Journey tries to play

I'd be happy to report that Journey is now my best friend and follows me everywhere. Unfortunately, that is not the case. He still views me with much suspicion and fear, especially if I do anything he's not expecting. I take him out to walk 4-5 times a day. He has established a route that he likes to take around the yard while he does his business and he's very good about that. But, if I try to actually lead, and vary the route, he acts like I'm out to get him and gets all spooky and scared.

Journey is more comfortable now indoors, either in his crate or on one of the big beds in the kitchen area. He has taken a liking to several chew toys we have around and I make sure that he has at least one of them in his crate when he's closed in. I let him out when I'm in the kitchen, but I've caught him chewing on the arm of a chair on occasion, so I don't leave him loose unattended.

Where he is making some bit of progress is in his relations with the other dogs in the house. He's more confident with them than with people, but his social backwardness shows there too. Sometimes he's been trying to engage in play behavior with others, but he doesn't quite know how to go about it. Maya has been trying to engage with him the most, but Serena and Della to have as well. The one who might be best is Kismet, just because of her age, but I don't need her jumping all around if they get going. I may try taking him out to meet her in Daneland, but I'll have to keep a long leash attached because I think he's still a flight risk and may always be so, at least around here.

He's pretty easy to have around, except for the need to leash walk him several times a day. I just wish he'd learn to trust, although I know that's going to take a while yet.

An early birthday gift for Daisy

As I was going through Daisy's paperwork today I saw something that gave her date of birth as July 4, 2019. That was probably an arbitrarily chosen date, but it's close because she's about a year old. And she was adopted today, giving her a wonderful home as an early birthday present.

If you've never had or known a rottweiler, you're missing out on something special. I just love them. We haven't had any rottweiler genes around here since Sparky died and it's been much longer since we had a pure bred rottie here, even as a foster. They can be hard to place except to someone who has already had one so most of my rottweiler adoptions tend to be to repeat adopters. And so it was with Daisy, who went to the home of former fosters Stoney and Daphne.

When you lose a rottweiler it leaves a really big hole in your heart and home, which is best filled by another rottweiler. They are very devoted, and they have big personalities.

Our first rottie was named Jack and he taught us a game we called Rottweiler Ball. It's played with a hard plastic ball, impossible to puncture or to grab. The rottweiler pushes it around with the head and front paws. A bowling ball will also work. The human's role in the game is just as spectator, but it's still an important part of the game. No one around here has really played with Jack's ball since he's been gone and that's been many years now. I adopted the ball along with Daisy today and she seemed to like it. That made me very happy.

Trooper cuteness

The mini-Troopers are getting unbearably cute at this stage. They will be six weeks old on Sunday, so it's time for their first vaccines, and then their introduction to the outdoor space known as Della's Beer Garden. I'm ready for that because we've had some nice outdoor evenings lately, and I am free to sit out with them in the early morning hours now too.

It's also time to begin thinking about new homes for them. I'd prefer to place them without posting them on the rescue's website if possible, so please direct any potential adoption inquiries to my email: vadogrescue@gmail.com. We will go through the Promises adoption process, however, which means application, vet check on current animals, home visit, etc. At this point I'd just like to gauge the level of interest among friends, former adopters, blog readers, etc. There are only three of these pups so I don't want to generate 100 applications.

They are adorable. And they are growing. The little black-faced female Trooper is 9.8 pounds now, the male Trooper is a whopping 11.2 pounds, and the other female Trooper is in the middle at 10.3 pounds. They are eating large breed puppy food now, pre-moistened with milk replacer until it's gone, and water.

I put them in the cardboard box when I'm cleaning, because they are not very helpful.

This is the little black-faced Trooper girl,
she weighed 9.8 pounds today.

This is the second female Troooper,
she weighed 10.3 pounds today.

The big bruiser is the lone male Trooper,
who weighed 11.2 pounds today.

I'm hoping that we have another week before they are able
to climb over this barrier.

They all have their daddy's feet, which is to say that they are a little oversized for their body.

Vet Day

Thursday was a vet day. Bruno was scheduled to be neutered, and he was. The day before we noticed that one of Arby's front feet wasn't right. Two of the nails were really long and it looked like he had been licking it excessively. Also, he had seemed to be in a particularly foul mood the last couple days. We put two and two together and decided that perhaps he was in pain, although he wasn't limping or favoring that foot in any way. I called the vet and although they didn't have any appointments open, they said I could bring him in as a drop off and they would take a look at him whenever they could.

I took them both in Thursday morning and picked them up later in the afternoon. Bruno got neutered and got a rabies vaccine so he's ready for adoption, at least when he gets feeling better. He didn't eat Thursday evening at all. Friday morning he ate a little food, but then drank up a lot of water and vomited it all back up. He is an older dog and it takes longer for the anesthesia to be removed from the system. He seems basically ok, but his stomach wasn't ready for food yet, so I'll wait and try again in the evening. He's sleeping it off in a crate in my office and he'll be staying indoors at least until he's back to eating and fully recovered. It was a good day to have in the rear view mirror. Bruno has a bright future ahead. Now to find him a home.

Arby basically got a nail trim. He needed it and the vet said that one of the nails appeared to be split and was probably impinging on the nerve. His right front foot is wrapped up with a "Ruff Day" bandage and it's very cute. Amazingly, he left it alone last night and it's still on this morning.

Plant life and porch life

Not much to say today, but here are some pictures of parts of this year's container gardening effort. It's late June, it will continue to grow, but it's looking good already and nothing is suffering from summer heat just yet. The heat and humidity that we had this week makes me useless, but it's pretty ideal for plant life. I've done something this year that I've never done before - sit on the front porch. One of my projects was to clean it off, and I'm making progress on that although it's not yet done. However, I got it cleaned and organized enough that I have a nice place to sit, listen to music, hang out with dogs, listen to the water fountains, and watch hummingbirds. I've been enjoying it.

I've got four hummingbird feeders on the front porch
and they all see a lot of action throughout the day.

Two of my porch sitting companions. I put a crate out there
today and put Journey in it for a while after one of our walks.

The tiny Troopers are graduating to puppy chow moistened with milk replacer.