Rebel

Rebel has been a pain in the back-side with his cone at night.  If I let him sleep on a tether he bashes the cone into every piece of furniture he can reach, knocking things over and moving anything not heavy enough to withstand him.  If I crate him he rubs the cone all around the inside of the crate making a ton of noise.  As a result, neither of is is getting much sleep — at night.  When I put him in his kennel outside, with his friends: Sable and Hudson, he is calm and quiet and takes many naps.  I wish *I* could nap!

On Monday night I checked his incision.  It looked good, so I took the cone off.  Rebel spent a good part of the night curled up licking himself despite my urging that he not do that.  But he was quiet and I got a good 5 hours of sleep.  Tuesday morning his belly was red and irritated and the incision has two angry red puffy spots.  So I sprayed him with Chlorhexadine and reinstalled the cone.

On Sunday I fed Rebel a small tub of yogurt for it’s probiotic value.  He surprised me by eagerly lapping it off the spoon and eating the whole tub.  That night his diarrhea was much better and we spent less time running to the door.  I plan to repeat this treatment twice a week to keep his gut in good working order.

Thursday night Rebel wanted to go outside around 11:00.  When he came back in I put him on his living room tether instead of putting him in his crate to sleep.  I stopped tethering him after his surgery because he’d spend the night bashing his cone into everything.  This time he came and wanted snuggles for a while, then laid down on a dog bed and went to sleep.  He re-positioned a couple of times during the night but did not ask to go out.  At 5:00 he woke me with a soft request to go use the yard.  When he came back we went to the den and I tethered him there and he went back to snoozing while I studied.

Breakfast time came.  He was getting hungry and fussy.  I took him out to his kennel with his bowl of kibble (he’s getting 2½ cups of kibble (4health Salmon & Potato)  twice a day – that’s over twice what he would get if he were at weight, but he’s still thin).  I brought Hudson and Sable out for breakfast and a potty run, but it’s cold this morning and still getting colder, so I put the other two back inside the bunkhouse and took Rebel in the house with me … hoping he would behave while the rest of us ate breakfast and did our morning things.

It has been a week since Rebel’s surgery.  I checked his incision and “bald spot”, it looks good.  I removed his cone.  That made him happy.

I put Rebel in his crate, set up a fan to blow air across him to keep him cool, and set about fixing breakfast.  Rebel was quiet and well behaved.

When it was time to eat I gave Rebel an Oinkie to chew on while the rest of us ate our breakfasts.  Rebel was content to work on that.

After breakfast I needed to go to the den to do some things.  I thought about taking Rebel with me so he wouldn’t fuss.  He has tended to do that when I leave the room he is in … but he has been doing better with that.  Marie was at her computer in the kitchen, so I left.  Rebel was good.  Marie left the room for a few minutes … Rebel remained quiet and calm!  It is now almost time to go get the others out for another potty run, and Rebel has been an angel.  He IS licking at himself, but I don’t think he can do any harm at this point — but I’ll watch it to be sure.

Saturday Morning: This is Rebel sitting in the den, where we spent the early morning together, using no tether. I left the room several times to do short jobs or let other dogs out and in again. Each time I said, “You stay here, I’ll be right back.” Each time he stayed and was calm and quiet. The only time he got vocal was when I dished up kibbles, I couldn’t blame him for that. Sleep-in-Saturday delayed breakfast and I was getting powerful hungry too!  I think we’ve about got that separation anxiety thing licked.

Go to Rebel’s Summary Page

Sable

Sable’s only issue has been her animosity toward Callie and the Beagles.  Callie encourages that animosity by taunting Sable when Callie is out loose in the yard.  So Sable’s reaction is likely predicated on the fact that she’s locked up and these others are not.  That seems to be born out in that when Sable is free and Buddy Beagle is in his Beagle Box, Sable checks him out, but offers no animosity at all.

Hudson

It’s difficult to find anything to report on about Hudson.  Other than my making the mistake of placing his dog house where her could get on top of it and reach the low edge of the roof tarp — so he did and shredded it because he got bored.  But that is my fault, not his, and I’m taking steps to prevent that from happening again with another dog.

Hudson was getting a little lax (selective deafness) on coming when I called him, but I’ve been working with him on that and he is again responding well.  Otherwise he’s still the same, lovable good-ol-boy hound he has always been.

Go to Hudson’s Summary Page