November 2022 – Page 2

Ok…so this post is a bit tongue in cheek but dogs…we know they have their moments and strange ways of communicating. I apologize if this takes a bit of a PG-13 tone but dogs…

So Dudley is missing his rear leg. As we all know too well, dogs have no boundaries when it comes to butt sniffing and genital sniffing. I just watched my neighbor’s GSP roll in coyote poop 2 days in a row on a walk until he finally managed to eat said poop while getting yelled at by his dad today. Dudley walks on the weekends with my friend’s lovely little long-haired dachshund/pom mix Sophie. Sophie has a habit of being obsessed with larger dogs groins since she is “right there”. Well, I learned that having a male dog who is missing a back leg leads to some uninvited inspections.

Another thought on the bolting…Sometimes he gets so excited when we meet up with the neighbor dogs for a walk and if he is off leash and happy, he goes in the wrong direction, like back to the house which is across a road that has some high traffic. I’ve learned to wait to let him off leash until I can ensure that if he gets the happy feet, he will run down the slough towards the woods. As a tripawd, he builds up that momentum and it’s hard to get him to come to a complete stop. The gait of a tripawd is really fascinating to me especially when it’s in a situation of excitement. There isn’t any stopping on a dime…they are usually a 50 cent piece past the desired stopping point. And I am also learning that there will be short bursts of running ahead and then a slowing point. Dudley does have some grasp of the “wait command” but when you ask him to wait, it involves maybe 5 or more steps before he stops. So that is something to work on! When we go across the road into the woods, I have learned the areas where I put the leash back on sooner than later. I do love giving him the swooping hands in a general direction and saying “Go, run that way!!!” He is so funny with his insistence about scattering dirt and leaves after he pees. And he has discovered the fun of burrowing under ferns along the banks. He is very selective about the areas he has to pee along. I have also caught him leaning up against trees!!!

Every day is a learning moment with a tripawd! I watched Dudley use his back leg to basically pivot around rather than lifting up his back leg to move. And he is more comfortable letting himself sink to the ground if it is needed. I also learned that he can hop up onto a bed that is low to the ground (just a box spring and mattress) with no issues. He chose to do that today when we were visiting my sister’s house. 🙂

3 car rides in!!!

So, as I have previously posted…Dudley and the car rides were a big hurdle for me. We have done 2 car rides to my sister’s house, which is 7 miles away…ending in fun times with the birthday slumber party and a little hang out at the house while I did laundry. Last night we went up to our neighbor’s house for a little dinner (20 hour pork roast on the smoker, it was amazing!!!) and Dudley had a moment where my neighbor’s wife had walked down the road to check the mail, etc. He saw her, we had a chat and I went to coax him into the car. He didn’t need any coaxing or tugging and just hopped right in!!!

When we got up their driveway and parked, getting out was another story. They have a 5 year old Malinois who Dudley is still learning about. She is very vocal and does a ton of posturing but is actually not as aggressive as she comes off. Dudley’s reaction to aggressive dogs is to just get away from them if his happy face and wagging tail doesn’t work to charm them. He didn’t bolt on me but just went down the driveway a bit to do business. Once we got inside, Dudley found the dog beds in the living room and picked one to nestle into. He is very good at making himself at home, probably from living in a rescue situation where you need to pick the good bed quickly! He recognized the other dinner guests as they were our other neighbors with his weekend slough walk buddies and there were tail wags aplenty for them. He is just the most loving and accepting dog ever, even with a malinois barking in his face.

After dinner, which Dudley spent relaxing in a dog bed and not begging for food (bonus!!!) we all spent a little time chatting in the living room. It was funny to see the different dog dynamics. I was on the dog bed with Dudley while he was hanging off the end of it getting his hip massaged by me while the Malinois was pestering people to throw the toy for her. I have known Chloe (the Malinois) since she was 9 weeks old and have dog sat her many times over the years. And I absolutely adore her parents but her dad…sometimes he doesn’t have a clue as to what the difference is between a well trained dog and a well behaved dog. Her mom, on the other hand, has a firm voice and doesn’t put up with all of the barking, etc. It was nice to see that Dudley could relax in another person’s house with a barking dog and trust that he was safe. He didn’t get stressed out and just found his space and made himself at home. My old GSD would take Chloe’s barking in his face as a challenge and bark right back at her, with a few paw slaps and tussles. They were pretty funny to watch because the Malinois has a high pitched bark and Kota had a very impressive Issac Hayes bark. Dudley just finds a spot to chill <3

I have a feeling that when I do dog sitting for the Malinois’s parents over the next year, things will be more chill. They prefer to use me as a dog sitter since I am right next door and I can hang out at home with the cat and parents and then go up the hill. Chloe is completely different when she has pet sitters and is more relaxed. Dudley is just “the Dude” and he just wants to hang out and chill with other dogs.

I am so happy that he finally was willing to hop into the car without a struggle. We will figure out the safest way for him to ride and hopefully I will be able to lift him into the back seat without any grumbles. I have a feeling that if I am able to have the nephews get into the back of the car with him and have it be a playful moment, he will figure it out!!! I’m thinking that all three of them in the back seat will be a fun time for him…I want to make the back seat with a restraint seem like a good thing. The nephews enjoy rolling around in the back seat while the car is parked and love it when i pretend like we are going somewhere. We roll the windows down and turn the radio up and pretend like we are driving to Mexico. Big imaginations make for Big Fun! I’ve even been known to get mapquest out on my phone to make it seem real.

Brrr!

brrr!!!

As the wet and cold weather sets in on the Oregon coast, I am apprehensive as to the adjustments a Texas rescue can make. Dudley is a Boxer/Pitbull etc mix and he has a short coat. My previous dog was a GSD/Malamute mix and never had many problems with the cooler weather in our little drafty trailer. Turns out that all of the bedding etc I had bought for Kota and his arthritis works well for Dudley! The fancy wool filled futon bed is great for Dudley and his legs as well as being warm. The heating pad that is pressure sensitive that I had also bought for Kota to sleep on remains plugged in for my short coated Mr. Dudley. I had bought a couple of generic army blankets that were 40 percent wool and ended up cutting them up to turn into curtains and wall hangings over drafty areas. There was enough left over to make a nice dog blanket for Dudley. I have a fancy oil heater that is set at 60 degrees to keep the heat comfortable at ground level but also not work the heater too hard to try and maintain a constant temperature.

Dudley actually struggled with the Texas heat. He’s had a bit of an issue adjusting to the rain/constant drizzle of living at the coast but he’s learning that it isn’t that bad and that he will get toweled off after going outside! Right now, he is covered up with his blanket, sleeping on the heating pad and snoring away <3 I will be getting another blanket for winter since he doesn’t seem to have issues getting tangled up in blankets.

The little old lady cat and I sleep up in our sleeping loft with a goose down comforter and a 70 percent wool blanket so we are all snug as bugs in a rug! The cold snaps come and go out here. We will have a week of just above freezing and then it’s back to rain and 45-50 degrees. and then some more cold just below freezing. and then back to the rain. and then maybe a few days of 60 degrees and sunshine in January. You never know what you’re going to get at the coast 🙂

First overnight visit!

This weekend Dudley and I went on a car ride (he isn’t a fan of the car rides) to my sister’s house which is 7 miles from our home. We did an overnight slumber party at my sister’s house with her husband and the nephews (6 and 10 year olds). It was a good visit and they have plenty of floor cushions for Dudley to chill out on. It was pouring rain the entire time so Mr Dudley wasn’t so keen on going outside to do bathroom business. As a shelter dog, he is quite good at holding it until he has to absolutely go. I wasn’t his favorite person after making him do a few laps around the house in the rain but he did enjoy waking up and eating a few nibbles of bacon when the nephews had breakfast. Somehow the bacon nibbles turned into the boys rubbing bacon grease on their feet so that Dudley would lick it off.

After breakfast, we did my traditional birthday movie and brownies since the boys were so wound up the night before, watching a movie would have been a major feat in patience. It was very sweet to see both of the boys draped over Dudley on the cushions while we watched Beetlejuice! I make the boys sit through classic movies from our childhood. The year before it was Labyrinth 🙂 They are learning how to interact with a dog and read the body language with many reminders from their auntie. The boys were quite lovely about giving Dudley massages but I did have to remind them not to play with a dog’s feet. For the most part, Dudley just hung off the end of the cushion and endured them! We did have a fun discussion about building him a prosthetic leg. Their uncle on their father’s side has a 3d printer and I told them that they should make sketches for him of what they thought a prosthetic leg should look like for Dudley.

It was nice to have a dog who just chilled out in the living room. My old GSD was never able to relax. He would always be up every time I moved and wouldn’t stay in one spot. Dudley knew that the cushion was his spot because I had brought a dog bed and blanket. Poor Dudley did have to witness the youngest nephew doing some dance moves in front of him but he survived. I think the hardest part of the night was when my sister’s husband kept asking me if Dudley was ok. I finally had to tell him that Dudley has resting worried face. He always looks like he is distraught about something!

I was worried that the wood floors and linoleum floors in the kitchen would cause issues for Dudley’s legs, but he did fine. There was one point where he decided to go and sleep in the guest bedroom/computer room to get away from the boys and also be on the carpeted floor. He is a pretty stubborn dog but also very good at figuring out where to hide away from the chaos.

2 months in, Dudley

So I took the first two months to build trust and routine with Mr. Dudley. Now we are starting to see some of the issues I need to work on. Dudley is absolutely amazing meeting other dogs. We do a Saturday morning walk with one of my neighbors and his dogs as well as with a friend whose dog needs some exercise and pack time. Dudley is one of the most stubborn dogs I’ve met and also very sensitive, being a rescue and having some Boxer genetics. Unfortunately, he has started to bolt on me after pooping and doesn’t respond to the commands “wait” “oh my god, don’t run across the road” “are you seriously going to go up the hill to the neighbor’s house and not come back?” etc. Since I can’t trust him to be off leash unless we are at a certain distance down the road into the woods, he will be on a long lead until we have a recall command that is solid. When he’s around a pack, he follows their lead. When we are alone, he has proven that he is unpredictable. As I am fond of saying, he doesn’t have a spare leg so we will work it out on my terms 🙂

When he was back in Texas with his foster mom, he was used to going to a gated dog park. So he has the memory of being able to run and eventually reaching a fence. Last night scared me so bad to see him run to the end of the road, wait for a minute and then run across the road back to home. Thankfully it was still light out and the two cars that were driving saw him and slowed down until he was across the road. I didn’t scold him when we met back up. I realized that I shouldn’t have given him that trust so soon without having a solid recall. He knew what he had done was not the best decision but in his mind, he did go home to his safe space.

It’s all about observation and making changes.