This week in review

My son has to do a book report - on a biography. As we browsed that section at the library, my eye caught all kinds of animal lovers' books. I thought Gary Paulsen's account of life with sled dogs would be fun for Gordon to read. But he chose Zebulon Pike. Who the heck???? I read about how a man's relationship with his dog changed from one of work to one of companionship; Gordon learned about some dude 'discovering' and mapping and blahhhhh.

Of course, I knew from the very first page that the man would outlive the dog. I knew that not all of the dog's puppies would live. I knew that there would be some terrible event in which the dog saved the man's life. I knew that the dog would have human qualities and a connection to this man like no other. I knew all of these things would make me cry. But I read it anyway. Maybe that's WHY I read it.

And then one of our puppies died and I had to cry all over again. Only this time, I was actively involved, instead of just reading about what had happened to someone else.

The male puppy, Brown Necklace Boy, started to dwindle. I woke up in the middle of the night because something just wasn't right. He was crying, wailing, like he was hungry and in pain. He wouldn't nurse. Milly tried to stimulate him, but he wouldn't. He quieted when I held him in the crook of my arm. Or when he could wedge himself between his sisters. When I took him (and the rest of them) to the vet, they couldn't really find anything wrong. He wasn't the runt, he wasn't dehydrated, they were really encouraged when he pooped all over my hand. So I left with instructions to feed him milk replacer, alternating with diluted Karo syrup. That seemed to work. I thought if I could get him to eat something, he might want to nurse again. When I filled his mouth, he'd get his tongue working. I was hopeful.

I went to bed early that night to try to catch up on sleep, but woke at 1:30 to find my little pup in some distress. He wouldn't swallow anything; he just wailed with his mouth open. Milly and I tried everything. Toward the end, she pulled him out of my arms and nestled him between her paws. She put her head on his back, to protect him? to tell me it was over? I'm not sure. Finally, his little mouth opened and no sound came out. Milly and I waited for the light, hoping and hoping.

I made some chicken for her and some coffee for me. While she ate, I took all the pups out of the box, changed the bedding and only returned 3 of them. She searched for a bit, but I think she knew.

I wrapped Little Necklace Boy in a towel and cried some more.

Puppy Fading Syndrome? I know that every living creature has its path in this world. And I know that I can't interfere with it.

From Gary Paulsen's "Puppies, Dogs, and Blue Northers: Reflections on being raised by a pack of sled dogs": ...and I hoped wherever dogs go she would find a lot of good meat and fat and now and then a run.

Adopt a shelter dog!

The Petaluma Animal Shelter had an offsite adoption event yesterday. They loaded up the Cuddle Shuttle, parked in the lot near PetCo and got lots of attention. It's a great way to bring the animals to the community. We did a bunch of adoptions.

But it's hard to bring the big dogs. They really need one volunteer to hang out with that one dog all day long. I was determined to give at least one dog this opportunity.

Who to choose? There are so many good dogs at the shelter right now. So I decided to give Hunter a chance. He's a shepherd mix. He can be a little shy with men. We're a perfect match! I'm a little shy with people...

As I was gearing up for the adoption event, I had to talk myself into being outgoing and upbeat and in a marketing mode. That's not easy for me. I'm not a small-talk kind of person. I don't know what the weather is going to do and I don't really care. I can't talk about light issues. But this day, I could hide behind the glorious Hunter! I could just be there, trying to find him his forever home.

And that's how he must feel every time someone walks toward his kennel at the shelter. He has to psych himself up to be jovial and cute and cuddly looking. Because he knows that's how he's going to get adopted. But when you've been in the shelter for more than a month, it's hard to keep your public face on all the time. So sometimes, he doesn't come to the front of the kennel. And sometimes, he just retreats and waits for a familiar face. Because that's easier.

But Hunter was in his element! He pranced around, walking up to perfect strangers with strange dogs, accepting treats and doing his tricks. Every one of us was a little shocked and very impressed.

I'd thought Hunter would last an hour or so, but he spent the whole day with the adoption group! Go Hunter!!!

But while many people greeted Hunter and commented about him, no one filled out an application form. Hunter returned to his kennel at the shelter and settled in.

Tomorrow, I'll take him for a walk and bring him into the Training Center for a little quiet time. I'll remind him about all of the people he met the other day and how his forever home is out there, waiting. We just have to find it.

End of the Week

I'm tired and it's Friday. The beginning of the weekend. The end of the work week. Unfortunately, for me, my work week is 7 days long. I'm not complaining, just commenting.

Actually, I complained aloud a few minutes ago, "I just don't have time to do everything I want to!"

Knitting. I have 6 or 7 projects going at the moment. One is portable and current. 2 are difficult lace patterns that require reading the pattern, counting and keeping close track of what I'm doing. Another is a baby blanket for perhaps a baby that I know will be born in November. But more likely for his child to be born many years from now. The others are stored in bags, shoved on a shelf here or there, long given up on.

And all I want to do is start a new project! There's this really cool autumn leaf wreath that my mother-in-law would love. Dare I start it? Dare I not?

What about Christmas presents that I should be working on right this very minute?

Reading. 3 or 4 books have places marked where I left off. They're strategically scattered around the house so that I'm never more than a few steps away from a written word. But do I have time to read? Not really.

Humans. I have phone messages from friends to return. The boys have sports stuff all weekend. I should really insist that we clean up the backyard, as a family, all together in misery, doing chores.

Dogs. Chief had a playdate today. That was great. He was gone all afternoon. I got to walk Charlie alone, then Charlie got to bask in the wonderfulness of being an only dog.

My foster dog mom is doing very well. She's a good mom, taking care of everything those puppies need. They're a week old now, moving around a little more, but still eyes closed and ears closed and just concerned about where their mom is. So I feed Milly and I let her outside and I change her bedding. Then we sit together and just relax in some quiet time.

I transported a 10 week old Pit Bull puppy today to her new foster home. She has injuries from a fight she was in. Of course she was not the instigator. I don't have many details, but the cruelty of some humans is beyond belief. There's a special place in hell for those who did this to her. She's resilient and wagging her tail and just happy to be out of that situation. Lucky. So many others are suffering tonight.

And that's why I'm tired. There's just so much to be done. But I guess we all have to do our small part and each of those small pieces adds up to a greater good. And we each have our limits.

I hope tomorrow is a cool autumn day so that we can all take some time to breath in the fresh air and let our faces soak up some warmth from the sun.

Park Days

We were all playing nicely, when suddenly a new kid entered the park. Right away, 2 little kids jumped on his back. He turned and yelled at them. None of the moms did anything. He kept yelling, this time for help; the other kids kept jumping on him. Finally, they sort of went their own ways. But the jumpee kept to himself and his mom wondered why he was out of sorts today.

Another newcomer entered the park. My kid walked up and asked if wanted to play tag. He pulled a knife and told my kid to never talk to him again. As I removed my kid, this newcomer's mom said that this was just his way of saying hi. I decided it was time to leave this particular park. This newcomer continued to greet all of the other kids with his knife at the ready. None of the moms seemed to care. They all just encouraged their kids to run around and play.

I think you've figured out that I'm describing a typical morning at any dog park. The dogs are doing a great job at communicating, but the humans are not listening. That first dog was asking for help, 'could someone please remove these unruly puppies so that I can do my business?'. The 2nd dog had no business being at a dog park. Dogs would approach him very appropriately, tail tucked, head lowered, body curved in a C. He would give no warning, but take the down by the throat, growl and snarl.

We need to improve our dog skills. We need to see what's really happening and then intervene on behalf of our dogs. If we humans had stepped in to show the dogs that we control the behavior at the park, they could have played. But instead, they all had to be on guard because no one was in charge.

We also need to improve our people skills. If this had actually happened with children, every mom in the park would have been talking to each other and to the moms of these dogs. So many times, we don't feel that it's our place to intervene when it's about dogs. 'They'll work it out.' Guess what? They work it out by fighting. Do we really want our dogs to fight at the park?

I can't tell you how many times people will tell me what to do with my dogs. They do not know me, they do not know my dogs and they do not know my training methods. Yet, they feel that watching a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer makes them an expert. (I do not like his methods, nor condone anything he does. He runs a 50-dog pack. How many of us have that problem?)

So people of Petaluma (and everywhere), get your dogs under control. It's not hard. But if we do not, we will lose access to these off-leash opportunities. Already, they are mostly inhabited by dogs who are bullying everyone else.

I feel very sad that I can no longer take my dogs to my local park during off-leash hours. My dogs love to run, they love to chase a ball. But our yard is not big enough.

And our local dog park is not friendly enough.

Hide and seek and new fosters!

We played hide and seek tonight with the dogs. What a riot! I hid in an obvious spot and called the dogs. When they found me, I gave them a treat. Meanwhile, one of my kids found a hiding spot. He called the dogs. When they found him, he gave them a treat. I changed my spot, called the dogs and they ran right past me to my previous hiding spot. Then they ran back to my son. Then they ran right past me. So I gave them a little vocal clue. Finally, they found me.

This was so much fun and a great exercise to work on recall. My kids loved it too.


Oh, and the big news is that we have a new foster family of dogs. Milly joined us a few days ago with 4 one-day old pups. She's a fox terrier, just 9 pounds. All of the cats I've owned have been bigger than that. Her puppies are between 6 ounces and 11 ounces! My last puppy litter were 3 weeks old when we got them and weighed between 3 and 5 pounds. What a difference.

Milly is awesome. She gave birth on the transport from her previous shelter. Who knows what she'd been through before that. But she's very loving and social with us. She lets us pet her and touch her pups. She does all of her business outside. She's taking great care of her babies. Like my friend says, they always tell their story eventually. I think hers included a loving home and family with kids and probably a few litters before this one.


The babies look like guinea pigs. Or aliens. Their eyes and ears are not open yet. Their feet are pink and opaque. Their bellies are huge. I've never seen anything so recently born. Except for my kids of course, and they were much more formed.

This is fun.