Tag Archives: Dogs

A Little Bit of Crazy

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

Why do some dogs take a piece of our hearts?

Such as Zeke, a leash aggressive, separation anxiety ridden, jumping, abandoned, mixed breed of uncertain lineage. There is no logic to it that I can see. More and more I find myself saying, “Duncan used to do that”, about something Zeke has done.

Duncan

Duncan was the love of my life. Of course for his first few years I referred to him as the sheltie from hell. He got into trouble frequently, often because of something he chewed up. The corners of the coffee table, the pull handle off the lawn mower, handles from a bicycle, drywall in the garage. He also charged at bicycles on walks, and had endless energy. But as the years went by and we worked together on all these issues, we developed the deepest of relationships. He even earned the title of TDIA (Therapy Dog International Active) for completing over 50 visits to nursing homes and care facilities. He attained this because it made me happy.

And now Zeke does some of the random things that Duncan used to do. He charges bicycles, he pulls me up hills on walks when I’m tired. He likes hanging out with daddy but lives for when I come home. Just like Duncan.

I do realize he’s not Duncan. But I do love Zeke dearly too. Perhaps, as time goes by and our relationship grows, I will be gifted with another Lifetime Dog.

Signs of Spring

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,

What are signs of spring in our family? Lots of hikes! Here we were making our way down to the water at Towner’s Woods near Kent, Ohio.

Zekie, the former foster dog, enjoyed it as much as the rest of us. We discovered that he loves water. We walked down to the edge of the lake and he jumped right in. So did Cassius the greyhound.

The park was full of hikers and Zeke was good! He didn’t growl, bark, or lunge at anyone while I walked him. This is a first! I was so proud. And he seemed intent on paying attention and interacting with me. Let’s hope this was the first of many such peaceful walks.

Adjustment

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

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!

Challenges with Zeke

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,

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!

A Trip to the Vet

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals,

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!?

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

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!

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

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.

So as you can see, Zeke is doing well!

Work, what? No!

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, Thoughts On Life, Uncategorized, ,

It is hard to go to work when the second hand on the clock hits 6:00 am but you look down and see this face looking back at you from your lap.

And then you look over and also see this.

And on your way to get your coat, there is a little furry sheltie who got up to see where you are going.

And then a large, orange cat awaits at the base of the coat rack.

And they wonder at work, why I start to talk of retirement. Actually, I don’t think they wonder very hard. There is a whole world awaiting me!

Fun With Dogs!

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,

When you live in Ohio and it’s snowed every day this week and then you finally get a sunny day, what do you do? Walk dogs!

Here, Baxter and Shelby watch while dad makes a snowball for them to chase.

Zekie waits patiently while I take a couple of pictures.

Shelby saying, come on, let’s go.

Yes, the walk was cold. It was also lots of fun. Anytime we can watch the dogs run around and see them with smiles this big, it is a good day!

Breeds Revealed!

Dogs & Other Animals

The matter of what Baxter’s heritage is has been the subject of much discussion. So for my husband’s birthday last year I had a DNA analysis done on Baxter.

Baxter showed up at our house nearly nine years ago as a drop off. He was only a couple of months old and it appeared he had been well cared for and he had some manners already. So we never knew anymore about his background. Whoever dropped him off probably thought “these crazy people with all the dogs will take care of him”. How right they were.

It turns out that according to the analysis he is 25% Labrador, 25% Rottweiler, 12.5% Doberman, 12.5% Collie, 12.5% Chow Chow, and 12.5% so mixed that it was indeterminate.

So the lab accounts for his great love of frisbeeing. The Rottweiler, Doberman and Collie for his great loyalty and obedience. And the Chow gives him the dark tongue spots!

Whatever the mix, it has added up to one wonderful dog.