A Really Great Dane

Remi is four years old. His owner recently died. He has been staying with his trainer and mentor, Cheryl Falkenburry and he is now available for adoption through Green Dogs Unleashed. (www.greendogsunleashed.com). I met Remi twice last week. Cheryl brought him over here one day to meet some of my dogs and he did very well. I liked him a lot. He's very loving and loveable. We visited Green Dogs on another day, met more dogs, children, chickens, and a cat, and he was good with them all. 

Remi in his natural habitat, a horse pasture.

He's young and headstrong, playful, just a dog. A BIG dog. He would be fine as an only dog because he's big enough to fill up a house by himself, both in terms of personality, and his sheer size. He's a lot of dog any way you look at it. But he's a good dog, thankfully, and we can thank Cheryl for that, because she's been working with him for the past couple of years.

Remi should go to a home with plenty of room for him, and if not with a canine companion, then at least to a home where he will have the potential for canine friends because only another dog can really exercise and entertain a dog like this. He has been learning crate training, but he requires a big one. Mostly he needs a situation where he won't be left alone all day.  

Cheryl has this to say about him:  He thinks he's a puppy in a 135 lb. body. He knows the basics of sit, down, wait, leave it, come and walks nicely on a leash with a gentle leader once he gets going. He requires a family who will continue his training and has a van or truck big enough for him to go for rides.

I met this dog and I liked him, a lot. It's unfortunate that they cropped his ears, but that's not his fault. He's a big, good looking, and good natured dog. He's not going to be right for every home because he's a Dane, but if you love them, you'll love this guy. There's lots of tongue and lots of slobber, that just goes with the territory. Oh, and don't let the predominantly white coloring fool you, he can both see and hear quite well.

Contacts: Green Dogs: 

https://www.facebook.com/GreenDogsUnleashed/timeline

www.greendogsunleashed.com

Cheryl Falkenburry: cheryl@centerhillschool.com

https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.falkenburry

Meeting Maya, she left no doubt that she was
in charge and he was fine with that.

Meeting Gigi, they did circles around Cheryl.

He moves with a nice, smooth gait. The temptation
to compare him to a horse is irresistible.

Look at the way the carries that tail. He's a happy and confident dog.

Reaching consensus

I awoke tired and hungry this morning. When I stepped outside and realized that the heat and humidity were back, I consulted no one and came to the decision to take it easy today. I ate more than usual, and then went back to bed and watched a movie, got up again and ate again.

Scarlett gets along with everyone.
She needed some exercise and
she did very well.

Scarlett came yesterday to spend a week with us. She's a former foster and has stayed with us before when her adopter has gone out of town. I decided to take all four girls out for a walk. They all agreed that they wanted to go, but they didn't agree on anything else after that. I was lucky to get three out four headed in the same direction. We didn't go far, just over a mile, but that was far enough in the heat of the day.

This picture pretty much describes our walk. I didn't need to worry if I dropped the leashes
because they were never all headed in the same direction.

I let Summer lick the mixing bowl, outside.

I mixed up a batch of Satin Balls and there was a general consensus among the canines that they are a good thing, but they are for weight gain and only Mickey and Summer need to gain weight around here. I think Mickey is picking up weight just on generous portions of foster food, but Summer needs the extra nutrition. I've mentioned Satin Balls before, it's a mixture of raw hamburger, eggs, and a lot of other things. The basic recipe is here. 

I don't know what this is but there's a lot of
it in bloom now. It grows, 5-6 feet tall, and
I saw some even taller. 

I filled the rest of the afternoon with Bloody Mary's and more food, but when late afternoon rolled around I finally felt rested enough and full enough that another walk seemed like a good idea. Maya and Sparky quickly reached consensus that they wanted to go, the rest of the pack be damned. They are an easy pair to walk and that's what I wanted. We ended up hiking five miles, finishing just before dark.

I was surprised to see this in the woods because
it's so dry now. The mushrooms usually sprout
up after a rain.

Sparky and Maya walk well together. We spotted
two deer and I was really glad Max wasn't along.
Sparky has no interest in deer and Maya gives up
fairly easily if the other dog isn't interested.

x

Out and about

I love this three-headed shepherd look.
Three noses, six ears, one shared brain.
Scanning the forest.

Nothing new or exciting, just a couple more days of work and walks.

Trooper, Maya, and Theo, from our first walk on Friday.

The second walk on Friday was the three girls,
Gigi, Summer, and Maya.

Back in the van, ready to head for home. Gigi ran upstairs
immediately and jumped on the bed, before I even got the
leash and collar off of her. 

I spent most of the day on Saturday working around
the yard, so I didn't get out until after 6:00 p.m.
I took Theo, Maya, and Max, and we did 6 miles,
finishing just about 8:00 p.m. when it was getting dark.

Our water crossings are getting really low.
We need some rain.

These three have the strength and stamina for long walks,
and they would go faster if I could keep up.

Medical stuff

Mickey heading off to be neutered.

Lots of days in rescue are spent dealing with medical stuff, and today was one of them.

Mickey was still a little wobbly when I picked him
up about 5:30, but he slept it off this evening.

Heading home.

Clay took Mickey in early this morning to be neutered. It went well and I picked him up late in the afternoon, making it back home in time to get in a fast four mile hike with Max, Maya, and Sparky just before dark. Mickey cleaned up nicely with his bath the other day and he'll be spending most of his time indoors for the next week as he recovers from today's surgery. I noticed him doing some limping on one of his rear legs when we did all that running in the pasture last week. I'm not sure what that's about. Normal activity doesn't seem to bother him at all, but the running in the pasture brought it out, although it didn't make him stop or even slow down. When he's recovered I'll run him again and see if it's still an issue.

Sparky (right) with Barkley. I think I will pair
these guys up. Sparky needs the company and
Barkley needs to learn impulse control. 

Sparky has been barking in the mornings lately, after I've put him out in his kennel for the day. Yesterday I gave him a big bone to entertain him, but when he started barking again today after breakfast I moved him over to the dog yard with Barkley. They've been together before and got along fine and they did again today. In the process of moving him around this morning, I discovered what I thought was a big dog tick on the top of his head. I had Clay try to remove it this evening and he determined it's not a tick but an abscess or growth of some sort, so I'll call the vet tomorrow.


Summer has been starting to stink, it's that yeasty smell, so I decided to give her an indoor tub bath this evening with two different medicated shampoos. She wasn't crazy about it but she tolerated it well and she looks and smells better now. I suspect that baths will be a regular feature of her life for a while yet.

I picked up most of the ingredients I need to mix up a batch of satins balls for Summer, hoping that it will put some more weight on her quickly. She's been eating my regular dry food mix that I feed the foster dogs and she's pooping well, but she could use some extra nutrition.

Ingredients for Satin Balls. I still need 10 pounds
of raw hamburger and a dozen raw eggs.
The Dinovite is a food supplement given to me by
Felix's adopters. It's good for the skin. I think I'll
mix some of it into the Satin Balls mixture.

Summer is really blossoming into a wonderful dog. She's housetrained and crate-trained, with no effort on my part. I've even left her loose in the house, without being crated, and she's fine. Maya is the one I still can't trust being left alone. She gets along with all the dogs and has learned the household routines. She seems to have made a conscious effort to fit in around here. And she has taken a real liking to Clay. When he's home, she hangs out with him downstairs rather than up in the office with me and most of the other dogs. She became visibly distraught when he left for work on Wednesday after being home on Monday and Tuesday, and she was beside herself with excitement when he got home that night. She's a very nice dog.

Short, but satisfying

From the left is Max, Maya, Summer, and Trooper

Summer enjoyed the walk.

I haven't had much time lately for walking or for blogging, but I got in a couple short ones today, totaling almost six miles. The weather is beautiful, feels more like September than August. Too nice to last, and I'm sure the heat and humidity will make a come back, but it's been nice just to walk out the door lately.

I knew I didn't have time for a long hike this afternoon, so I tried to make up for it by taking four dogs: Maya, Trooper, Max, and the new girl, Summer. We walked the field trails mostly, because they are wide enough to accommodate four dogs, and the tall growth on both sides of mowed pathway creates a well-defined walkway that keeps everyone focused and moving in the same direction. We did 3.5 miles and that was long enough for Summer and for Trooper, although Max and Maya would have liked to go farther. It was my first walk with Summer and she got with the program pretty well. More on her tomorrow, but she is really shaping up to be a very nice dog.

Handling four leashes was tricky, but do so while taking
pictures was nearly impossible.

I can only imagine what people would think of me
if they see me with Summer in this condition, but
she's getting better, really.

Trooper likes to go and he's usually too
tired to bark at anyone we see while walking.

Gigi isn't the most active dog we have,
but she does enjoy a short walk on a
nice day. Then it's right back to her
spot on the bed.

Maya wades in far enough to get a drink and cool her feet,
but she doesn't make a point of getting wet.

I got in a second walk before dark, which is coming noticeably earlier these days. Just three dogs this time: Maya, Gigi, and Theo. We did about 2.3 miles, which included a stop down at the river. Everyone else was gone by the time we got there, so we had the trails to ourselves, which suits me just fine. They were short hikes, but it felt good to get out again on a pretty nice day.

Gigi, Theo, and Maya

Theo in action in the water.

Bath Day

Max has been blowing his coat and was really
needing a bath. He actually seemed to enjoy it,
the brushing part anyway.

We've got a shitload of shepherds around here now and at least three of them are blowing coat, so it was time for some baths. My dual purpose canoe holder/dog washing stand has been great holding the canoe and today it was given the opportunity to fulfill it's second function and it was great. 

I had to lift each dog onto it, but just once. Putting the dog up at a height that didn't require me to bend over was a real back saver. Some of the dogs will probably learn to jump up onto it on their own. I'm sure Theo and Maya would have done so, but they weren't on my short list of bath candidates today. I used a two- or three-point leash restraint system to keep the dog on the stand so I had two hands free for water, shampoo, and brush. It worked very well, and I'm sure the dogs feel better for it. 

This is Trooper after the bath, but still wet.
He looked much better and looked like he
felt much better too.

She hated it, but she let me wash out her ears too.

Gigi wasn't shedding, but she's due for another thyroid check
and I'm not sure her coat is what it should be still. I wanted
to get her clean to get a good evaluation of it.

Mickey's coat was shedding a lot and he was just
dirty. He was very good about the bath. He's coming
upstairs to a crate in the office at night now.

He doesn't look so happy here, but he looked
much better after the bath.