Category Archives: Dogs & Other Animals

Rewards & Naps

March 17, 2018Dogs & Other AnimalsRewards, Therapy Dog Visitscindyhazelett

Both of the girls, Shelby and Nikki, enjoyed their jobs visiting at the nursing home this week.

That’s why they have the big smiles.

Shelby knows when it’s important to be good. She will hold a sit-stay while I walk around putting all the chairs away at the end of our visit.

Nikki doesn’t like to touch the floor so this is no problem for her either. It’s not that Nikki is following a command, it’s that it’s not safe on the floor when you are tiny.

You might think the dogs are just getting petted, no big deal. It’s tiring work though. There’s the behaving, the going to whoever I direct them to, all the odd smells, and different people constantly coming and going through the main gathering room that we meet in.

However the rewards are great and the nap is well earned.

Adjustment

March 14, 2018Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue HappeningsDaily life, Dogscindyhazelett

Zekie continues to fit into our family just fine. He and our other dogs are quite comfortable with each other. Here Zekie and Cassius give me “the look”. As in, how dare you go to work. Zeke is adjusting though. He doesn’t bother to get up anymore when I go. Daddy is still home so he doesn’t have to go in his crate.

Cassius was cold so I stopped to cover him up before I left. Spoiled much? I contend that if they appreciate it, it’s not spoiling!

Daddy’s Boys

March 12, 2018Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, UncategorizedCatscindyhazelett

We have had only two cats for about a year now. We used to always have more. They have both claimed my husband. I am catless. They don’t dislike me. They just treat me more like a roommate.

The little black and white guy is Morty aka Mortimer Kitten. Makes him sound like a Beatrix Potter character. He is tiny, about 8 lbs. He is a little chunky right now so his winter weight may be closer to 9 lbs. He is also 8 years old. He is a playful kitten who is shy around most people, except his daddy. It’s not so much that he’s afraid of people. It’s more that he has no use for them. He apparently finds them to be filthy since he washes furiously after anyone touches him. Morty finds me to be one step up from most people. I am to be tolerated.

We also have Orange Kitty. He is 3 years old and weighs in the neighborhood of 18-20 lbs. Although he dwarfs Morty, they are fast friends. They eat, sleep, and play together. Orange Kitty is tolerant of everyone, animals and people alike. If he has a choice he will hangout with daddy or Morty. He particularly likes to sit beside daddy in his armchair and watch tennis.

I’m not going to look for a cat for myself though. It’s only a matter of time before someone drops one off near our house. This happens every few years. Then we will have room to keep the next foundling.

Challenges with Zeke

March 7, 2018Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue HappeningsChallenges, Dogscindyhazelett

I bought Zekie’s dog license today. He is on the books as mine!

This picture was taken back when he still had one fang. He broke the last one off on Valentines Day when we were away for five hours even though I had given him his Prozac and a Valium. I guess I will never be able to call him White Fang. That would require at least one fang.

I tried the Easy Walk harness on Zekie. It does help me have more control when he is lunging but it has had no effect on stopping the growling, barking and lunging at other walkers or joggers and cyclists.

On the last walk I tried a muzzle and also had limited success with changing his behavior. He does better walking with my husband. My husband can warn him ahead of time, “Zeke, be good.” And then Zeke will walk by people with only a slight growl under his breath. This is no answer for me though.

Next I will try going somewhere that we can see people walking from a distance. If he still reacts, we will have to move farther away until I can get him to sit and behave. Then I can give treats and praise. We will try moving closer on subsequent outings. And I will work on general obedience so Zeke will acknowledge me as being in charge, thereby lessening his need to threaten people.

I also purchased some morsels that have four different calming herbs in them. Hoping these will take the edge off. I have weaned Zeke off the Prozac. It didn’t seem to be helping much and he won’t be needing to transition to a new home so we didn’t see the point in keeping him on the meds. So no need to worry about herbal and prescription interactions.

Wish me luck, I think I’ll need it!

Shelby Goes To School

March 1, 2018Dogs & Other AnimalsFun, Therapy Dogscindyhazelett

I have been teaching a Therapy Dog Training class for the past 6 weeks. It was geared towards getting dogs ready to test so they will be certified to visit nursing homes, hospitals, libraries, etc.

Last night was our final class so we briefly had our dogs don costumes. I’m not a big fan of putting costumes on dogs but the people we visit draw so much enjoyment from it. I think it is worth it to make our friends at the nursing home smile. I do tend to reserve this for our October visits to celebrate Halloween. For the final class, I wanted to teach how much laughter this can bring, and what a great thing it is to share with others.

Above is my dog Shelby being a movie star. Shelby is already a certified therapy dog so I use her as my training and testing dog. Shelby is proud to say that she goes to school and has a job. I was surprised but she actually walked around the class room smiling in this get up. Of course she is still on pain meds so that may have something to do with it. You can read about why she is on pain meds in my previous blog post. https://sanctuaryacres.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/a-trip-to-the-vet/

In class we also had Bella, a chihuahua mix, dressed as a sports fan.

And Greta, a possible Dane/Boxer mix, who came as a pirate.

Here Greta and Shelby greet each other. It was a fun time but alas, I will not be teaching this class again until fall.

A Trip to the Vet

February 27, 2018Country Life, Dogs & Other AnimalsCountry Life, Dogscindyhazelett

Shelby gave us a bit of a scare yesterday.

My husband called me at work to report that Shelby was limping and could barely make it across the driveway with the other dogs. After they came back in she was also short tempered and laying in her crate.

So I canceled her biweekly visit to the nursing home and made an appointment with the vet instead. No one wants a crabby dog visiting them anyway.Shelby is a tough girl and has tested positive for exposure to Lyme Disease in the past so we were worried. After an examination and an article from the vet citing that 90% of dogs exposed to Lyme Disease never exhibit any symptoms, I was feeling better. (By the way, I do use flea and tick preventative on my dogs in the warmer months but the ticks are developing a resistance to it.)

Shelby did seem to have a sensitive area along her back that was causing her pain. So the vet is thinking that she may have slipped in the mud or on the ice and hurt herself. She will be taking prescribed pain pills for 10 days in the hope she that she will then feel better.

Shelby is generally a happy girl and we want to see that smile return.

Zekie, My Pit Bull!?

February 25, 2018Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue HappeningsDogs, foster dogs, Lovecindyhazelett

This is Zeke, aka Zekie. He is my pit bull. You don’t think he looks like a pit bull? Well, he’s not exactly a pit bull.

You see, I really wanted to get a pit bull. My plan was to get one and train it to use for my therapy dog work. I wanted to help improve their image and also show that they were a member of our family of dogs and cats. I hadn’t quite convinced everyone in the family to proceed with this idea but I was wearing them down.

Then along came Zekie. He was transported from a local shelter to our house for fostering and was supposed to be a sheltie. Not only is he not a pit bull, he’s not a sheltie either.

Just what is he? He’s my type of dog, that’s what. He has separation anxiety. He has no fangs left, having broken the last two off on his crate since he’s been here. That was on Prozac twice a day. I’m weaning him off of that since it doesn’t help much and he’s not going anywhere. He is leash reactive, barking and lunging at other walkers. I have purchased an Easy Walk harness to see how that goes. He jumps up, mauling us when we return home. Still working on this.

Despite these behaviors, Zeke is my type of dog. He is loving and thinks he is a lap dog. Ironically, he loves everyone who comes in our house. It’s only people he meets while out walking that bring out his nasty side. He is fairly obedient. He loves to give kisses. He is grateful for any and all attention.

So although Zekie is not actually a pit bull, he came into my life and I love him so he is here to stay. The pit bull will have to wait until another time in the future. I foresee Zeke keeping me busy for the next couple of years. You will just have to humor me as I refer to my pit bull Zeke!

Zekie!

February 20, 2018Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue HappeningsDogs, Walks, Wintercindyhazelett

Time for a Zekie update. As long as one of us is home, he is a happy boy. Today was unseasonably warm for February in Ohio, 71 degrees. Of course after the snows melted off and then the rains came, it is quite muddy. See evidence above!

Zeke was quite happy running through the mud and playing with all the dogs on such a fine day.

He even took a turn bringing the frisbee back to daddy. All this running through the mud means that the boys came in the house one by one and got rinsed off in the bathtub and then dried with a towel. Zeke is so good. He jumps in the tub on command and stands while I rinse him off. He then jumps out of the tub and onto a towel on command then waits while I dry him.

It was so nice today and I was off work so we then went for a walk at a nearby state park. The water was still frozen but the weather was warm. It was interesting to see the patterns the ice made as the thawing began.

Zekie got to spend his first time off leash today. And he did great. He was nearly as proud as I was! I thought it unlikely that he would go very far since he becomes traumatized if he is not with one of us at all times. After a bit of freedom I leashed him back up so as not to give him too much temptation on his first time off leash with us. Two of our other dogs can be loose and are very reliable while alas, our greyhound must be leashed always. See how happy this outing made Zeke in the brief video below.