It was a very successful “papillon play day” by our special-needs (rescue) standards. Zevon actually played with some of the other dogs instead of pacing the perimeter looking for an escape route. Sydney felt secure enough to venture away from our laps, even in the presence of a small child (he’s especially terrified of children). Gloria not only let a few people pet her, she let us know when she was ready to go home, rather than stressing out and threatening random dogs/people. After days of heat, humidity, and intermittent cloudbursts, we got a glorious sunny day (although it sure doesn’t feel like a New England fall yet). Life is good…
Dog Blogging
Early Morning Open Thread: Good Night, Good Dog
From commentor Folkbum:
Margaret Jane — Maggie — was our snow dog, our solid-white Great Pyrenees, whom we rescued from the Great Pyrenees rescue of Greater Chicago. (http://www.gpcgc.org/rescue.htm) She was a stray, found with another Pyr and a Pyr-golden mix that summer running loose in southern Illinois. She was skinny and shy and sweet as could be; when we sat with her at the rescue kennel, she just plopped her head in our laps and hunkered down. She came to live with us in September of 2003.
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She quickly got her coat and her weight back — 75 lbs but she looked much bigger with her puffy white fur. And it also didn’t take long to realize she’d be a handful. That fall, we found that Maggie wanted to go with us whenever we left the house. At first it was kind of cute. But then she started clawing and chewing at the doors and windows. In February of 2004, she jumped through a window trying to follow my wife to work. Luckily, she couldn’t get out of the fenced back yard.
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She was finally diagnosed with a pretty severe case of separation anxiety. She was an absolute sweetheart otherwise–calm, friendly, willing to sit and be petted for hours by anyone at all with the time. Until we tried to leave her alone in the house. We knew that we couldn’t send her back to the rescue, because she was unadoptable in that condition. We persevered, because she was young and vibrant and had a lot of life yet to live.
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Years of behavioral and drug therapy finally led us to a reasonable, but difficult, routine. Anti-depression meds twice a day, plus a dose of tranquilizer every time she needed to be crated when we left the house, made her life and ours mostly bearable.
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And Maggie was still a sweetheart. The neighbor girls begged us to let them take her on walks. She was the darling of the farmer’s market for being so white, so big, so calm. The vet was always grateful to have a dog who didn’t complain about any of the prodding, poking, pushing, and pinching required at her annual checkups. The workers at the kennel where we boarded her loved her, loved playing with her, petting her, having her around.
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Early Morning Open Thread: Good Night, Good DogPost + Comments (44)
My Dogs Are Driving Me Insane
I have no idea what is in the air, but my dogs are driving me damned nuts. Rosie in particular. They’ve been walked multiple times, they’ve been fed, groomed, petted, loved, and it still is not enough. Rosie is walking in between my legs pacing as I sit here trying to work, every now and then letting out a sigh to let me know just how bored she is and just how awful I am. Then she sits down on my feet to let me know she is here, and if I move, she growls and grumps. Then, every now and then she will itch herself out of boredom, making as much noise as she possibly can with her collar, looking at me with those damned JRT eyes just so I know she is bored and WANTS TO DO SOMETHING.
I’m trying to get something done with a software package I have never used before, and she’s doing everything she can to make me mental. I have got to get my yard fenced in.
Early Morning Open Thread: B&B Pet Rescue, Pt. II
From commentor Comrade Scott’s Agenda of Rage:
I could write a story on Bozo himself. He was dumped along the river here (weekend homes inhabited mostly by assholes) and wandered into town. He had all 4 legs back then. The old guy uphill from us took him in. Said old guy and dog lived in squalor for years. Bozo was allowed to roam around town and had an annoying habit of snoozing in the street.
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One day, the UPS truck makes a delivery and backs over poor ole Boze. The leg wasn’t broken so the hope was that perhaps the nerves would grow back. After 8 months of lugging a dead limb around town, it was clear they wouldn’t. So, the old guy, who didn’t have a pot to piss in, went ahead and had the leg amputated and eventually paid off the vet. That was, oh, maybe 7 years ago.
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We eventually started taking care of the old guy, Bozo and his two cats. Boze had mange, a hemotoma in one ear, and chronic skin allergies from years of living on ice cream, hot dogs and hamburgers; the old guy loved the dog damn near to death. The missing leg is the least of his problems. He’s also blind in that eye on the same side, again, probably nerve damage stemming from UPS—What Can Brown Do *To* You!
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About 4 1/2 years ago, the old guy was finally cajoled into moving out of his house, he was about 79-80 at the time. We promised to find homes for his cats and agreed to take in the dog, our first dog after being married almost 25 years. The old guy went into an assisted living home and we’d take Bozo to visit him pretty regularly. After 2 years, his health declined and he went into a nursing home for about a year. Again, we’d take Boze out to visit him. He passed away earlier this year and is buried in the non-denominational cemetery (the other one is for Catholics only) nearby. When Bozo’s time comes, we plan on cremating him and burying his ashes up there.
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A stubborn, loveable dog who’s probably around 12 now and acts like he won’t live to see 13. He loves kittens. We routinely let our foster broods out and he’ll nuzzle them, lick their bellies, etc…after they get over their initial fear of a big dog. Attached is one of the more friendly fosters attacking the old guy. He sucked it up.
(Part I of Comrade Scott’s story here.)
Early Morning Open Thread: B&B Pet Rescue, Pt. IIPost + Comments (32)
Afternoon Animal Thread
A picture of Boghan and the newly acquired Ellie posing in the woods near Cooper’s Rock:
That ear action on Ellie just kills me. She really looks like the kind of dog you see in dogfood commercials.
Early Morning Open Thread: Life Can Get Better
From commentor JAHILL10:
The first picture is of Jake the day we brought him home from the Philadelphia SPCA in 2005. All head and legs, wormy, hungry, and happy to be someplace other than the shelter. My husband and I went there looking for a “scruffy dog” about two years after my Scottie dog of 14 years, Bonny, had died of cancer. I was resistant to the idea but my husband thought that “it was time” to find a new puppy to love. But after walking up and down aisles of abandoned, full grown pit bulls we were about to give up. I also had two cats at the time, one a dainty, elderly calico, and I was fearful of bringing a dog capable of chomping a cat in half into the house. I wanted something apartment sized, Bonny-sized… I was ready to walk out and try another day. My husband, on the other hand, decided to go exploring. Ignoring KEEP OUT signs, police tape, and orange pylons separating the adoptable dogs from the new arrivals he strolled down the forbidden zone and suddenly yells to me from across the shelter. “Come here! You need to meet this one.” Embarrassed and muttering, I reluctantly went to him and there in a holding pen was the scruffiest dog imaginable, skinny and adorable. Our eyes met and my husband said that was that.
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It took some doing. Jake had just been dropped off at the PSPCA from Animal Control who had picked him up roaming the streets so they hadn’t had the chance to put him through the usual screening and he had to be “tutored” before they would let us take him home and our landlord had to be convinced that the pet deposit was still in effect, but we were determined. I went from reluctant window shopper to true believer in no time flat. We named him Jake and after we fully realized how lucky we had been to happen upon one of the best doggies ever, we sometime call him “Jackpot” Jake.
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It wasn’t all easy. We found at first that he was deathly afraid of children, especially running and yelling children because, we assumed, he had been chased by kids when he was living on the streets. After some basic obedience school and a lot of practice, he is much better around kids. Around adults he is the happiest, most welcoming soul in the world. A scritichy-scratch on the spot above his tail will win you a lifetime friend. And somehow Jake knew how to sit up and beg without being taught. He took my cats in stride and sometimes acts more like a cat than a dog. And overlaying all of that is an almost lethal level of cuteness. The second picture is of him three years later chasing his ball in the park. We wouldn’t trade him for the world.
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“Hope is that thing inside us that insists…that something better awaits us if we have the courage to fight for it.” –Barack Obama
Early Morning Open Thread: Life Can Get BetterPost + Comments (28)
Early Morning Open Thread: Big Dog Rescue
From commentor Brian S:
Patch is a Great Dane. He was born and raised in Northern California, where sadly he was taken to a shelter to be adopted out at the age of eighteen months. Deanne and I were looking for a dog in Christmas 1999 and she picked him ! I’ve never had a dog before, so to go straight to an 18 month old Great Dane who weighed 112 lbs (he was badly underweight) was pretty daunting. But she kept me awake till 5AM, looking at web sites that praised these wonderful dogs. Through a combination of strong evidence and sleep deprivation I agreed to adopt Patch.
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Patch was a wonderful companion and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that owning a Great Dane gets you noticed ! It is rare that we’ll walk him without somebody wanting to meet him, ask what its like to raise a Great Dane etc. We’re always glad to answer and spread the good word about what lovely dogs they are, if you’re prepared to put in the time to be good friends to them.
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When we lived on the west coast, he came with us on several road trips to San Francisco and one to Washington state. It seems the people of those cities don’t often see Great Danes, because we got so much attention from people. One man even stopped his car in city traffic and double parked so he could meet Patch and tell about his time growing up with Great Danes! Patch enjoyed these trips a lot, getting a lot of new experiences and practice in meeting people. At night in one SF hotel, he lay down in front of their fire place and looked so noble, like he was the king’s dog!
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We moved to Jupiter, Florida in March 2002 where Patch and his two kitty siblings, Aura and Garibaldi, settled into their exciting new home. Patch went to the dog park on most days and also went with Brian or Deanne to their workplace on most afternoons. The socialization he got at these places was invaluable and played a big part in teaching him how to get along so well with everyone he met. Visiting business people would be brought past Brian’s office to meet him!
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As Patch reached his final years, his back legs got weaker and he had a hard time getting up and out of bed, or getting into the car to be driven around. We got him a conductor’s podium as a step-up box (don’t bother with the folding ramps, they bend too much) and that helped for many months, but eventually he couldn’t be put into the car without a lot of help, and the possibility of injury was too great, so he stayed home and went for brief walks. This is something to consider: when a 160 lb dog can’t get up, you can’t just easily pick him up and move him around.
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We all come to the end of our road eventually, and Patch slipped away quietly in February 2010. He was surrounded by his extended family and friends, five wonderful people who all loved him and wanted the best for him. Although he will be missed greatly, it is a great comfort to us knowing that he had so many friends and had made such a good impression on people. Between his many days at the dog park, and uncountable afternoons at Brian’s and Deanne’s workplace, Patch leaves behind many fond memories.
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He was always gentle, never started a fight (well, maybe once!) and played appropriately with everyone from a pack of 3 wolf-dogs all the way down to tiny Italian greyhounds. A real gentleman, and I miss him every day.
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One word of advice : take photos and video of your pet doing their everyday thing, whether it’s a place they like to lie down, or a trick they do. You’ll miss those things when they’re gone, like the heavy sigh of a Great Dane who is standing over you at 4AM ‘cos he wants to go outside! I’m very glad I have video of him purring, panting and playing in ways that I’ll want to see occasionally, just to remember the fun we had.
Early Morning Open Thread: Big Dog RescuePost + Comments (31)