EMERGENCIES

Here is the really cool thing about dogs. Just like children, they get sick at the most inopportune times. Sunday morning, Christmas Eve, the day your Vet is due to leave for his first vacation in 10 yrs, 30 minutes past closing, three hours before opening...

And of course there are the wait-n-sees: He's been vomiting for two weeks but I thought we'd wait n see.
And the slow emergencies:
He's been limping for two weeks but we think the leg might be broken.
And the It's Your Faults:
He had his rabies shot two months ago and now he's vomiting!

And the genuine emergencies:
Hit by Car
Cant breathe
Seizure
and Mine, surely one of the weirder emergencies:
I got the urinary catheter in part way and now I cannot get it out.

 Poor Nigel.

So I wrapped him in Vet wrap and took him in and at the time that the Vets were supposed to be going home to dinner (Or stopping at El Burrito Loco) they were gloved and digging around in Nigel's bladder, hauling out grit by what I am told was the handful. In addition, removing not just his testicles but the purse he kept them in, a tooth and a wart on his eye.
But the important thing was that bladder, because if he cannot pee, if the urethra is blocked with pebbles, he will die.

So the 4 a.m. call from the sitter (who I know well) was good, the post op recovery phase seemed to go well. I will leave him there a day or two.

To remind me that these things happen, there is about 8" of a urinary catheter sticking in my pen holder. (A mug from the Basset Hound Club of America)

And here's a tip: NEVER EVER TRY to pull a stuck urinary catheter out of anything. Let someone else do it.

And thus begins another day at the House of the Repeated Poor (Just when we catch up.....)

Be ye Easy, as a good friend used to say.

ODDS AND ENDS MOSTLY ODDS

Two days ago trying to teach the little one to take treats gently, my right index finger got in the way of a tiny, razor sharp canine and got ripped open to the tune of about a quarter inch. I have been badly bitten in my day and I am here to tell you none of those bites hurt like this did. And bleed? Good lord. Blood spatter everywhere with, of course, four dogs trying to help"Let me see let me see I can fix it oooo blood i can fix!"

"She stuck it in my face and said something and I said MINE and the next thing I know everyone is yelling and dancing around and Conley says "Nice goin kid, boy are you a dope."

Then the memories flooded back. Every Basset I have owned has had a gentle mouth.

None of the Belgians has.

Quiller and Cooper, the first two, I had to wear heavy sweatshirts and loose pants (this was when there was such a thing as loose pants for me) because if they grabbed my arm they left bruises. They were not being mean or extra rough. They had very good bite inhibition or I would still be looking for the pieces of my hand. They were big male intact dogs who played rough.
Cooper once took a chunk out of my hand during a show when Iwas baiting him up. I kept my hand in a fist trying to stop the bleeding in the ring.
Cooper also (I think-- maybe it was Quiller) took a chunk out of my lip when I tried getting him to "watch me" by dangling a piece of string cheese out of my mouth. (Thank you, Susan for that suggestion.)

They're a herding breed. They're visual, they're alert, they're...maybe a little exciteable.

Anyway I have weathered the flesh wound altho I believe it is infected. (I know it is). We are working hard on "NICE" but so far it appears to be a bit like "Down"---" Lo siento yo no entiendo nada de lo que dices"

I dunno, he's from Texas, maybe that's the problem.

 

I ATE SUMFING

I ate sumfin today.
Noboddy nos whut it was.
once upon a tyme it were libbin
Not enymore.
Mom took sum away frum me.
But she cuddent tell whut it were needer.
heh heh heh heh heh heh

TRAINING THE PUPPY

I know the dogs most people are interested in are the Bassets, but at the moment I am kind of heavily involved with this NOTABASSET, Doc the Belgian Sheepdog Puppy. This is what he looked like when he stepped out of his crate at O'Hare airport, in Chicago.

Sweet li'l Thing, isn't he? All fuzz and wondrous eyes..............

This is Doc now, two weeks later or so, when he has grown a little and settled in here at home:

 

Not quite the same shy, innocent, nervous little thing he was. Not even a little thing anymore, weighing in at over 16 pounds and able to run like a gazelle.

So the Puppy (Doc) goes to class. Once a week. We have learned sit and down and sort of sometimes "come" and now working on around, and a couple of things I have already forgotten about.

 

 

1.THE SIT
Call the puppy to you and hold a treat over his head slightly until he sits. Good puppy. Give treat. Call the puppy. PUPPY!! HEY YOU!!!
Grab puppy as he shoots past trying to leap on the 2.5 pound mini Aussie puppy to "play". Grabbing puppy by tail as he goes past is frowned upon by most trainers as is snatching him off the floor and trying to avoid shaking him until you can hear his brain cell rattling because he does this PERFECTLY at home, time after time.

2. THE DOWN

This is actually called the "partial down". It is a specialty of Doc's. The next step is to push the front legs out further propelling with the rear and sliding along the floor without actually having his butt end touch the ground.
The other variation is the SEAL TEAM 6 CRAWL-- in which nothing really touches the ground but the puppy crawls, military style, after the treat.
The cure for this is NOT to step on the puppy to force his rear to the floor. That will get you excused permanently from class and perhaps from owning other dogs.

 

This is how Doc looks at the trainer. He is sitting because she told him to. In a moment he will do a perfect down. He also came from across the room just to do this for her.

 

I am standing by the door while other owners cast sidelong glances at me and shake their heads slightly as they pass by with their 10 day old baby Chihuahuas heeling and doing fronts and finishes. (Well not really that young, but you know what i mean.)

Even the evil wheaten terrier is perfect.

 

As she goes past with the dog in perfect heel position,  the trainer says to me "I don't understand what problems you are having with him!"

 

 

                   'I don't know," I respond sulkily, "Ask Conley."

TOYS

I have never seen dogs with so many toys.
Some of them are left over from dogs that are long gone. Some are relatively new. Some were gifts, some from me.
Some have spent entire seasons in the yard until their "fur" was green and I had to wash them with bleach.  Some still squeak, other's are voiceless.
Right now the most popular items are the ones in which other items arrived: cardboard boxes.
Not like cats-- not jumping in and out and hiding in. For eating. Ok for chewing since the puppy is not allowed to swallow paper products.

This is the most expensive toy I think I have ever bought. It was $20 and I think I got ripped, but that's ok. I like it.

 

 

Remember Cooper's Rat? We still have that. I am not sure where he is, maybe at the bottom of the toy basket, but he spent all summer in the yard and managed to survive. Typical rat.

A whole mess of toys. During the course of the day these become alternates. They are often used as distraction toys-- to stop unwanted behavior.

 

This is a puppy who has just been seriously corrected for getting into the trash. For the fourth time in a row. As you can see, this is what he thinks of my prohibition about trash cans, and since I even yelled he is going to assume I no longer love him and that he doesn't know I exist. Eventually we reconciled.

He has a toy I was unable to find. Heidi gave it to him and it is a little pink ball with tentacle kind of things and he loves it to death but I am not sure where, at the moment, it is.

The following photo shows him sleeping with his most favorite thing, which is unfortunately also one of MY most favorite things, but in this case he got to keep it for awhile.

NIGEL

Nigel wants to play with the puppy.
Since Nigel cannot walk,much less run, this is difficult. we were allowing him limited access to the yard until he ended up with a sore on one back legs and very owie looking testicles, and then I decreed that he was no longer allowed outside without the cart. (Before the puppy arrived, he would lay in one spot with his brother, in the sun.)

But once he saw that the others were playing Bumper Basset with the puppy, he wanted to play as well.
Now.
Nigel has a cart. He loves his cart for walkies but somehow he hates it in the backyard and has always refused to move, just stood in one spot, everything drooping, miserable. It seemed possible to me that the excitement of the Basset/Belgian 500 (The black car always wins) might excite Nigel enough to (gasp) move while in the cart inthe backyard.

 

It took a day or two. But my new rule is: no cart, no yard. And so now we are delighted to say that Nigel does indeed roll around the yard in his cart, trying to play.

 

Mostly he stands in a central location and barks as the other two Bassets and Doc zoom past. Sometimes they use Nigel as a center point and he keeps trying to turn the cart fast enough to keep track of who is where, even though I could tell him: Doc is in the lead so far he is coming up on Llewis who is last. Conley is closing in on Doc from behind as he slows up for Llewis.

(Rare footage of Nigel and Conley discussing the upcoming election and the way our society treats teachers and cops. They are working on their economic recovery program and medidog changes.)

Anyway Now Nigel carts around the backyard, the puppy almost always goes to the back door when he needs to go, and Nigel would like to remind people that he would not be the first President in a wheelchair.

SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE BLOG

Recently I got some suggestions on how to make the blog better from Anonymous. There may be more than one Anonymous.
The gist of the suggestions seems to be why isn't my blog either more like Anonymous's blog, or why isn't it Pioneer Woman's blog?

Because.

That's why.

Not enough photos for you? Too many words? Too bad. Change the channel, turn off the set.

I am sure (uhhhh) the suggestions were made in good faith and so I have answered in good faith.Anonymous refers me to his/her own blog so I can see what a really GOOD blog should look like. Thank you but I will stick with what I have.

                                Have a relaxing Sunday.