Month: December 2013
Fiona
I found her 13 years ago while going to a wedding of my math tutor. I didn’t get past the church door because I saw a little dog running between people, she had her tail between her legs and was generally scared but when I kneeled and called her she came to me and placed her front legs in my lap. I carried her to a taxi and went straight to a vet. She was covered in wounds (probably attacked by dogs). We already had 2 dogs then and I was looking for a new home for her but she ended up attacking any prospective owner. So after all she stayed with us. She had strong temperament and would not restrain from attaching big dogs. She did bite few people and in perspective they all deserved, no one respects a space of a small dog. She did pretty much killed our cat. She was a little nightmare but thinking about it all I’m pretty sure that if we got her now it would be easy to solve her issues. I just didn’t know much about dogs back then.
Now she lives with my mom and they really love each other. Unfortunately she is getting older ad weaker, she doesn’t go for long walks anymore and can’t walk on the stairs because it hurts her joints. She is really becoming more sweet with everyday and I’m happy she has a loving place to spend her last years (I hope it’s still years). My mom even has a full time pet sitter so she is never alone for too long.
My immune system has failed me again
I’m sick again! Second time this month. We were supposed take dogs to the beach for the whole weekend but instead I’m spending everyday in bed. I haven’t even walked my girls since I came back from Poland.
Fun training after all
Against my predictions training turned out to be awesome. I guess the key was just not having expectations and being relaxed. Whole class we were leaning how to search for food and objects and we both had loads of fun. And after a whole day of feeling blue those two ours with Chili and Jochem made me happy. I finally relaxed.
Training tonight and I’m not looking forward to it
It is the first time I’m not looking forward to Chili’s obedience class. I’ve got some devastating news this morning and I wish I could just stay home tonight. I know that our emotions have an impact on our dogs and I’m afraid I won’t be strong enough for Chili tonight. Last week our class went pretty bad already. She completely switched off at the end and even smoked salmon didn’t help. She also didn’t want to go for a walk yesterday afternoon, she started to destroy small objects wen left alone (out of boredom I’m pretty sure as she leaves different evidence than when she had separation anxiety), she barked at a dog this morning and is still bugging Salma a lot.
On a day like this it all becomes too much to handle and I have dark thoughts just like for the first 8 weeks after we got Chili.
Check it out
Hey fellow doggers!
Sharing a pretty nice video ~ I believe pretty well put together of red flag dog interaction at a dog park visit.
I hope you find this helpful!
cheers!
Weekend is almost over :(
Weekend is almost over and I have to wait for 5 days before I can take Chili to our park again(it gets dark before I get home).
We had really nice walks full of good dog to dog interactions and little bit of training (sit and stay, changing positions on a picnic table). I’m too tired to write about it though 🙂
So there will be just few pictures from the weekend.
Oh I love spending time with my dogs so so much!
Finally outside
I had great plans for this Saturday as I was hoping that I will be fully recovered by now. Unfortunately Jochem got weak and I’m still not fully healthy. He was supposed go to recall training with Salma today but he didn’t make it. I know the feeling of frustration when you really want to do something but you don’t have enough strength. He did walk both of the girls in the morning and got almost to the training ground with Salma but had to come back. I thought I will take Chili out first think in the morning but I was knocked out till one p.m. And normally I am a morning person. At least I managed to take Chili out at 14:30. It wasn’t the easiest with my fatigue but at least she doesn’t pull on the leash and in general is very nice on the walks. Unfortunately half way through the walk we met not so nice shar pei. It was my fault as I thought it is a dog we know just being walked with another person. It wasn’t (normally there is only one shar pei in our park). Usually if I see a man who shows a lot of dominant behavior walking with a dog I avoid them. From experience I would say they most of the time have very tense dogs. That was the case with Shar pei. He run at Chili and really scarred her. He tried to displace her a lot. I actually put my hand on his chest to stop him from pushing his body on her. The whole experience really shaken her up and reminded me how important that is that I slowly build her confidence. Very soon after incident with Shar pei we met Star! Star is a wonderful 8 months old Australian shepherd. He is beautiful, balanced and has awesome owners. They used to play like crazy with Chils when he was younger. They haven’t seen each other since Chili’s heat. Just moment before our meeting Star was bitten by male German Shepherd. It turned it was one of two shepherds that live next door. They wear rusty spike collars and when they owner found out we got a second dog and it’s female he told me that you shouldn’t have to females together because they can kill each other fighting for dominance. It is always funny fort how all those supporters of “dominance theory” just let dogs bully other dogs and “dominate” each other. We focus in teaching our dogs cooperation and living together without competition for resources so we might seem like softy hippies to some but I wouldn’t let my dogs just fight with each other because they are settling something. We are a family group (dogs know we are different species and they are not trying to take over the world by getting on the couch) and in my family group there is no place for fighting. I got a bit away from the topic. So back to Star. Chili was a little bit to insecure to play with him. It was easier for her to interact with his owners at first. We walked together for a while I think it’s good for her to have interactions with stable dogs. She started to open up a little bit and ever run after Star. His owner tried to convince her to play tag of war with him but even though she likes him and she would lean on him when Star was getting too much, playing tag of war with a stranger would be too much. As soon I took the ball she started pulling at the rope a crazy as she always does. She is just insecure little (very tall) girl, I do hope it will change with age and experience. Star’s owners said that she has a very soft face. It is true even though she is big she looks very delicate when she moves and a most people react to her in a very positive way.
The first time I saw Salma
This post was supposed to be Salma’s birthday post but I never got around to finishing it. So now it turned to be about my first meeting with Salma.
Salma turn four on Saturday…and I totally forgot it’s her birthday 😦 I know that she doesn’t understand the concept of being a birthday girl, but try to do something nice for her regardless. Last year she got a huge bone that she still has somewhere. On the other hand I don’t even know on what day she was really born. I took her home from a shelter when she was probably 4 weeks old, and we calculated what could be a date of her birth. I still remember the first time I saw her. We were standing outside of the shelter, on a hot summer day (I think we just finished workshop for new volunteers) when Olga came and told us that they found other puppies. Two days earlier when we were packing up to go home a girl (I don’t remember who it was) asked if we want to see a little piglet. It turned out a child brought tiny puppy to the shelter saying that he found her in the forest. Puppy was put in a crate in the cellar with cats. She didn’t even have a teddy bear to keep her feeling safer. She was continuously making pig like sounds. I can’t even imagine how difficult it was for her to be separate from her mother and left alone at 4 weeks of age. Needless to say we walked out with the puppy. First we fought I will keep her at my place the puppy turned out to be too much for Petra (my other dog). Little. One needed physical contact with another dog and Petra was to nervous for that (she had aggression problems towards other dogs and people but not puppies). Ania took the puppy to her place because we’re she had two dogs of her own. To cut this part of the story short the puppy was Salma’s sister Pepa. Ania tried to find a home for her (as she had two dogs already) but that obviously didn’t work out. She falls in love very easily :). Pepa is a very sweet and happy dog right now, but Ania put a lot of work to help her become this way.
So coming back to that hot summer afternoon… Olga told is that after some investigation they figured out where the puppy came from and went there for inspection. They found 4 other puppies which were then taken away because they were not in a good shape. Unfortunately they didn’t manage to get their mom too. Puppies ended up in the same cellar but at least the we’re together. I fall in love with Salma then and there. She was the biggest and fattest of all the puppies and she had those big cow like eyes. I took her in my arms and that was it, I remember saying to Olga “As soon as she is big enough to be appeared from her siblings I’m going to be her foster family”. I didn’t have to wait that long. A day later Olga called and said that the smallest puppy from the litter is going to die if we don’t get her out of that cellar and provide her with proper medical care. I was there in 15 minutes and left 10 minutes later with the sick puppy (Katya) and my Salma. We took them straight to the vet where a fight for Katya’s life began. Vets didn’t know what is exactly wrong with her but she was extremely weak and had to have IV daily (that’s how I learn how to administer an IV to a dog) and eat baby food. There was a moment when we were talking about possibility that she may not make it. She also grow up to be a very healthy and happy dog. I think that’s where I will finish my story for now. It’s nice to think back to that time when my whole life was focused on those two tiny puppies.
On the first pictures Katya sleeping on a pillow. Salma running at me. And the first minutes at my house, girls are getting water.fr
Trying to keep my girls happy
My sickness and Jochem’s full time job is causing issues with the girls. Normally each of us would walk one dog before work and the other after work. In this way we would each have at least one walk with each of the girls a day. However while I was sick (and still am actually) Jochem took the whole work on himself. It meant that both girls had a bit less exercise that usual. I was on the other hand completely useless too weak to do anything with them. So they are a starting to act out.
Yesterday evening I got them busy with a magic box toy. And later I was just spreading treats all over the room for them to look for. They absolutely love that. I also let them play tug of war, but Salma was a bit too edgy for my taste.
Today I went to work (for the first time this week) and when I came back around 4 (so earlier than usual) I saw remaining of a little party my girls (probably Chili) organized in a living room. Funny enough she didn’t destroy anything except my 3D glasses, other than that she found tug of war toy, her underwear (from when she was in heat) and pack of tissues. She did get all tissues out of the pack but didn’t rip them. I was feeling a bit better so we had a nice play time together with the rope. There was one moment when Salma was looking at Chili holding the rope and her body language changed. Her ears went more flat to a side she became more tense and her tail started to go slowly. Salma sometimes gets to intense while they play tag of war so I got her attention and stopped their game. It was still light outside and I was feeling pretty good so I took Chili for walk in the park. It was fun and and she had a chance to run of some of her energy. She was playing with Shiba Inu. I liked the fact that even though she was chasing her she didn’t go into a predatory behavior, and didn’t get frustrated when he was a lot faster than her. We had one unpleasant interaction with female amstaf but she was just too much for Chili. She didn’t have bad intentions just a problem with manners.
As soon as we got home Chili was trying to get Salma to play with her again. To calm them down I have them raw cow trachea. They loved it! Ok Chili loved it as Salma ate like a lady she is.
Salma was looking for my attention but Chili was all over her so I locked Chili for a while in order to give Salma some proper one on one time. Now Jochem will walk Salma and I will juggle training with Chili with making dinner. I didn’t train with her enough this week.
I really hope I will feel better during the weekend and I will have chance to work more with both of the girls.
Wag it! 