Smokey's Habitat Improvements

Smokey is doing pretty well in the kennel/shed where we've put him. Even "as is" it's a big improvement in his standard of living and he seems pretty happy and comfortable with it. There were some things that needed doing out there, however, and we did a few of them Saturday morning.

It's winter so we put a de-icer in his water tank to keep it unfrozen. There's a big 4' x 8' house in the kennel so we put a full bale of straw into that. That will probably be his best protection from the cold because he can burrow through the straw to the end far from the doorway and create a very cozy spot.
He's got a dog house in the shed as well, with a nice comforter, but it appears that he's actually been pulling the comforter out of the dog house to sleep on. We put another bale of straw in the A-frames in the kennel that make nice spots to lay during the day. And we closed up the opening to the shed so it's just a hole that he can jump though, to cut down on wind and air flow inside.

He was very curious about everything we
were doing out there.

This is a cozy house with a bale
of straw filling it. He ran right in.

The other thing we did was gather up some toys for Smokey today. He didn't seem to know what to do with them, except for the rope toy. He liked that and carried it around. I hope he'll begin to experiment with the others and entertain himself. This dog probably missed out on being a puppy and learning to play.

He has also missed out on learning about people, at least about good people. He seemed to like Clay very much and Clay even got that old nasty collar off of him. I don't think we've got the trust built up yet to enable us to fit him with a new collar. He switches from nice to nasty pretty quickly, but he can switch back again just as fast. I don't think he knows what to expect from people and he just slips into defensive mode by default. He hates it when we leave the shed or kennel. It seems that he's desperate for companionship even though he doesn't know how to be a good companion.

The tank will be free of ice now giving him
an ample supply of water.

It's a sad case and I am not sure how it will turn out, but at least he's out of the hell hole he had been living in for the past two years.

He liked the rope toy. It had been Sully's but
Sully will have all he needs tomorrow.

He's a sable, a pretty good looking dog really. His weight
isn't bad, but his coat is very rough, dry, and dirty.