A note from Tucker
Recevied this nice not from Tucker (formerly Oak of Willow‘s group):
Hope you had a wonderful holiday and a nice start to the New Year!! Mom took these pics of me last week in the snow and thought you might like to see them. My mange has cleared and I got a GIANT rawhide bone for Christmas which I am still working on in earnest today since it is soooo cold and I cannot go out and play for too long.
Hope all my brothers and sisters had a good holiday too and man am I getting spoiled here, but am learning alot, you would be proud!!
Talk to you soon and all my doggie best for the new year!!
A Sugar filled slide show
We received this update on Sugar (Sugar Maple of Willow’s litter):
Hi, Happy Holidays!
I think I finally figured out how to attach some pictures. Sugar is doing great, her mange cleared up and she was spayed a couple weeks ago. We used the animal hospital in Glendale Heights, they couldn’t have been any nicer and were only charged for her meds. She had no problems and was back to her old self the next day. Sugar has graduated out of her crate, she goes back and forth between my room and my sons room at night and wakes me up between 7 and 8 with kisses all over my face. She is really a loveable dog. She loves to be close to everyone and loves to cuddle. She does not have a mean bone in her body, my son plays crazy with her, taking her bones and bothering her when she eats and we never heard her growl. Sugar has really brought alot of joy to us. Thanks again, have a happy new year.
Donna
Here is a short slideshow of Sugar…
[flashvideo file=images/sugardogslides.flv /]
A day at doggie boot camp
Otis
Boarding the dogs I once fostered is an interesting thing to do. I get to see what fine specimens my little babies have grown into and I get to see what characteristics from puppyhood are still with them.
Today we are boarding Otis, formerly Willow‘s puppy, Ash.
(Click on the smaller photos to see larger ones…)
 He seems to have some lab in him and some blood hound too. But look at this point! Who knows what else he's got floating around in his blood. |
 He is a little over 6 months old and he is big. I mean big. 88 pounds sort of big. |
A dog as young as Otis young who is that big had better have good manners…and, well, let’s say he is still working on it.
Hermes and Bella, my working dogs who go with me everywhere I can take them are helping me. Notice how Hermes is telling Otis, with his body who is in charge. And Bella, is telling the world (with her barking) what is happening.
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After romping in the yard and getting to know one another we took a pack walk. Otis did well and it is clear that his owners are doing a lot of things right. He walks nicely and seems to know his place relative to the walker.
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Those who know me often hear me talk about how to walk a dog correctly. I call it a “controlled walk” and here is a great photo illustrating one of my main points…I say, “pretend there is an invisible line coming out of each hip and no dog can cross in front of it.”
invisible line coming out of each hip
Tomorrow Otis leaves but not before another one of his pack mates arrives for her stay at our “doggie boot camp” – Abby, formerly Ginko will join in on the fun tomorrow morning.
Just One Dog
I got this from Michelle, our dog coordinator at H.E.L.P. It brought tears to my eyes. Yes, the music helps but the sentiment is right on. We only have to do one small thing. Just one and so much can be done. Thanks to everyone who has and will do their part.
This wonderful video was posted by CampCocker.com, a rescue group in Los Angeles. See this video at blip.tv
Old age is catching up with Brandy
Brandy in 2005
We are currently living with an elderly dog in our home. My husband Mike’s dog, Brandy, turned 15 last August 4th. She has always defied age, seeming to be many years younger than she really was. But lately it seems, time has caught up with her. For a while now she has seemed to be much weaker in her legs, especially her back legs. She didn’t run as fast or as far and sometimes struggled getting up the stairs in our house. But she still walked with me every day – 2-3 miles, and spent many hours outside. But slowly things have been changing. After talking at length, Mike and I agreed (and the vet confirmed) that she seemed to be suffering from pain due to arthritis. So we put her on Rimadyl – first a half a pill a day, then we bumped it up to a full pill (half 2x per day) to manage her arthritis. It seemed to do the trick and we had our old lively senior back again…for a while.
Brandy in September 2006
Then the accidents in the house became more frequent and she began needing to potty in the middle of the night – sometimes multiple times. And she seemed to be struggling at times to stand up from a lying position and conversely, she often seemed to “collapse” in half from a standing position (her back legs would just fold at the hips and down she’d go, legs sticking straight out in from of her.) We decided to limit her walks. She seemed better for awhile but then she seemed to have even more trouble navigating the stairs, and often she’d simply slide down them after making it half way up. Mike started carrying her downstairs at night to potty. I do sometimes during the day too. We think maybe the walks, even though they were long, were actually helping with the arthritis so I’ve begun walking her again, but just a half mile a day. We will see how it goes.
Brandy at full speed in 2004
Recently I saw her struggling to poop, the position she was in was difficult for her to maintain so she began to teeter, then she fell, sprawled in the snow. She struggled to get up and fell again, face first. She struggled again and you could see that her legs seemed to be locked in the wrong position, front legs pointing nearly to the sides. I had tears in my eyes as I watched…it happened fast and just as I was heading to the door to help her she miraculously regained her balance and somehow made it up the stairs. At the top she snorted and shook herself (it appeared to me that she was gathering up her dignity) and gingerly walked inside.
I have had a difficult time with Brandy for the entire time I’ve known her. She has been frustratingly defiant, difficult to train, and aloof. But seeing her move through her old age with such grace and acceptance has made me respect her much more. I feel for her so. And so now, we wonder, how long will she be with us? And, do we decide when it is her “time” to go? Or do we let “nature” take its course? There are no easy answers here.
10 Party Tips for Dog Owners
With the holiday season upon us, I’ve had many questions about what to do with “rowdy” dogs during a party. Here are my top ten pieces of advice:
1. Feed the dog prior to the party starting and then make sure you take them out to potty after about 15 minutes. If they don’t produce for you, then make sure you make a note for yourself to try again in another 5 minutes. Nothing worse than a potty accident right at the start of the party.
2. WALK them as long as you can as close to the start of the party as possible. Make this a controlled walk, dog at your side, you determine the pace and the direction. Try for a 45 minute walk but no less than 30 minutes. More is better.
3. Advise guests to completely ignore the dog when they arrive and not to pet, look at or talk to the dog until you give the go ahead. Prepare for this to be the hardest thing to accomplish! Only let guests say hello to the dog once the dog is settled nicely. Expect this to take awhile – likely a good 45 minutes into the party.
4. Keep the dog on leash during the party. There is no reason to let a young or out of control dog have free reign of the house during the party. Keeping them on leash and nearby is far better than isolating them to their crate or a back room. This will only cause barking or possible distructive behavior. Dogs are social like us, they deserve to be wtih the group.
5. Work the obedience skills – especially down/stay. Have treats ready and practice these two commands while you take a break and sit down. If you can’t take a break from the action then …
