Thursday, November 30, 2017

Short days, short walks

I am finding it difficult to work early, and then take off a couple hours around noon for hiking. Mostly I'm still trying to fit one in late afternoon before it gets dark. That's what we did today but we only had time for three miles.

I just took Maya and TJ. They are very easy walkers; they know the program and they follow it. I don't have to do much leash handling with those two. TJ is very adept at avoiding entanglements and fixing it himself if the lease gets under his own legs. Maya is wearing a harness now and the leash attachment on the back avoids many problems.
TJ is shedding like, well, like a husky. The fur is flying
off that dog. I've been using a brush and vacuum on him
simultaneously, and it helps, but he's not fond of it. 

It was a good walk. Even three miles is enough to make my legs and back feel better, and to adjust my attitude.

Griffin and Carly spent most of the day up in my office, crated. They have been really good about it. Griff seems to be feeling fine and he ate all the food I offered both morning and evening. Carly was still barfing up a bit of water this morning and she didn't touch her food. I didn't offer her any in the evening, but I expect she will be eating again tomorrow morning. She acts normal, I think the anesthesia just caused her quite a bit of stomach upset. I gave both of them some time in the AC when it was sunny out there this afternoon as a break from the crates. The biggest problem is keeping them apart from TJ and Maya, but they are getting used to them being in the house now so I don't anticipate any real problem.










Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Rottweiler Physics

I survived Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Scam Sunday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday by ignoring all of them. That brings us to Social Responsibility Wednesday. Don't worry, I made that up, you don't have to do anything, but I did my bit for the community today by taking Carly and Griff to two different vets to be spayed and neutered.

It was earlier than I usually leave the house and Maya was concerned because Clay and I both left at the same time and took two dogs, neither of which was her.

Before the surgery I couldn't get Carly to even lift her head for
a picture. She wanted to sniff everything.
I dropped off Carly first, waiting until the reception area was clear before bringing her in because she enters every new place like a powerful tornado. But the staff was prepared for her and had met her previously, so it all went relatively smoothly. She weighed only about 76 pounds, which surprised me because she looks and feels like a hundred pound dog. I guess it's explained by Newton's Second Law of motion, which states that: The net force of an object is equal to its mass multiplied by the acceleration of the object. Carly's power is the product of her mass multiplied by her speed, which is considerable.

Next I dropped off Griffin. He weighed about 50 pounds, which also surprised me because he looks like such a skinny, scrawny boy. But again, you really feel his force when he throws himself at you for the boxer hug.

It was Clay's day off so we went together to pick them up after 5:00 p.m. Carly acted like a completely different dog, walking calmly on the leash, without pulling or jumping. We didn't even need to clear the reception area before she entered. That's the power of drugs. I expect she will be acting more like herself by tomorrow morning, but we brought home a goodie bag of pharmaceuticals to help keep her calm and quiet for a few days, at least.
Griff came out wearing an e-collar but
I took it off him when we got home.

Griff was also pretty calm, but his meds seemed to be wearing off by the time we got home. Both dogs barfed up some water so no one is getting anything until tomorrow morning. They are both in crates in my office now, where I will try to keep them for most of the next few days, at least.
I didn't do much better with pictures of Carly after the surgery.
She came inside for the first time, upstairs for the first time,
and settled into a crate for the first time. I hope she'll be
content there for a few days at least.







Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Post-Thanksgiving walk

The dogs and I have been off the trails for over a week now, and I've been hitting the food and beer pretty hard for much of that time. So today I began to get back on the diet and exercise wagon by taking Maya, TJ, and Theo out for a hike.

I had kept Theo inside today to keep him away from Max because the two of them just bark constantly when they are together and I can't stand that. Theo is accustomed to being outside for much of the day so he was really ready for the hike. Maya and TJ were as well because they hadn't been outside except to the AC yard for the past week.

The weather was beautiful and we had a good walk, about 3.3 miles.















Griffin, the new white boxer, hasn't eaten much since I brought him home. Apparently he was used to eating in a crate and when I fed him in a kennel he just paid no attention to his food. He did eat some this morning but then tipped over the dish and spilled it all over. I thought some exercise might stimulate his appetite and also settle him down a bit so I went out for a second hike later in the afternoon with Griffin, Rex, and Maya.

These three dogs probably weigh less than half the total of the first three, and we only went about 2.25 miles, but I felt like I had wrestled someone twice my size and ran a marathon by the time we finished. Griff is obviously new to leash walking, and Rex is pretty new too. They were excited and wanted to sniff everything. I brought Maya along to model good walking behavior, and she did, but they weren't paying any attention. I ended up with a headache that I still have, and I'm sure my arms, back, and neck will hurt tomorrow.

The dogs enjoyed it though, and that's what matters most.










Griffin the boxer

He's only still enough for a decent picture
when he's in a crate.
Griffin is our newest foster with Green Dogs Unleashed. I had agreed to take him in after we got back from Thanksgiving. He was in a shelter in North Carolina and someone pulled him and fostered him down there for two weeks. We got home Saturday evening and Griffin arrived on Sunday afternoon.

He's a sweet, friendly boy. He's also deaf. He's only about a year old so he's pure puppy. He's crate trained though and he's been good indoors at night. I've been keeping him in the kennel with Rex during the days. He's playful and energetic, a good companion for Rex.

Everyone has met him and has no problem with him aside from the facts that he's young and intact. We will be getting him neutered as soon as possible. I don't have any good pictures of him yet because he hasn't been still since he arrived except when he's crated. Here are just a few pictures of Griff upon arrival and meeting a few of our other dogs.

His standard greeting is a very enthusiastic hug.

Meeting Maya
He and Rex have become buddies.



Greeting Theo
Maya and Theo checking out the new guy.






Sparky met him too but was not interested in playing.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Thanksgiving with dogs

This year we resumed our tradition of going to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. My sister Kate lives there with her partner, Kim, and assorted dogs, cats, and birds. Clay and I drove, along with Clay's mother, Berta. My mother flew out from Kansas, and Clay's brother, Hugh, flew in from New York. We are very lucky in that we all enjoy each other, which I understand not all families do. We had a good time.
This is my mother, holding Bebe, who also appears
in the picture to the left. Bebe is a wire haired JRT.





Kim's dog, Ruby, was initially shy around strangers,
but she would warm up pretty quickly.
Bebe perched on the back of a chair.

Clay's mother, Berta, petting Ruby
with Bebe vying for attention.


Clockwise from the left: Sister Kate, Clay, my mother, Shirley,
friend Deborah, Kim, Clay's brother Hugh, and mother, Berta.



Deborah's dog, Mojo, a plott hound
Mojo and Rudy standing guard.

Bebe, the wire-haired Jack Russell Terrier

And this is Jack, a dog designed by a dysfunctional
committee. The front legs and body are basset hound,
he's got one blue eye and the coat of a husky, the rest
is pure guess work, but Jack is the senior dog now
and he's very sweet.

Jack, Bebe, and Mojo hustling dog biscuits.

Kate says Jack is the prettiest one, and he
believes her.

Me with Bebe

Bebe wanting to displace that computer on
Clay's lap.

The green parrot on the top is Ricky.
The white cockatoo is Frank.
Mojo and all the dogs respect the birds.

This is Trooper on the way home from the
boarding kennel on Sunday.