What to do about Moo

Moolatte is hanging at the shelter while we are out of town for a few days. He was with us for 1 week and it is hard to tell if I am making any progress at all. It seems like every morning when I get up he is his old timid self again and running around away from me except in the kitchen. Once I pet him some in the kitchen, he seems to get better, but not great. I have gotten him to come lay by me and let me pet him and even give him a belly rub, but it is slow progress for 1 week. When I went to drop him off, he came in the office and saw Mallory and he wagged his tail and went right over to see her.

With Lori's allergies, it probably makes sense to get a different dog, but the choices of a short hair dog are pretty limited right now. I am still undecided as to whether to pick Moolatte up at the shelter on Monday or not.

When does this dog go

The dog hasn't gone in the house, but he hardly goes outside and he doesn't go to the bathroom when we take walks. It is a mystery.

Petco

I took Moolatte to the Petco Lakeline adoption day this past Saturday. He was very apprehensive and wouldn't go up and greet anyone but he would back up to me and I would pet him and tell them to come over to pet him. I got a lot of questions about what kind of dog he is. A lot of people commented on how pretty he is and how interesting his markings are. By the end of the 3 hours, he was ready to go home. He did let me pet him a bunch and spent time backed up to me, so that actually helped our relationship. At home, he took more petting. He is least timid in the kitchen and will come in and sit for petting and I had Ben come over and pet him with me. When I would stop petting, he would put his head under my hand for more. He even sniffed over at Ben's hand for a little petting. I left Moolatte at the shelter last night as I was having my friend over for candle lighting and she seems to be allergic to him. She and I were rubbing his belly and petting on him on Sat. evening and she started to get itchy eyes and a tight throat. It was time to leave for a bit and I left him at the shelter Sun. night and cleaned the place so she could come back for candle lighting. I brought him home this afternoon, but am not sure if it will work out because of the allergy thing. I figure that Ben and I will be here at least a few days since Ben had his wisdom teeth out this morning, so Moolatte can hang out here and then if we leave town, he can go to the shelter and if I am to hang out with my friend this week, it won't be here.

Housetrained

Moolatte is definitely house trained. He hasn't gone to the bathroom in the house at all and I leave him out of the crate at night. He started eating Thurs. night though I haven't seen him poop. I hope he isn't constipated. He is eating fine with some leftover rice/ground beef in his food. He doesn't seem to like to go out for walks. He is okay getting the leash on but doesn't want to go out the front door. I don't think he likes riding in the car and I took him to the shelter yesterday to pickup our stuff for adoption day. I think he is hesitating to go out front because he doesn't want to get in the car. Today we go to Petco for an adoption day, even if I have to carry him out to the car.

So, he is a burier

Moo hasn't eaten much here. Hasn't touched his food in his dish and wasn't interested in the hot dog pieces we offered him yesterday. He did eat a couple of little dog biscuits, but before that, he was doing something with them. I saw him doing it a few times more today and figured it out. I had tossed the dog biscuit on a comforter folded up on the floor for him to lay on and he went over and touched his nose to the cookie and then started pushing the covers with his nose. I couldn't figure out the scooping motion before and then it dawned on me that is how KD used to bury stuff. Sure enough, if I threw the top layer of comforter over it, he was happy. He just did it with a chew stick and then he layed down and pulled the cover layer back a bit to chew on it. Too funny, I have to take a video to post.

Was that Baxter I saw at the shelter tonight

I was picking up Moo this afternoon and I could swear I saw Baxter in the meet and greet pen. I forgot to ask Andrew on my way back out. Guess I will find out on Friday.

I have a thing for the shy ones

Picked up Moolatte this afternoon. One of the reasons I chose him was that he is so timid and especially shy around men. I have gotten him to be comfortable putting a leash on him at the shelter, so I thought that was a good enough start. He is extremely unsure of himself, but seems to be "hanging out with me" wherever I go at home and he is well mannered on the leash other than walking back and forth in front of you so that he could end up on either side. Well, I guess he isn't well mannered, but he doesn't pull, so that is nice. Quick pics from cellphone camera attached.

Next visitor - Moolatte

Well, I talked with Monica last night and discussed CeCe, Karma, and Moolatte and we decided on Moo. I told her I couldn't get by last night and that I would try to get by today to get Moolatte and see how things go. The car is cleaned out and I need to put up the pet barrier before I go to get him. Pictures later.

Well, he's gone

Ryan went home today while I was leading an adoption day. He is officially adopted. Desiree, hope I didn't teach him any bad habits you can't unteach. Also hope he has a good first night and takes to his crate.

Now it is time to consider who to bring home next. I have 3 candidates in mind, will have to mull it over and perhaps tomorrow night bring someone home.

Somedays it isn't a great day to have a dog's life

The cold front came through yesterday afternoon/evening and then the rain came. It was cold and rainy and sleety and Ryan needed to go out to potty. Somedays "it's a dogs life" means it is nice to be able to lay around and just get petting, etc. But not being able to just use the restroom on an evening like last night make that saying mean the opposite. I didn't envy him running out to the back of the yard in the rain/sleet to hike his leg on a rock.

Last week

Well, it appears to be Ryan's last week with us. He should be going home this coming Sunday or Monday. I will miss the little guy but Ben is already looking forward to a new dog as Ryan sticks with me preferentially at home and Ben can't get much attention from him.

Cold weather

Man it was cold out this morning. I never dig grab a coat for Ryan but if this weather is going to stay,I am going to have to run up to the shelter. I could use an XPen from there anyway. I have been trying to keep Ryan from joining me in bed by blocking him out. I put up some little fences but they were too low and he just jumped up. I doubled up the fence last night but there was a small gap at the head of the bed and he exploited it. I was sleeping and he got up and I blocked it with my dresser door after I put him down. The door swings and he was able to get back up later while I was asleep.

Tonight, I plan on blocking that opening better. I wonder if it is cold on the dog bed on the floor and it is warmer snuggling with me or if he just wants to be in bed with me because I am there. I know crating him would stop him from getting in bed, but then he whines incessantly. I just want him to lay down on his bed and leave me to mine and me not having to get up and put him back down over and over.





Wait at the door is going somewhat better. He doesn't stay there the first time. He will sit and wait while the door swings open and I can step toward the door and out, but sometimes it takes a few times for him to stay after the door is opened and I have to pull him back and start again.

Separation anxiety

I was watching "It's me or the dog" yesterday and they had an episode with this Patterdale terrier on it. He lived with this family and the 18 year old daughter and the dog were inseparable. He slept with her, snacked with her, went for walks with her and he was anxious all day when she was away at school. He was aggressive when anyone came near her. The part of the episode that resonated with me was the separation anxiety bit. One thing that Victoria observed is that the 2 had bonded so closely and that the girl made a big fuss when coming and going. Victoria wanted to ensure that the comings and goings were more detached and that the girl give up the constant holding of the dog and sleeping with the dog, etc. I think I am guilty of some of that same behavior. I know that Ryan is overly keyed up when I return. He jumps up over and over which I try to ignore but I need to do a better job of turning my back on him until he is calm. The training they did with the dog for the separation anxiety was pretty much like what Dana Cooper had recommended to me before. I need to go into another room and leave Ryan behind and close the door and give him progressively longer and longer separations and the same thing with leaving through the front door. I guess it has just been easy for me to cope with Ryan since I can crate him so readily when I want to leave and he isn't large enough to bowl me over when he does his kangaroo greeting when I return home. The issue isn't really either of those things, but building the independent confidence in him that he could achieve if the separation anxiety were reduced/eliminated.

2 more weeks (ish)

Well, it is now closer to 2 more weeks. I made that list of things to work on with Ryan in my last post and we have been focusing mostly on wait at the door. He is getting a little better, but I need to do it more repetitively. We do it every time we go for a walk or to get in the car, but that is only like 2-3 times a day. He is showing improvement, but I need to step up the number of times we do it by going for more short walks and just doing the door thing over and over.

The bed thing is another story. I didn't have any perseverance at crating him at night. I put a crate in my bedroom but he just sits there and whines and howls. I scoop him up to put him in there and I have to shove him through the door unlike the crate in the living room where I put him down in front of it (still have to pick him up to get him over to it) and he walks on it and sits down. I have been letting him sleep on his doggy bed. The other night he hopped up on the bed and I put him back down and we repeated a number of times. Of course when I awoke in the morning it was because he was snuggled up against me and it was too hot. A little baby play yard won't keep him in, so I think an xpen around his doggy bed is the next best idea.

3 more weeks

I received a correction on my 2 more weeks post. Mid December is the adoption target, so that is 3 more weeks. I will be gone half of next week, but if I can kick my own butt into action, maybe I can get Ryan to:

1) Wait at the door when it is opening
2) Stop jumping up
3) Stay off the bed

Well, it is a list of goals at least.

I am worthless and week, now drop and give myself 20

Inspired by too much "It's me or the dog" on Animal Planet, I thought I would do the right thing and put Ryan in his crate at night so that he wouldn't join me in bed. Well, unlike at the shelter, he doesn't love to be in his crate and I know that. I got down the crate from the garage wall. This is a medium or a large crate, which is smaller than the XL crate in the living room for when I leave for the day. I set it up on the left side of my bed. He has a dog bed on the floor on the right side of the bed which he gets on to start sleeping at night but then he gets up later and jumps on the bed. I crated him after a short walk last night and went to bed. He immediately started whining and howling. I know I have to ignore him and I did for about an hour and a half but then it became too much for me and I let him out and put him on his doggy bed. He went wild when I let him out and ran around jumping up all over the place but he finally calmed a little so I put him on the doggy bed and put him down when he tried to get in the bed. A while later he jumped up on the bed and I put him down. And over and over. He stayed down for a while and I went to sleep and when I woke up a bit later, he was curled up next to my legs. I was tired and I let it go. Not a great start to getting him to stay off the bed at night. I thought about putting a baby play yard fence around his dog bed, but he can hop over that no problem.

2 more weeks

Well, there really hasn't been any public interest in Ryan. That isn't to say that Desiree hasn't been having Ryan over for playdates with her 2 dogs. She plans on adopting him after Thanksgiving which means he is with me for about 2 more weeks. I have been watching a lot of "It's me or the dog" on Animal Planet and it just reinforces that I have been more lenient with Ryan than any of the other foster dogs and I need to spend some time during these last weeks trying to get things straightened out. I need to get the crate down from the garage (the smaller of the 2 crates) and put it next to my bed and stop letting him jump up on the bed at night. It has been easy to let him snuggle up next to me when he wakes at night instead of letting him run around and wake me, but that isn't the right thing to do. I also need to stop him from jumping up like crazy when he gets excited about me returning home or about going for a walk. Time to try to buckle down.

Wow, haven't written in more than 2 weeks

So, still with Ryan. Desiree wants Ryan if no one comes to adopt him by Thanksgiving which is great. She is doing a meet and greet with her dogs. Ryan has been sleeping a little better though part of that is that I am not waking up during the night but when I get up in the morning he has migrated from his doggy bed to curled up at my feet. I got some new dog toys at Petco this week. I got a ChuckIt flying squirrel and he seems to like to chase after it though he wants to lay down and chew it up after a few retrievals and I have to stop him from doing that. I tried giving him a dog puzzle, some cut up hotdog in a gatorade bottle, but he didn't have any success figuring out that tossing the bottle around or spinning it on the floor would eject hot dog pieces. Oh well, I had a few dogs that have figured that one out.

Today was a Petco adoption day as they are having adoption weekend nationally. I moved up my adoption day to this weekend. Since Ryan spends all his time under the table when I take him there, I took Tracy instead. She was very popular.

Mini blinds

I was working from home the other day and there was a squirrel in the front yard and Ryan was going wild at the front door/window. I told him to stop and he went to the front bedroom and went wild there. I believe that is what really happened to the mini blinds in the front bedroom and the laundry room. It wasn't separation anxiety but it was him going wild for some squirrels. We have a good number of squirrels in the backyard and he chases them a lot. The other day there were 3 at once and it made him go wild. One came back down the post of the deck and headed for a tree and he was right there after him. The squirrel headed up the tree and Ryan jumped for it and jumped right through the separated trunks of the cedar.

Busy weekend for me

I left Ryan at the shelter this weekend because I was working on the race we put on at work. It is a big affair and I worked > 24 hours this weekend on it. He seemed fine at the shelter. They had him in with Keela because they had Troy in with Brody. Everyone seemed to get along fine and he was happy to see me Sun. afternoon when I came to pick him up.

Sunday night was another insomnia fest for Ryan. He was up a couple of times and I finally got up with him before 5am. Last night was different and I need to figure out the thing that worked. After working on the computer while he laid around last night, I took him for a walk to the Walgreens which is a little less than a mile away and then we walked back. We went to bed after that and I was the first one to wake up at 2am and since I was up for a sec, I let him out. He came right back to the bedroom and laid down. When the alarm went off at 6am, he hadn't gotten me up again, but he was in bed with me lying on the other side of the body pillow I sleep with. I know he shouldn't be allowed to sleep in the bed because he is a foster, but he has gotten up there before after waking me a few times and slept there while I finished sleeping and it seems to be the thing that keeps him laying still/sleeping. I guess I will have to experiment with that.

Catchup

Well, I have been remiss in doing my blogging. Ryan is doing about the same. He has had 2 accidents in the house at night in the past 2 weeks. My schedule/energy level has been such that I haven't been giving him a good walk at the end of the day and his sleeping / accidents are the result. He knows to go outside and he doesn't go in his crate, but he is just laying around the house while I veg at the TV or work at the computer and then he doesn't sleep through the night and he doesn't necessarily get me up. What is odd is that he does get me up during the night (I haven't been sleeping well because he has been sleeping well but before bedtime) and he is waking me. I wonder why he has had the 2 accidents if he is waking me and going out early in the morning. The accidents have both been in the sitting room off of my bedroom where the crate used to be. I wonder if there is a relationship with the crate?

This past weekend was Barktoberfest. I took Ryan out there with me and left him laying tied to a pole while I was putting up the popups and then he came around with me. I left him with Michelle while I ran an errand in the uhaul and then he walked around with me or he laid at Michelle's feet behind the volunteer registration table. He doesn't really care for these crowded events and goes to hide behind/under a table.

Ringo got adopted this weekend. The shelter has been really placing a lot of dogs and the list of dogs was way down this weekend. The people that adopted Ringo inquired about Ryan, but they have kids and that just doesn't work with Ryan. I am hoping to find a home for him where he can be with another dog. I think he could use an active dog friend to help him release some of his excess energy. He plays with all the other dogs at the shelter and does really well with other dogs that like to play or dogs that are mellow. I think the ones that want to play are a better match though as he could use to run off some of his energy.

Help the shelter by joining zootoo.com

Zootoo.com is having a shelter makeover contest. Central Texas SPCA is getting a late start, but anyone can join and affiliate with the shelter.

It's a frog, it's a fish, it's Ryan

Ryan and I went for a walk yesterday and we walked by the big pond up at the front of our subdivision. I had him on a retractable leash and I let him walk near the edge of the water and he walked on in and started swimming. He came back out and we walked a little more along the edge and he turned and jumped out into the water and swam a bit until the end of his leash. The last time he jumped in we were close enough to the end of the pond that I let him walk out the edge in front of him. He was dripping wet, but definitely likes the water. He needed a bath anyway, so it was a convenient time to let him jump in. Of course, that meant he wasn't allowed to come in the car when I went to pick Ben up, but you win some you lose some.

Patterdale Terrier

I was checking out at my doctor's office today and they had a little "tear the page off" calendar and it was of dogs. The page on top had a Patterdale Terrier and there was more than a passing resemblance to Ryan. I found this page with a couple of the dogs looking similar to Ryan:
http://www.terrierrescue.co.uk/dogsneedinghomes/Word.htm
Check out Gizmo and also Bob.

The bark heard around the world

I forgot to put this anecdote down:

On Thursday, I was on my morning conference call with our extended team where we do status for the entire project. We have folks on from China, Taiwan, England and all over the US. I was sitting at the dining room table and Ryan was laying on his comforter in the corner of the room near the front windows. It was my turn to give my status and I came off mute and started and all of a sudden, Ryan went crazy barking. I looked up and the cleaning lady was coming in the front door and it freaked him out. Then the phone beeped low battery. I had to switch to another handset and usher Ryan into the back of the house with me while I tried to give status from my charts on my laptop. I got a number of comments about Ryan on Fri.

Ryan will be Ryan

Ryan and I went to my adoption day event at Petco on Saturday and he spent the whole time laying under the table, the chair or the bench. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is doing better sitting for the door (most of the time I have to say sit,but he does it instead of doing circles around me), so that is good. He is a bit higher energy than I thought he was. He can get quite wound up. I would take him running but I have a toe injury. I take him for a walk for about 1.5 miles or more a couple times a day, but I think I need to lengthen that.

I put on the board at the shelter that Ryan should not go to a home with younger kids. We go walking and if he sees kids playing, he tries to go as far away as possible. Kids on bikes really freak him out.

Ryan seems to be coming along

Ryan seems to be coming out of his shell a good bit. He hangs with me wherever I am in the house or the yard. He gets excited about going out for a walk. He is coming over to Ben when Ben calls him even if I am in the room. He loves to get in the car and go for a ride. All good stuff.

This past weekend, I got a couple of things from the shelter to help with the craziness in the crate. I got a spray bottle of DAP (dog appeasing pheromone). I spray it in the crate before leaving. I also got some Rescue Remedy which is an herbal tablet that is supposed to help calm him. The combo seems to be going well. With those and some bones in his crate, he hasn't completely shredded the sheet I threw in for him in the crate (also brought home some extra sheets that were donated to the shelter).

I got a few new pictures of Ryan and added them to his picture section on the wiki. I also changed the static picture of current foster to a slideshow of the pics of the current foster.

I have a Petco adoption day this weekend and of course will take Ryan. The exposure to folks should do him good. Last month, I took him with to my 5th Saturday adoption event and he laid under the table the whole time. Hopefully not this time.

More separation anxiety

Well, I have been crating Ryan whenever I leave the house and the bottom of the crate is all scratched up and one of the riveted clips that holds the window in the side of the crate was chewed up in his crate yesterday. Today I decided to let him be in the house again and see what happened. When I got home, I found that he had knocked some stuff off the top of the microwave on the counter in the kitchen and chewed off the end of a retractable leash. I thought, hmm, not too bad. Later, when I went to the bedroom, I noticed the door open to the front bedroom of the house and the laundry room. They weren't when I left. The door doesn't latch well in the front bedroom (door jam is out of alignment, just had the foundation leveled, but it hasn't adjusted itself) and he jumped on it and it opened. The double window mini blinds on the front window of the house were totally trashed. They were down and he wanted to see out and jumped on it and chewed on it. I had to cut out the bottom 1/4 of the slats just so that it would almost lift up a bit. there are some issues with the strings at the far end of the blind that I need to work on. Same story in the laundry room. He knocked it open, knocked the laundry hamper out of the way and smashed up the blinds. I was able to adjust the door latch in that room so that it appears to close now, but when I leave, he has to go into the crate. Between him and Bubbette, I am now down 4 mini blinds (and 1 more in the back of the family room that got a bit bent up but I didn't have to remove any slats. Oh well, someone at work who fosters dogs said, "you can't be house proud if you are fostering dogs." Too true.

Separation anxiety

Ryan got a bit upset while I was at work yesterday and scratched up the floormat at the front door. He also knocked a squishy ball and a small notepad off the counter near the garage door and chewed up the paper of the notebook. He opened the pantry, but he didn't mess with anything on the floor in there. I decided to bring in the big crate and set it up in my bedroom. I had to run an errand and threw a towel in there for him to lay on and put him in there. When I was back in 20-30 minutes, the towel was shredded. So, no towels/blankets in the crate. It is a total opposite of how he is at the shelter where he wants to get into his crate and hides in the back.

Ryan spent Sunday at the shelter

I had a race Sunday evening that I was working at, so I left Ryan at the shelter earlier on Sunday and picked him up on Monday afternoon. He seemed happy to see me. He has started to like to ride on the floor in the back seat where the vent is blowing the AC. He doesn't get right there, but sits on my lap and also goes into the back but seems to like that back floor spot.

Halti collar

I put a halti collar on Ryan this morning and took him for a 1.5 mile walk. The thing just plain works. Ryan didn't seem to mind putting it on too much, but when we left he was trying to figure out why his head was whipping around. He put up with it for about .5 miles and then he started the "try to scratch it off my face" routine. I stopped him and he did it again half a block down but then he seemed to resign to it and the whole walking experience was much better for me. I need to give him a bit longer of a leash as I was walking right up behind him since he didn't seem to settle into one side of me. I need to work on that, but it was nice not having him choking himself trying to drag me back to the house.

I have got to get Ryan on a better schedule

I have the eating/drinking = peeing/pooping thing all down with him. The shelter system off putting the food out to eat twice a day for 30-45 minutes and letting him eat if he is hungry and then making sure to get him out for the output a while after that is working just fine. What isn't working is that Ryan doesn't sleep the night. He gets up in the middle of the night and comes over to the bed and scratches at the sheets or jumps on the bed. I have putting him off the bed and praising him when he is off,but the scratching at the sheets won't take long to do a number on them. I am not sure if he is sleeping during the day or if I am just not getting him enough exercise. My foot has been bothering me a bit and he is not great on a leash (I need to pickup a gentle leader to try with him), so we haven't been going for a lot of long walks. I need to get that into the routine so that I can get my sleep.

Ryan has become more comfortable going outside on his own if there is something out there that interests him. He will bound off after a squirrel or bark and jump up at the tree to try to get at a squirrel. If I go out on the deck with him, he often jumps up on the deck bench seat with me for some petting or will go over the top railing to go after something. Now I need to add in some obedience work and get him out into public situations. The shyness hasn't gone away, he is just becoming comfortable with me.

I left him this morning to go drop Ben at school and was coming back. I spent a few more minutes at school than usual and when I parked in the driveway and was getting out of the car, I could hear him whining and howling in the house. Once we get some obedience going, we also have to work on the separation anxiety. The wonderful thing is that he isn't destructive while I am gone all day. I think he gets on the sofa and the other day the kitchen table was all swished around like he had walked across it, but he hasn't chewed anything. We have had a few mini blinds that he whacked in the back where the backyard is, but I think that was more him being excited and going after a squirrel bu tnot able to get out.

A burst of energy

Ryan got up early this morning and I went to let him right out so that he could go to the bathroom. He went and then he started running around the yard. He had some steam to blow off. He was just running and running. It was kinda funny. He finally ran up to me and jumped up against me and I set him down and we went inside.

Another day, a bit of washing

Nothing much at the shelter on Saturday. Mallory checked out Ryan and he needed to be "expressed". Enough about that. I bathed him on Sunday and he is smelling a bit better. Sunday, I was busy so didn't take him to the shelter.

Ryan chases squirrels. Not a big deal except that he will lay in the dining room at the front of the house and if he sees something in the backyard, he will run to the backdoor and when I open it, zoom he is after the squirrel. This is a dog who won't go outside by himself otherwise.

Ryan can jump. He has hopped up on the bed with me when I let him out in the morning and then went right back to sleep. Ben also said he jumped up onto the office desk. He also can get bored and chew a little. He chewed on the tip of one of my slippers (actually, the last of that pair because Hermes chewed up the other one in that pair) and he chewed on a cheap pair of sandals I left out. For most dogs, I would get them more exercise, but Ryan doesn't like to go for a walk. I took him for a longer one on Sunday and it went okay, so I will have to do more walking with him.

Small update

So, Ryan is coming out of his shell a tiny bit. He is not only shy/fearful, but he also attaches to the person he is with and then has separation anxiety. He does not like to go out for walks. He is shy about going out the door and then will be fine heading out but if he sees anything going on outside in the street or down the block, he is freaked and wants to head back to the safety of inside.

He does fine sleeping on his dog bed next to my bed. He settles right in when I am getting ready for bed and then stays there when I go to bed. He got up this morning and I was concerned from yesterday's throwing up so I got up too. He started jumping up on me and running around. He is in a good mood in the morning and almost playful. I took him straight out to potty and he went. He even wags his tail sometimes in the morning. He climbed in my lap for some petting too. He is fully house trained, though he did pee in the house the first night when left alone for a while. Other than that, no accidents and if I take him outside, he goes and does his business.

He is getting a little less timid about going into the backyard. I can't just open the door and out he heads to explore, but when I opened the door this morning he headed out ahead of me. That is progress as he usually tags along and then when I sit on the bench he will wander around a little bit.

Last night, observing his behavior, it struck me that he is like a cross between a dachsund and a meerkat. I only know about them from some tv shows and not in depth, but he has that way of holding his head and looking around, a long sleep body, etc. I am sure it isn't genetically true, but it struck me funny.

A day at work

Ben and Ryan seemed to get along well last night. Ryan let up his fear a little bit. Enough to let Ben do a small amount of petting. I went to the office today and wasn't sure what would happen. Ben was asleep and I left the house. Ben tells me that Ryan was fairly vocal. Aside from all around fear, he seems to suffer from separation anxiety. Ben called to tell me Ryan threw up a few times. I am guessing it was stress because the cleaning lady was here today. When I came home, Ryan didn't want to come to me and didn't want to leave Ben. I took him for a short walk. He gets scared and wants to head home. He starts pulling at the leash, hunkering down and paddling with his front legs. Since we got back home, he has stuck with me. I gave him some rice with his food and I will just watch to see how he is.

On NPR today, they had a story about the smell of fear. Apparently many animals let off an alert pheromone when they get frightened. Perhaps Ryan's smell is because he is always afraid. Perhaps.

This is one scared dog

Ryan has settled just a tiny bit. I worked from home the last 2 days from my dining room and I threw a comforter in the corner for him and he lays beside me. If I get up he follows meekly and is under foot or turns and runs away when I go in the kitchen. It may be from me crating him in the kitchen and using the doggy gate in there. I moved his food and water out of there so he would have access. I broke up some pupperoni and got him to come take it from my hand. If I sit on the floor he will come over and stand beside or behind me and let me stroke him, but he won't come sit in front. Walking with him seemed like it was getting a little better, but then we saw a neighbor down and across the street and he pulled the entire way home to get inside where it was safe. We have a long way to go. Will be interesting to see how he and Ben get along tonight.

Settling in a bit

Ryan was pulling a lot last night on our walk. I tightened the Martingale collar a bit more and stopped when he was pulling hard and he was getting the idea but he is so fearful that he is staying ahead but looking back or is pulling sideways. I setup a create with a comforter in the kitchen for him since he seemed to be staying in the kitchen most of the evening. I left it in there with the door open and he laid in it a bit. I put him up and shut out the lights and went to bed and he started whining and howling. After a while, I got concerned that my next door neighbor has her bedroom near my kitchen and I decided to go put up a gate and let him just lay on the tile in the kitchen. This morning, I heard him picking up a bone that I had left on a comforter by the back door which meant he had gotten out of the kitchen. I went and put him in the crate and went back to bed. He howled and whined and scratched at the crate for a long while and then settled for a while and then started again and then settled and then started again and it was time for me to get up. Well, the comforter is pretty ripped up (need to go to Blue Hanger and get another one for $3). I need to decide what to do with him tonight. I think I will setup a crate in another part of the house where it is more central and won't disturb the neighbors and just put in a towel I don't mind shredded and just let him howl.

He is laying next to me on the floor right now. He should be tired because he didn't sleep a lot. I need to get the camera and take some pictures to post up to the blog. This morning after my conference calls, he is getting a bath.

KD

Heard from her new family today. She now goes by Sadie. She is adjust pretty well, a little nervous but getting more settled each day. She is still playing with her squeaky football that I sent with her.

Hello Ryan

Ryan is painfully shy. He is Ringo's littermate. He is next in the house and I brought him home tonight. He has a tendency to stop and try to get away on leash so I added a Martingale collar on him and it seems to be working well. He is hanging out mostly in the kitchen but wandering just a bit. He needs a bath badly, but I don't want to freak him out too much tonight.

Kind of quiet

It is somewhat strange around here with no dog. Nothing to do when I get up in the morning (well, plenty to do but no dog to walk). No worry about getting right home to walk the dog. I checked with our foster coordinator and we decided who needs to be fostered the most and I will get him on Monday when I am back in town. I will update with name, picture, profile when I have got a new foster.

1 year ago today

At KD's exit today, we were going through the file and there was the original foster sheet I filled out on KD. It wasn't for the time that I ended up taking her home after Hermes, it was from 1 year ago today when I took her home to have a slumber party with Hermes. That night I had to keep tossing her off my bed so that she would sleep on the floor. Well, it took a year, but she finally found a home that I hope will be permanent. Katie and Leo are really nice and KD went out the door with them without any hesitation. We have been together a long time on and off and she was very happy at the shelter this morning because it was a staff meeting and all the caretakers were there (well, almost all) and she was so happy to visit with April and Desiree and Mallory and Monica. It was a good send off.

So now what? Ben and I are out of town next weekend so I was figuring we wouldn't get another dog until after that, but he was asking today about another dog. We will see what he is thinking tomorrow and we might go to the shelter and see what we think.

Adoption day tomorrow

I have adoption day tomorrow in Georgetown. It isn't my normal day because I switched with someone who couldn't do theirs this month. It turns out, that KD has a good application and she is scheduled to go home tomorrow also. I will bring her up to the shelter and have to leave her while I am in Georgetown. She has been a sweet little girl and I will miss her, but the people who applied for her are very nice and seem to be dog folks. She will have a good family which is my objective.

A visit with some folks and a Ringo visit here

KD and I went to meet some people who might be interested in her on Saturday. It seemed to go well and they were nice. We will have to wait and see what comes of it. We went to the shelter for the rest of the day and on Sunday. It has been "Africa" hot. Dallas had 107, but we were still hot at 103. The dogs are laying in their pools and we are bringing them in early each day. I got a wild hair yesterday and decided that I would bring Ringo home again. He did pretty well the first visit. He of course is scared to be put in the car, but lay there next to KD. He was anxious to go into the house from the car and he and KD went in the back and chased each other around for a few minutes, but it was too hot. Ringo and KD growl and grab each other and generally play rough. She outweighs him by about 1/2 or more, but he will hold his own. Thank goodness that dogs have such thick skin because they were grabbing each others necks and scruff and rolling around. We went out for a walk and it was not easy not being tied up. We just had 6' leashes but it was a twist and turn. Ringo was pulling the whole time and KD was quite good. There were a few times they were pulling in opposite directions trying to get to sniff something, but overall, it went fine and it was still hot out, so in we came.
Unfortunately, the evening ended early as was a bit short tempered and Ringo kept marking the corners of walls and the door to my bathroom. After cleaning it up for about the 6th time, I decided that it was best if I just took Ringo back to the shelter for the night and I took it easy. KD seemed a bit lonely after that, but I was less upset, so we let it go.

A little shopping

It has become a habit that I do a little shopping on Sunday morning. The folks at the local Walgreen's know me as I am always in there working on some discount deal. A few weekends ago when I was walking to the Walgreens with my friend and KD, the cashier told me that they didn't have to stay outside. Apparently it is ok for dogs to come in the store. Well, I have walked KD over there a few times now. It is around a mile (I think) and we grab a few things and then walk on home. She likes it a lot better than staying outside, though she can be a little weary of strangers. I put her on the running leash/belt with the leash adjusted to its shortest this past Sunday. We wandered here and there in the store and then we were several minutes at the checkout because of coupons. Somehow KD's end of the leash became unclipped. She wandered under the little table behind me and I told her to come out and she came over so I could clip her again. I have to get a replacement doubleclip leash as this is the same leash where she became unclipped on a run and ran back to the house.

It was blazing hot at the shelter this weekend. I made sure to fill the pools but KD and Ringo had the pool with the hole in the side. I found 1 more pool in the shed and put it under their shade cover and they hopped right in to cool off.

Just not much to report

KD spent a few nights at the shelter these past 2 weekends as I had to drive to Houston during the day and didn't just want to leave her at home instead of at the shelter while it was open. We had Petco adoption day and I took KD and Ringo/Ryan plus Minnie/Troy. Got some interest in Minnie and Troy. I think I need to make a binder like the one we had on Hermes at the shelter to play up KD to guests. Need to do something to get her more interest.

Meanwhile, she is the same. She lays around when I am ignoring her and after she has laid around long enough, she gets bored and wants to go out back. She will grab her squeaky football and come in to entice me to come play. I bought her some pigs ears at Petsmart the other day and she is enjoying those. She grabs it and heads straight for the back door so she can run outside with it and then settles down to eat it.

At the shelter

KD got to spend the night at the shelter since I was taking Ben to Houston on Saturday and we would be leaving too early for me to drop her off. No reports of any problems, but alas, still no reports of interest. She is out there laying in her pool waiting for me to pick her up. It is another blazing Sunday here in sunny Leander and things have been really quite since I got to the shelter. I finished off all but 1 of the stencils for the curb stops. Now I just have to do "Sofie & Gwenevire". Ouch, that is a lot of cutting. I need to get with Michelle and see when we want to do the actual painting. We are going to use sponge brushes, but I was cleaning my closet today and came across my airbrush. One of those things I got and played with once and never really used / took the time to get decent at. It would be good for this type of thing, but I should just break it out and play with it with my little compressor at home and see if I can master the basics. Cutting stencils isn't difficult, just time consuming. They can be a little rough with the lettering, but for something more interesting, probably have to be painstaking to ensure it is nipped just right. Anyway, KD and I will head home soon from the shelter and she will plop down on her comforter exhausted and glad to be home.

Slumber Party 2

Well, KD came over on a slumber party with Hermes and tonight it is her turn. Tonight she has Ringo staying over. Ringo and KD share an outdoor run at the shelter when I bring her there.

She is a bully and runs him around mouthing on his neck and chasing him around the yard, but he seems to be okay. He is pretty timid (I only say pretty timid because his brother Ryan cowers and Ringo just shys away). I took the 2 of them for a walk earlier on flexi leashes and that was a mistake. They got crossed immediately and Ringo's pulled away from me. I had to chase him half a block and drop KD's leash so I could grab his. I got one of those little rope burns. After that, I got the hang of it and we walked 1.5 miles. Ringo was full of pep, but KD was lagging behind at the end, but we made it home.

Long time no write

Well, things have been good with KD. I went out of town for a week of vacation from 6/18 to 6/25 and so picked up KD on the 26th. She was very glad to see me and happy to be home. She has been doing better on some of our walks. She found a dead bird again on Friday but a quick correction on the leash and she left it. Have been working a lot and she has been a bit bored, but hasn't gotten into any mischief. I had a hard time getting up this morning. KD was stirring around 5ish so I went to let her out. She likes to get petted first thing in the morning and goes and sits on the quilt by the back door after some petting and belly rubbing, she went out for a few minutes and then I went back to bed. Finally got up about 8 and took her for a short run. Man I have let myself get out of shape. We plodded along the the 1.5 miles and it was not difficult, but just felt like I was dragging myself along. Hopefully I can get motivated to start doing it regularly and things will look up.

Update on Adrien

Got a note yesterday letting me know that Adrien has been cleared for rehab and that her new family has let her take a tour of the house including going upstairs. She seems to be settling in quite nicely.

Back to the usual

Well, having KD back for 2 weeks now and things are like nothing has changed. I did give her a few corrections with the leash the other day when she picked up a dead bird while we were out for a walk and she dropped it. I have been able to get her to leave the dead stuff alone, so that is good. We go out for a walk or walk/run early in the morning and then she hangs out and she hangs out all day (laying on the couches when I am not looking) waiting for me to get back. If I leave the house for an errand, she lays in the front doorway looking out the thin window next to the door. She is a good little companion and very loyal. She is back to digging some holes near the house to bury her rawhides. I have the big dog sand/pebble box. I need to get in the habit of burying treats there for her to find so that she will do it also. She hasn't dug any big holes, just pulled back a bit of grass right next to the downspout and moved some rocks around at the base of the trees.

A short run

I got out the running belt and leash this morning and KD knew exactly what it is. I put it on her and we went out and she didn't pull ahead at all. I started to run a nice slow pace and she followed behind without trying to make many stops. We only went 1.5 miles to get back into the groove, but it went great. She loves to go out.

Adrien update

Got an update on Adrien, she is doing really well.

Hair, Hair, Hair

I had forgotten that petting KD yielded so much hair. I need to swiffer some I think. I brushed her last night and I didn't remember that she really like being brushed. She sat there and let me brush her for a while and laid across my lap as I brushed her. She doesn't seem eager to go outside first thing in the morning, but rather would like me to sit with her and give her some petting/massage. She is rather funny. I got an old fashioned push mower with no motor that I have been using so I took her out back to hang out and she was done hanging with me so I dragged it out and cut. I figure no real concern about her getting injured. She ran around and barked at it/me. I stopped and told her to come over and she came close but then was hesitant and just barked at it and ran away.

Gosh, slow day at Petco, go figure

Well, Sat was a 5th Saturday and I had no volunteers, so KD and I packed up and went to Petco Great Hills. The location has more foot traffic than the Lakeline location but the cat people have the front window and I didn't feel like sitting in the front arch with the heat, so we took up our location in the back of the store by the dog food. We had a bit of foot traffic, but zero donations. We sent a few people to the shelter to see the dogs.

She is starting to get re-used to being at home. We walked a few of the old routes and she remembered no problems.

KD is back

Picked up KD this afternoon. She is still wandering around getting used to being back, but she seems to be returning to comfortableness with her surroundings.

And she is off

Well, Adrien went home this afternoon. ATA said she wasn't ready to start rehab yet, but the new family is ready for her and will keep her quiet and followup in 2 weeks with another xray. Am cleaning up the house now and laundering all the quilts. The cleaning people come to do the house tomorrow anyway, so KD will come home after that.

A farewell to the licker

Adrien is at ATA today getting an xray to see where she is in bone regrowth and her new family is meeting me there this afternoon to pick her up and get rehab instructions. She has been a very sweet house guest and I will miss her but I am also thrilled with how excited her new family is to get her.

Adopted

Well, the paperwork was done this afternoon and Adrien goes home after her xray on Wed.

Meet and greet

Adrien has had a few people express interest in her through Austin Boxer Rescue. One couple came by tonight to do a meet and greet with their little male dog. The meeting went well and they are interested. I said I wanted to hang on to Adrien through next Wed.'s xray to see what they say about rehab.

1 more week

Adrien is getting antsy. She saw a cat a night or 2 ago when going out for a potty break. She went wild and pulled at the leash. I had to reel her in even on the 5 foot leash so she didn't try to run. Same thing yesterday with a squirrel. She walks me all over the backyard sniffing the scent trail. I have to redirect her to go to the bathroom and take her back in. Hopefully we are cleared for more walking next Wed after the xray.

1 week down and 2 more to go

Adrien is taking it in stride. She is very good natured. I am letting her spend almost all her time other than overnight in her xpen. She whines a bit when I am there and not paying her attention, but she settles down. She mostly just lays around dozing or staring trying to get someone's attention so that they will come give her some love.

3 more weeks

I meant to blog on Wednesday after Adrien's appt., but I never got around to it. Well, the doc said she is doing well, the incision is closed and stitches are dissolved. There is some bone growth, but they want to hold off on starting PT and come back in 3 weeks for another xray. Oh well, another 3 weeks of confinement. She is doing well with it, but she is clearly very happy going outside. I may have to find some time to take the xpen outside and put her in it and hang outside with her.

I say we call it sealed

There is a teeny tiny little spot of a scab at the topmost part of the incision, but that is getting smaller and may not even be there by end of day today. We have another week to go on the wait for xrays, but she has been so good that I have been letting her spend all her time when someone is home in the xpen and I have stopped using a collar on her in her crate. No problems over the past day and half with licking and messing up the wound so things are progressing nicely.

Closer it gets, fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch

The incision keeps getting closer and closer to being sealed. Just a tiny bit of red left at the top. Adrien is enjoying time laying around in the xpen, especially if someone is there with her, but she will take time alone if I am working and she doesn't have to wear her collar.

Narrowing the gap

Well, the gap is closing more and more each day. Here is another shot from this morning and it is closing up more at the top. Hopefully in another week, but incision will be completely sealed over.

Getting some closure

The incision looks pretty good at the bottom but still has a gap to close on the top. It makes sense as she has to bend her knee and that part gets stretched while the rest of the skin is more static. The red part is a scab something of that nature. It is holding up well and perhaps a bit of time and some more neosporin and we will be all sealed and can leave off the collars altogether.

Enjoying a little time donut fre

After her checkup, I let Adrien into the xpen without her donut collar to have some water and she went and laid down, so she is getting a little time sans donut.

A good checkup

Adrien's leg and incision have been looking pretty good to me. We had a follow-up 1 week post-op today and I gave her the tranq in the morning and she was snoring away while I was on my morning conf. call and then I went to get her up and take her and she "shook it off." She stood the whole car ride to ATA and then stood the whole time we were waiting. They took her back and came out to say things looked really good, keep with it. Come back in 2 weeks for a first xray. That is about 1 week ahead of when I thought they would start xrays, so that is great. I asked about icing, neosporin and tranq. Icing should continue another week, neosporin another 5 days, and only tranq as needed, but they provided them. I will have to see how it goes with her in the crate all day with no tranq. I can work another day from home and see how that goes. They also want the inflatable collar on her to prevent licking of the incision until I go back. I will stick with the practice of having it on in the crate but leaving it off when I am supervising her when she is with me in the xpen or if she stays asleep in the xpen while I go to the table and work where I can watch her. So, next big milestone is May 7th. Xrays are a drop off in the morning and pickup in the afternoon affair like the surgery, so will have to head there right after Ben dropoff.

Routine

Nothing major to report from yesterday. We have gotten into a routine where I let Adrien out (and remove her donut collar) in the morning to relieve herself and then we go to the Xpen for her to drink/eat/get pills/lick me. Then I get her laying down and I ice her leg and ankle and put on neosporin. I hang out with her in the Xpen for 30min - 1.5 hours (or more) and then I take her back to get her donut on and into the crate. With the tranquilizer and if I leave the room, she settles down. She must be bored, she spends all day laying around and then comes in the Xpen and lays around. We do it again in the early afternoon (I have been in here in the Xpen since a little before 3 and it is almost 5) when she gets her pain killers and I ice/neosporin and she relaxes with no donut and then back in the crate, rinse and repeat at night before bed. I try to change the comforter and launder it from the crate at least once a day (rotating with 2 comforters though I have a third I should get in the rotation). We go back to ATA on Wed. and find out what the next phase is. The meds they gave me for her are only 1 week, but I go back, so there may be more coming. Based on not taking xrays until week 4 and probably not starting rehab until week 8, she is going to be living in her crate for a long time. I need to get someone to come in and watch her while I am gone for vacation,but I need to wait and see where we are on the timeline to see how much work that is. It is possible she could go to the shelter, but the stairs are the issue there. Very bad idea for her to do stairs anytime soon unless she is in rehab and then I think she can.

It is nice to have a laptop to sit in here and work. I was thinking about bringing out the TV to sit it out here so I can hang with her while she rests. She is pretty good about resting when someone is with her (well, very good), but she is very social and gets up when you open/close a door to see if someone is coming to be with her.

Who knew I was going to be a nurse instead of a foster. The leg looks a bit better though still more swollen then I would like. I don't really see much drainage at all which is a really great sign. I see a bit in a spot or 2 when she has been outside and then comes into the Xpen and stands there eatin/drinking, but only sometimes. I hope they give her a good report on Wed. She won't lay down in the car, so I need to tranquilize her but then it will be tough to get her in and out. If she stands the whole ride there, the leg will look much worse. Not sure there is much I can do at this point. Hopefully the incision will be healed by the following Wed and the stitches can come out. It would be great to not have the meds/neosporin/icing routine.

I went to the office today for the first time since Wed. I think I may have stretched the interval to her pain pills a bit by the way she was acting after I gave them until they kicked in. I need to get that timing a little better.

Another day, another hmm, what would be the end of that sentence

Petco adoption day was slow today, but that is normal. I took KD and Heidi and Josey. We setup outside since the weather was so nice. We did get an application on Heidi, but they had called the shelter and asked that we bring her so they didn't have to go out to the shelter, so that wasn't a surprise.

Adrien was pretty good this morning. She didn't get her no bite collar off last night. She was laying into the corner of her crate when I saw her last before heading to bed. These collars make it hard for her to lay down normally. I hung out with her in the xpen so she could eat and drink and I pet her and got her laying down and then as time came closer for me to go to adoption day, I gave her the tranquilizer and let it slow her down. She didn't want to get in the crate, but Ben told me she was sleeping well when he got up. She wasn't overly cooperative on the ice packs. I did use a much colder pack and I got it done a couple of times today, but the leg is still plenty swollen and has a little weeping. It isn't as inflamed, but it has a long way to go to be looking okay. While at Petco today, I picked up an inflatable ring collar. It is an alternative to the ecollar and no bite. It looked like it might be less uncomfortable than the no bite. Not that the nb collar isn't working, I am just checking out an alternative.

I came home from Petco (after a stop at the grocery store) and Adrien thought I was going to come let her out of the crate. She was mistaken. I had to make dinner for the Passover Sedar and then after we finished and cleaned a little, I let her out to go in the yard and then took her in the pen to take off the no bite and to let her eat/drink and got her laying down to neosporin the leg and to ice it. I hung out there in the pen with her for about an hour to an hour and a half and she napped. I finally decided that she was tired and sleepy and I could put the inflatable collar on to see how it worked and let her go for a final potty break and in the crate. The inflatable collar didn't seem to bother her too much, but as with the other collars, she has to lay her chin on the front lip of the crate to get it up so that it matches the extra height of the collar. I need to throw in a pillow tomorrow.

Can't keep a good girl down but you can slow her for a while

Well, the tranquilizer knocked Adrien out yesterday during the middle of the day. She was behaving so I took off the No Bite collar so she could be more comfortable. When I put I put it back on later, I apparently didn't do a great job as she got it off in her crate while I was running an errand. After taking her in the pen to lay with her, put on her antibiotic and try to ice her leg, I put the collar back on and put her in the crate for the night. She wasn't happy at all, but settled down. It took her a bit to find a position where she could lay with her collar.

This morning I switched to a better cold bag instead of the ice pad in a sleeve that I was using and I can tell it is more effective since she doesn't want me to keep it on her. I spent a while petting her and letting her lay there with me with her collar off so she would settle down. Finally I had to give her the tranquilizer so it would take effect while I am off at adoption day. My buddy Randy called to let me know about the boomerang event going on at Zilker. I feel bad that I can't be there to help out. Joe Rader had sent out a request for help and I fully intended to help but then the surgery was scheduled this week and the leg has been swollen and a bit weepy and I have my adoption day and I just haven't/can't make it down there. I have to leave for the shelter to get things ready for adoption day in 30 minutes and she is curled up and sleeping there in her bed and I have mixed feelings about leaving the collar off and leaving her there but I know that the correct thing to do is to get her up, put on a collar and put her back in the crate. The tranquilizer should help her relax in the crate even though I got her up. I guess I am a softy, but I need to do what is best for her whether she likes it or not, but feel guilty because it is only what is best for her because I have to leave. If I were staying here with her, she could just lay there and sleep like she is now for the entire afternoon. Sigh.

No, it is not from an auto accident, it's a no bite collar

I called the vet today because I was concerned about how the incision looked yesterday and that she was already putting weight on the leg and that she was doing the "wake up" shake which I thought might be from wearing the cone head. The vet asked me to bring her in and I loaded her up in the car and we went right over to ATA. He looked at it (she stood up most of the car ride, wouldn't lay down) and said she is being overactive and the incision doesn't look good. I said I was doing what I could to keep her laying down, but can't force her down in her crate and am only letting her walk outside on leash in the yard to quickly go relieve herself though she takes a minute or so to find a spot. The only options at this point are to give her tranquilizers (which they provided) and they also suggested replacing the cone if it was really bothering her. They called Petsmart to see if they had those inflatable donut collars and they didn't have anything other than what I had bought at Petsmart last night (cone head). They checked their resource list and sent me to another vet that carries no-bite collars. So, now instead of being from France (conehead, get it?), she looks like she has whiplash.

So, now the routine is add in topical antibiotic twice a day, ice the incision 3 times a day as it is swelling from leg usage, and 1 sedative in the morning to lay her low. She is down and snoring right now, so the sedative kicked in (she took it around noon). Will have to see how long she stays down.

Not a great second day

Things seemed good, she was even putting a bit of weight on the leg when going out to pee, but now it seems the incision is opening a little and it is freaking me out. There is a bit of blood, not much. She was shedding her E collar yesterday and I tried a couple of times today, but I couldn't keep it on her. With the bit of blood (not sure it was weeping or blood, but am leaning towards blood), I went out to buy some new E collars and I got one that is just the right size and put it on her and duct taped it so that there wasn't a flap for her to attack. She is still attacking it anyway and is very unhappy, but the leg is not looking great and I have a call into the surgical supervisor to see what she advises. I don't think it is life threatening at all, but I am still very worried. I think I will have to take her back to have it looked at in the morning. It is supposed to pour here tonight and I think that will upset her too. I would like to go cleanup the leg and put a cooling pad on it, but I am afraid to let her out of her crate. I wish I had some tranqs to make her lay down. She is sitting up in the crate complaining and it isn't helping my mood.

Not a bad first night

Well, Ben helped me take Adrien out to try to go to the bathroom last night. She had a little bit of water last night and no problems but didn't want to eat. We took her out with him holding the leash and encouraging her and me holding up her midsection to back with a towel sling under her. She didn't go, but she enjoyed sniffing outside. Her hind section was still not awake from the epidural. We put her in her crate (which she doesn't like, so it took some prodding and lifting of the rear) and I put on her cone. We moved the crate by the backdoor for proximity She really didn't like that, but I turned out the lights and took my laptop in the bedroom and worked in there. She whined and made a bit of noise, but went to sleep after a bit of complaining.

I got up this morning and went to let her out and she had shed the cone, but the stitches don't look any the worse for the wear. I put her immediately on the leash and she made it the few steps to the backdoor and sat down. It took me a minute to get the towel sling under her to help her over the door step. She doesn't seem to enjoy the towel sling, but there has to be absolutely no jumping, so she is going to have to get used to it for a while. Once we got over the threshold, I let her off the sling and we walked a few steps into the yard and then perhaps another 15 feet and she went a little. I turned her around and helped her back in and right into the XPen by where I will be working for the next few days. I sat with her and pet her and she seemed calm. I looked over at the incision and it looks pretty good even though she didn't have her cone. I don't really see any weeping (which is okay either way) and I don't see any major swelling or any edema which they told me would be normal. I went and got her dose of pills and tried to shove it down her mouth and that didn't work so well. It took me multiple passes to get the pills down and I had to check the blanket to ensure I got them all. For the last pieces, I got some spray cheese and she licked them right up. That is the strategy from hence forth. She is taking 75mg Ultram x 3 per day, 170mg Previcox x 1 per day, 500mg Cephaloxin x 2 per day. I offered her some water and food and she wasn't interested so I left them in the pen. I sat with her and put on an ice pack to her incision for a few minutes and she let me rub her stomach and laid on her side and seemed content. I closed her back in and moved the 8 feet over here and she is lying on her side and hanging out. As long as I don't see her licking, she can have the cone off while I am here.

Nice scar

Post Surgery

You know that old slam, "if my dog was as ugly as you are .....". I picked up Adrien after surgery and the vet tech who prepped her for surgery shaved the left leg and then realized she was having surgery on her right leg. Her whole backside is shaved, but she isn't going to be walking backwards or forwards for a bit. The post op instructions are strict crate confinement. I had her in the bedroom in the XL crate, but I didn't want to always be back there, so moved it out to the family room. I have her laying down on a comforter in the really closed in XPen and it isn't much more room than the XL crate and she seems to be happier there. Not sure what I am going to do tonight, but I assume crate and try not to listen to her whining. She hasn't had any water yet. I gave her a small amount in a bowl to see if she would drink it and keep it down (post anesthesia),but she hasn't wanted any. I forced her pills down her throat and she is just laying there with her cone on. Looks like she is sleeping. Perhaps I should rouse her so she sleeps later. I tried to take her out to pee, but she didn't want to so I didn't force it. She hasn't had any food/water since about 10 last night but the post op instructions say she may not want to eat or drink tonight. Her backside is very weak right now. They had given her an epidural and now that her right leg has been majorly surgerized, she isn't very mobile at all. I have to lift her midsection/back with a towel as a sling and she doesn't want to move the front legs. Tomorrow may be a different story.

Tomorrow is the big day

And I have to tell you, I am more than a bit nervous. I need to make a list of things to ask post op. Meds for pain, inflammation, antibiotics, hot/cold compresses, e-collar, and the list goes on. I take Adrien in the morning after I drop Ben off for school. I will be a bit later than they want, but she will be there. I am taking a half day tomorrow so that I can be ready to pick her up. I have a conference call in the morning during the dropoff and I hope that they understand that I am distracted.

Tried her tonight in the big exercise pen with her comforter on the floor while I went off to a meeting and I had Ben leave her in there for about 15 minutes to see how she would react and things look good there.

Surgery plan

Well, the blog was mentioned in the volunteer email newsletter today,so I need to put in the update on the surgery. We are opting for the TPLO. Adrien will go in on the morning of the 16th and home later that day. I think I will take the afternoon off. It works out nicely that a regularly scheduled Wed. afternoon appointment is going to every other week and that is the first off week, so I don't have any commitments if I take a half day. I don't know if Adrien will need an E-collar or not. I will check out the stash at the shelter this weekend. I need to remember to size a collar for her and bring it to the shelter to ensure the sizing of the e-collar. I also think I need an x-pen. I have a XL create that I will probably put her in while I am gone for the day, but I will try to do more working from home the first week after surgery. I guess I should get the x-pen this week so I can see how she does in it and if it will keep her contained or if I need to setup a room that she will have to stay in. I am anxious to hear what post-op info that ATA has for me and what the recovery plan is. Anyone recommend a local dog PT for rehab? I don't know if she likes to swim, but I guess I better check that out now before the surgery to see if that is a possible PT option after she is cleared for that.

Surgery on the 16th

Well, found out Wed. that Adrien has a slot for surgery on the 16th. The question is whether to go with extracapsular repair or TPLO. Dr. Lewis recommended TPLO in Adrien's case. He will do either surgery, but feels there is a good chance that the extracapsular repair will fail down the line. The TPLO is a lot more, but within the money we have raised. My concern either way is that I have read that about 50% (and I have read AT LEAST 50%) of dogs that have one CCL repair, end up having the other because of the extra stress on the opposite leg from compensating for the issue. Well, can't let potential future problems keep us from getting her better now. So, on the plus side, the extracapsular repair is significantly less invasive, but it also probably won't slow the onset of osteoarthritis she is likely to develop when she gets older. The TPLO is much more invasive but should slow the advancement of joint degeneration and osteoarthritis in her knee as she gets older.

Jennifer at ABR has had good experience with Dr. Lewis and has had dogs have both surgeries with him (different dogs) and says at this point she listens to his advice and opts for that surgery. I know there is a lot of online info about TPLO being a quick buck for surgeons, but I also know that isn't the case here as ATA is a very low cost service to rescue groups. This surgery would cost 3x more (or higher) at another vet. I guess what freaks me out a bit is the invasiveness of the surgery, but I can't let that hold me back from getting what is best for Adrien. Monica says we have the funds for the TPLO, so that is the decision I will also recommend.

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Well, I took Adrien to ATA to see Dr. Lewis on Wednesday and he confirmed that she has a swollen knee (he actually said the left also felt a bit swollen), but didn't take any xrays and wanted to see the one we had. I got the xray from Dr. Mouser and took it over there on Thursday and now we are waiting to hear back on what the next steps are. I have no doubt that she needs ligament surgery, just need to get it scheduled. In the interim, she keeps taking anti-inflammatories.

Mugshot time

I didn't have any Adrien photos (gallery) other than the one on the shelter website. I need to get some during daylight so that I can get some a bit further away, but I have posted some mugshots on the Picasaweb link over there on the left side of this page. Just click on Adrien pics and it will take you to the album.

Another week, another bottle of pain meds

Adrien seems to be doing well with her meds. It looks like we have straightened out the question of surgery. She has an appointment on Wed. to see the surgeon (a different one) and then we will set the schedule of surgery/recovery. Looks like she will be with me for a good long time.

I was thinking the other day what a good apartment dog she would make. People see a 60 pound dog and don't think apartment dog, but she hangs out here all day and just goes out to go to the bathroom. She has wonderful house manners, doesn't chew up stuff and is happy to lay on a blanket or the floor. She has all the characteristics an apartment person could want.

Today was bath day. I did a differential weight with Adrien and myself and then without her and she is just over 60 lbs. Then I tossed her in the deep tub. She wasn't wild about getting in there, but made no move to get out. I washed her and then did a bit of drying and she wasn't hopping out of the tub so I had to lean over and lift her out. She smells much fresher now and I didn't have to use Febreze :-) .
After bathing her, I was thinking to myself, when is her heartworm pill day? I hadn't given her one and she has been with me for 3 weeks now. I checked the meds log at the shelter and sure enough she was due last week. Monica gave me pills for 3 months which is a reasonable bet if she is just getting scheduled next week and then there is whatever lead time for surgery plus 8 week recovery. She will be here into the summer which means I better start thinking ahead as I have a summer diving trip booked already. I guess she will be doing her final recovery in late June at the shelter or with another foster.

This and that

Adrien and I went to Petco last weekend for my adoption day event. It was just me so I took her and panhandled a bit for her surgery fund. Things are looking up on that front though we still need to close on the exact details. She did great with all the people we met though I had to keep a tight leash on her when a few other dogs walked in. There was a pair of boxers, a goldendoodle and a Weimeraner that got her interest (read: growling).

She has been a good girl when I leave her at home though has gotten in some minor mischief. She is apparently stepping up onto the living room sofa as evidenced by the throw pillow on the floor. After surgery she will be staying in her crate, so no issue there. I left a bag with a couple of small bags of jelly beans and some papers on the counter the other night when going out and when I came home, the bag was on the floor with a couple of teeth marks in the papers and the jelly bean bags (unopened) were on the floor in another room. She also got into a box of cheese crackers that were on the counter another day but just spilled a few and didn't seem to be interested in them. Other than that, she has been a near perfect guest. She comes over for some petting/licking and then is content to lay down and hang out.

Will write more when we have specifics on surgery.

CCL repair

The doctor took x-rays and even before doing that confirmed the diagnosis of a torn/stretched/ruptured/whatever cranial cruticate ligament in her right rear leg. Dog's don't have knees, they have stifles. The CCL is akin to the human ACL. Based on what he saw and felt, Dr. Mouser put the injury at about 6 months to 1 year ago. She has quite a bit of inflammation and from the x-ray, quite a bit of calcification building up on the bones which means that even with surgery she will be arthritic in her older age (though supplements and anti-inflammatories will help). Right now, she needs surgery. The are 2 main types of surgery. One involves using a nylon line (like fishing wire) and some holes in the bones to create an artificial replacement for the ligament. The other called TPLO, Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy® (TPLO), is a more complicated (and twice as expensive procedure) where the tibia is fractured in surgery, rotated for correct orientation and then fixed in place with a metal plate and screws. TPLO requires a more specialized surgeon and is much more costly but yields quicker near term recovery. The doctor can provide us with a discount on the first type of surgery but it will still cost the shelter about $1200 and there may be other costs including medicines for post op and perhaps rehab therapy sessions. The outlook 2 months out from a successful surgery would be complete range of normal motion and no noticeable loss of function in Adrien. Now we just need to come up with the money.

Dr. appointment

Adrien has a doctor's appointment today. She is going to see Dr. Mouser at Lakeline which is just around the corner. She had been limping off her back right foot last week which was not a new thing and I took her to LoneStar to see Dr. Barnett. Dr. Barnett said that she didn't have a foot issue, but really had a knee issue. She suggested that we take Adrien to someone who did orthopedics to get xrays and followup, so we will be doing that today. Right now she is on some pain/anti-inflammatory meds and she is staying at the house so that she just lays around and doesn't do too much on her leg. The other option was to send her to the infirmary at the shelter and she could stay in a crate there all day except for a few bathroom breaks. As much as I would like to have KD back, Adrien has a greater need. Hopefully later today we will know how great a need.

Yes, another visit from Emma

Emma came over with my friend Lori last night. Emma is a tiny little toy poodle and Adrien's profile says she was living a small dog at her last house. We met outside on the sidewalk and everything looked cool so we went for a short walk with the 2 dogs and then took them through the house into the backyard. Some marking ensued and things were smooth from there. Adrien kind of looked at me when Emma laid down in the middle of her comforter, but later they figured out how to share.

I tested Adrien with a puzzle today. I gave her a Powerade bottle with some little treats in it. She sniffed one end and then checked the other and that was the level of her interested. I put some spray cheese in the grooves of a Kong and set that on the floor and she went to town on that. She is all tongue so that was a good one for her.

60 lbs of love

Adrien is so sweet. She isn't submissive, but she isn't dominant. She has a tongue that just won't quit, but she will go lay down on her comforter or in the doggy bed when she is not following you around the house. She seems to like to go out in the backyard and wander around a bit, but is still a bit tentative, so won't go on out by herself.

The Austin Boxer Rescue (http://austinboxerrescue.com) event on Saturday was pretty good. They have a lot of Boxers in foster. They had a number of folks who were pre-approved through their process who came out to find the dog that they liked the best. We will have to wait to see if a spot opens up for Adrien with them in the next few weeks if we don't place her first.

I got a call from Monica at the shelter yesterday asking me to bring Adrien over. I would normally have had her there already, but I was doing other shelter stuff in the AM and bruised my hand and was home icing it. I took her over to the shelter and ran some errands. The family that wanted to meet her seemed very nice and they liked her a lot and put in an application. We will have to see what the adoption counselor says about them.

From taking Adrien for a few walks, I know she is good on a leash though she will cross in front of me every so often which is a trip hazard but I just walk on through her. She isn't interested in birds, but squirrels make her pull at the leash. Her shelter information says no cats though she didn't pull at the leash when looking at a cat the other morning and I took her in the little cat room and she and Peter just stared at each other. I have left her inside and gone out to run errands with no ill effects. She has looked up at the couch a few times but hasn't jumped on while I was here. Overall, a very sweet girl if you don't mind a lot of kisses.

Short Term Foster - Adrien

I brought Adrien home last night from the shelter. She is 60 pounds of solid boxer muscle and a non-stop tongue. She is so people friendly having been in a house with 4 younger kids for the past 1.5 years. She seems to be adjusting and laid down on the comforter I had for her on the floor after a while of coming over to me every minute or 2 for reassurance. She wasn't very happy to be put in her crate at night. At the shelter, she has been in the big dog room and had an indoor run. These things are only about 6'x3', but it is bigger than the XL crate that I put her in with her comforter. She settled down after a while and went to sleep and slept through the night. She is house trained, but as I was reminded by a good friend, it is best to ease the transition.

We are headed to an Austin Boxer Rescue http://www.austinboxerrescue.com/ adoption day event this morning and then back to the shelter because there has been interest in her and she just hasn't gotten an app yet. There was a woman looking seriously last weekend who needed to discuss with her husband and was going to come back this weekend, but let's see what happens. Monica is working on getting her placed with ABR in a few weeks if she hasn't been adopted and until then, she is home with us and KD is very upset staying at the shelter.

Fascinating markings

I was just checking out KDs pics here and on the shelter page and I realized I haven't gotten a good picture of her front legs/brisket. She has the most fascinating color splotches. It reminds me a lot of the reticulation patterns on a giraffe. She is too short to be crossed with a giraffe, but perhaps a toy pygmy giraffe :-) .

KD going back to the shelter for a bit

We have another dog at the shelter that needs to get out of the shelter environment and into a home for a bit. Adrien is a boxer and she will be going to Austin Boxer Rescue when they have a foster home, but in the interim, she really needs some away time. So, KD will be staying at the shelter for a couple of weeks. I am sure she won't be happy to be staying, but she will do fine there and Adrien isn't.

KD has had Emma over for a number of more playdates. They get along great. Emma likes stringy tug ropes and will carry them in her mouth and thrash them around. KD grabs the other end and plays tug with her. Now it isn't a fair contest as KD is 6 times as large, but yesterday KD was bringing the tug toy to her and fling it at Emma's mouth to get her to grab on and play. KD kept bringing it back after she had tugged away from Emma. The only time that Emma gets a bit concerned about playing with Emma is when they start playing chase around the yard. KD gets a bit wild and Emma will flee into the house and under the kitchen table and KD will be barreling behind her and then turn around and run out to the yard and Emma usually follows for more chase.

I will miss having KD around, but will see her at the shelter on the weekends. She will come right back here after Adrien is gone.

Bark, bark, bark

KD is a barker when someone she doesn't know comes. The pest control guy was here today and she was barking and running away and barking. I finally had to put her out. The cleaning ladies put her out when they come because she does the same thing. I really need to put her on a leash before opening the door. She really is under control on leash and pays attention.

Another Emma visit

Had another visit and day over with Emma and she and KD got along great. They play well together and there isn't any aggression over dog beds or treats. No squeaky toys this time and no issues. KD loves those squeakies.

Why does it always have to be the dead flat things

KD loves to sniff around and I have a bad habit of taking her for a walk in the evening on a flexi-leash and letting her wander ahead. A couple of weeks ago when we were out walking, she picked up something dead and flat and I had to get her back to me and force her to drop it. Yesterday morning when we were out walking, she was trailing behind me a bit sniffing a fence line. I started to cross the street and she came to catch up. I looked down and there in her mouth was a dead squirrel (best guess). I gave her a quick yank on the leash and she dropped it. Yuck.

Aggression over toys

The last time that KD was adopted, she was returned for aggression over toys. Apparently the meet and greet with their dog had gone fine, but when they all got home, there was some problems with the dogs and toys. KD has shared space at the shelter in the outdoor runs with Hermes and with Valerie, so I know she can get along with other dogs. I had Lori's dog Emma over again the other day and she had some of her toys with her. KD loves stuffed squeaky toys and got ahold of Emma's little bone and I didn't notice it, but apparently Emma did, because I heard growling and squealing and I had to tell KD to get off of Emma (who is 1/6th her size) and send KD outside to break things up. It was then that I discovered she had the little stuffed toy. She ran around with it playing keep away until I grabbed a leash and she immediately came over to get a walk. When I took it out of her mouth, it was already torn open and the squeaker destroyed. In the past visits, Emma and she have gotten along fine. Emma even has a habit of taking KD's comforter spot and her bones. It seems there are some things that are the trigger and squeaky stuffed toys is on the list.

No KD interest at the shelter, but another step to the doggy sandbox

We went to the shelter today. It was very busy. There was a Girl Scout group there doing a workday, there were volunteers, all sorts of visitors and it was just people all day until the late 4s. One person asked some questions about KD, but nothing came of it. Valerie had a meet and greet and it went great and she went home. I took some pea gravel from the pile in the yard and put a layer in the sandbox in progress in the yard. I think one more load and it will be sand time.

Emma went home

KD and Emma had a nice visit but Emma got to go home today. KD got along great with her. Perhaps she could go to a house with a smaller dog?

Another Emma visit

My friend Lori had a bad asthma attack yesterday (but she is okay). The hospital wanted to keep her for a day or so to make sure things don't get bad again, so we are dogsitting her dog Emma. Emma and KD get along just fine. Emma is a tiny sub-7lb. toy poodle and is like a teacup to KD's bull in a china shop, but they are getting somewhat better at playing with each other. Emma will chase KD around the yard. KD figured out that if she takes Emma's little stuffed toy and runs around the yard with it, Emma will give chase. I had to take up the little stuffed toys and there haven't been any problems. I think she will be staying another night, but things seem to be going fine so I don't have any worries.

Bark, bark, bark ....

There are 3 days off school at the beginning of this week and so Ben has had some buddies and their computers over for a LAN party. Well, KD has been quite distrustful of a couple of the boys and will look at them in the next room and keep her distance and bark. I gave them some treats to give to her, but it didn't seem to help.

I have been working on the doggy sandbox more this past week. I decided that I just wasn't keeping up with the pond and that I was going to take the rocks from the pond and put them on the bottom of the garden area as the base and take the dirt from the garden and backfill where the pond was. It is the end of an era, but it just seemed to make sense. I need to plant grass where the pond was and I need to get gravel/sand to finish the sandbox. The shelter has a big pile of pea gravel left over from a project which I can have, I just need to get over there with a truck and wheelbarrow and haul it home. I might ask Bill though I just borrowed his truck on Friday to bring home a used sofa I bought on craigslist. The old sofa was so past bad and really needed to go. The new one is in relatively good shape and was inexpensive. Hopefully it will hold up to foster dogs, but if not, it was inexpensive and I can always go back to craigslist for a replacement.

Watson was adopted and went home

Watson was adopted this past week and went to his new family on 2/1. Glad he found a home relatively quickly. I also read in the volunteer update that Hermes is doing great and is much beloved. Another great match. Now on to finding that perfect home for KD.

Haven't said this in a while - Eddie came to visit

After taking KD for an afternoon walk yesterday, we came in and after a few minutes, KD was barking at the back door. I saw what I thought was a cat at the back fence and let her out to investigate. I followed her out and that wasn't a cat and it wasn't leaving. It was Eddie. If you have read the blog from way back, you remember Eddie. Eddie is a little dog that lives in the neighborhood behind ours and came under the fence a few times a long time back (February of 2007). Well, KD really wanted to play with Eddie, but he didn't seem that interested. They sniffed each other as dogs will and she kept at him and he barked at her a little bit. No teeth were shown or anything that aggressive, just a growl from him. I picked him up and called his owners and left a message and then took the dogs inside and let the go explore. KD was very patient even when Eddie was trying out one of her bones. Eddie wanted to be picked up and get out of KDs way, so I carried him a little bit and then I put him back down but KD was getting too insistent on playing, so I crated Eddie for a little bit. Eventually his owner came and he was headed back home.

A visit from Emma

My friend Lori got a toy poodle a week or more ago. She wanted to see if Emma would get along with KD so that she could come over and bring her dog and also so she could leave Emma with us if she goes out of town. I told Lori to bring her over after after I had taken KD for another run so that KD would be tired. I took KD for a 30 minute run and then we met Lori and Emma out on the sidewalk down the block and after some sniffing and checking each other out, we went back to the house. KD has a reputation of being bad with other dogs, but I know that she used to share a run with Hermes and get along and she shares a run with Valerie who she is dominant with, but gets along. KD was fine with Emma. She was play bowing and trying to induce Emma to come play, but Emma didn't seem very interested. She let Emma take one of her bones and let Emma take part of her comforter. No problems there.

They say be careful what you wish for

Seems I haven't blogged this week except to answer an email inquiry, so here is a bit of catchup. The shelter evening/night person left this week and so Monica organized some people to cover the shifts. She called me on Monday and I went over to close. Monica stayed late working and there was another volunteer there, so things went very smoothly. I told Monica that I had a committee meeting on Tues. but that I would try to come help Michelle close up on Tuesday. Tuesday, my committee meeting ran all the way to 8pm and by the time I got to the shelter, Michelle had done everything and was closing up early. I dropped off my keys and went on my way.

Anyway, on to the title story. I have been running with KD almost every morning (we walk some mornings) and we walk at least once more a day. This morning I decided I wanted to do a bit longer of a run. I went a way that we have gone before but when I threw in an extra loop of a couple of blocks and then came back to up to a neighborhood park that we usually run up the sidewalk across from. I decided we should run the dirt trail that goes on the outside of this park which is a very small loop (maybe 1/4 mile). We were running along and KD was lagging a bit sniffing. I turned up the trail to head back to do a second loop and I noticed that her shadow wasn't behind me. I turned around and she wasn't there. I wear a running belt and a leash that clips securely to the belt and I didn't know what was going on but that there was no KD. I headed back the trail about 15 seconds and I saw her down the street to my left. I know that you are not supposed to chase a dog in this situation, just drop down and call her in a high praising voice and tell her what a good girl she is and come. Well, I panicked and started running after her yelling her name and away she went. I chased her down, around the corner, down another block and another corner and another block and another corner and then she turned and I followed but hit a main street and didn't see her either way. Of course I am worn out by now and freaked out. I run up to the closest corner and look both ways but don't see her. We have doubled back to the trail now so I run up to it to see if she is there. I head back where I lost her and go the other way and still nothing. Now I am really freaked out and tired and figure that I have to go the other way and head home to get the car. I see a bike rider coming my way and I flag him down and ask if he has seen a dog matching KDs description from the way he was coming. He had!!! He tells me where he last saw her and I take off running. We are heading a bit toward home but are about 1.5 miles from home at this point. I flag down a car and get a ride about 1/2 mile to the street the bike rider described and I run along there looking and yelling. I pass a few people and none of them have seen her come by. At this point I am a little less than a mile from home and start running that way hoping she was heading home when the bike rider saw her. I run toward home hoping and thinking if she isn't there, I will get the car and go looking among the myriad of streets around here. As I turn the corner to my house, I see here running around the front yard waiting for me. The leash and clip have taken a beating but are still attached to her (the leash has a clip at each end,one for her collar and one for the belt). I tell her what a good dog she is and we go inside. 15 minutes later, my heart starts to slow. 3 morals to this story. 1) Be careful what you wish for (longer run), you may get it. 2) When you see your dog is loose, don't yell her name and chase her, just drop down and call her and tell her she is a good girl. 3) Check and double check the leash clip. I know it was clipped fine for the first mile or more because as she lagged behind or stopped off to pee, it yanked on me. I think the problem is that as the loop on the belt moved back around to the back, I slid the metal loop around to my left side to get her more where I wanted her and I must have partially unclipped it at that point. I will be double checking it and probably will add a secondary clip to the belt to keep it secured to me. There is a secondary loop on the leash so that you can clip the leash around a pole or something like that and I can slide that toward my end and clip from it to my belt ring for added security. I don't want a repeat of today. Thank goodeness she navigated her way home. She is wiped out now. I gave her a bath and need to get the car ready to take her with me to Petco adoption day soon.