I found just the right comfy, cozy bed for only $10 - it has nice stuffed and padded sides, a pillow that fits in the base and it's corduroy so it should wear well. Suki kept going in and out of the crate and laying down, which she rarely does, so I think she approves. In fact, she has been snoozing quietly this morning, which is a rare thing, so it must be pretty cozy.

We also found a gorgeous little collar marked from $9 down to $2.50 for Suki that looks very stylish on her.

But the deal of the day had to be the 100% biodegradable poop bags that I typically spend $10 for a 6 pack of rolls. They were $2.99 so I bought up all 5 packages. With as much time as we spend at the park or taking walks, you can never have too many of these. There was a good quality airplane doggy carry-on bag that was nice for $15, but it was a bit too small for ratties. Oh well.

The problem is that all of these deals are addicting for a bargain hunter, so watch out. But if you have a little time to spare while you're out running errands, consider checking this place out.

The Latest from the Veterinarian

First, so no one panics, this is an old photo that was taken on Suki's first day with us. We just wanted you to have something to compare her latest photos to so you could see how far she's come. Six weeks of medicine, quality puppy food, diet supplements, and lots of love have definitely made a big difference.

Well - good news and bad news. The good news is that Suki's mange is doing much better. The bad news is that it is still not a mild enough case to have her spayed and so her adoptive family will have to wait another 4+ weeks to bring home their sweet new little girl.

Her case was quite extreme when she first arrived here from the shelter, in fact the vet wasn't sure he had seen such a bad case of generalized demodectic mange. Now, after 6 weeks on Ivermectin, she is doing much better. She's no longer a scabby mess and doesn't spend much time scratching, however she still has large patches of mite irritation on her neck, body and all of her legs. Yes, that's pretty much all of her, but her face and tail look pretty mite-free so we're going to call that a victory, especially since one side of her face and the top of her head used to look like one big sore.

I can't say that we're sad to hold onto this sweet dog for another month, but her adoptive family is so ready for her that I feel bad that they will have to wait.

Ratbone Rescues needs items for a charity auction

A wonderful Ratbone volunteer has offered to run auctions for us on ebay to raise money for Ratbone Rescues. The program is run through something called "MissionFish", and any items for sale need to sell for $5 or over. Soooo...... Do you think that you have anything to donate that might sell on ebay? 100% of the proceeds go to Ratbone AND you can write off the donation on your taxes because Ratbone is a registered "not for profit" organization. The items don't necessarily have to be dog related, just something that will sell for at least $5 (MissionFish rule).

We have "poster pups" that are featured on the different auctions so people can see and hear about a specific dog that the proceeds from the sale are helping. Here's an auction you can check out that features Moxie, a sweet dog that is currently in Washington. The poster pups will be dogs that have medical needs above and beyond the $150 adoption fee that is charged. Many of the dogs that come into foster care are severely neglected or even abused and the result can be a difficult and costly road to recovery.

Can you help us? If you are interested in donating something then drop me an email. Remember that I can give you a receipt for any donations and you can write that amount off of your taxes.

Above you see our personal poster pup - Suki - who is one of those dogs with medical expenses above and beyond the $150 adoption fee. She came to us with severe mange, an intestinal infection and bordetella from a shelter in Texas that was euthanizing her because she had demodectic mange and couldn't be spayed while she had it. A volunteer from Ratbone scooped her up and flew her to us here in Washington where she is being loved back to health.

When you take into account her vaccinations, flea treatment, mange medication, mange salve, antibiotics for the intestinal infection that she had, spaying and having 4 teeth pulled - things add up quickly. Through these fundraisers and donations, Ratbones is able to cover most of the dogs' medical costs, lightening the financial burden on foster parents and thus allowing more people to foster and save these sweet little dogs.

Running like the wind - well, kind of....

This last week I started running again and decided to take both dogs with me. My 14 year old son runs daily, and so we drove over to the BPA trail with Suki and Frodo and started off down the trail. Suki was ecstatic. She trotted along and in her harness reminded me of the photos of Santa's reindeer, prancing along. Frodo, on the other hand, was not at all amused. So I jogged along, one arm pulled forward as Suki tried to catch up to my son and one arm pulled behind me as Frodo pulled back trying to make his nightmare end. At one point he stopped so suddenly that he collar pulled right off of his skinny rattie head. My son ran with Suki for awhile but after a couple minutes she was back with me. We ran about a mile and a half and walked an additional 2 and a half miles and Suki pulled the entire time.

The goal is that Suki will start to understand how to walk/run on leash. She did learn a few things, but not how to gracefully accompany her person while on leash. Here are some of her lessons:

• 14 year old boys have no patience


• 14 year old boys do not approve of sniffing forays off of the trail


• Don't run in front of people or they will step on your paws (she didn't learn a lesson here, but at the time of being stepped on she made note of it)


• Her foster mom is not a very fast runner and needs to be pulled at all times


• Water bottles are very fun to drink out of


• 14 year old boys don't like dog slobber on their water bottles

I'm sure there were some other things she noted, but this gives you the basic idea.

No photos were taken during the run (my hands were full and my son was about a mile ahead of us) but I wanted to include another cute photo of the princess. Sometimes her and Frodo will sit on the steps like this - one end sitting and the other standing - and we think it is so funny.