(108) A Frustrating Friday

I’ve been working a huge number of hours this week, which leaves me little time to spend with Beeker or write my blog. I know I’m not the only one who works long hours (ask my husband). We barely get time to do our walkabout in the morning and Beeks hasn’t had a long walk all week. I haven’t made dinner for most of the week and so I’m contemplating not continuing the blog. Both dogs are happy to see me when I get home but when I go upstairs to get to work on the computer(more work) Beeks just gives me a long look and stays downstairs.

Tonight, Brad grilled outside. It was a nice evening and while I was working upstairs he was outside putting brats on the grill. Usually we like to grill out together. While the meet is on the grill, we have a beer and spend time outside with the dogs. The dogs run together (a major treat for both dogs) and we enjoy the evening. I wasn’t able to be out with Brad and while I worked I was grumpy. So, I shut down the computer and decided since it was Friday night, I was going to enjoy my family. I grabbed a beer and let the dogs out. Since it was still light out the dogs ran around so happily I felt better instantly. Max went straight for the tall decorative grass and Beeks went straight for Max’s tail. He kept pulling and pulling until Max stopped chewing grass and curled around to play with Beeks. While the dogs were at it, Brad shared his yard discoveries with me. Turns out that the tall “light house” birdhouse we have hanging in a front tree has a wren and its babies in it. If you (me or Brad) walk up close to the birdhouse you can hear the baby chicks squeaking inside. How awesome! He also showed me a Toad that is close to the house. Usually if Max sees one of our toads he tries to grab it with his mouth getting a really foul taste. This will result in spitting and foaming at the mouth. Max didn’t see the toad this time, although he did sniff around the area.

I am glad that I decided to join my family and enjoy them. Sometimes the hardest decisions give me the greatest feeling after I make a choice. Now I just have to figure out what to do about this blog. Hopefully the decision I make will be one I can be happy about.

(107) What Do dogs Do All Day?

When I return home after work each evening or when Brad and I have been out and return home, I often wonder what the dogs have been up to. Sometimes they are so amped I think they must have been sleeping all day. Other times they are so rambunctious that I think they have been up to something mischievous. They want to romp and get my attention like the little kids when they think the best way to get you to overlook a mess is to distract you with compliments and funny acts. You just never know with dogs. Some people have resigned themselves and obtained a webcam to see exactly what their dogs do all day. This can result in some really interesting videos that we have seen on U Tube (Remember the cattle dog pushing thru the baby gate?) Sometimes I leave little things around the house for Max and Beeker to find or to puzzle through so that they are occupied for part of the day. For instance, today I left little pieces of sweet potato in three different places. One piece I placed in the dog football, one piece I placed in the Busy Buddy, and the last piece I hid under the bench in our laundry room. When I got home, the piece of sweet potato in the football was gone; the piece under the bench was still there as was the piece in the Busy Buddy. However as soon as I came in and after we greeted each other, Max went right to the bench and started scratching, trying to get to the treat. All night they both worked to trying to get the sweet potato out of the Busy Buddy. The point is that they didn’t find life boring enough to focus on the hidden challenges during the day. I do know that if I have picked up all of Beeker's toys and chews before I leave the house, they are all, and I mean ALL, will be strung out all over the house. Not one of them will be in the toy basket when I return. Some kind of happenin' has been going on!

My nephew and girlfriend found out what their Italian Greyhound was up to when they were out of town last week. Turns out that when they returned home, the IG had made two piles of their belongings. One pile was all of Eric’s shoes and the other was a pile of his girlfriend, Chelsey’s jewelry. At first this seems very odd, but actually it makes sense for a dog that loves his owners. He wanted things that reminded him of them and both the jewelry and the shoes would smell like Eric and Chelsey. When I heard this story I couldn’t believe that a dog would collect stuff of their owners. I‘ve heard that if you have to go away and leave your dogs for a while, it is good to leave something with your scent for your pet. We usually leave a T-shirt. Hadn’t thought of jewelry.

Maybe our dogs have parties (remember Go Dog Go?) or maybe they just sleep until we return. Whatever they do, they keep it to themselves and we will have to use our imaginations to figure out what they are up to.

(106) Primping Dog style

We use to take the dogs to get groomed at a Dog Stylist. Back when we had Belle and Beau, our AKC dogs. We took them to a friend of a friend that would take all day working with the dogs, bathing them, air drying them and then combing them out. When they returned them, Belle would have a bow in her topnotch, and Beau would have a scarf tied around his neck. Cute huh? Yea, a little too cute for us. We asked them to only put scarves around their necks, if anything. They got really good personal attention and they knew our dogs well enough that they would keep them together or in view of each other so that they would be comfortable. Once when they were trying to get Belle into the bath tub by walking her up a ramp (she would often come up lame for a day after grooming), Beau chewed up the leash he was tethered on and jumped into the tub with her. In those days we didn’t think anything of spending the money to get a professional grooming because we could afford it and the work was done by people we “knew” and liked their work. Fast forward to the present; and our move here, where we knew no one who was knowledgeable about grooming Newfoundlands. You might think that grooming any dog would be similar. Wrong! Newfoundlands have double coats (meaning two layers of different types of hair) and both need to be treated differently. We took our chances a couple of times with disastrous consequences. One time I actually took both dogs in to be groomed and when I returned at the given time (8 hours later) I was told that one dog was “almost” finished and the other dog wasn’t started yet so could I please bring them back the next day? Another time, we took them to one of the larger pet stores where they have an assembly line of groomers. When we picked up the dogs later, it wasn’t evident that anything had been done with the dogs and Belle was lame for three days afterward. Enough of that!

We quickly figured out that we didn’t have show dogs, we had family dogs, and that the important part of grooming was their comfort and our relationship. Therefore, we (me sometimes but mostly Brad) started taking the time to groom the dogs ourselves. When I groom the dogs, I use the under rake, and the rubber tipped Zoom Groom by Kong. It is also important to have a matt splitter if you have a long haired dog, like Max. We also use a nail clipper for dogs (heavier than the one for cats) and Brad uses a clipper set that use to be used for our boys’ haircuts. He uses this for clipping the hair away from Max’s hind quarters (sometimes called a sanitary cut). Brad cuts the hair around Max’s paws and up his ankles somewhat so that the feathering does not get stuck with dirt, weeds or sticks. Last night was a typical night of grooming for Brad. He starts after dinner and finishes about 11:30. It takes him a long time to groom Max but we see the benefits from doing this ourselves. Brad gets to spend quality time with his dog. Max is an exceptionally patient dog. He loves being with Brad and so is tolerant with all of the moving and manipulation that takes place. We start in the front and then slowly move backward toward Max’s rear and tail. Max almost has a filled out tail now. When we first got Beeker, he use to pull and chew Max’s tail so that for a long time Max had no hair on the end of his tail. When all is said and done, there are usually two or three plastic grocery bags full of Maxie hair. This is no exaggeration. I wish I had taken a picture of the pile last night but I didn’t. Brad tries to groom Maxie every week but in reality it is usually every two to three weeks before he can get to it. In the Spring and Fall both dogs and Chez the cat will blow their coat and the hair will be twice as much. Then we really have to keep on top of it. When I groom Beeker I don’t get much off of him compared to Maxie but when I just use the Zoom Groom or my hand I get a whole bunch. He sheds differently than Max and has a denser coat. After grooming them, Brad then clips their nails and cleans their ears. Here again, Max is more tolerant than Beeker. In fact, Beeker will hunker down and try to look invisible. He knows he has to obey Brad and be patient when he is getting his nails cut or his ears cleaned but he HATES it. When my sister was teaching Jesse James to get use to the clippers (he hated them and would cower at the sound) she started to give him dinner with the clippers turned on so that he would get use to the sound of them. Then there is the tooth brushing that I have learned to do. I don’t do it regularly but every month or so I get the brush and the toothpaste out and go to it for each animal.

When we get the three animals all primped up they look pretty good. Max’s coat shines! When we let them go and they start blowing their coats they look like wild abandoned animals. When I think of the work that goes into keeping them looking good, say nothing of the healthy benefits of a good grooming.
These are the benefits for grooming the dogs ourselves I have figured out… We notice any bodily irregularities, so can then talk to the Vet, we can teach them how to relax, we can cut/comb/ treat their hair the way we want it to be, we can catch ear infections or hair mats earlier so hot spots don’t start.
I am glad that we have decided to do it ourselves. We all love the quality time together.

P.S. As I am writing this post the little red fox came into our side yard to see if it could get any of the bird seed. I just sat here and watched it. As soon as I started to get up to get the camera, it turned and walked quickly away back into the woods! How cool is that?

(105) Laws That Rule the Dog World

There are certain social laws that rule the dog world. I am learning these laws by ovserving Max and Beeker in our family. Here are a few that I have learned and I am sure that you can come up with some that you have witnessed when your dog plays with other dogs. The first that comes to mind relates to ownership of toys or food. It’s the Love it or Loose it Law. If a coveted object (read: chew toy, bone, etc) is left behind, it is open season and another dog is able to retrieve it as their own. For example, right now Beeker was chewing on one of the antlers we got his past weekend. When I got up to go get something from the refrigerator; Beeker left the antler behind to follow me. Max, viewing this coveted antler, snatched it right up and started chewing on the antler. Beeker looked back at Max, but was not able to regain control of the antler because of the dog law. As soon as Max got up to check the door, Beeker got up and went right to the left antler and took repossession of the antler. An associated law states that when a dog has finished eating, and has left his bowl, other dogs can then check to see if any morsels have been left behind. Not until the dog has left the bowl, can another dog approach the bowl. Another important dog social rule is the bow to request play. This is a common courtesy one dog bestows upon another, requesting that the first dog would like to engage the second dog in some play. This allows the second dog to choose to play or signal back that, “now is not the time to play”. A dog’s social etiquette states that when greeting another dog for the first time or when first meeting another dog, it is appropriate to be smelled from behind and to smell another dog from behind. We know this as a dog’s way to identify each other like finger prints on humans. Dogs do this by smells. The who, what, when’s of the dog world. We have observed and read about the dominate dog rule. This social rule states that the most senior/powerful/ dominate dog in the group gets to go first. In the wild, this probably meant that the most powerful dog got to eat first, however, this means that the dominate dog goes through the door first. I have witnessed Maxie going first and sometimes Beeker gets to go first. I wonder if in a random group, one where people were not present, if the dominate dog would go first?

As I think about these observations I wonder if these are social rules in the dog world or if they are just observed behaviors? Is there any difference? Dogs know how to get along with other dogs. They are taught what is important from modeling after other dogs. They are taught from puppyhood, how to get along with other dogs. When Beeks was just a little puppy, we were visiting my sisters’ home where four other dogs were present. Max was there, Jesse James was there, a young lab, Callie was present, and an older dominate lab, Bullet was there as well. All five dogs were sitting in my sister’s family room, each lying next to their owners. Callie’s owner brought out chew for all of the dogs, while the owners enjoyed a snack of our own. All dogs obediently sat eating their own respective chew, except for Beeker who quickly consumed his and decided he would try to get the chew of the dog lying next to him, who happened to be the oldest and most dominate dog, Bullet. It took one short look and the quietest growl from Bullet to let Beeker know he had crossed the line; EVEN attempting to get Bullet’ chew, was bad dog etiquette. Beeker turned tail and moved over closer to Max. I could just see Beeker thinking about trying to get Max’s chew too but he learned that such things were not tolerated.
I know there are other dog world Laws, you may have observed these and others as well. It’s good to know that dogs have social rules and laws that keep their world orderly and also help young pups grow up with dog approved socialization.

(104) BFF

I have got to tell you this…I was walking into my kitchen to get a magazine when I caught out of the corner of my eye…GeorgeNGracie. At the bird feeder. I have been warned that Cooper’s Hawks sometimes stalk backyard feeders for song birds. Well, she flew off but returned when I left the kitchen. This is the first sighting that we have seen in a long time. The babies should be born by now, so she might be foraging for food. How exciting!

Now the BFF part. (For those of you without a teenager with a phone, BFF stands for Best Friends Forever) I read an article in TheBark Magazine today that was interesting and made me think about Beeker, Max, and his cousin Jesse James. My sister and Jesse James (her Springer Spaniel) left early this morning. Beeks and Jesse played together for the past three and a half days. At first Jesse didn’t really care that Beeks wanted to play. He was more interested in Chez the cat. Since Jesse doesn’t get regular access to cats he was way too excited by the cat’s movements and ability to hiss and grown at him. Jesse stalked Chez, went after him whenever he could and found him just about more than he (Jesse) could handle. Juli helped Jesse learn a little control by keeping him in a down stay, which allowed Jesse the ability to observe but not hunt Chez. I’m not sure who was more stressed, Jesse or chez. If Jesse wasn’t going for Chez, Chez came looking for Jesse. Truth is that both got a thrill out of each other. Juli told me that Jesse thought that Max and Beeker were taking Chez for granted. Jesse believes that Max and Beeker are not using Chez for all he is worth. How true that must seem to Jesse who coultn’t get enough of Chez.

The article in this months’ The Bark Magazine spoke of the need of dogs for best friends. It talked about how dogs can be best friends for other dogs, aiding them to overcome issues that we humans are not equipped to assist with. Social learning, grief, and even having a dog conversation are behaviors that dogs have with other dogs. We humans have our own personal relationships with our dogs, but we cannot fill all of our dogs needs. Who else can know jus the right mix of physicalness and then retreat but a best buddy? Who else can know to lick your face when you are down? repetedly encourage you to play without giving up or taking your growls seriously? The ability of dog friends to teach social skills and modeling, is greatest. For example, just this weekend, Jesse James was thrilled that we have squirrels that come to our bird feeders. Jesse is a squirrel lover. He whined to get outside to chase the squirrels. He wanted desperately to get to them. When we let all of the dogs out into the dog fence, Jess bounced out the door as only a Springer can. He bounced and he barked as he went to defend against the squirrels. Within two seconds, Beeker learned (through modeling) that squirrels were to be bounced at and barked at. From the top of the step, the dogs would sit waiting until the squirrels would feel calm and safe enough to return to the feeders, then Beeks would hop down, with a bark right at the same place that Jesse had jumped. This behavior happened four times in a row. We laughed from our view at the window. Beeker was Max’s BFF (Best Friend Forever) since the day we brought Beeker home to live with us. We are convinced that Beekr helped Max be a calmer dog, helped him learn about the give and takes of playing. Although Beeks was the younger pup, Max was the special needs dog. When Max and Beeker are at a dog park, they will often go their own ways to play with other dogs. However, if either dog encounters a dog that does not play nicely, is over aggressive or is too in the face, the other dog will come to rescue of his housemate. It’s awesome to observe. When Jesse and Beeker play Max is somewhat overly concerned and sometimes interferes in the play. We (Juli and I) have tried to figure this out since before Beeker was in the family, Jesse James and Maxie played together a lot of the time. Now Beeker and Jesse have a difficult time trying to engage because Max is either jealous or over protective. It is difficult to tell which it is at this point.

The relationship between Max and Beeker reminds me of an old 1965 Children’s Film Festival movie titled Skinny & Fatty. It was a Japanese film where two children form a friendship because they were odd kids out. It’s wonderful because both boys need the friendship and help each other out in ways that only each other can. Max and Beeker are like the two boys in that movie. You can see the actual movie on U Tube if you Google Skinny and Fatty, Children’s Film Festival. I recommend the movie just because it was such a heart full flick. I think that Max and Beeks are now and will always be BFF.

(103) For the Love of Pets

I got a text last night from my son and his wife living in Charleston South Carolina. The text included a picture of a puppy unknown to me. It was adorable! A black, floppy eared, cute as a button puppy. The text said only… “look a new puppy”. This statement alone was nothing out of the ordinary on the face of it. However, my son and daughter-in-law are proud owners of four bunny rabbits, a cat, and some fish. When they got married a year ago, they had two rabbits, which quickly became three when my son saw a miniature bunny of some kind or other and had to get it. Then, through the local shelter, he saw a little black kitten, he had to rescue. It was quickly named Floyd. Then, since my daughter-in-law (works at a pet store and loves all animals), can’t stand the thought of an abused, abandoned, or neglected animals, she brought home the fourth bunny when it was abandoned at the store’s door one night. When she was put in charge of the fish section, she decided she needed her own tank to learn as much as she could about fish. This then, precludes my late night text and picture (see above). I have to admit it was a gorgeously large lovable puppy. But another animal in a two bedroom apartment seemed beyond the limit to me. How does a mother share with her kids, the love of animals and yet not preach(what 20 something would listen anyway)or lecture about too many animals, the possibility of neglect, or the cost of caring (food and medical expenses) for all of the animals? Admittedly, they do have kennels for all of the animals, they do play with them all, and they do take good care of them, so far. But… how many pets are too many?
At one point, we also struggled with this same issue. Brad loves to tell the story of when he took his two Newfies to the local pet store to get dog food. The problem he says was not that he took his dogs, but that he took his wife. The store was showing pets from the local pet shelter and one of the pets was a red point cat. The Newfies went right up to the cat and the cat went right up to the dogs, and that was it. As Brad tells it, “my wife said, ‘we’ll be back for the cat’, and I said, ‘we already have two cats at home’, so we went back for the cat”. The truth is that we did go back for the cat (Chez). We had two older cats and two Newfoundland dogs and yet I knew this cat was for us. It was energetic and we needed the distraction of a cat that made us laugh. Chez’s antics have always made us laugh (I can see you giving me the evil eye Brad!)
The point is, I can’t stop adults from choosing lots of pets to love. I can only hope that they realize that all pets are lovable and that all animals are lovable. The challenge, and it is a lifelong challenge for animal lovers, is to realize that there is only a thin line between caring for pets and hoarding pets. If you ask people who hoard animals if they love their pets or if they hate abuse of animals they will say yes. However, keeping track of the necessary care of each animal can get overwhelming and often gets neglected.
Here then is the joke on me… My daughter-in-law brought home the Great Dane/Dobbie mixed dog for an overnight because the pet store she works for was hosting a meet and greet for the local shelter and they asked if anyone wanted to take the animals home for overnight. Of course she said yes and so they were just having it for overnight.
My son, knowing my fears, was leading me on, teasing me as only a kid can do to a mother! We bantered back and forth through texting and I told him to give the cute dog a big slobbery kiss from me, and one for him too. He replied, “Ewww ewww, not the mom kiss!”. I miss my Man-boy! I think we’re safe for now. Holding steady at four bunnies,one cat and some fish.

(102) Garage Sales can be so Exhausting

My sister came yesterday and where Juli goes, Jesse James goes, so we were excited to have friends to play with! Juli met me at home (I worked in the morning) and from there we went to a nearby town for their community garage sales. OMG! We didn't even get there until after 2:00 on Friday(garage sales usually start at 8AM) so we weren't even sure if any of the sales would be still going. Turns out that they were! We hit about 30 sales before finally deciding that we had had enough. We had such a good time, with Beeker and Jesse James in the back, patiently waiting to see if we had anything good for them. We found the best chew item possible, given to us by a man who uses antlers to make knives handles. Brad and I discovered antlers for dog chews at our feed store, and have given them to Max and Beeks for about a month now. The dogs love to chew them and they are very dense and hard so they keep Beeks(an extremely heavy chewer) occupied. Sometimes Beeker gets so absorbed in chewing he will almost get to the point of obsessed. Back to the story, anyway, we made the comment that we had recently discovered antlers for dogs and the man said that he gives them to a friend's dog. Then he went into the back of his garage and brought out three antlers for us! We were excited, the dogs were excited and he asked me for my phone number and said that when he gets more he will call me and bring us some more! What a gift! The antlers kept the dogs occupado for the rest of the time we were forging. Beeks displayed his bad behavior for his cousin, by going into a frenzy when we passed a Labrador being walked across the street. Beeks barked and growled so fierce that it make Jesse and Juli take note. I'm going to have to rethink a strategy for Beeker in the car. He isn't getting it that he isn't suppose to bark when he is behind the window of the car. A couple of times, he also barked at people who walked too close to the car for his liking. I just can't let this get any worse. My yelling and grabbing for him just reinforces his belief that we are working together to get excited at people and dogs. He may have gotten it in his head that the car is to be protected and he needs to defend it. I need to think about this. I will let you know, but if you have any ideas let me know. (I hear you Brad...a shock collar!)
We got home to Brad finishing up mowing the lawn and then he cooked us a fabulous dinner of grilled portabella mushrooms and his speciality~ Cesar Salad! He makes THE BEST Cesar Salad in the world. Often times we just have that for dinner, but he has also been grilling portabella mushrooms, topped with onions, green pepper, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Mmmmmm! The smokey flavor of the Worcestershire is wonderful!
Today has been rainy and overcast but Juli and I still ran errands with the dogs. They were happy going along because they had their antlers to chew and we always stop at some new park for them to run. now that we are back home and have eaten a chicken sandwich and Maytag blue cheese, Juli is taking a nap and I'm writing. Its quiet time in the dog house. The Dogs are "CD". Cashed Dogs. They run, rumble and relax. They are having a great time together. Max is happy just being with Brad, who is working on a home project. Its that kind of a Saturday