This week has been hot again. Yesterday our outdoor thermometers both got to 100-101 when there was no direct sun on them. Today, I looked mid afternoon and it's 95 in the shade. So, it was time to break out the kiddie pool. There was one in the tool shed, left from Lois' dog, Missy.
I left Marley in the house for a few minutes, to go get the pool, bring it into the yard, unhook the sprinkler and start the water running into the pool. Then I brought him out. Since it was something he'd never seen before he was skeptical. He circled it. He drank from it. He circled it. He tried to bite the grasshopper floating just out of reach. He circled it. He put a foot on the rim, then pulled it back and circled some more.
Every now & then he'd look at me for reassurance. At one point he got both front feet wet. Then he circled some more. He looked like he was going to hop in, then circled again. He really didn't trust this new thing. I used a yardstick to flick the occasional wasp or yellow jacket out of the pool.
Finally, I picked up his front end & put both his feet all the way in. He didn't much like it, but he didn't move away from the pool. So, I put all of him in the pool. At that point he decided the lawn was more interesting. Every once in a while I'd splash the water with the yardstick. All that did was get him interested in the yardstick as a stick.
Next time we'll take his little (used to be almost 2 feet long) stick and toss it in the water and see what happens.
He also got his first peanut butter jar today. I finished the little bit that was in the bottom of the jar and put it on the floor. He got a bit nervous. He barked at it, and barked at it until I put it on its side. He must have thought I killed it because he moved in and cleaned the top inch or two. He carried it into several rooms while he was working it over. Maybe when he's all grown up, he can clean our peanut butter jars for recycling. (Our first dog loved peanut butter and could reach to the bottom of the 40 ounce jars - they were squeaky clean looking when she was done.)
Today he also cocked his leg for the second time. Unfortunately, he was in the house, by the furnace. I'm so looking forward to the consistency that's coming.
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Friday, July 29, 2016
His first long walk
Marley went for his first "hike" (actually a long stroll in the woods) yesterday. Our friends Fran & John were here for a brief visit and we were headed to Kootenai Falls. We took a little detour off the main route into Ross Creek Cedars Scenic Area.
Tom & I had driven in to the area a couple weeks ago on a Sunday and it was crowded. We had discussed going back on a weekday after Marley had his last puppy shot. At that time he'd only had his first shot.
Yesterday he'd had his second shot, so he's still at some level of risk, but not as much as when he'd only had one. So, when there were hardly any cars parked there we decided to take the 1 mile nature trail under the big Western Red Cedars. Marley got to sniff all kinds of new things along the trail.
There was another dog, so we moved aside to let the group (dog plus his people) go by without letting the dogs meet & sniff noses. We let them know why we were being cautious. They thought we were worried about friendliness, but I let them know it was the antibody lack, not that we were worried about his big dog eating our little dog.
By the time we got back to the car (I don't know if we did the whole mile or only half) Marley was so tired he laid down to drink his water. He was pretty tired for rest of the day. He even was too tired to really dive into his dinner.
Once we got home & had the mail opened up, we introduced Marley to his "Chilly Pad" - a gel pad that gets cold when there's pressure. It will cool for 3-4 hours, then recover in about a half hour. Once he figured out it was cooler than the floor under the dining table, he spent most of the rest of the evening on the pad.
As far as we could tell, he slept through the night - we didn't find (we didn't look hard) any pee or poop in the house and about 6:30 he got up and had a loooooong pee outside. I had a solo bathroom break in the middle of the night; probably only my second or third since Marley cane home with us. It was almost 6:30 before we got up, and it was Charlotte who woke me by bumping into something on my nightstand. Marley was ready to be up for the day, so I was up for the day.
Tom & I had driven in to the area a couple weeks ago on a Sunday and it was crowded. We had discussed going back on a weekday after Marley had his last puppy shot. At that time he'd only had his first shot.
Yesterday he'd had his second shot, so he's still at some level of risk, but not as much as when he'd only had one. So, when there were hardly any cars parked there we decided to take the 1 mile nature trail under the big Western Red Cedars. Marley got to sniff all kinds of new things along the trail.
There was another dog, so we moved aside to let the group (dog plus his people) go by without letting the dogs meet & sniff noses. We let them know why we were being cautious. They thought we were worried about friendliness, but I let them know it was the antibody lack, not that we were worried about his big dog eating our little dog.
By the time we got back to the car (I don't know if we did the whole mile or only half) Marley was so tired he laid down to drink his water. He was pretty tired for rest of the day. He even was too tired to really dive into his dinner.
Once we got home & had the mail opened up, we introduced Marley to his "Chilly Pad" - a gel pad that gets cold when there's pressure. It will cool for 3-4 hours, then recover in about a half hour. Once he figured out it was cooler than the floor under the dining table, he spent most of the rest of the evening on the pad.
As far as we could tell, he slept through the night - we didn't find (we didn't look hard) any pee or poop in the house and about 6:30 he got up and had a loooooong pee outside. I had a solo bathroom break in the middle of the night; probably only my second or third since Marley cane home with us. It was almost 6:30 before we got up, and it was Charlotte who woke me by bumping into something on my nightstand. Marley was ready to be up for the day, so I was up for the day.
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Marley's improving, but it's still slow progress
Marley gets a little better each day about asking to go outside to go potty. He still sometimes asks to go out by peeing in the house - usually if he needs to poop. And we do find wet spots somewhere in the house some time almost every day. But he's asking more and more often.
I have to remind myself it's like having a toddler again. If you're a parent you probably remember that period of time when your toddler knew they supposed to go to the bathroom & use the toilet, but more often than not would tell you after they'd peed or pooped. Progress, but frustrating.
Charlotte's relationship with Marley continues to sound like war. When he grabs her, she makes the most awful noises. She sounds like she's in a lot of distress. And yet, if he isn't paying attention to her she'll stir it up again. She'll stop, look and calculate, then run past him at full speed or she'll arch up like a Halloween cat and bounce toward him until he chases her down again.
She'll take refuge on top of a stack of boxes (yes, we still have them) or on top of the washer or the couch. Then, when he's ready to move on to some other activity, she'll race down and get the mayhem started again.
They start early in the morning. Often by 5 or 6 in the morning as the first pre-dawn light is starting to show in the windows.
Once in a great while they'll touch noses peacefully. Then the chase begins again.
I have to remind myself it's like having a toddler again. If you're a parent you probably remember that period of time when your toddler knew they supposed to go to the bathroom & use the toilet, but more often than not would tell you after they'd peed or pooped. Progress, but frustrating.
Charlotte's relationship with Marley continues to sound like war. When he grabs her, she makes the most awful noises. She sounds like she's in a lot of distress. And yet, if he isn't paying attention to her she'll stir it up again. She'll stop, look and calculate, then run past him at full speed or she'll arch up like a Halloween cat and bounce toward him until he chases her down again.
She'll take refuge on top of a stack of boxes (yes, we still have them) or on top of the washer or the couch. Then, when he's ready to move on to some other activity, she'll race down and get the mayhem started again.
They start early in the morning. Often by 5 or 6 in the morning as the first pre-dawn light is starting to show in the windows.
Once in a great while they'll touch noses peacefully. Then the chase begins again.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Charlotte breaks IN
The other night, actually early morning, I let Charlotte "escape" as I took Marley out for a potty break. Later, I was a bit confused as I heard her eating her dry food on top of the dresser in the bedroom. (It's the only place I could think of, other than the kitchen table or counters, that she could get to and Marley can't.)
The next time I got up the mystery was solved. I had only "thrown" the door closed as I came in and it hadn't latched. (Depending on the humidity the door latches when "thrown" as you come through, or it sticks mostly closed, but not fully closed & latched.) Not only was the door open a few inches, but an item stored between the wall and the dryer, next to that door, was on the porch floor. She'd worked very hard to get that door open and get back inside.
Once Marley knows not to eat the mushrooms (or we're past mushroom season and mountain ash berry season) and he knows to always go potty outside, we'll unlock the doggy door and this won't be an issue any more. Or at least not until Charlotte or Marley start inviting "friends" inside.
The next time I got up the mystery was solved. I had only "thrown" the door closed as I came in and it hadn't latched. (Depending on the humidity the door latches when "thrown" as you come through, or it sticks mostly closed, but not fully closed & latched.) Not only was the door open a few inches, but an item stored between the wall and the dryer, next to that door, was on the porch floor. She'd worked very hard to get that door open and get back inside.
Once Marley knows not to eat the mushrooms (or we're past mushroom season and mountain ash berry season) and he knows to always go potty outside, we'll unlock the doggy door and this won't be an issue any more. Or at least not until Charlotte or Marley start inviting "friends" inside.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
He's growing up
This morning, on one of our many trips outside, Marley went into his half-squat. It looks something like when a horse needs to pee and the back legs go back a bit extra and there's a bit of a drop to the rump. He "assumed the position", then his left leg lifted a bit. He's on his way to being a "big dog".
At the rate he's growing, and the size of his feet compared to the rest of him, I think the Labrador daddy size is going to overshadow the mommy springer spaniel size. So, he'll be a big boy, big dog.
At the rate he's growing, and the size of his feet compared to the rest of him, I think the Labrador daddy size is going to overshadow the mommy springer spaniel size. So, he'll be a big boy, big dog.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Ouch!
For the first time (and I hope the last time) Marley bit me intentionally. There have been a lot of scratches and bits, but they were incidental to his activities. This one was very deliberate.
We had been gone all day (him, too) and only home a short while. He asked to go out (he's getting better about that later and later into the day), but then he fought getting the harness on. We harness him even though we have a fenced yard because of all the lawn mushrooms. We don't know if any of them are harmless and don't want to find out the hard way. So, putting on the harness to go potty is just standard procedure here, until he grows out of eating everything he gets near. The only exception is the dark-hours pee breaks, when we slip a loop of kitty collar on him, go a few feet of the porch, pee and come back in to go back to bed.
This time, though, since he'd been in the harness nearly all day, he didn't really want it on. He slipped to his side, making it hard to get the harness on him. The, to make it worse, he rolled to his back making it virtually impossible. As I was trying to maneuver him back into position he reached around and sliced the back of my hand. That is totally unacceptable. I gave him 3 quick, light slaps to the muzzle. He didn't make a sound. He knew he'd done wrong. Normally, I would not do that to a puppy, but like a mother dog, there are certain things I can't allow. If he bit his mama, she'd either gently bite him or grab his neck and shake him to let him know he crossed the line.
He stopped fussing, we got the harness on and went out for him to do his business. I gave him the usual praise "good boy!" for piddling and pooping outside. Those are separate activities. Only the bite was bad. I think it will probably not happen again now that he's tried it and found out it's definitely not allowed.
We can't have a dog that bites when he's not happy. No one should have a dog that deliberately bites humans when it's unhappy. That's just the way a dog's life is.
Note: Less than an hour later he needed out again and there was no issue with getting the harness on him. Lesson learned, I think.
We had been gone all day (him, too) and only home a short while. He asked to go out (he's getting better about that later and later into the day), but then he fought getting the harness on. We harness him even though we have a fenced yard because of all the lawn mushrooms. We don't know if any of them are harmless and don't want to find out the hard way. So, putting on the harness to go potty is just standard procedure here, until he grows out of eating everything he gets near. The only exception is the dark-hours pee breaks, when we slip a loop of kitty collar on him, go a few feet of the porch, pee and come back in to go back to bed.
This time, though, since he'd been in the harness nearly all day, he didn't really want it on. He slipped to his side, making it hard to get the harness on him. The, to make it worse, he rolled to his back making it virtually impossible. As I was trying to maneuver him back into position he reached around and sliced the back of my hand. That is totally unacceptable. I gave him 3 quick, light slaps to the muzzle. He didn't make a sound. He knew he'd done wrong. Normally, I would not do that to a puppy, but like a mother dog, there are certain things I can't allow. If he bit his mama, she'd either gently bite him or grab his neck and shake him to let him know he crossed the line.
He stopped fussing, we got the harness on and went out for him to do his business. I gave him the usual praise "good boy!" for piddling and pooping outside. Those are separate activities. Only the bite was bad. I think it will probably not happen again now that he's tried it and found out it's definitely not allowed.
We can't have a dog that bites when he's not happy. No one should have a dog that deliberately bites humans when it's unhappy. That's just the way a dog's life is.
Note: Less than an hour later he needed out again and there was no issue with getting the harness on him. Lesson learned, I think.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
His worst day . . . updated, again
Today, we hope, is the worst day of Marley's life. He's in a crate, in a van, with a lot of other puppies, maybe some kittens, on the way to Corvallis MT for his neuter, second round of puppy shots and his microchip. We dropped him off about 8:45 and he won't be back home until about 8 or 9 tonight.
We'll be waiting for the phone call that it's time to head toward Thompson Falls to meet the van and pick him up. They'll call when they're at Plains, about 40 miles from the house, 25 from Thompson Falls.
Makes for a long day, knowing he's miserable, then he'll be knocked out, then sore, then miserable again when he wakes up. Looking forward to a lot of TLC until he's himself again. At least, after today he should become officially ours, ending the foster period and the shelter's responsibility for him.
In another couple of weeks we'll be able to take him in for his last puppy shot and begin to introduce him to other dogs, the dog park, places we've been avoiding for his safety. And we'll be able to let him walk through the stores where he's welcome instead of putting him in a shopping cart.
We'll find plenty to do, but all day we'll be wondering how he's doing. Poor little guy . . .
I'll update after he's home (probably not until tomorrow)
We got the call he was getting close to Thompson Falls earlier than we expected, so we had almost an hour's warning. Good thing, since we'd just started eating dinner. On the way to Thompson Falls we drove into a serious rain storm. Even on high the wipers were having trouble keeping the windshield clear and we had to be careful to stay out of the flooded road ruts (yes, even in rural Montana the pavement gets ruts from the heavy truck traffic). We did get there before the van, and waited outside the locked gate for them to arrive. The van had to pull over and wait out a hail storm. (When we went to the grocery store after picking him up we could see a lot of tree debris on the road; glad we missed that wind!)
Anyway, he was fully awake from the anesthesia, just moving a bit slow. These days, after they snip the little boys, they give them a green "N" tattoo near the surgical site. That way, nobody will try to do it again, and nobody has to take our word for it that he's been neutered.
Apparently Charlotte missed the excitement of playing chase. Even though we're supposed to try to keep him from getting too excited or active, she really wanted to stir things up. This morning they started playing tag about 6am. Things are pretty much back to normal. We just need to monitor his incision and try to keep him from licking at it too much.
We checked with the shelter and he is now officially ours . Not that it will make any difference how we treat him, but it's good to know he's now family. And he's microchipped and the chip registered to us and our contact info. Yay!
We watched Marley & Me again the other night. When the puppies and dogs were barking or crying he stopped what he was doing and watched until it went back to all people on the screen. He's also seemed a bit worried when we're in Sandpoint and the seagulls are screaming from the light posts in the parking lots. They do sound a bit like puppies in dire distress, don't they?
We'll be waiting for the phone call that it's time to head toward Thompson Falls to meet the van and pick him up. They'll call when they're at Plains, about 40 miles from the house, 25 from Thompson Falls.
Makes for a long day, knowing he's miserable, then he'll be knocked out, then sore, then miserable again when he wakes up. Looking forward to a lot of TLC until he's himself again. At least, after today he should become officially ours, ending the foster period and the shelter's responsibility for him.
In another couple of weeks we'll be able to take him in for his last puppy shot and begin to introduce him to other dogs, the dog park, places we've been avoiding for his safety. And we'll be able to let him walk through the stores where he's welcome instead of putting him in a shopping cart.
We'll find plenty to do, but all day we'll be wondering how he's doing. Poor little guy . . .
I'll update after he's home (probably not until tomorrow)
We got the call he was getting close to Thompson Falls earlier than we expected, so we had almost an hour's warning. Good thing, since we'd just started eating dinner. On the way to Thompson Falls we drove into a serious rain storm. Even on high the wipers were having trouble keeping the windshield clear and we had to be careful to stay out of the flooded road ruts (yes, even in rural Montana the pavement gets ruts from the heavy truck traffic). We did get there before the van, and waited outside the locked gate for them to arrive. The van had to pull over and wait out a hail storm. (When we went to the grocery store after picking him up we could see a lot of tree debris on the road; glad we missed that wind!)
Anyway, he was fully awake from the anesthesia, just moving a bit slow. These days, after they snip the little boys, they give them a green "N" tattoo near the surgical site. That way, nobody will try to do it again, and nobody has to take our word for it that he's been neutered.
Apparently Charlotte missed the excitement of playing chase. Even though we're supposed to try to keep him from getting too excited or active, she really wanted to stir things up. This morning they started playing tag about 6am. Things are pretty much back to normal. We just need to monitor his incision and try to keep him from licking at it too much.
We checked with the shelter and he is now officially ours . Not that it will make any difference how we treat him, but it's good to know he's now family. And he's microchipped and the chip registered to us and our contact info. Yay!
We watched Marley & Me again the other night. When the puppies and dogs were barking or crying he stopped what he was doing and watched until it went back to all people on the screen. He's also seemed a bit worried when we're in Sandpoint and the seagulls are screaming from the light posts in the parking lots. They do sound a bit like puppies in dire distress, don't they?
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