Kodiak

Yes, I'm finally getting around to posting an update on Kodiak. He's doing very well - packing on some weight now that he's eating properly, and I've seen definite improvements in his behavior. He absolutely loves Reyna and Duncan, plays with them as much as possible, and gains a ton of confidence from them.


He's slowly getting better on the leash. He's not as frightened at seeing and feeling someone holding to the other end as he was a week ago. Kodiak doesn't like to walk towards the road end of the cul-de-sac, but he's mostly okay with walking away from the road.


Kodiak is also getting better with people. I've had several folks pop in to visit, and he's less likely to run and hide each time. This morning, in fact, he joined Reyna and Duncan in barking at the visitor. For a few seconds, anyway. I realized today that my visitors have all been female, so I called John and asked him to come by sometime this week. That'll give me a good idea of how he responds to men, and if there's going to be any real trouble there.


New places still shut him down pretty fast, but after multiple trips to the same location, he does show improvement. It helps to have Reyna or Duncan around to show him that the new place is fun.


Kodiak definitely still has some issues to work through. Loud noises frighten him (even ones he's heard several times), and sudden movement worries him quite a bit. He still only comes to me about 75% of the time I call him. The rest of the time, he hides or runs away. I've not figured out what worries him those times that doesn't bother him the rest. He's also still afraid of the dog door, but we've made some progress with that. Until he gets comfortable with it, I'm taking him out every couple of hours. He's decided that he refuses to use the pee pads in his crate, but he'll hold it for several hours if he's confined. The other issue we're working through is an odd one - he'll be fine with something one day, and then terrified of it the next for no reason that I can see. Of course, just because I didn't see what caused the trouble doesn't mean his little puppy brain didn't register something frightening.


Overall, though, I'm really pleased with how far he's come over the last couple of weeks. I'd say he's well on the way to being ready for adoption early next year.


Being a puppy, his cuteness knows no bounds. He has a typical German Shepherd thing going on right now - one ear will stand up, then the other, then they're both up, then one flops, then they both flop. He also bounces like a complete lunatic when he's excited, with his head and his butt both going as fast as possible and with no coordination whatsoever. So cute! Another thing he does is moan and bark when he plays with squeaky toys. Here's proof...

And here's a clip that shows just how patient Reyna is with him. All the noise is Reyna, but she's tolerating everything Kodiak does. Near the end of the clip, Kodiak is actually tugging at her ear, and she doesn't even try to eat him in retaliation.

Kodiak

After getting several suggestions for names, its decided - Fluffernutter's new name is Kodiak.

Kodiak is really settling in nicely, and he definitely enjoys playing with Reyna and Duncan. I can tell that they worry him a bit occasionally, particularly when they both run over to him. He gives as good as he gets, though, and he loves to jump up and lick their faces. Duncan's a bit jealous of him, of course, but Reyna is being extremely tolerant of him. They certainly like Kodiak a lot more than they did Gus.

Mary came over to crop today, and Kodiak got to spend about 6 hours on the couch, wrapped up in Mary's jacket. No, he's not going to be spoiled at all.

I got a few pictures of him yesterday, before and during the snow.



Not sure if Duncan is offering to show Kodiak the ropes or telling him he'd better behave....


These pictures were taken in the late afternoon, but they're still a lot darker than I hoped.


I love this one - Kodiak fell in the snow and got quite a bit stuck in his hair.





Kodiak is still people-shy, and he likes to find a spot to hide when its time to come inside. His favorite place is under the honeysuckle vines along the back fence.

Fluffernutter

Meet my newest foster pup, Fluffernutter. No, thats not really his name. He doesn't actually have one yet, but I have to call him something until he gets a real name. He's a sweet little GSD (with a bit of Chow thrown in) pup, about 12 weeks old, give or take. He was found by an animal control worker a couple of weeks ago, I think. I'll admit, I'm a little fuzzy on the details. What I am clear on is that he was close to feral when she found him. He's doing a lot better now, but definitely needs some work before he can go to his new home. He's adoptable through Southeast German Shepherd Rescue. If you have any ideas on a name, let me know. I think the rescue is going to pick a name from suggestions made by Facebook and blog fans.

Grab Bag

Duncan and I went to the Canine Carnival and Mutt Strut yesterday. The weather was pretty crappy, but we still had fun. We got to meet Steve and Laura, which was great. I really hope they met the dog who will become their newest family member. We also met a couple of dog trainers that we just might start working with. I certainly got along with them, and they didn’t even seem concerned by the thought of Reyna and all her alpha bitchiness.

We left the event a bit early to do a home visit for Gus. Our foster pup will be going to his new (and, I hope, permanent) home this coming Friday. I really like the folks and I think this will be a great place for Gus (soon to be Max).

After a miserable 30 days, Reyna is finally off the antibiotics. Her leg looks a lot better, and I really hope we don’t have to go through this again anytime soon. We went for a nice long walk this afternoon, and I didn’t even have to stop and think about when she’d had her meds, when she’d had her yogurt, or if it was too warm for her (not that a high temperature was a major concern today). She did a full 4.25 miles with no sign of trouble. She doesn’t have the speed she did, but I figure in a week or so we’ll be back to the speed and distances we were doing before.

Duncan’s got a Rally trial this weekend, so he gets to take it easy. No long walks for him – with my luck, his knee would start acting up and he’d be limping his way through the course. He will, of course, being doing a bit of training this week, but not so much that he gets grumpy about it.

We had a semi-failed experiment this week. Poor Parm (the cat who lives outside in the crate because of his Inappropriate Behavior) cries a lot. I’m sure its because he wants to come back inside, but I thought some of it might also be loneliness. I decided to put his sister, Per’la, in the crate with him to see if that made him feel better. Well, the pitiful meowing stopped, but the pissed off meowing started with a vengeance. Not only was Per’la upset about being in the crate, but Parm was mad, too. Turns out Per’la booted Parm out of the kitty condo, and he was stuck sitting on top of the condo or on the crate tray, neither of which are particularly warm. So, after trying that for a couple of days, I let Per’la come back inside. She’s much happier, and even Parm’s meowing has eased off. I guess he’s happy enough by himself.

Injured List

Reyna’s still on antibiotics (17 days to go!), and we’ve figured out a way to keep the tummy troubles to a minimum. She gets yogurt an hour before and two hours after her meal and meds. If we vary from that too much, it shows. She’s also gotten to where she can walk with me again, as long as its no more than 2 miles round trip, its been at least 8 hours since her meds, and its not too hot. Sigh.

Duncan’s finally off the injured list. Since Reyna’s not able to walk with me as much, Duncan was volunteered to fill in. He walked 4 miles Saturday and another 4 Sunday, which was a bit too much for him. His knee started bothering him Sunday evening, and then his annual exam at the vet Monday morning didn’t help. He had several days off, though, and was able to do an easy 2 miles with me this morning.

Gus is to blame for Duncan’s excessive walking over the weekend. Gus is a GSD we’ve been fostering, and he’s a bit under a year old. He’d gone to a potential home, but was returned this past Saturday. Based on what the person described, I think we know why Gus was found as a stray… At any rate, I decided the easiest way to burn some of his puppy energy was a nice long walk. He has awful leash manners, though, so I needed one of the dogs to go with us. Reyna wasn’t really an option, so that stuck Duncan with the task. Duncan did a wonderful job of correcting several of Gus’ bad behaviors, and by the end of the 4 miles each day, Gus was walking very nicely. We’ve not been able to walk since Sunday, though, because Gus decided to launch himself off my porch rather than walk down the steps, and in doing so he injured his front leg. He seems to be moving more easily today, so I’m hoping he’ll be ready to go walking by the weekend.

I’m not actually on the injured list these days. I’m on the ho-hum list, instead. I’ll admit I’ve been feeling a bit blue lately. This week is 1 year since my last day at work (I’m not counting the kennel as work, since its part time, doesn’t pay the bills, etc). I can’t believe I’m still unemployed after a year. I’ve even had some people tell me they just assumed I wasn’t bothering to look, since I was getting paid by the government – because I enjoy living off of unemployment and worrying about when I’ll lose the house?? Sigh, again.

More Updates

Yes, I know I usually do individual posts for different topics, but I haven’t been particularly motivated lately, so here’s another cluster update.

Onyx went to his new home this past Saturday. I have a good feeling about this family, and I’m sure he won’t be returned again. Of course, even if he is, he won’t be coming back here. Duncan is so happy Onyx is gone. I have to admit, I am, too. Its nice to not wake up at 5:15am every morning to the shrieking of an overly dramatic puppy. The house has been so calm and peaceful since he left…

Speaking of Duncan, he is getting steadily worse. I’m so glad he finally gets to see the ortho vet this coming Tuesday. Duncan is no longer standing properly most of the time, and his back end is sinking. He’s walking much lower on his hocks than he should be, and he’s walking lower today than he was even two weeks ago. Paws crossed that the ortho can figure out what the problem is, and that the solution is something that won’t cost a small fortune.

Still no news on the job front, which means still no A/C. The last couple of days have been really nice, but we had several days when Reyna and I were fighting over who got to sit in front of the box fan. Not fighting too hard, mind you, because it was much too hot for anything more than some halfhearted snarling.

In the Good News category, I’ll be getting a new roof later this summer. The insurance company did an inspection and determined that there’s been enough damage to warrant a complete replacement. And the best part is that insurance will pay for the whole thing. That should add some value to the house if I end up putting it on the market.

The last tidbit - Mikey and Per'la finally made up. I caught them cuddling and grooming each other a couple of days ago. Its good to have peace in the clowder.

Unless something particularly interesting happens between now and then, I’ll post a Duncan update Tuesday.

Puppies!

A couple of weeks ago, Onyx was returned to the rescue by his potential adopters. They said it was because he was playing too rough with their cat (he was a two month old pup - of course he plays rough), but I think a lot of it was because they really didn't know what to expect from a puppy. So, the rescue contacted me and asked if I'd foster him again. Once I agreed, they also asked if I'd be willing to foster a second pup, as well. Another foster home had two, and were overwhelmed. That led to Topaz joining us.

This is Onyx, now almost 14 weeks old.


Onyx and Topaz. Topaz was definitely the more laid back of the two.


Not that you could tell that from this picture.... That was really perfect timing for the photo.


Onyx has decided that Duncan is his favorite playmate. So far, Duncan's handling it pretty well.


Topaz went to her new home early last week. I got an update today, and she's settling in just fine. With luck, Onyx will be adopted soon.

Snakes And Snails And Puppy Dog Tails

Yeah, yeah, I know its "snips" not "snakes", but I don’t know what a snip is, and I did have a snake in my yard while the puppies were visiting. Duncan found the black snake one evening, and it hid under my gas tank as I was trying to hook it with a rake to get it out of the yard. I almost had him a couple of times, but that sucker was fast. My neighbor came over to help, but he turned out to be totally useless. After all, its hard to hook a snake when you have the rake hitting the ground a good 4 feet away from it. The snake ended up going into my neighbor’s yard, so maybe that’ll teach him to suck it up and get a bit closer next time.

Now, on to the puppies….

We babysat Lucky and Hart for 10 days. They’re foster puppies, and their foster parents were going out of town, and they needed a place to stay. The day before they came to our house, the puppies turned 8 weeks old. Their mom is a shepherd mix, and I’d guess these two have a fair bit of boxer and lab in them. I don’t see any shepherd in them, but a couple of their littermates look very shepherdy. The amount of cuteness in these two puppies was absolutely ridiculous. Not that I had any interest at all in adopting either of them. It’s been so long since I’ve had a puppy in the house (Duncan was such an easy puppy, he doesn’t count), I’d forgotten how exhausting it can be. And, of course, Reyna, Duncan and I all had to learn to watch where we were walking. These two girls were so little, and very quick to get underfoot. The first day, Duncan stepped on one and Reyna actually sat on one. None of us knew what had happened until Reyna stood up and we realized where the whimpering was coming from.



Lucky and Hart really loved their Uncle Duncan, and he was remarkably good with them. He tolerated quite a lot, but it was easy to see he was reaching his limit by the time the 10 days were up. His biggest problem was that they would pester him when he was laying on the couch. They also climbed on him, jumped on him, tried to chew on his face, followed him around the yard, and always wanted to sleep next to him.

What you can't tell from this photo is that Duncan is growling constantly while the puppy is jumping up, trying to get on the couch.






Reyna did pretty well with them, too. Granted, she mostly tried to ignore them, but she did tolerate some pestering. She made it very clear early on that she had 4 basic rules:
1 - Don’t put your head in her bowl of kibble while she’s eating.
2 - Don’t put your head in her bowl of water while she’s drinking.
3 - Don’t try to take her ball when she’s playing with it or when Mom is getting ready to throw it.
4 - Don’t try to get in her pool when she’s laying in it.
Other than those 4 things, Reyna was generally agreeable. But she was definitely ready for them to go home at the end of their visit.



And in true puppy fashion, absolutely nothing was safe...

Of Course You Know, This Means War!

That’s it, they’re toast. Those stinking moles have now killed two of my rose bushes by eating the roots completely off. Clearly, Duncan is falling down on the job. We had a discussion about it Tuesday, and he swears he’ll do better. Unfortunately, the moles probably know his nap schedule (which is most of the day – and night). As back-up for Duncan and his mad mole-killing skillz, I went out today and bought a large container of mole repellant. I plan on dumping quite a lot of it in the area they’ve been tunneling, particularly around my roses. I initially wanted something that would kill the little buggers, but I decided that wasn’t worth the risk to the dogs, so I’ll settle for running them far, far away. You know, I didn’t really mind them that much when they were just eating the grass. It was a bit difficult to mow the grass where they’d been tunneling, but that didn’t bother me. Eating my rose bushes, though...that’s just taking things too far.

In other news...

Reyna’s latest allergic reaction (a spot of nastiness near her right shoulder blade) is finally healing up. The antibiotics the vet gave her made her sick and she quit eating last Friday, so I took her off the meds. By Sunday evening, she was feeling better and eating again. Her appetite seems to be back to normal now.

I spent last Saturday at a friend’s house, working on Reyna’s scrapbook. I got 30 pages done and filled her first book (they hold 40 sheets; 1 sheet = 2 pages). That sounds pretty impressive, until you realize her first book covers May 2004 through August 2005. And there’s still lots of pictures left to get caught up to 2008. But we shall persevere. Mary and I are planning to meet once a month, alternating houses, to work on our scrapbooks. If we can stick to that, I might actually get caught up in a year or so. Maybe.

The next 10 days should be highly entertaining (and exhausting). I’m babysitting two 8-week-old puppies for a foster group. One foster mom is going on vacation, and you can’t board puppies under 16 weeks. I’m picking up both Hart and Lucky after work. Hart’s foster mom was actually fostering her and her sister, up until last week, but she decided that two puppies were just too much. So Lucky ended up in a new foster home, but it turns out that the older dogs there really hate the puppy and are acting out. Since I’d already agreed to babysit both (before Lucky was moved), I agreed to keep Lucky for the next week while they find her a new foster home. I talked to the coordinator last night, and she said she has two possible homes lined up, but neither can take Lucky until early June. I know it’ll be crazy at the house, but its only for a limited time.

Do you know how hard it is to find treats that A) Reyna likes and B) she isn’t allergic to? Its not impossible, but it ain’t easy. And its generally not cheap, either. I found one about a year ago – salmon and sweet potato – that she absolutely loves. And Duncan loves it, too, but then again, I’m not sure I’ve ever found anything that Duncan doesn’t like... The really crappy part is that I found out today that they’re discontinuing the treat. That entire line of treats, actually (salmon, duck, tuna, and chicken, all with sweet potato). This sucks. This was the last reasonably priced option. Now if I want treats that Reyna can eat, I have to go to specialty stores. Or I have to find a butcher and cook my own. Good thing I got that little chest freezer last month, huh? By the way, Krysti, if you read this, please tell Dad I’d *really* appreciate some venison when the season rolls around. Or even before...

Jake

Jake has been officially adopted by a very nice couple. They have two yorkies, a lab, a grandchild, and a granddog. And a good-sized fenced area. The guy told me yesterday that the only thing Jake has done was chewing up his vet paperwork the very first night there. So, yay!! Jake has a home!

Stupid People

Why do people think that animals have to become best friends in 24 hours or less? Why don't they understand that animals can learn to coexist, but they need more than a few hours?

Fingers Crossed

It looks like Jake has a potential home. The dad and kid love him, and the mom likes him, but she's worried about her cat. I tried to make sure she understood that most cats won't become friends with a strange dog (especially if it is the first animal ever seen outside the vet's office), but I'm not sure she fully realizes that. They're keeping him for the weekend, and I'm hoping they'll decide to keep him permanently. Once he settled down, he totally ignored the cat, but that certainly doesn't mean he won't chase it if it runs. I got the impression they aren't as strict as I would be, but that's totally up to them. So, anyway, keep all your fingers and toes crossed that this house works out for him.

Jake

This sweet boy needs a home. He’s and 8 month old pure German Shepherd. I’m fostering him while we look for a forever home. He’s very sweet and affectionate. He responds to correction easily, but some of his behavior makes me think he was mistreated. Jake gets along wonderfully with my two shepherds, and is quickly learning the rules of the house (thanks to Reyna’s enforcement tendencies). I was told he isn’t housebroken, but he knows how to use the dog door, and hasn’t had any accidents in the house. Jake is still intact, but I’m hoping the neutering will occur in the next week or two. He seems to be very smart, and really just wants someone to love him and play with him. If you’re interested – or know someone who might be – please let me know.

Attitudinal Change

My dog is a wonderful dog, and I’m really tired of feeling like I have to defend her to people who don’t know her. Yes, she had issues as a puppy (and frankly, I’m amazed I didn’t kill her before her first birthday), and yes, she can still be a real snot sometimes. But you know what? She’s an alpha female German Shepherd. That’s just how they are. She’ll be like that for the rest of her life. Reyna is sweet, loving, friendly, frighteningly intelligent, stubborn, and a hard worker. She’s even becoming more of a couch cuddler as she gets older.

Following on the heels of the Sylvie/Drill Team “Reyna’s a liability” issue comes a multi-email discussion I had last night with a girl on the board of a rescue group that I’ve volunteered with and fostered dogs for.

She sent out a foster home plea yesterday for an absolutely gorgeous 8-month-old female GSD. After thinking about it for a while, I sent an email saying I would take her, and hopefully, she and Reyna would get along. Mind you, that was not said out of concern for my dog’s “attitude” problems, but because I know sometimes dogs just don’t like each other, just like people don’t get along with everyone. And strong female GSDs don’t always hit off really well. But the description of the pup did not make her sound like a strong female. It said she was being bullied by the male GSD she lived with. No alpha female is going to tolerate that.

When I got home, I’d still not gotten a response, which was unusual, so I emailed her again and asked if anything had been decided. She said no one else had offered to foster her, but she didn’t want the pup in my house because Reyna has issues with dogs that challenge her, like Gus did. She also said she’d rather we didn’t foster a dog that hadn’t already been fostered by someone else, so we’d know about that dog’s temperament. I hate to break it to her, but even dogs with great temperaments don’t always get along.

Let me explain quickly about Gus. He was a very large GSD mix that I agreed to foster. Very sweet with people, most of the time. He jumped my fence twice, tried to break through my hall door to get to my cats, and tried to bite my neighbor when he put Gus back in his crate – turns out he had confinement issues. On top of that, he humped Reyna incessantly, and bullied her as much as possible. She didn’t respond in her normal fashion (by putting him down), which worried me. Made me think she knew something wasn’t right with him. The last night he spent at our house, they had played as usual, and Reyna was sleeping on the floor by my chair. With no warning at all, Gus attacked her. And it wasn’t play fighting. I had to separate them (I know, I know, never separate fighting dogs by yourself, but what was I supposed to do…wait until he got tired of mauling my dog?), and he bit me in the arm. Once I got them apart, and everyone calmed down, I called the rescue and told them Gus had to leave. He ended up spending almost a month boarding at the vet, and came very close to being put to sleep. Even the vet commented that Gus must have just been responding to Reyna’s dominant response to his challenge. Um, hello? She was ASLEEP. I’ve heard he’s doing well, now, as long as he’s kept away from crates, cats, kids, dogs that are more alpha, and walked on a leash for exercise. Needless to say, no one has adopted him yet, he’s still being fostered.

So, I took offense that someone would use the Gus incident to decide Reyna had dominance issues. I pointed out that she’d never had trouble with any other foster dogs, and that she tolerated Gus’ crap a lot better than I did, and that the fight with him wasn’t her responding to a dominance challenge, it was her fighting for her life from a vicious, unprovoked attack. The girl then said that we all know Reyna is very choosy about who she lets share her space (aren’t we all?). I reminded her that Reyna has never started a fight for no reason, although she is more than willing to finish one. She doesn’t bully dogs, or pick on them. If she doesn’t like them, she simply ignores them. She will enforce the house rules, however. I also pointed out that I am more than capable of controlling my animals, and know how to work around any issues that come up. No response.

At the same time, I was talking to another girl who works for the rescue, about something else entirely, and was telling her a bit about what was passing through the emails. She said that she was told the pup was a “high energy bratty female GSD” and so she had decided against fostering her. She also said she thought more information had been discovered about the dog. So I sent the first girl an email, asking if that was true, that she had more information about the dog than what she had given me. No response.

This morning, I withdrew my offer to foster. I told her I did not appreciate feeling like I had to defend Reyna for being herself, nor did I like feeling that the rescue didn’t trust me to control my animals. I also told her I was concerned that she didn’t seem to be sharing all of the information about the dog with me.

I’ll probably end up pulling my name from the foster list. If they don’t want to place anyone in my house on the basis of one bad incident, then I don’t need to be seeing all the emails of dogs that need help, knowing I won’t be allowed to do anything about it.

I’ve also decided that there will be no more explanations of how Reyna’s come so far since she was a puppy, no more descriptions of how many obedience classes we’ve taken to get here, no defending her to people who make assumptions about her because of one action or just because she’s a GSD. My dog is wonderful, and if people can’t recognize that and appreciate her for what she is, that’s their loss, not ours.