Heading out for Thanksgiving

I'm heading to Kentucky tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Clay is staying here. Preparing to go out of town always brings on a flurry of activity, trying to do everything I have put off for too long.

Sunday was a nice day and I decided it was time to finally re-assemble the boardwalk that runs from the house out to the dog yard. I had built it a few winters back to solve part of the mud problem. That side of the house gets little or no direct sun and stays perpetually muddy in the winter. I had built the boardwalk in sections knowing that someday I'd need to be able to get a vehicle across the area. That someday was this summer when the puppy palace was delivered on the back of a very large flatbed truck. I had been wanting to get it put back together again, but it wasn't until the recent rainy (muddy) weather that I really needed to get it done.

That got done on Sunday and then I went out to the pasture with dogs while I did some brush clearing. That's where most of these pictures came from. Today I've been pushing hard to get my work done, cooking done, and packing done. All that is left now is packing some clothes for the trip. Clay can't make it this year, which is unfortunate, but it will be good for the dogs to have him here anyway.

Here's the final section ready to be put into place. 

I need to replace a couple boards and give it a
good power washing, but it's nice to have a dry
walkway to the dog yard. As you can see, the
sun never quite gets to this area.

This is Della trying to teach Kaiser to play
like a Dane.

Max, Kaiser, and Theo

Chilly and damp

The morning wasn't pretty but according to the forecast it was going to be the best part of the day, so Maya and Serena and I got out for a morning hike. It was cool enough that I wasn't warmed up until after the first of three miles that we walked. It wasn't raining though, and no one else was around, so that was pretty nice.

I hadn't taken Serena hiking in a while because she's less insistent about going than Della. But she was wanting to go today and very excited. Serena has more trail hiking experience than Della and it shows. She may not know the way but that doesn't prevent her from leading. I am working on teaching her "left" and "right" so I can direct her at intersections as I can Maya.

I used the rope harness on Serena and it worked pretty well. Well enough that I've put a second one on my Christmas wish list as I think that may be the key to walking both Danes together.

When we got back, I took Theo, Max, Kaiser, Della, and Serena out to the pasture to run. It was a damp and dreary day, but the sun will come out tomorrow.

Theo and Max, Serena at rear left.

Della chasing Max

Kaiser

Theo the Great

Theo got a bath yesterday so he'd be presentable for his vet appointment today. Theo is big, strong, healthy as a horse, and I often make the mistake of discounting the importance of routine care for dogs in the prime of their life.

The first thing I learned was that Theo is now about 7.5 years old, which while not old yet, is pushing a bit past "prime" for a dog of his breed and size. Theo weighed in at 110 pounds and he's in good shape but he doesn't need any additional weight so I'll keep an eye on that and maybe even cut down his Great Dane sized food portion just a bit. His ears were very dirty, inflamed, and infected. That's something I need to keep an eye on and wash out periodically and I just don't think to do so. His ears got a good cleaning and treatment but we'll go back in a couple weeks to make sure everything has cleared up. They drew blood for some basic blood work and the screening for heartworm and the tick-borne diseases too. Other than that he got the basic exam and usual vaccines and he was good for it all, in sharp contrast to Trooper's behavior at the vet.

Theo may have tolerated it well, but he was happy to see the door close behind him when we left.

Eleven Years and Not Counting

Samson

November 21, 2008, is the day I started this blog, 11 years ago. The first picture here is the first picture I posted on the blog. I just reread that first blog post: "Samson, a GSD with Pneumonia" and was struck by how little has changed in those 11 years, nothing at all really. People still get dogs that they shouldn't and then dump them. People still breed indiscriminately. People still suck.

The number of fosters has ebbed and flowed over the years, but with only one dog at the moment, we are definitely at the low tide mark for foster dogs around here. It's perhaps fitting that the one foster we have on the 11th anniversary is Kaiser, another German Shepherd. We are taking in fewer German Shepherds these days and I'm fine with that, but once you get a reputation they have a tendency to find their way here even when I'm not looking.

Kaiser

I've been writing the blog for 11 years, but we've actually been engaged in rescue for close to 20. I wish I had started blogging then because it's a very useful and effective way to jog my memory of the many dogs who have passed through here.

There is much that is still the same and that's unfortunate, but on the other hand, there has been a sea change in the rescue world itself. There are more people involved in rescue than ever before. There are more rescue groups and organizations. Some are better than others, of course, but the tide pulls in the right direction. Even in rural areas we've seen big improvements in the operation of county shelters. Many more of them now make a real effort to get dogs adopted rather than simply euthanizing them to make space. More people are getting involved and more shelters are making good use of volunteers. That has several beneficial effects: improving the quality of care the dogs receive, improving their chances of getting out, and citizen involvement that means that someone is watching how the shelter conducts its operations. And Animal Control as a profession is attracting better candidates, people who actually care and want to make a difference, rather than fat, lazy, good old boys, who want to carry a gun but were too dumb to be hired by law enforcement.

I'm not an overly optimistic person by nature, and we have a very long way to go, but I have just a glimmer of hope when at least some local governments and even the state begin to look at anti-chaining ordinances and laws aiming at improving animal welfare and punishing abuse and neglect more severely.

Sticking with the shepherd theme for this 11th anniversary blog post, I've also included some pictures of Theo getting a bath today. He is blowing his coat and he was just plain dirty as well. He's got a vet appointment tomorrow and I thought it would be nice to take in a clean, nice-smelling dog for once.

Theo is cooperative with the process, but that shepherd coat makes bathing a major event.

 

You can see all the loose clumps of hair still on him, and all that covering the floor mat in the
bath. We clogged the drain too, of course, and this was before I really got started with the rake.
We left a lot of fur there and made quite a mess, but that's why I don't like to do it at home.
I just towel dried him and then took him outside to shake. When I got home I used my shopvac
as a blower and pulled off even more hair as I brushed and blew him dry.

Maya and Della

Today was the nicest day we've had in a while. Temps in the 50s, sun, and no wind. I started early and worked pretty steadily today so I could finish by mid-afternoon. Maya and Della and I had time to get in four miles before dark.

I just had the harness on Della and I really didn't want to meet any deer without having any other restraint on her. I made a point of talking while we walked in the hope of alerting any deer and scaring them off before the girls could spot them. That worked, for the most part, until near the end, when we were back on the road near the soccer fields. That's not a place we normally see them, but the fields were deserted and the sun was down by that point. We were just working with residual light and I didn't see the deer at first. The dogs did, but the deer were frozen and the dogs don't really react until they see movement. The deer finally darted across the road and disappeared into the woods. Both dogs leapt forward but at least I was prepared for it. I grabbed the handle on the back of Della's harness and held her next to me until the deer had a chance to disappear and the initial excitement faded a bit. I walked her like that until we passed the spot where the deer had crossed the road. It made me realize that although Maya gets excited and pulls hard, she's a lot easier to handle than a Great Dane in the same excited state. I've got to get a better restraint system on her, especially if I want to walk both Danes or even all three girls together, and I do.

Della is still new to the woods, but she's learning and I can see her taking it all in, learning the routes and learning what to expect out there. I can also see Maya teaching and almost hear her saying, "Ok, Dad, I'll train another one for you."

Maya is on high alert here, not because of deer, but this is where we've spotted several bunnies.

A teaching moment.