One of Highland’s favorite dog toys is — or was — a snake plush toy that has been gutted, leaving just the “skin”.  But Highland likes it a lot.  It’s his favorite crate toy.

Highland was neutered on Sunday.  He absolutely insisted on licking at his incision.  That’s bad, he must not do that.  I tried to dissuade him, but as soon as I looked away, he curled up and began licking.  So I tried putting him in an inflatable doughnut collar.  He defeated that.  SO I had to put him in a cone.

That upset him.  But rather than trying to rip the cone off, as many others have done, he became dejected.  His reaction reminded me of Steve Martin’s “And this is all I need” skit in the movie “The Jerk” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VbI5zcB8Ac if you’ve never seen it).

I cannot say that in the days since then Highland has become “happy” about the cone.  But once he mastered coming up the back steps while wearing it (at first I had to climb the steps with him, holding the rim of the cone up so it didn’t catch on the steps and flip him sideways) he lightened up.  Once he discovered that the thing can be “weaponized” and used to aggravate the other dogs (and us) he has decided it’s kind of fun.  He especially likes coming up behind Buddy Beagle and scooping Buddy’s hindquarters up in the cone.  Buddy hates that.  Highland thinks it’s funny.

Still, it’s not likely that he will be upset when I take it off of him in a few more days.  Just one more experience along his path to a forever home.

I took Highland to the veterinarian today because he’d developed a nasty cough. Which, of course disappeared today. They needed to take his harness off to take a chest X-ray. He LIKED running around “nekked”.

After his exam we went back to the waiting room. It was packed! Lots of friendly folks to pet him and comment how handsome and happy he is. Several cats to say howdy to as well. When he started sniffing at things in that special way, I decided to take him out to the grass. Good thing too. When he was empty I decided not to take him back into the waiting room, but put him back in my truck. I clipped his safety strap on the passenger seat to his harness and locked the doors. I could see him through the waiting room window and checked on him frequently. Sometimes he was sitting up looking back at me, sometimes he was not visible, I figured he was laying down resting.

When I’d gotten his meds and settled the bill I went outside. A young fella was sitting in a large pick-up next to my truck. He rolled his window down and said, “He’s quite a Houdini! He was out of his collar almost as soon as you left him. He’s loose, be careful when you open the door!”

That amazed me, Highland had never even tried to get out of his harness before. I thanked him for the heads-up and VERY carefully slid in the drivers side door. Sure enough, the harness was laying loose on the seat, still clipped closed, but with no Highland inside it. He was bouncing around doing his Mr. Wiggles bit and grinning ear to ear.

That boy DOES like getting “nekked!”

Ugg learned a new trick while we were away at church today.
He’s been so lonely since his lil buddy, Blue, left on a rescue run.

When we got home about 12:30 Ugg met us at the wooden gate, grinning his face off and tail flapping madly. A neighbor said he was loose in the yard for quite a while, she first saw him around 11:00.  The roof of his kennel is all torn up.  The corner is shredded and there are many punctures to the tarp covering.

I moved Ugg into kennel #1, which is our Max Security cell, with mesh fastened in under the roof along the edges to prevent climbers from getting out. I had to move all the added hardware from his old room to the new one too.  That was Blue’s room since I figured if anyone was a climber, it would be a hyper Terrier.

Ugg discovered early on that he could yank his door into the kennel (twisting the latch) and get out. I installed a heavy chain with anchor shackles until I could order a second latch to mount down low. But even the second latch wasn’t enough so I use both latches AND the chain at night and when I go away.  He can’t get out through the door any more, so he went looking for some other way … and found it. Who’d have thought such a massive dog would be a climber?

I guess we’ll have to go to N.A.C. and find Ugg a new neighbor – and save another life.

I spent just under four hours today making just over 1,000 peanut butter dog treats. Ostensibly these are for the Quilts and Canines event on the 15th of the month. In actuality, some will be needed elsewhere before then so I’ll have to make more next week.

The process of making these peanut butter treats left a large peanut butter jar empty. I like to give the empty jars to the outside dogs because they tend to miss out on a lot of treats the house dogs get. But today I decided to give it to Blondie Bear. She’s been feeling down.

There was a time when she and Cochise were the only house dogs. Occasionally a foster dog would earn enough Good Dog points to come in for housebreaking, but the vast majority of the time it was just the four of us and Cochise and Blondie got lots of attention from Marie and me. But then we adopted Josephine. And Buddy. And Callie. And Moonshine is an in-house foster dog. Blondie is pretty laid back and doesn’t get huffy when the others push in front of her to get the People attention. But it hurts her feelings. So I thought it might lift her spirits if I gave HER the peanut butter jar this time.

She was laying on the floor in the kitchen watching me work, everyone else was snoozing in the living room or the den. There should not be a big tussle as the others try to get it away from her.

I set the jar down beside her. She looked at it, looked at me, looked back at the jar. She licked tentatively at the rim and said as she stood up, “Too rich for me. I’m trying to watch my figure.” and walked away.

By now some of the others got wind of the fact that I gave her something that I did not give everyone else and came to investigate. First on the scene was Moonshine. At first she stood off about four feet, her glance darting around the room looking for the others. She glanced at me several times, judging whether that jar was fair game or if I would scold her is she approached. I just watched as I worked.

Josephine was creeping up on the scene from the other side of the table. Moonie decided it was now or never. She stepped up, still casting furtive glances, maybe deciding if this was a trap. It sure smelled GOOD! Josie was stepping closer, so Moonie lowered her head, ever so slowly, still glancing about, and took the rim of the jar gently in her teeth.

She paused, listening, glancing at me, glancing at Josephine, then slowly lifted the jar, turned, and tip-toed out of the room. Once she got into the hallway I heard her claws clickety-clacking rapidly down the tile floor to the bedroom.

I was cutting out treats and loading them on a tray while this was going on. Timing is important in this, especially when I’m doing multiple batches, so I had to keep going until it was time to put that tray in the oven. With that done I took a moment to slip back and make sure Moonshine wasn’t making a mess of the carpet.

She was lounging on a bed, thoroughly enjoying licking every morsel of peanut butter she could reach out of that jar.

As I came to the door she grinned at me, flapped her tail a few times, and stuck her nose back into the jar, tongue snaking out as far as it could to retrieve that peanutty goodness.

That thing kept her happily occupied most of the afternoon! I’m sorry Blondie wasn’t interested, but glad Moonshine enjoyed it. She has started her heartworm treatment and will be getting the injections soon. I’ll have to make sure I empty another peanut butter jar when she comes home from that.

Both Ugg and Blue have been here for just over a week: Ugg for 8 days today, Blue for 10 days. Both came in with behavior issues. Ugg is a 70 pound Great Dane who still thinks he’s a 10 pound puppy. Blue is excitable too, but his major issue is jealousy and possessiveness.

Blue has been exhibiting this when I had the both of them in the yard at the same time. If Blue has a toy and Ugg comes to see what he has – not even trying to take it, just curious, Blue gets snarly and snappy with him. Same if I’m petting Blue and Ugg comes over. If I’m petting Ugg, Blue will come in and try to push Ugg – who is twice his size – out of the way and take over the affection fest.

It’s interesting that when they’re in their kennels, food and toys don’t seem to cause any issues. In fact I often find Blue’s toys in Ugg’s room, and the only way they could get there is if Blue is placing or holding them within Ugg’s reach.

When Blue acts out, it earns him an immediate and swift trip back to his kennel, where he stays for the rest of the play period, watching me play with Ugg. Lately I’ve been making sure the toys are put up before every joint play time. I’ve been working on getting Blue to take turns for my affection. He’s made strides in the past two days, and nearly every play session is now a joint session. That’s good because they both get doubled time in the yard this way.

Today they got hot from playing in the yard and decided to rest in the shade of my barn and watch me work in the garden.

Blue had found a yard bone and brought it with him. He wasn’t chewing on it, just sort of sitting on it.

I took a picture of them being good with my phone. My Handycam is out of commission right now. The phone makes a simulated shutter noise when it snaps a picture, and Blue hopped up to come over and see what that noise was. He left his bone behind.

Ugg reached over and snatched the bone.

When Blue went back to his place, the bone was missing and he started sniffing all around, looking for it, “My bone, my bone – where did my bone go?”

Then he saw Ugg chewing.

“Hey! Is that MY bone you’re chewing on.”

“Nah, I found this just laying around.”

“So, where’s MY bone?”

“Dunno.”

When Blue pushed in to check on that bone, I grabbed the hose and got ready for an altercation.

“That IS my bone. You stole my bone!”

“Nuh-uh. I found it. You didn’t have it, it was just laying there.”

Then Blue did something that really surprised me …

He said, “Meh — I don’t care. You can have it.” and went back to his spot and laid down!

WHAT A GOOD BOY!

I’m so proud of Little Boy Blue! That is a major step for him.

He got extra treats when it was time to go back to his room.

A good deal of info has been posted to Facebook about Callie and her history by the people involved in her rescue. The following is my distillation of those accounts.

Callie was originally the family dog of a couple with kids. It appears Callie was kept pregnant much of the time and they sold the puppies. The couple split up and he left, leaving Callie and the kids with her. She claims Callie was his dog, and it seems she took out her feelings about this break-up on Callie, exiling her to existence outside the home, with little or no care.

The Mom and kids went away for 3 weeks, leaving Callie outside with no shelter, food or water. A gentleman who lives nearby took pity on Callie and started leaving food, water, and a blanket for her to lie on outside his door. When he passed away, his son came to clear out the house, found Callie and took her home with him. They fell in love with her.

Callie was pregnant and close to delivering. While Callie seemed gentle and calm, she did snap at the family’s Boston Terrier when he got too close once. The husband feared that their kids might get in the middle of a dog fight if they let her stay and took Callie to the Humane Society of Jefferson County.

Continue Reading…

Josephine came to us with a request. We were sympathetic because poor little Josephine has had a hard road through life. When she became known to us she had been a pregnant stray, was mangy and terrified of being in an animal shelter. She came here as a foster dog for rest, healing, and sanity.

After working with her for a while we decided that the best thing for her … was to stay here.

Since then, she has met many foster dogs. She really liked some of them.

Fosters are sent away once they are healed and trained. That’s how fostering works. Recently Josie heard us discussing plans for our current foster dogs, became upset, and approached us with an urgent request …

Continue Reading…

It has been S.S.P. (Standard Sleeping Procedure) forever that Blondie Bear inhabited the snuggle bed at the foot of our bed and Cochise preferred to sleep in the corner by the wall. During times of high stress (heavy rain, thunder, fireworks, hunters on the mountain at night, etc) Blondie would slip around and sleep beside my side of the bed. Here she could prompt me and I could slide an arm over and scratch her head when she needed comforting. Yeah, I know: we’re not supposed to do that, it just encourages fearful behavior. But she’s my “sweetface baby girl” and I am a softie sometimes. Especially where she is concerned.

When Cochise passed away, Blondie began sleeping along side the bed every night. She’ll lounge on her bed until we’re all settled, but once we’re ready to sleep, around she comes. This could be a problem with mobility as I get up at night to tend to dogs clickety-clacking along the hallway — potentially needing to go outside. But I know she’s down there, so I probe gently with my feet as I sit up. Blondie stays real still, letting me discover where she is not so I can find floor and stand up. That’s trust!

I have to think she is still missing her best friend and is seeking solace in staying close to me at night. Most of the time she does not seek skritchies. Once in a while I am awakened by her big square nose poking me gently, but most of the time she is content with being close.