Healing my elderly dog naturally- update

Since my last post 3 months ago, my old dog has been doing incredibly well on all three herbal supplements; Chanca Piedra pills, Milk Thistle alcohol free extract, and Pet Alive Kidney support . In fact he hasn't had any urinary accidents in the house at all. I hardly ever notice any blood in the urine compared to what he was experiencing before I started  him on the treatments. I'm still not exactly sure what was wrong with the dog. The veterinarian indicated she thought it had more to do with the liver than the kidneys. I thought perhaps he had kidney stones as the incontinence and blood in the urine would come and go, regardless of the cause, he seems to be doing much better now. The Chanca Piedra is recommended for bladder, liver, gallbladder and kidney issues http://piedrachanca.com/  which may be part of the improvement. At one point he started throwing up and I was afraid that it had something to do with the herbal supplements, so I stopped all three for a few days. The blood in the urine came back and I figured out that the vomiting was a result of the dog eating out of my compost pile, and not the herbal supplements so I put him back on the 3 supplements and his urine cleared up again and he was fine.I have re- ordered the herbal supplements numerous times, and continue to give them to him in the same amounts( approximately .50ml-about 1/3 of the dropper applicator of the Pet Alive Kidney Support and the same amount for the Milk Thistle Extract one time a day , one Chanca Piedra pill covered in peanut butter ). Once in a while if I still notice a reddish color in the urine, I will give one extra Chanca Piedra pill, totaling, 2 pills for that day, for my  now, 45 lb, elderly dog

My dog just turned 15 years old .He seems to be doing quite well, he sleeps peacefully on his comfortable, memory foam, dog bed. He wanders around outside on my acreage, but doesn't go too far. He's taken to preemptive barking when I let him out. It's probably because he's old, and doesn't see to well, and wants to scare off any trouble that might be out there. Unfortunately the younger dog doesn't realize this, so they are often times like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, off barking and chasing imaginary windmills together. 

A Dog Walker's View of the Economy

Well, for the last couple of months I have been going to the shelter, but most of the dogs are not good or reliable walking with other dogs, this can sometimes be due to recent spaying or neutering, so I've just have been playing with them in their indoor kennels for a brief time. Unfortunately photos taken in indoor kennels aren't the greatest. This is Waylon http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/21693268 , in the above photos, a Walker Hound, or as I have been trying to walk him but due to the weather , he has been cooped up a lot, I have deemed him more of a Runner Hound than Walker hound! He's a sweet boy who comes when called and often sits when he comes. I tried to walk him with my Aussie Shepherd, Cash, but there was a bit too much grumbling between them, he was just too cute to pass by, so I now walk him and then walk my dog later. At least I'm getting a lot of exercise. I'm always so amazed at how many pure bred or close to pure bred dogs come through our shelter. Over the last 4 months I have seen a young pure bred ;Australian Cattle dog, Shi Tzu, Walker Hound, Labrador Retriever, Yorkie, Dachsund, as well as others. As far as I'm concerned the mixed breeds usually tend to be among my top favorites, but I just wanted people to know that animal shelters are full of all kinds of good dogs and a lot of purebred ones as well.

Observations on the Economy
Over the years I have walked many shelter dogs, all over the college town where the shelter is located, and in and around my small rural town 15 miles away when I have foster dogs. I've seen business come and go, houses sit for sale for a long time, a few foreclosures but not devastating numbers of them. Lately there are more humble business on main street; thrift stores, antique shops and medium priced restaurants, verses high priced boutiques, and there seems to be a bunch of new restaurants opening up. In this area with 2 Universities within 8miles of each other, we never had a ridiculous boom and there is hardship, but not a terrible bust either, as in some ares of the country. From my dog walkers perspective, the economy seems to be picking up. The last two years brought store closings, and the lumber mill in my small rural town went from no logs on deck and down to one shift of workers, to a full yard of logs and full or close to full shifts of workers presently. So from the street level at least, the economy seems to be improving, not booming, but reviving, with stores that cater to more basic necessities. I also noticed this phenomenon when I was back in New Jersey last summer. The stores on the Main shopping district had changed from high end boutiques and fancy restaurants to thrift stores,and more modestly priced shops that used to be on the side streets, had moved to Main street. There were empty storefronts on Main st in New Jersey as well, which I haven't seen in years past, and quite noticeably, a lot more homes for sale then I'd ever seen before in the town I grew up in . Restaurants where still being patronized but there were fewer upscale restaurants and more pizza places and medium priced luncheonette type restaurants.

I had one sad incident on the bike path in my small town in Idaho a year and a half ago, where a little girl asked to pet my dog, and I got talking to her. She said she had a dog but it had broken it's leg. I asked " did you take it to the veterinarian?" as I was just trying to make conversation. She blurted out in an incredulous matter of fact way" oh no, we can't afford that" my heart sank, and then she proceeded to tell me some story involving bartering and finagling to get some kind of secondary homemade treatment for the dog.

I have heard heart breaking stories of families that have lost jobs, and homes and as a result have had to rehome their pets as well. It's been so hard to watch families that had a dream of mother, father, kids, a home, a dog and a white picket fence as has been the American dream, and see parents squabbling and breaking up over economic stresses, homes lost and with them dreams, hope, and family cohesion lost as well. Children who once experienced stability,now setting patterns of fear and mistrust and anxiety at an early age, and the poor dogs, once so ensconced in the warmth and routine of their families, uprooted and having to fend for themselves and learn to trust again in a new situation. Of all the family members, I think maybe it is the dogs who, if given a new home where their needs are met , adapt faster than their human counterparts. They don't seem to carry as much post traumatic stress, but even dogs understand when spouses start yelling and someone packs a suitcase , as I was told recently by a man, that his dog got very nervous when this happened, as the dog had seen this before and knew something scary was about to take place, as when the last time the dog was separated from his family. So I have seen in our country a change back full circle, from a once humble retail landscape to an exuberant, upscale revival, then empty store fronts, before returning to the previous more humble retail landscape, all the while getting exercise with my economic and sociological education, and helping to walk the shelter dogs.

The joys of walking shelter dogs in springtime

It's always so much fun to walk shelter dogs when the flowers are in bloom. This little 6 month old darling is Sara, the Black Lab Border Collie mix (with one blue eye), available for adoption http://www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/wp/?page_id=12. A perfect combination of friendly and smart. She passed all my good dog, tests. She came to me when I sat down, and shared affection. She looked back at me during our walk. She got along with my Aussie Cash, walked nicely on the leash. For a 6 month old puppy stuck in a shelter she was sweet, well mannered, medium energy level, and smart, traits which are not always easy to come by in an abandoned dog. She even came to me when I called her, and sat when I told her to "sit". What a sweetie pie, she can only get better from here, as she is still young. It makes me wonder why someone would get rid of such a nice puppy, but then I wonder a lot when working with shelter dogs.

My Aussie Shepherd has a meltdown as I'm heartbroken over the devastation in Japan

Once again, perhaps it is coincidence or something else at work. I was very saddened and distressed at the devastation and destruction caused by the earth quake in Japan. The Japanese culture and people have been near and dear to my heart. I love the pottery, poetry, and aesthetics of Japan . I have been drawn to the beauty of homes built from natural materials, materials that were unfortunately, vulnerable to destruction. I was anxious about the state of the nuclear power plants, and I'm sure my very sensitive Australian Shepherd, Cash, was also picking up on at least my sadness and fear if not something deeper in perhaps a planetary way. I had decided to leave the dog home and take my older Blue Heeler with me in the car when I left to go to dinner at my friend's house on Saturday March 12th. Cash, my Australian Shepherd, had been out for a long walk with shelter dogs that day and my husband was staying home, so I thought it would be good to give my old Blue Heeler some special attention. As I was leaving the house, Cash tried to dash out the door and come with us so my husband grabbed his collar and pulled him back. I then left for my friend's house, without seeing what was going on behind me. Upon returning home, I saw about ten small puddles with paper towels sticking out of them, spread out all over the great room floor (he's not perfect, but at least he put the paper towels down!). I asked my husband what had happened and he told me that from the moment he grabbed the dog, the dog rolled on his back and peed and then seemed to be in a tizzy and kept repeating the behavior as my husband tried to assure him he wasn't going to be hurt. It's as if the dog just had a huge emotional meltdown. He had some fear peeing issues when we first got him out of rescue, but that had long since subsided, and usually involved only one incident at a time. So I'm wondering if anyone else has observed any odd behavior in their pets or farm animals, during the time of the Japanese earthquake and it's aftermath. I live in North Idaho, U.S.A., not too far from seismic activity and the Pacific Rim/Pacific Ring of Fire, so I was a bit worried that the dog may be picking up on some impending seismic activity. I wasn't sure if Cash was just reacting to my anxious state, or a situation specific incident to my leaving him and my husband grabbing the collar. It was so much more grander of a meltdown than what I had seen before, that I couldn't help wondering if what had transpired was one of those incidents of animal sensitivity to natural catastrophic force and grand scale suffering. I leave the dog unattended at night in the living room or when I go into my pottery studio without incident. I've left my two dogs alone together in the house, so I can't figure out what triggered this odd behavior. When I returned home the Aussie was also distant, and seemed shell shocked, he didn't come up and greet me as he usually does. By Sunday afternoon things were back to normal .Oh well, just another unsolved dog and human mystery that I'm still trying to sort out. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan. I'm so saddened by this terrible tragedy

Dogs have a sixth sense, maybe people too - Rocky's Story

Rocky's story- a story from my book
(this is Rocky in the photo)

Rocky

I showed up at the shelter one day and saw a big black and white border collie mix who seemed friendly and eager for contact with people. I tend to like the bigger dogs, and as he was fairly run of the mill in looks and on the large side, I figured he might end up there awhile so something inside me decided to focus on Rocky. There was something of the looks of Jake (another dog in my book) in him and there was a responsiveness and chummy sort of willingness to relate to me. When I first started walking Rocky he was fairly well behaved and happy to be petted and loved and talked to and he and Blue, my Australian Cattle Dog, and I would wander all over town. He was fairly good with cats when I walked him past the cat cages, and he was easy enough to handle, so I could drop in and pick him up and go for a walk when I had the time. None of the other dogs where particularly grabbing me, so I just sort of fell in with Rocky. Blue and I walked Rocky for a few months, sometimes he would pull but not too badly He really enjoyed walking all over town with us and rewarded us with his loving responses and looks back at me while on the leash walking. You could tell he liked people. I kept wondering as I often do with the dogs” how did you end up here?” He was so well adjusted. After being at the shelter for a while he grew more impatient and started to dislike cats and smaller dogs to the point where he would bark and lunge towards them and I’d have to really pull him back and reprimand him but something about him would make me continue walking him. He never seemed to become despondent or depressed at the shelter over time, just crabby and intolerant.

Porky as referred to in previous blog post
tailsfromtheshelter.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-ones-i-love-always-go.html

After some time Porky showed up and in contrast, seemed to go downhill rather quickly. He was sensitive and shell shocked by all the noise and commotion and some of the other dogs would pick fights with him to the extent that he would be reluctant to come out of his outdoor kennel in order to even go for walks.Rocky was a little too much of a handful to take with Blue and Porky at one time so I'd walk Rocky and then take Porky afterwards.I was getting a little exhausted from all this dog juggling, and I didn’t always have time to conveniently, devote to walking both of them separately so I started praying that Rocky would soon find a good home. I'm not a particularly religious person, more on the "new age spiritual" side, I always figure some of these dogs can use all the help they can get. Some people came to look at him once but they had recently lost their precious dog named Rocky and the woman was too distraught to get another dog named Rocky quite so soon. I kept thinking” you could change his name to Socks or something, because he had white feet, but these people just came to the conclusion that he was not the dog for them. So there I go back to praying and putting my spiritual feelers out for the right situation for Rocky to arise. I popped into the shelter one morning, and reached around the office door to grab a leash as is my usual custom, and the gals who work there said to me” have you heard the great news about Rocky?” and I’m like “no what happened?” Apparently the man who initially brought him in was a neighbor to his original owner who was going to adopt Rocky because his owner was in the military and got called away to transfer to a military base back East. The neighbor had told the original owner who loved the dog but thought it was unfair to drag him across the country and keep him in a kennel until they found appropriate housing, that the dog was doing well. The dog and neighbor were not doing well. The neighbor tried to surrender Rocky to the shelter, only they were full at the time and the staff told the man he’d have to wait before surrendering him, at which point the man said” I’m just going to go shoot that damn dog” or something to that effect. Well there was another patron standing there at that moment who generously offered to pay for the dog to stay at a kennel until the shelter had room to take him. I'm always so amazed at the kindness and generosity of some people. I had never heard any of this previous history of Rocky's until that moment. So all this time goes by and I’m walking Rocky and taking good care of him and putting my spiritual feelers out praying that he finds an appropriate home. Well the owner who apparently loved Rocky and was trying to spare him discomfort in moving had a funny feeling that something was wrong. He said he kept thinking about Rocky as they were finally settled into a new house and looking to get another dog just like Rocky to replace him. He kept having this strange intuition and said something compelled him to look on the Petfinder website http://www.petfinder.com/index.html for our Shelter and low and behold, he see’s Rocky’s picture on the site listing him as available for adoption. He called up and the shelter staff, told him what had happened with the neighbor and the previous owner said, if he had known how awful it was for Rocky and how dangerously close to being killed the dog was he would have taken him with the family across the country and kenneled him there until they found a new home. Besides, their 2 year old daughter had leukemia and Rocky was her special dog and I suppose it must have been really difficult to be sick, move and loose your special dog.Now they were going to surprise her and reunite them. The people made arrangements with a pet transport service to take the dog across country and reunite him with the family.
So all along I kept wondering why, as long as Rocky stayed at the shelter, he never went that far down hill? He became crabby and part of that was, we think the man who was going to kill him had had a smaller dog that was mean to Rocky as Rocky had never before displayed issues with cats or small dogs. I wonder if somewhere inside Rocky he knew he was going to be reunited with his beloved family? I wonder what compelled me to focus on him and pray for him and if somehow the previous owner heard those pleas through the psychic mists, from clear across the country? I hope the little girl is helped to heal now, at least she’ll have a big wallop of joy in getting her precious doggie back. I’m so happy for all of them. I too got my wish, and in Rocky getting reunited with his precious family, I was able to spend time with Porky who is so sensitive and really needs me, and is sitting by my side as I write this, as my foster dog, doing really well, loving to be loved and grateful for the peace and quiet of a home as opposed to the noise and racket and fighting between some dogs in the shelter setting. Porky too, had a miraculous twist which can be read in my blog post on his story http://tailsfromtheshelter.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-ones-i-love-always-go.html

I suppose this is what keeps me going back to help the shelter dogs. The longer I stay on, the more the stories twist and turn and interweave over time, sometimes in miraculous ways- or seemingly unexplained coincidences, take your pick!

(it takes a brief moment of advertising to get to the beautiful song- it's worth it)

Some of my observations on how to work with dogs while they are living in shelters

This is just my list of do's, don'ts, and approaches I have come to after spending years helping shelter dogs. I have incorporated much of the info into my stories on the individual dogs, which I'm still trying to figure out how to edit and publish . I thought my observations and list of what I do and don't do might be of interest to other people who want to help the shelter dogs. I'll probably add to the list over time, but these are a few things that come to mind, not in any way a complete list. If anyone has any other bits of information to add, please feel free to comment or contact me. Learning and helping the dogs, and people who work with them is my main objective

This is Hunny the deaf lab that's been at the shelter since May. I had talked about her before but misspelled her name before assuming it was Honey, but I'll leave the topic of shelter dog names, for another blog post. I always hold the leash in my hand this way( I bring my thumb back into my fist), not putting my hand all the way through the loop which seems dangerous to me. It's easy to release the leash this way if it's a matter of releasing a dog or breaking my arm. I have broken my hand before while foolishly riding my bike while walking my Labrador Retriever, despite my husband's warnings, so I am a bit cautious.

I train the dogs to voice commands as well as hand signals from the start i.e. I say" this way" and tug on the leash for a change in direction. I say "wait", "stay", "sit","come" etc.., and give appropriate hand signals. That way if a dog accidentally pulls the leash out of my hands I can usually control them with my voice, at least long enough to catch them.

I usually ask the shelter staff for info on a particular dog, and then I try and assess the dog before walking it.I stand on the other side of the fence/gate and view the dog, talking to him or her and seeing what kind of response I get. I am conscious of my limitations and skills and will avoid a dog that is beyond my ability to control it in public.

I usually stop and lovingly pet and try and make some kind of bonding contact with a dog as soon as I get it out of the shelter and away from all the noise. I do this repeatedly for more normal dogs, it helps to establish a bond and connection and they are less likely to pull if they have made some kind of acknowledging contact with the person at the other end of the leash. It helps to calm them a bit.

If I have a dog that is just way too rambunctious and intent on pulling and pulling and I am on the verge of losing control, I run them in a circle- I stand in one place and direct their energy around in a circle. It gives a few minutes to regain control and tire the dog somewhat.

With big unruly dogs, I like to use a large link, "Barbara Woodhouse (English dog trainer) style," choke chain. The weight on the back of their necks is somewhat of a natural subduing gesture, and the sound of the jerk startles them and gets their attention, it's not used to choke them.

On smaller wound up dogs, I usually try a" Haltie" or "Martingale" collar if it's available, it's a humane way to get a dog under control. I've had a few large rambunctious dogs destroy them and escape so I'm more cautious with bigger, rowdy dogs. At times I have purchased my own equipment and keep it in my car, just so I have the right equipment for particular dogs I'm walking. There always seems to be an assortment of leashes and collars at our shelter and some disappear and reappear months later in different places with so many volunteers, so at times it's better to have my own favorite pieces of equipment that I keep under my own control.

For shy sensitive, abused dogs, I am very low key and non intrusive with them. I don't do my usual high pitched happy dog talk as it can scare them. I usually just act calm and let them come to me and sniff me and interact with me on their own time. I can usually give a trial, semi- happy talk, greeting, and see if the dog responds positively or becomes scared. If they get scared, then I back off. If they get really scared then I slow way down and take much more time just letting them get comfortable with me which might entail just sitting with them for 15 minutes at a time for a few days until they get the courage up to trust and feel comfortable with me. Sometimes food treats work in this scenario sometimes they don't but the most important thing is to observe their response and go slow and not push too hard. Once they have gained my trust I can work with them and the progress usually goes faster after they have accepted me as a friend. In the shelter scenario,- the dogs have been traumatized, ending up in a foreign place that is noisy and scary, so I try and make them feel comfortable and get them to see me as a trustworthy ally, not a trainer simply forcing a response.

I always check the collars, and leashes before I go out with a dog, sometimes collars can be way to loose and a dog can back out of the collar- I had a dog escape downtown this way, but luckily got her back unharmed. I have also seen dogs whose collars were too tight because they had put on weight after they had been fed properly. I also check to see that the leash is strong enough and in good working order for the dog I intend to walk- i.e. it's not seriously frayed so it could snap or break if pulled too hard.

I usually go into the kennel and put the leash on while the kennel door is shut, unless I'm confident I can slip a leash on quickly in the hallway. The main thing I try and avoid is having stressed shelter dogs come in contact with each other in close quarters.

I always try and make sure that gates to the outside are shut before I take a dog out of a kennel. I try and make sure that there are not two shelter dogs in close quarters, together as problems could arise. I let the other people and dogs go out then I go with the dog. I try and keep the dogs on a short leash while walking past the other dogs behind fences, and I try not to linger as tails and barking mouths can align in close quarters

I wear "play clothes" as I will inevitably get a few muddy paws on the front or back of my clothes. I wear comfortable walking shoes as I usually walk for an hour or more.I have actually seen people show up in flip flops! I bring a "belly bag / fanny pack"-pocketbook that closes around the waist. I take my wallet, cell phone, pooper scooper plastic bags, hand sanitizer, tissues, band-aids, the business card of the Humane Society- in case someone falls in love with the dog I'm walking and wants the phone number of the shelter to call them. Since I usually walk the dogs around town, I also ask the age of the dog and some background info on the dog in case anyone stops and asks me questions about the dog.

I try not to exchange bodily fluids with the dogs, that is I don't let them lick my face if I can help it. There is however, the occasional "stolen kiss." I'm real big on "air kisses" and conveying love and care through my hands, and happy talk voice

I used to spend quite a bit of money on treats for the dogs. After a while, I decided to just try love, attention, praise, and fun walks. I found that the dogs were just so happy being out walking around and having some positive attention that I really didn't need to use food treats to get them to respond to commands. I guess financial necessity can be the mother of creative training invention!

Some dogs need to be cheered up and respond well to happy talk, some dogs, hunting breeds in particular, are already excited and I've noticed, can be over wound with too much happy talk. Some scared dogs benefit from calm, direct, low key energy. I usually try and assess what is going on by observation and adjust my approach accordingly

When I am done with walking the shelter dogs, I make sure that there is drinking water in the dog's kennel. I return all the equipment to it's correct place and report any useful info on the dog to the staff i.e.- he chases cats, or squirrels, he's a lovely dog and responds well and is easy to walk, the dog is startled by .., Sometimes the staff is interested to get information on the dogs in order to help the people interested in adopting the dog have a good idea of what the dog is like. I try and be useful without overly burdening the hardworking staff with all my insights. The staff members also seem to have different insights and info on the dogs and are often the first ones to bond with the dogs, because they are providing warm safe housing, humane treatment, and feeding them regularly. This kind treatment is often better than the treatment many of the dogs have been previously used to and they are very appreciative of the efforts on their behalf.

I am always careful to remove the Woodhouse style(choke chain) from the dog as it could get caught on something in the kennel and injure the dog- Never leave a choke style chain on an unattended dog

When I am completely done I wash my hands before leaving

Well, these are just a few thoughts that came to mind. I will try and add to the list from time to time.

Happy Holidays and Big Thank You

Happy Holidays and a big Thank you to all those who have adopted and/or helped, abandoned animals

the "Peace Accord" on the sofa

I was at a dinner party the other night with some dear friends. I was talking about dog behavior and my friend said something along the lines of "It's so interesting to see a glimpse of what humans are like by studying the behaviors of dogs" I never thought of it that way before, that maybe we can learn how to act by seeing how dogs/pack animals resolve their disputes. As I watched the progression to family harmony from the introduction of a newly neutered male dog into my home and pack with a well entrenched 10 1/2 year old neutered male dog that we have had since he was 2 years old, I started to wonder if there was some sort of metaphor/model for human harmony as well. At first it seemed like I had one frightened new dog with some residual testosterone and one old dog who's home territory was being invaded. The newcomer was frightened, , half starved-25% underweight, had been tossed around from place to place with nowhere to call home, came close to being gassed, until some nice people rescued him and set about to finding an appropriate home for him. The old dog was very comfortable in his home territory, laid claim to the upstairs, the sofa, and strategically placed dog bed next to the outside view and had a long history with his people. The new dog finally had a nice comfortable safe place to call home where conditions such as food and comfort and threat level were in his favor. I guess he started liking his new home and feeling protective of it. "See that comfortable couch that I like to lay on? It is now mine. I never had one before and you, little old dog, seem old, weak and complacent. I've had to fight for survival and now I want to ensure it, get it? so it's mine and you stay away from it" This seemed to be the conversation between my new 2 year old Aussie shepherd and my old Blue Heeler. The Heeler was like" Hey wait a minute bub, this is my home territory and has been my sofa for years, who are you to invade and claim it?" I was somewhat of the Peace keeping Mission on the sofa. I would watch as they sorted out their differences. One time I tried to coax them both onto the sofa with me as mediator but my husband said no, "don't do that , let them work it out on their own" I had one long week of daily fights. Nasty sounding fur flying but not much actual damage to either dog. I figured that the new dog needed a lot of exercise in order to calm down. He also needed to know that his food bowl would be full, and that his needs would be met. The old dog needed reassurance that he was still important, that life would improve with this invasion- he got canned food instead of dry kibble every morning. Life was changing, but hopefully it could be a win win for all involved. I would have a new walking and dog training companion, the old dog could semi retire to guard duty in the car and house and occasional nature walks. The new dog would have a warm safe fun comfortable home, meaningful work to do, and his physical need for exercise would be met.For awhile, only the new dog would get on the sofa, and shoot dirty looks at the old dog in order to keep him away. I would intervene and make sure that the old dog was treated well and got attention and comfortable accommodations. As the new dog started to relax and settle into our routine, one day about 2 months after acquiring the new dog I saw both dogs on the sofa with me of their own accord. The old dog was brave and comfortable enough with the new dog to risk the retaking of his old territory. I sat and marveled at the progress we made. Then gradually both dogs started getting comfortable with allowing the other dog to feel a part of the home to freely move on and off the choice pieces of real estate, to share the attentions of their people and their environment and live as one family. Their are still mini power struggles, working out pack positions and duty roles. It seems that time, and minimum interference on my part and both dog's needs being met and the people as moderators to ensure that violence doesn't break out, and then both dogs have somewhat their own safe territory to retreat to. The old dog can go upstairs while the new young dog is somewhat afraid of the stairs. The new dog likes the chair with three comfortable protective sides surrounding him. I'm not sure how many parallels can be drawn between dog behavior and human behavior, dog's don't seem to have the big egos like humans have and are somewhat more tolerant of their species with less attention to their lineage as in not descending into "I am an Aussie Shepherd and you are a German Shepherd, therefore we are destined to disagreement." I'm glad my friend gave me a glimpse into another way to make observations about both dog and human behavior.

* I'd written this awhile ago, and both dogs are getting along just fine now.

Halloween,sheepdogs, and strange events

Halloween night we were sitting in the living room watching reruns of the old Simon and Simon detective show( 1980's television reruns) on netflix . It had been a long day of wood cutting and stacking and late fall garden chores so I just wanted to veg out in front of the t,v with a glass of wine, and the old man likes Simon and Simon because one of the brothers in the show lived on a boat and my husband is obsessed with sailboats lately. The dogs had had a long walk earlier and were laying down relaxing too. The lights were off and the t.v. was on when I heard this strange sound as if a body was being dragged across the floor. I'm thinking" what the heck is that?" as it is Halloween night, we are watching detective shows and I'm getting a tad spooked. I get up to check things out and notice that Cash, the new Australian Shepherd is in my husbands office. I look at him with a " what are you doing in here?" expression, and notice that there is a big plastic bag of my sheep fleece next to him. Now I know that my husband is very picky about what goes in his office and I couldn't imagine why he would have put this huge outside trash can sized bag of my sheep fleece in there and I asked him" did you put my giant bag of fleece in your office?" and I get a " no why would I possibly do that" back from him and I remember hearing that sound like a body being dragged across the linoleum floor and " bingo" Can you believe that this 45 lb sheep dog had dragged a huge bag of fleece into the dark office to have his way with it! I remembered that last Friday I had gone to my knitting club and left the dog alone in the car with my giant bag of fleece and when I came back there was wool fluff all over the car. It was as if he got bored and entertained himself by teasing apart the giant fleece which is actually what needed to be done in preparation for carding. So I suppose he was at it again, bored, and decided to take what he perceived as "his giant bag of fleece toy" into the office in order to play with his secret stash! I really need to get this boy some sheep or at least start him on agility training or sheep dog training. The Australian Shepherd is a little more intense than my Australian Cattle dog who when young, was very smart and not particularly high energy or high maintenance as long as he was with his people. This new dog is a little quirky, I still haven't figured him out quite yet

Cash's first day on the job, do you think he was nervous?

So here we are with my new dog Cash, the Aussie Shepherd, and two of the shelter dogs. I wanted to see how he was going to do, walking and helping to train the shelter dogs and so far he is fine with it. He got along with the dogs and despite his lack of leash training, although he is good off leash, he was able to walk comfortably and help set the pace and relaxed tone. I think he will do just fine in his new role of helping to train and make comfortable the shelter dogs. Both these dogs seemed quite relaxed with Cash although it took some doing to get decent photos of them as they kept turning in different directions, so I kept taking shots as we walked hence the photos of the dogs relaxed in the street as I was not so relaxed but watchful and hoping to get a good photo while shepherding two dogs and my camera hand to safety. The big black dog, Honey was an unusual sort of case. Most shelter dogs can't wait to go for walks, and stay out of the noisy shelter. Honey got about 3/4 of a mile away from the shelter and then made an abrupt turn and kept pulling me back in the opposite direction that we were trying to walk in. At first I thought that perhaps she was spooked by the two male joggers behind us on the bike path so I pulled the dogs aside and told them to wait, but the joggers just passed by and the dog wasn't bothered by them but kept turning back and pulling me. I then thought that maybe she was trying to tell me that she recognized some landmarks and perhaps wants to try and go "home" to wherever she has lived before. I just decided that trying to wrestle a big lab mix who was determined to go in the opposite direction, wasn't going to be fruitful so we turned around and walked back to the shelter. As soon as we headed back she relaxed so I'm guessing that she liked the shelter, felt comfortable there and familiar with the staff and regular feeding. I was thinking," strange, she looks well fed and happy otherwise, why was she so scared to be away from the safety of the shelter?" We took Honey the big black lab out again, a week later, and she was really worked up and pulling while I tried to get her out of the shelter gates and I was using my stern training voice when one of the shelter employees said " you do know that Honey is deaf don't you?" " Actually no, this was the first I'd had heard of it" so that bit of info threw me for a loop. The last time I took her out she seemed fine, listened to my commands and or body language as well as that of my dog Cash's body movements, and we had a nice walk before she tugged and wanted to turn back. Maybe being hearing impaired made her more insecure when she got too far away from the shelter, often times it is the dogs who are super frightened or have been abused that are more comfortable in the shelter than outside of it but for most dogs they prefer to be out walking around.

The yellow Heinz 57 variety dog is Jake
Jake seemed pretty relaxed around Cash as well

Pascual in need of reform school?

I have to admit, that even our dog children from time to time, get into trouble no matter how well they are raised. My friend and I often take our rescue dogs out for long walks around a reservoir where there are little camping areas that are available for public use. The campground
areas are often filled up on the weekends in the summer time. This summer we were walking and basically at the end of our walk. My friend and I were in the parking lot with her dog and my new dog and she says to me" where's Pascual?" I looked around and called his name, which usually causes him to show up immediately but, no Pascual. I walked over to the bridge because sometimes the dogs stand in the water underneath the bridge to cool off. He wasn't under the bridge. This was really unusual behavior for him as he never strays far off the hiking path and he's usually never far from me or out of reach of my voice. I called once again"Pascual" and all of a sudden, he comes sneaking out of the bushes with a big piece of baked chicken in his mouth! I quick figured out what had happened, and as I was bursting out laughing and trying to tell my friend what had happened while taking the fully baked piece of chicken out of his mouth and Pascual is looking at me like" do you know the trouble I went through to sneak that piece of chicken, and you're taking it from me? why it was masterful" and I'm trying to rush everyone into the car before the drunken, angry, camper I'm imagining comes running after us and I don't even have any money on me to pay for the chicken, and I'm laughing so hard that this little old dog was so sneaky in his escape through the bushes, as I've often seen him skulking around the furniture in the house trying to outwit other dogs so he could steal food out of there bowls, but I never expected him to do it in public! So we quickly made our getaway, my friend and I laughing so hard. As my guilt started to rise, I said" I really don't know if he stole it or someone gave it to him" as despite my fears, no one actually came out of the woods and yelled at us, and I was reminded of the time in Portland Oregon when I was dog sitting for my friend's yellow lab mix and walking up in the Hawthorne Blvd. shopping district, and my friend had the strange, bungee style leash which I never understood the purpose of; a leash with spring coils in it, and someone was walking past us eating a slice of pizza and the dog jumped up and I pulled back on the leash and got no resistance, and the dog was able to snatch the pizza right out of the guys hand as he was lifting it to his mouth, and I was terribly embarrassed, and apologetic, and explained that I was only dog sitting and not familiar with that type of leash, and again I had no money on me to even pay the guy for the pizza but he was very easy going and told me not to worry about it. So hopefully my karma was washed clean this last winter when I found a $100 dollar bill on the floor at Walmart at Christmas time and kept thinking that it must have been someone's special gift money so I turned it in to the store manager who said someone came around all upset and desperate because they had lost their money so I apologize for my dogs behavior and hope that somehow things get evened out in the world, but needless to say I watch the dogs more closely now, and Pascual, like any good hunter, keeps going back to that campsite, his happy hunting ground!

Dogs,those mysterious creatures-what motivates them ?

When we got our new dog Cash from Inland Northwest Rescuehttp://www.aussierescuenw.org/INWR.htm he came with all kinds of toys; stuffed animals,a Frisbee, a teddy bear. I bought a brand new dog bed from Costco which has some of the best prices for large dog beds if you live near one. Do you think that the dogs would appreciate the efforts all these humans have gone to, no. No one, not the old or new dog has deigned to set foot on the brand new dog bed,"moi? dog bed? oh no,no no, Madame it is not for me, I much prefer furniture, of the human kind" "Toys? what would I want with toys, do I look simple to you? you throw it and want me to bring it back? why do you throw it in the first place? strange kind of human compulsion for frivolity? Why, bring me some sheep and we'll talk, what do you take me for?" so the toys sit in the corner. My friend has a large rescued Pyrenees mix dog, that plays with my new Aussie Shepherd, Cash. Last year the Pyrenees mix snuck over to the neighboring farm and stole the stuffed animal toys belonging to the neighbors German Shepherd. My friend kept finding new toys in her house every day for about a week. This year my friend heard a noise at her front door. She knew that her dog was already in the house, as it sometimes wiggles the door open with it's snout. She thought "hmmm, maybe it's one of the cats coming in" No, it was the neighbor's German Shepherd come to reclaim it's toys!Funny creatures these dogs, what interests them, what bores them, what they are motivated by. If only they could talk!This is the second time this year the above German Shepherd mix has come to my friend's farm for "toy exchange" I just happened to be there to witness all the fun and snag this photo. How did the dog know that my friend had just purchased this new toy? These dogs often have an uncanny sense of timing, and are always good for a few laughs!

Cash's Ontological Crisis

So Cash,( my new dog) or Cashi as he is affectionately called from time to time is having a hard time coming to terms with the definitions and structural set up of the human world. I admit, I don't always have an easy time of it myself, so here goes our scenario

Me to the dog" Wooden knitting needle on the coffee table, may look like a stick to you but no, it is actually a human implement. Yes I do realize it is made out of wood like a stick, and the shape of the knitting needle roughly resembles that of a stick, but sorry you are not allowed to chew on this type of wood if it is in the house"

Conversation number 2-" That post that you keep lifting your leg on once I let you outside, may look like a tree, and yes we did open the door and technically, go outside, but in the human realm, that semi- outside area is called a porch and that tree you thought you were peeing on is actually not a tree, but a porch post, granted it is made out of wood, and covered in hops vines leading one to reasonably believe that it is treelike,and has outdoor, natural world characteristics, but the humans aren't very happy when you pee on it. Just to confuse your little dog brain even further- Outside actually begins when you are out the door, down the steps, and off the porch, a mere technicality but important point nonetheless. Sorry, I know we humans are complicated creatures, but we do provide sofas and feed you dogs well

http://www.abebooks.com/Logic-Sense-Gilles-Deleuze-Columbia-University/4164307825/bd

Pascual flees the Czech Circus- a story in progress

The Czech Circus is a term I use for events having to do with my Czech friend who is a very talented graphic design artist and a filmmaker, www.buffalogirlsproductions.com.
We call it the circus because there is always an atmosphere of creative chaos,a juggling of people, animals and situations, an element of absurdity, where one can almost hear the circus music playing in the background or one starts singing the circus music to drive home the point that things are getting out of hand.









So my husband and I were going to take an all day sailing lesson on Hayden Lake which is about 2 hours north of here. I didn't want the dogs hanging out in a hot car for 10 hours, so I arranged for my 10 year old dog to stay at my Czech friend's house in the country, and the new dog Cash was going to stay at a very nice boarding facility run by a very calm and lovely Swedish woman, where the rooms are filled with covered sofas, and there is a doggie door for the dogs to go into the fenced area which has giant water bowls and bowls filled with dog food.http://www.elisabetsdogboarding.com/and long walks in the fields with Elisabet.

So I suppose I am one of the few people who decides to have people over for dinner the night before going away for the weekend. I was running around like a mad woman, watering all the plants, landscaping, setting up my low tech greenhouse self watering system which basically entails plants in containers sitting in bowls or pools of water, packing for the people, packing for the dogs and then cooking and cleaning. My two girlfriends came over, and because one is the Czech friend she was going to cook some of the food at my house and we would make the side dishes and provide drinks. Why we didn't just go to her house is one of the many circus mysteries. We had a global buffet of sorts with Indonesian spiced pork, tortillas, rice and homemade salsa from my homegrown peppers and tomatoes. We also had wine and Planters Punch drinks a favorite in the summer. When my Czech friend left that night, she took my old dog Pascual with her and was going to keep him for a few days and then we would pick him up on our way back. We were a little sad that night with only the new dog. We've only had to keep Pascual, my Blue Heeler, away from us once, since we got him. That particular time he stayed with a neighbor who lives a half mile away. The dog is not one to chase things and never wanders off from my house but when the neighbor took him outside with his two dogs, my dog looked around and was like" I don't live here and I'm rather spoiled living in the house and not interested in sleeping in the garage with two lab mixes so I'm outta here" so my Blue Heeler, just proceeded to walk down the neighbors driveway, walk down the road a quarter mile and then down my 1/4 mile driveway with the neighbor close behind shouting"Pascual come, come back here"( I wish I could have seen that!) Luckily I had a contingency plan if things didn't work out I told the neighbor to put the dog in my camper which I had set up with screened windows open, and food and water bowls and dog blankets. So the neighbor just exercised all the dogs at my place and my dog was content to stay on our place in our camper which was familiar and comforting to him.
Now my Czech friend lives 10 miles away and my blue heeler has been there many times and was quite familiar with my friend, the Great Dane grand dog, and her property, so I thought he would be more comfortable there, than in the back of my car all day. Unfortunately you can't explain things to dogs like you can people, and perhaps he thought I was dumping him off there permanently. I called her at six in the morning just checking on him and seeing if he was adjusting well. She said he was fine in the car and didn't want to go in the house that night, but she put a leash on him and he was fine in her mudroom overnight, with the Great Dane and his dog blanket which I had brought from home.
She looked around in the morning and couldn't find him. I told her to look near the car thinking that the dog might figure that he had arrived there in the car, and perhaps could go back home if he could only get back in the car. I also told her to look near her animals as she has sheep and chickens, and maybe he would be interested in looking at them. I called back twenty minutes later, but she still couldn't find him. We were all packed for the weekend, including all the stuff for Cash the new Aussie who was going to the boarding facility. Although my friend's house is out of the way, we figured that we could loop back around and continue on our journey once we found Pascual. I told my husband to drive the shortcut as the dog has traveled that way with me and it is a mile less than the ten miles it takes going to my house via the highway. I also told my husband that the car's gas tank was basically empty but I just got a " don't worry about it " gruff comment. Mind you, in rural areas a gas station can be some 10 miles away or more if you actually need one, otherwise it is a course of humbly begging for a gallon of farm gas if one gets desperate. So off we went, nervous and panicked wondering where the old dog had gotten off to. Of course my husband took the highway, not the cutoff.

We got to my friend's house and she was frantic because she couldn't find him. The Great Dane was running huge circles around the property and my old cattle dog was nowhere to be found. I thought surely if he heard our car and our voices he would have come running if he could, which led me to believe that he was either injured in the woods and couldn't come or on his way home somehow. It's not like him to be interested enough to run off, as he likes his creature comforts of warm house and food bowl, heck he didn't venture out much when he was young let alone old. My husband decided to drive around the neighborhood in our car with no gas in it and I asked my friend if I could borrow her car. She looked at me and thought maybe I was too nervous and it would be better if she drove, for my sake and her car's sake! Now my Czech friend was raised by Artists in Prague, and she has some wacky kind of odd intuition at times. Instead of taking the cut off road she went to the road directly across the highway from her road. We stopped at houses along the way asking if anyone had seen the dog. I also checked my answering machine in case someone had found him and called the number on the i.d. tag. I also alerted the animal shelter that he was missing in case someone called in with a found stray dog. There was a weird dirt driveway paralleling the highway between the road we were on and the shortcut road. A house was being built there and there were lots of workmen and guys on 4 wheelers(all terrain vehicles) My friend's spooky intuition led her to take this dirt driveway and we came upon a bunch of guys who said that the dog was around there earlier. They asked " does he look like a dingo?" ""yep" that's him and with that, Pascual, my Blue Heeler came trotting over and I was ecstatic, as I had been relatively calm but had horrible what if scenarios running through my mind, so I let go of all the worry and grabbed him and he was so happy to see me. I realized that he had walked 3 miles from my friend's house and was on his way home, the rest of the journey being another 7 miles. Knowing men and dogs, the workmen were probably feeding him treats and pieces of their breakfast so he hung around. So we drive back to my friend's house, and luckily my husband shows up and we were reunited, but exhausted after looking for the dog for 2 hours. By that time I was in no mood to put both dogs anywhere but with me, as I couldn't stand any more worry so I just told my husband to cancel the other kennel. We pondered whether we should have put both dog"s there but the new dog was nervous and when we went the day before to check out the boarding facility, I think Cash thought we were going to dump him at yet another noisy animal rescue, as he was jittery and kept looking for me. We decided that if it was too hot and we couldn't get back to shore from the boat I would stay with the dogs and forgo the lesson. As it turned out it was a rather cool day and there were a lot of tall trees surrounding the parking lot and the guy teaching the lesson said I could come back to shore and check on the dogs from time to time, so it worked out after all. What a way to spend my birthday weekend! Thank goodness our little family was reunited. We didn't even run out of gas! The new dog Cash(the Australian Shepherd-longer haired dog), is finally settling in, there were a few trials and tribulations, like fear peeing. He jumped out of the window in the hotel parking lot, I screamed in a deep tone"noooo" he came to me and peed on my ankle right on the bare skin and ankle bracelet below my capri pants, it was such a perfect shot I just laughed, and realized I had to be careful with my reprimand tone with him. There was about a weeks worth of daily dog tussles, and Cash chewed up one of my favorite wooden knitting needles-he's a sheep dog after all,maybe he's trying to tell me I need some sheep! but the testosterone has subsided 6 weeks after his neutering and we're all getting along just fine. So getting a new dog is always filled with adjustment periods and having an old dog is never dull. Happy dog walking to all.
Thanks to my Czech friend for finding the dog, and for all the design and tech help over the years, oh yeah and for the great friendship too!

Getting to know you- Cash, our new Aussie Shepherd

Now that my Blue Heeler is 11 and not as active as he once was I went looking for a rescue Aussie shepherd or Border Collie purebred/ mix, to be my new walking companion and shelter dog, training helper. My Heeler is a tad arthritic and is now in semi-retirement, not to the golf course but to the sofa and truck. I was a little frantic there for awhile, looking for that perfect special dog in need of a family. The trouble with me is that I love most all dogs and trying to figure out exactly which one fit the criteria I was looking for became somewhat overwhelming. I looked in our shelter but the aussie we had already had a hold on her, I missed a day and someone swooped in and fell in love with her. I combed the http://www.petfinder.com/ website, where you can find a pet available for adoption. I Searched the Aussie shepherd and Border Collie rescue sites in my area and even some not in my area but within reasonable driving distance. For a dog obsessed woman on the hunt for the perfect additional dog, "reasonable," included Canada, Seattle, and Montana even though I live in North Idaho. We once had some people drive from Idaho Falls- nine hours away- to get a lovely purebred Springer Spaniel that was at our shelter, so reasonable is a relative term when one finds love on the internet! I combed the Spokane shelters last week and found an adorable Tri-color Border Collie who when I said excitedly, "oh your so cuute!" basically chimed back in the same tone and length of sentence in dog speak, reiterating" I want you too" but alas someone else got there first and he had a serious hold placed on him, and the girl who wanted him kept calling back to see if the owner had claimed him as he was not free to be released for adoption yet. I was feeling rather frantic, the kind of frantic and obsessed I've seen women become when desperate to have their second child. Since I have no children, this was the closest I'd get to baby fever. I persisted in making contacts and putting the word out for what I was looking for and called the wonderful devoted Mary Ann, of Inland Northwest rescue http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/ID48.html
I also called and talked to Joan, one of the Idaho representatives, of Pacific Northwest Border Collie Rescue http://www.pnwbcrescue.org/ who is located down in Southern Idaho and she said that she often transports dogs up North here to Inland Northwest Rescue, which is how I came upon my beautiful Aussie Shepherd who we named Cash, after the musician Johnny Cash, and another favorite border collie mix named Cash we had a few years back at our shelter, who I had fostered. Initially our new dog's name was Simon, and then Rufus and Rudy but we weren't too fond of the name Simon, and I have seen many dogs at the shelter adapt to new names rather quickly, with proper bonding and repetition of the new name and he seems to respond well to Cash so that's his new name. The shelter staff have also given a dog a new name if it had come from less than terrific circumstances thus allowing the dog be born again/reborn into a new name and new, hopefully happier, life. We bandied about an assortment of names from Rudy, to Huck short for Huckelberry Finn, Lucky, Chance, Alfie, but the name Cash seemed amenable to us all. So here we go starting into a new adventure with a gorgeous wonderful new rescue dog, who is a tad frightened but doing well, he slept most of the way home in the car, marked inside the house once and went to the bathroom outside in the morning! Knock on wood ,so far so good. I'm always careful with new dogs to take them out frequently especially before bedtime, first thing in the morning, and about 10 minutes after meals, and use the same word" potty" and then praise them if they actually go. A few times I've actually stooped to lifting my leg and making "pst pst pst" sounds and saying "potty?" and oddly enough the male dogs understood what I was trying to say and urinated outside. Of course I live in the country with no neighbors, a person might look a tad odd doing this in a suburban backyard! My little Blue Heeler seems to be adjusting well to this relatively mellow, recently neutered new member of the family. It's been rather hot here so I'm taking a break from volunteering at the shelter as it's not good for the dogs to be out walking in the heat. I'm just having so much fun getting to know my new dog. Thanks Mary Ann for helping this dog and all the others you have helped over the years.Thanks for making it possible for us to adopt this special guy, we just adore him. Thanks also to Joan of Idaho Domestic Animal Welfare Group http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/ID34.html
for helping to rescue and transport my new dog.