Dudley

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.

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.

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.

Dudley came to me via transport the beginning of September.  He was a dog that I didn’t know I needed or wanted.  July 5th I lost my 12 year old GSD due to massive spinal fusion and a mass in his abdomen.  It was quick when Kota lost his back legs and I knew that he wouldn’t be able to continue life in a way that would be comfortable for him.  I was prepared for it all, I bought a wheel chair and various mobility assisted devices for him when I had the money to do it.  My neighbor built us a little ramp for Kota up to the entrance of my trailer.  I had multiple rugs for helping out with footing and a fancy 10 lb wool stuffed futon style dog bed for his arthritic hips.  We were doing acupuncture treatments on a 3 week basis for the past 2 years.  He was on rimadyl and a Chinese herbal blend for his arthritis pains, etc.

When I lost Kota, I started poking around searching for another dog on Petfinder and other sites.  I wanted to adopt locally and had found an older female dog who was good with cats and kids (I have 2 nephews who are 6 and 10 and an 18 year old cat who is streetwise but has vision loss).  The female dog I was interested in adopting found a better suited home for her…and I continued to search, not expecting to find the perfect fit.

Lo and behold, this dog popped up in my search and I didn’t want to consider him.  He was all the way in Texas but his adoption fee had been covered and the only fee that needed to be paid was his transport fee.  I resisted…but he drew me in with his story.  He was good with cats, kids and other dogs (all true)  and had the quirky happy go lucky personality I wanted.  And he was a tripawd!!!  People were like “why would you willingly adopt a dog with 3 legs????”  For me, this was a bonus.  He is 4 years old, smaller than my 110 lb GSD was, and could walk with my parents who are in their mid 70’s without dragging them down the road.

We did it…adopted him with a ton of communication between his foster mom and the rescue facility.  He stress panted for 2 days straight in the transport van with a bunch of barking puppies.  When the van showed up for the drop off in Portland, I patiently waited for the 5 other people to get their cute little puppies and then stepped forward.  “So I’m here for Dudley”, I said.  He was the one dog who looked completely pathetic in his crate behind the driver’s seat.  Fortunately the driver of the transport van was the husband of the president of the rescue we got him from and he took the time to hoist Dudley up into the back of the car as well as give us all of the info on Dudley.  He had known Dudley since Dudley has been rescued and let us know how sensitive he was.  Dudley hadn’t pooped in the two days he had been in transit and had stress panted all the way from Texas.  We had to do another 3 hour drive home to the Oregon Coast from Portland and he was not cool with it.  Fast forward to that afternoon and he finally pooped outside etc.  I left the night lights on for him and hoped for a less traumatic morning the next day

My parents had friends who were visiting for the day who stopped by.  I brought Dudley over to see if he would be ok meeting people and that dog completely transformed from a withdrawn rescue dog to the happiest thing ever.  He came over to meet them and immediately went up to my dad, who had salami in hand.  Tail wagging and full on “hello, I’m Dudley.  Nice to meet you”  He started farting as he ran up to my dad to get some salami and we quickly ushered him outside, just in case.

We live just across the road from the most wonderful single lane road that disappears back into the woods.  It sits right next to a slough off the Yaquina River and has so many smells to be smelled.  Dudley is a “Houston Brown Dog” which is a mix of many different breeds, super mutt, if you will.  He definitely has Boxer, Basset Hound, Pitbull and Lab as well as several other breeds.  He is a scent hound breed and was ecstatic with all of the smells that were so new.  Fortunately for us, there is only one set of neighbors right now who live back there and they are amazing and dog people.  This means that we can let dogs off leash past a certain point and not have to worry about cars.  I keep a close eye on traffic down that road and communicate with the current neighbors about what cars belong to them  They tend to host people for overnights at their house but they know I walk down that area and make sure their guests know to watch for dogs.