Weekend wrap up

 First things first. Kilo had a good first day in his new home. He also proved, once again, how smart he is. They went for a two mile walk and Kilo relaxed and really enjoyed it halfway through. At night, he objected to sleeping in a crate (although he had been doing so here for weeks without objection). He then settled down on a dog bed next to his new dad's bed. Establishing how things would be in his new home, to his liking. Smart dog.

Kilo loves his toys, even if they don't last very long.

I spent Saturday afternoon, evening, and Sunday morning putting together a 4'x6' trailer that I had bought as a kit. It came in three boxes and I spent the weekend deciphering the directions and putting it together with varying degrees of "help" from Della, Maya, Paisley, Max, and Odie. It was good experience for Odie especially, who has learned that all the girl dogs have rules for him to follow. With Kilo gone, he's going to be spending his time with the indoor pack now. His house manners have been good really, but he's having trouble with all Della's rules.

Della hanging out near where I was working.

Paisley really enjoyed being outside with everyone.

Paisley often tries to herd Odie, or just run him off.

Della often lays in the back of the van that I leave open when outside working.

Odie wanted to join her in there.

Della explained that it was her spot and there was only room for one dog.

He finally got the message and moved on.

This is my new trailer that I will pull behind a mower and use when doing yard work.

I still have limbs from the winter storm to cut and clean up.

I know that many readers remember my mother's pug, Jake, who went to live with one of my sisters in Montana after my mother's death. He has adjusted remarkably well. He's a senior now himself and his rear legs don't work as well as they used to, but he still goes about his business and enjoys walks. Their family went on a float trip this weekend and took Jake along. He reportedly had a great time. He has had a lot of new adventures since moving to Montana.

My sister Paula, with Jake

Kilo's big day

Kilo got adopted today. I have only good feelings about the adoption and his new home, but I will miss him. 

Kilo was a great dog from his very first day here. His help with that last litter of motherless puppies was invaluable, and it showed what a really great dog he is. After the puppies were adopted, Odin (Odie) came along, a bigger pup but also needing some guidance, which Kilo provided. I give Kilo complete credit for teaching Odie to sit because I know he didn't learn it from me and Kilo is quick with a sit at dinner time or at a door. 

Kilo was outgoing and friendly with everyone he ever met, human or canine. The only thing bad I ever had to say about him was his ability to get out of a fenced area, but even on the occasions that he did so, he stuck around and came back quickly. That's just the husky in him. Kilo's new home has experience with a similar breed of dog and it sounds like his dog will be a central part of his life. Every dog deserves that and Kilo certainly does. 

Kilo's adoption will be good for Odie too, although Odie will miss him greatly. I relied on Kilo to babysit Odie and have been shirking my own responsibilities towards that dog. He will start spending more time with me and the household pack and we will work on his manners and all around civilization to get him ready for a new home.

Otto and Odin

Otto proved to be a very short timer. Green Dogs had an approved adopter who really wanted a lab. Otto is all lab, everything about him is lab. Labs are a very popular breed and for good reason. They are great dogs. I took him over to meet the semi-feral children at Green Dogs to see his reaction to small humans. He was great, as I expected him to be. These kids are pretty much professional trainers by the age of three, and even the youngest child soon had him sitting for a treat.

I also brought Odin along for a training session with Erika. I had tried a couple weeks ago to get a Gentle Leader on him so I could take him for walks. He freaked out, fought me on it, got it off, and generally exhausted my patience and my strength in the process. Erika was more adept at getting it on him, almost before he knew what was happening, and she had it fitted better than I did. Still he freaked out, went into the alligator death roll and everything, but still she persisted. She may be small, but she is determined and persistent. He wore himself out fighting it. It doesn't hurt him, it's just a reaction to having something on his face, and then having someone in control. 

Of course the lovely Virginia swamp-like climate makes everything more exhausting and miserable, but she accomplished in 15 minutes what normally would have been done over a much longer period of time. This needed to be done because he needs to get adopted. He's not totally ok with it even now, but at least the next time we try it won't be his first time and we will get there, we just have to. 

Odin was happy to get that thing off his face and get back into the air-conditioned van. I took Otto out again and spent some time brushing him. He enjoyed that and I removed a lot of that dead, sunburned fur. He still needs a bath but he looked a lot better afterwards and it must have felt good because I didn't even need to hold his leash while I was brushing him. I left Otto with Erika and the new "foster" home came and picked him up this evening. He is a good dog.

Catching up, and Otto arrives

I have been crazy busy with work this week with little time for anything else. So I haven't had time to blog and also haven't had much to blog about. 

Maya got her staples out on Tuesday. I had planned to take her on a celebratory walk, but haven't had a chance between work and the weather.

I've been working on cleaning out the van because the smell was so bad it was even offending me. That old accumulated dog hair and dust really gets bad after a while. I got the crates out and finally got the inside vacuumed and the mat scrubbed, so it's ready to put back together if I get a chance before it rains again tomorrow.

The big news is the arrival of Otto, a chocolate lab, who came this afternoon. He's got a lot of dead, sunburned fur on him that needs to be removed, but he seems like a really nice dog. He's still intact of course, but I put him out in the Daneland with Kilo and Odin and the three of them got along fine this afternoon. Otto (new name) was an owner surrender to an overfull local shelter. He had been there a while and was really stressing out. He needed out today. Someone else may foster him, but for right now he's here.

Maya has a lot of anxiety at the vet. She was shaking so hard that the scale never did settle on a number.

She was happy to see me when they brought her back out. Her incisions have healed pretty much and she's now without staples. 

The back of the van was completely empty but I put a bed right behind the driver's seat and Maya laid down on it, happy to be heading home. 

Otto is chunky! He's big boned, solid, short, hunky, with big paws. From the looks of his coat he had probably been kept outdoors and I'm not sure he's had a lot of human interaction. But he's a lab. He's seems to have a good disposition and he handled himself very appropriately with Odin and Kilo. 

I walked him up to the Daneland fence where Kilo and Odin were. They did a lot of stupid boy barking through the fence at first. I didn't have time for that so I just walked him in through the shed and let them all get acquainted. No one wanted to fight and they were soon all running around together. 

Otto found the water trough. Between him and Odin I'll be needing to fill it daily.

And these last pics are Paisley, Maya, and Della hanging out while I was cleaning out the van.

Della isn't happy that I've been too busy with work to take her out hiking. But the weekend is upon us so I'll try to make it up to her.