Claire is the only dog who’s still awake at our house this evening. This is typical of most evenings. Our other dogs are passed out in various places around the house.
Claire is our youngest dog, but still, she’s six years old. She is not a young dog. We wonder if she spent a lot of time in her crate in her previous life. Everything seems new and exciting to her. She acts like she’s afraid she will miss something if she falls asleep.
When bedtime comes, she is eager to go in her crate. This is partially due to the fact that she receives a treat before bed. Once she finishes the treat, she quickly lays down and curls up in a ball with her tail over her nose. That is the last we hear out of her until morning light. We are thankful for this because in general, the girl likes to bark.
Claire’s happy face.
This is Claire’s typical look throughout the day. The first photo is her slowed down evening face. She still spends time jumping on and off the couches and chewing bones.
She is so full of life. She brightens our days and makes us smile frequently.
Living with multiple dogs requires a certain way of life that many are not suited for. I appear to thrive on it. I certainly find the sacrifices that are necessary to be well worth it.
For instance, we have doors on our kitchen. My husband made these doors for us so our lives would be a little bit easier. And I am grateful every day.
We cannot leave food out on the countertop or on the stove without it being in danger of being taken by a few of our dogs. The cats are not totally innocent in this either. They have been known to knock loaves of bread on the floor for the dogs to eat. And the cats like to lick some of the things they find there. Butter is a favorite. And I don’t know about you but I don’t care to eat butter that has been licked by a cat. Or by a human either for that matter, but we don’t have that problem.
So, whenever there is a cake or pie, or any food, cooling in the kitchen, or the remains of dinner is still on the stove while we are eating, the doors are closed. You may have noticed the elastic bungee cord on the left hand door panel. This is because our animals will nudge the doors open if they are not bungeed shut. Our animals have us well trained.
If there is food out and you leave the kitchen even for a few seconds, you must close these doors. I walked from the kitchen to the hall pantry and back, which took me less than 30 seconds one day. Zekie, my no mistake dog, made me pay. The Day of the Bread Thief. Where once there were three baguettes rising, there were suddenly only two. The link above tells the excitement of that day.
You may also notice the bare board covering the baseboard to the left of the doors. That covers the remnants of the day/s Zekie had separation anxiety episodes before we had the super tough Impact Dog Crate for him. Story told here Salvation. In those days he eventually escaped every crate we put him in.
On one of the shelves you can see our apothecary jar full of dog biscuits. These are a necessity. Any of our dogs will immediately incarcerate themselves in a crate for half a Milk Bone! Don’t feel sorry for them. Several of our dogs will go in their crates by choice to have some time to themselves. The crate door is open, but no one can sneak up on them without their knowledge.
The calendar on the wall holds not only family birthdays and appointments, but the dates the dogs were given their heartworm prevention medicine and any flea or tick treatments. It also serves as a record of wormings, antibiotics, and other noteworthy things.
This simple picture provides such a snapshot into our daily lives. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.
People think smart dogs are easier. Sometimes this may be the case. Not always.
Zekie is wicked smart. He understands most things he hears. After I correct him several times for misbehavior and he doesn’t listen, I can ask “Do you want to go in your crate?” Only once in a blue moon do I have to follow through. He understands and capitulates.
He can figure out ways to do most things he wants. Opening bins, trash cans, and more. He knows to do these things when I am outside so I don’t catch him in the act.
Talk about brains. Yesterday, we drove past the parking lot where we often stop to go walking. We didn’t stop. We were going someplace else. Zekie whined as we drove by because we didn’t stop.
It is a challenge staying one step ahead of this boy. He is a no mistake dog. If you make a mistake, you pay. He is my kind of dog. I love him.
Today was one of those days where I got a lot of necessary things done. Those things that you don’t like to do, but it feels good to have them done.
Our township provides a dumpster that is at the township garage for one weekend each year for spring cleanup. Anyone in the township can use it to dispose of large items, until it is full. And you need to get there quick, before it gets full. Today was the start of that weekend. I hauled two loads up to the dumpster for disposal, consisting of an old, musty Christmas tree, a couple pieces of decomposing wicker furniture, and various odds and ends.
This afternoon, I spent a few hours doing various forms of paperwork for our dog rescue group. I worked on some financial paperwork, some filing, and some educational material. Not fun, but things that are necessary.
And since I was on a roll doing dog stuff, I decided to give three of our dogs their annual DHLPPP-type shots that were in the refrigerator. Followed by cleaning litter boxes and picking up poop outside. I clean up our dog yard every time the dogs go outside now, because we have two who apparently consider themselves to be connoisseurs of poop. Even so, I sometimes run around with the scoop yelling “drop it” while chasing the offender. It’s a fine line between following the defecating dog around closely enough to get there before one of the other dogs grabs the result, but not so closely as to interrupt the dog doing his business. Such is my life.
As a reward for a productive day, I made Indonesian stir fried noodles for supper. Noodles, vegetables, and fish. Yum!
Zekie got the loft bed, while Cassius got the lower bunk.
Zekie was happy with his location. He could see out the window to bark at the mailman when needed. He could also watch birds on the feeder and keep an eye on passing traffic.
Although that energy expended on being a watch dog apparently tired him out.
We have been isolating because of coronavirus concerns. We have a high risk issue so the disease could pose a serious problem. And we know it will get worse before it gets better. Look at poor Italy, 368 deaths due to the virus in the last 24 hours.
I feel terrible not going out and being of use and doing the things I should be doing.
The thing that I miss the most about not going out is that I didn’t get a chance to stock up on library books before this hit. I only had five left when this started. I will soon have to resort to my own stash of books. I have three shelves of books like the one pictured above. There is always on-line books too. Although I will look pretty silly sniffing my tablet trying to enjoy that new book smell.
We do take the dogs out hiking when the weather permits, so at least we do get a change of scenery.
I pray that the infections are mild and the deaths are few in our country and the rest of the world recovers quickly.
It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on Zekie. I realized recently that it’s because he hasn’t been as much trouble.
In fact, if we don’t take him on walks, he’s barely any trouble at all. We do have the mega security crate for when we go away and leave him home. I wouldn’t want to chance this without that crate. It has been a life saver. Literally.
But when we are around home, Zekie’s worst behavior is licking the floor, or the dog bed, or my pants. His insecurity manifests this way. You can’t scold him for licking. Since it is a result of insecurity, the more you tell him to stop, the worse it gets. A squirt bottle does help a little. Both result in our house getting wet though.
Zekie has improved to the point where we can go outside for bits of time and leave him loose in the house. If my husband goes to his workshop or to get wood, he takes Zekie with him since he is good on these trips. He can even spend hours in the workshop with power tools running.
Zekie is still leash reactive during walks. He does pretty well with walkers now, but still barks ferociously at other dogs. Even though he is fine with other dogs coming in our house.
Whenever we are inside, Zekie causes no trouble. He no longer gets into things. He doesn’t chew inappropriately. He doesn’t steal our things. He no longer jumps onto the dining room table to watch us through the window when we go outside. He does lay on the back of the couch beside the door to wait for our return, but this is rather endearing.
We first noticed Zekie’s improvement when we got our new foster dog about a month ago. It was the new dog stealing and chewing things and barking at us. When someone improves their behavior ever so slightly over a long period of time, it is not readily noticed. This has been the case with Zekie. He’s not perfect, but what an improvement.
Sometimes dogs know how to use furniture as well as people do. Our dogs all try to get the best seat. The best seat is generally considered to be beside mom on the couch. The next best snoozing real estate is considered to be one of our two giant, cushy dog beds, followed by the second couch in the family room.
Last choice is the couch in the other room or on the rug. They will try to make another dog move by standing over them or trying to fit into a space so small that they end up partially laying on one of the others, before they will lay on the rug.
It’s fun to watch the dynamics play out and see who ends up where. The outcome varies and you just never know what will happen.
Sanctuary Acres 