A handful

I am starting to see what might have caused Watson to be owner surrendered. He is a handful. He is either sleeping or wanting to play. He plays hard and leads with his mouth. This dog is really an alpha and he needs to be neutered as soon as he is well enough. Perhaps that can take the edge off of him. It isn't really the barking, but the constant desire for attention and the wanting to play tug and to chew on toys and grab them even if your hand is there. Ben is starting to wear thin and I am getting a bit frazzled too. I am sure we can keep him in line until he is well enough to go to the shelter, but that is about as long as we will keep him.

Vet visit

Well, Dr. Barnett confirmed that Watson has kennel cough and prescribed a cough suppressant and antibiotics. I spoke with Monica and she didn't want to put Watson in the infirmary with kennel cough because we have those 2 tiny puppies living in there. He definitely can't go into intake and spread the kennel cough, so that means he has to stay at our house and that I can't take Hermes back home this week. I will talk to Dr. Barnett and see when Watson can come into contact with other dogs and maybe I can bring Hermes home later in the week.

Personality profile

Was thinking about what should go in Watson's personality profile info at the shelter and on the shelter webpage. Here is what I have so far:

Watson, 50lb Black and Tan coonhound pup
Eager friendly puppy who loves to play tug and really wants attention. Will fetch a tug toy or ball to play tug with. Intelligent but needs some obedience training to learn his position in the pack. Already knows sit and down by visual command. Walks well on leash, will sit to have leash put on. Crate trained and house trained (as well as can be at 5-6 months; he will bark/whine at a door or window when he needs to go out to potty). No cats or small children. Barking is a breed trait.

Kennel Cough

Monica was right to send Watson for a week or 2 of intake fostering. His cough is more pronounced today, very throaty. He doesn't seem to have any other symptoms, but I will call April this morning and get her to fax a vet voucher to Dr. Barnett so that I can have him examined to make sure.

Not sure what this does on taking Hermes back home. Perhaps Monica will still take him in at the infirmary at the shelter.

This and that

Called to check in with Monica on Monday to see if we knew why Watson was owner surrendered and we don't. She called me back and said our night guy was going home sick and asked if I could come close up the shelter after the night shift. I was okay skipping scouts, so I left Ben with Watson and went over to the shelter for a few hours. It was a bit cold out but Duane was taking dogs out on their after dinner walks and putting them in their runs. I helped out a bit and took Hermes for a walk and put him in a run. He paced back and forth in the run while I was walking other dogs. After all the dogs were out and the dinner bowls were put away, I let Duane bring in the dogs while I spent some time in the office with Hermes. He was glad to see me but kept looking at the door wanting to go get in the car. We had a nice visit and he was bummed that I put him back in his run for the night. I came home to see that Watson had wanted to play with Ben and Ben hadn't been able to get any homework done and was having problems getting Watson to listen. Seems Watson didn't see him as dominant and wanted to sit on the couch to watch TV too. I set Watson straight.

Watson seems to be all better from his stomach upset. He seems to be a typical (but big) puppy and he either wants to play or just go lay about. I guess that describes a bunch of dogs though. I checked his intake material from Town Lake and they estimated his age at 5 months (7/1 birthdate). I weighed him today and he is 50.5 lbs. The paperwork for him from Town Lake had him at 46 lbs. Seems like a growing pup. He seems to like his crate. When I am working at the kitchen table and not playing, he will wander over to his crate and lay down on the comforter in there even though there is one in the family room just across from me.

I ran out to the store last night to pick up a few things for dinner and asked Ben to watch Watson. I got about 2 blocks and Ben called me and Watson was howling in the background. He told me that the dog started howling as soon as I left and wouldn't stop. I told Ben to give Watson a chicken jerky treat and that seemed to fix the whole thing. He does seem to have some separation anxiety issues. I will have to try some of those separation anxiety exercises that Dana sent to me.

Watson seems healthy enough to go to the shelter when there is space. Monica told me that Bo and Tehya are going home this weekend and that will free up space for Watson and I can bring Hermes back. I considered introducing Hermes and Watson and see how they get along so that I could have them both here, but I think it better to just bring Hermes until his adoption is finalized and then to foster KD. I think that Watson will find a home fairly quickly.

Seemingly feeling better

I took Watson out for a walk before crating him to go to work this morning. He came out of his crate and sat for the leash. We walked down the block and he seemed a bit more energetic. From what I saw, I think his lethargy might have had to do with stomach upset. His stool was very liquid. Anyway, we went on and walked down the block (which we have walked a couple of times) and we were passing this fence where 2 dogs are out in the backyard. These dogs always jump on the wood fence and bark when I come by with a dog. Watson hadn't made anything of it the last time or 2 we passed, but this time he turned toward the fence, walked part way to it and stood there. The hair on his entire spine went straight up (piloerection), his legs were stiff and he starting barking at them. This was something new and not expected or desired. I call him away and we walked on by and his hair calmed down. The concerning thing, other than the aggression to the dogs on the other side of the fence is that he seemed calm as we walked another block, but when we came upon a little girl coming out a backyard fence, the hair on his spine came up a bit. She went back in the yard and we walked a few paces past there and turned and I told him to be nice and she came back out and he was wagging his tail. This aggressive side warrants watching.

A bit of lethargy

Watson was tired last night, wanting to just nap on his comforter in whatever room I was in. There is a comforter for the dogs in the family room, one in the computer room where Ben is usually located and a dog bed on the floor in my room. All received a washing before having Watson visit. Watson would follow me from room to room but then just curl up in the doggie bed there. When it came time to go to bed for the night, I got the comforter from the computer room and dragged it to his crate so he had more to sleep on since he doesn't wet in his crate. He followed it along and walked right in and plopped down. He slept through the night just fine and went out this morning to take care of business. We went for a shorter walk as it was windy and in the high 30's. He did his business on the walk. I bagged it and tossed it in the nearest trash since it is garbage day and all the cans are at the curb (my favorite time to walk the dog, Sun. night/Monday morning). We made the next big turn and headed home. Watson was not as playful but he was enjoying some petting. He mostly just wanted to lay around. I tried to entice him with a Kong full of food with a peanut butter smear on the lip of it but he wasn't interested. I put food in his bowl but he wasn't interested. I gave him a chicken jerky and he wasn't interested. Weird. He hung out and came to get petting from Ben and I at breakfast and then wandered back into his crate to curl up in his comforter. He is hanging there now and the door to it is open since I am working from the kitchen table for a few more minutes. Guess I will take him out for one more walk, throw some treats in for him and let him nap in his crate today. Hopefully he will be back to his energetic self of Sat/Sunday later in the day. Time will tell.