Ten dogs

We are back to 10 dogs. It's our first time in double digits in quite a while. Everyone had a good weekend, I think. Here's the current roster.

1 & 2: Norman and Chico

Chico's stock has gone up lately, mostly because he compares so favorably when matched up to Norman. Chico has learned the routine around the house pretty well, he goes into his crate readily, and he spent both Saturday and Sunday in Daneland with Norman and did not climb out. I saw him make a couple attempts and he would scout around the perimeter looking for a place to climb, but he stayed in.

Norman is as sweet as he is big, but he has zero manners and he's just a brute. I hurt my back trying to drag him outside yesterday when he didn't want to go. But, he has gone into the crate with a lure of a dish of canned food chucked to the back of the crate and he's fine once he's in. I also trust him more than Chico off leash. I walk Chico to and from Daneland on a leash, but Norman comes along on his own, more or less. He mauled my back yesterday, however, and there's a big Norman paw print on one of our doors at a height taller than me. We didn't do any more leash training today but that's a goal for next week.

3 & 4: Paisley and Elvis

I can let Paisley outside without a leash at feeding time, she will always follow me back into the house with a dish of food. At any other time of day I put a 25' nylon long line on her so I can usually catch her when I need to get her back in the house. Paisley has moved up in the world and now has bedroom privileges at night. She wants to hop up on the bed but we don't allow that, Elvis being in bed is quite enough. Paisley has been taking a dog bed on the floor that isn't used by Maya or Della. The impetus for bringing her in the bedroom was the fact that she was often pooping downstairs in the kitchen at night if we left her loose in the house. I'm pretty sure that was a just protest poop.

Elvis is our coolest dog. He's just extremely confident. He's not cocky, just very comfortable in his own skin. He knows who he is. We took him to Decipher Saturday night. He loves going, not for the beer or any food he expects to get, he loves going to socialize with strangers. Elvis would be a great dog for a single person looking to hook up, and he attracts both men and women. His social skills are wasted on us. 

5: Della

Elvis and Della may look like an odd couple, but the confidence that Elvis exudes is the thing that he has most in common with Della. She has been very patient and uncharacteristically tolerant of me spending a lot of time with the new fosters lately, so today I took her on a hike, just the two of us. We went over three miles on the trails. It was a nice day so we encountered bikers and other hikers, some with dogs. One off-leash dog came charging towards us. It was a yellow lab, not a threat, but don't think that a leashed Della would have reacted well to that. I stepped between her and the lab, and yelled at the dog and stopped it in its tracks. The owner then called the dog and leashed it, and we went on our way.

The only thing that annoys me about walking with Della is that she wants to stop and sniff every tree, bush, or rock that we pass. She's got her nose to the ground like a hound dog. I may go back to using the gentle leader on her just so I have control of her head and don't have to drag her away from whatever she has stopped to sniff. The harness that I'm using on her now has a handle on the back, which is just at the right height for my left hand. I grabbed that and walked with her today to keep her moving. That worked pretty well and it was also convenient for when we encountered people with other dogs.

3.3 miles

6: Daisy

Daisy is a former foster who is staying with us while her mom recovers from an illness. She's an easy houseguest. Daisy spends some time in the dog yard when it's nice and I took Daisy for a hike today too. We went 2.5 miles. 

2.5 miles

7, 8, 9: Dakota, Sturgis, and Fargo

The three new boys spent their first night in the puppy shed on Saturday night. It wasn't easy getting them all in there but once they were in they settled down nicely. I had one space heater running. I checked the surveillance camera a couple of times and they seemed comfortable. They used the beds, at least part of the time. Dakota's limp is much better today, in fact I really didn't notice it at all.

This afternoon Clay and I went out there armed with small pieces of sliced turkey and we hand fed all three of them. Dakota is the least scared, Fargo is the most, but even he came up to take some turkey from our hands. We just put them to bed for the night. Dakota and Sturgis came into the shed lured by the turkey. We still had to corner Fargo and pull him inside. He assumed a spot in the corner and just froze there but eventually he took pieces of turkey from us and then licked the bowl clean. The turkey is about gone. I'm thawing out some hotdogs for tomorrow.

10:  Maya

Maya doesn't particularly care for going out to breweries or even hiking anymore. She goes outside plenty at home still and she spent a couple hours Saturday afternoon out in the pasture hunting with Elvis. Mostly she likes her spot under my desk and she likes me to be at my desk more than I was this weekend.