Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
What is with my dog? He's been so clingy this week. He's eating regularly, exercising regularly, he gets the same attention he always gets. (Laser light chasing, soap bubble chasing, lounging with me in the recliner, etc.)
But for the last two days, instead of his usual habit of resting up from his morning exertions, he follows me around while I get ready for work. It's all I can do to keep from tripping over him, given his size. Yesterday he even loudly dropped his Kong on the bathroom floor to make sure I knew he was there.
Is this normal? Do dogs get the "is this all there is" funk going like humans do?
I don't remember Miss Lucy (RIP) or Nikki having this. I'm perplexed.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
Yeah, dogs can definitely be moody. Zsa Zsa's definitely that way sometimes, and so was Sluggo.
In fact, Zsa Zsa's been pretty emo for the past couple of days. I can really only guess at what triggers the moods--sometimes I think it's circumstances, or the weather, or something, sometimes I dunno--but in my experience, some dogs are just a little more angsty than others.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
The dogs I used to sit would get in a funk too. But their reason was easily identifiable. I wasn't nearly as active or stimulating as two young boys a babby girl, a stay at home mom and an involved dad. They were always happy to see me and loved lounging around a couple of days but as days five six and seven rolled up they would be listless, not want to be inside or outside, would follow me around closely and other things. I could tell they were missing their boys and such and all I could do was pat them.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
This is probably the right thrad for pet-related stories and gripes, yes?
So, one of Adem's cats, The One-Eyed Devil Cat to be precise, occasionally gets a bug up her ass, especially around this time of year, about going outside. She is not allowed outside. She is not an outdoor cat. It's not even as though she's constantly trying to get out. Maybe once or twice a month, she'll decide that today is the day, and she's going to take another crack at that big open place out there.
Prior to the coming of The Dog, she only managed to get out twice, the first time because Adem did not yet realize her burning passion for the outside world, and did not pay careful enough attention to her location before opening a door, and the second time by actually pushing a screen out of a window (that time she left in the middle of th enight, taking Nmber Two Cat with her, and Adem took the day off of work and spent it forlornly wandering the environs of his neighborhood with a bag of treats and making kissy noises, only to have them show up at the back door crying to be let in about five minutes after he had given up). The Dog, however, has become her unwitting ally in escape artistry.
A Brief Digression on the Topic of The Dog's Bathroom Habits:
The Dog is a strange beast. She neither eats nor drinks while Adem and his SO are out of the house. Upon the arrival of a Beloved Humang in the home, The Dog's routine consists of a minute of so of excited greeting, Why-Did-You-Abandon-Me? whines, and puppy kisses, followed by a dash to the kitchen to tackle the food and water bowls that have not been touched since the Beloved Humang(s) thoughtlessly abandoned her to her own devices. As a result, The Dog's water consumption is normally backloaded onto the latter half of the day, meaning that The Dog often feels the urge to urinate during the hours when her humangs would prefer to be sleeping.
And so, The One-Eyed Devil Cat:
She is a clever beast. She gets shooed away from any doors leading outside before they are opened, and her Watchful Humangs keep their eyes on the floor so that, on those occasions when she chooses to turn around after the shooing and make a dash for it anyway, the door can be quickly closed, or an intervening foot can interrupt her route. However. She has learned that, when Adem awakens in the middle of the night to let The Dog into the backyard, he is not the most alert humang on the block and, while he will shoo her away if she is anywhere near the door, she can lurk in the darkness of the kitchen behind him and wait for her opportunity.
The Dog goes out. The Dog fertilizes the yard. The door is opened. The Dog begins to enter.
The One-Eyed Devil Cat times her run so that she and the dog arrive at the door at the same moment. Adem sees her coming at the last second, but cannot close the door, because The Dog is halfway through it, nor can he divert her with his foot, because she plots a course directly underneath The Dog. This is not an accidental occurrence. She knows what she is doing. She has done this three times now, and attempted it several other times when, fortunately, Adem was somehow awake enough to notice her before opening the door far enough for The Dog to begin entry.
Adem spends the night from 1:00 to a little after 2:00 sitting on the back deck and waiting for his Frustrating Yet Beloved Pet to tire of dashing around the outside world and allow herself to be picked up and taken back inside, all the while stewing with anger at himself for not seeing the cat getting ready to dash, at the cat for being an escape artist, and at The Dog for always needing to go out in the middle of the night. Meanwhile The Dog hangs out at the back door whining and whimpering because OMG BELOVED HUMANG IS OUTSIDE AND WHY DOES HE NOT WANT ME WITH HIM?
Adem is tired and grouchy at work the next day.
THE END
__________________
"Trans Am Jesus" is "what hanged me"
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
My Velvety has been getting increasingly bold at the door and her blackness makes her confoundedly hard to see when she tries to insinuate her way out. So far she's only managed to take about two steps onto the back porch once, but I am mired in paranoia that she'll get out and blend into the shadows forever.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
Sharon, have there been spring storms rolling through your neck of the woods? My pups get all bejiggety when they are around here. It makes static in their coats and I swear they are needy because they want me to ground them. Except for Dante, he is needy because he is ascared of the thunder-boomies.
Adem, this may sound overly simple, but have you thought about holding The One-Eyed Devil Cat when you let The Dog out?
Bort, OMG! How am I supposed to follow that?! (But no seriously, I will liberate the pics from Contra's phone when he gets in tonight.)
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
You know, I hadn't considered that. Mostly, I think , because it's only a problem during late night, half-asleep doggie bathroom trips. I think I may just need to start turning the kitchen light on so I can see her coming before it's too late.
__________________
"Trans Am Jesus" is "what hanged me"
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
Oh, man. Special Needs Buddy needs his nails trimmed, and it's not an easy thing to accomplish. The last time he got his nails trimmed unsedated, he flipped out and screamed and traumatized both himself and the poor vet tech really bad, so I called to make an appointment and told them they'll probably need to pop him a sedative first.
So now we have this full-on surgery style appointment where he's not allowed to eat after 8PM. I did say it's not like I want them to knock him out--just give him a Valium or something first.
I might call them back tomorrow and see if I can get one of the regular techs who knows him, and just clarify that he just needs something to soothe him because he's a scared little old man, not because he's like a vicious beast who can't be handled by mere mortals.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
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Originally Posted by Adam
Seen here: the devil beast cuddles in my lap like maybe I'll forget her little escapade last night.
Your devil cat looks a lot like Jasper. We have a harness for Jasper and have taken him in the yard on a leash a few times. We are hoping regular time outside will cure him of his desire to get out on his own. Of course it could increase said desire as well, but so far so good.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
IMPORTANT PUPDATE: BUDDY'S NAILS ARE DID.
I talked to them about his Special Needs a little bit, so they prescribed him some Xanax to take an hour before his appointment, and it worked! He didn't scream even once, and he happily took a bunch of treats from the tech who did it, even.
For context, once, many many months ago, my friend came over to help me remove a bandage from his leg that he didn't want removed, and he is still terrified of her. He sees her all the time and everything, but since the Great Bandage Removal, he trembles with fear and hides from her when he's around. He's all, "but remember that time she came over and tied me up and tore off all my legs with her teeth and ate them? REMEMBER?"
Hooray for Xanax and hooray for our awesome vet office where they are happy to treat a nail trimming as the significant life event that it is. One of the vets did a bunch of research on his history and on anxiety treatments for dogs with kidney disease and stuff like that, and then called back and we discussed her findings for like ten minutes. And we only got charged for the nail trimming.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
Oh, and I also wanted to share some of my handy skills. I forgot to take pictures before the phones died on the trip, but I came up with a great idea to keep the dogs safe and secure.
So on the island the beach is drivable. TX highway laws actually apply there. The speed limit is 15 MPH, but people do go faster and stopping distance is terrible on the sand. We can camp between the dunes and the surf, but before going I was very nervous about someone driving through our camp, or the dogs getting hit if they were off leash and we were not supervising them closely enough. Off leash time was therefore limited to early in the morning after sun up, when there is no traffic and the drivers won't have been drinking.
I had the screw in tie down stakes but they were less than ideal for sand. In the wet sand near the surf they were useless, and in the dry loose white sands they were alright. It didn't take the pups long though to figure out that they could dig them up.
I had prepared for that though. I looked at sand bags at first, but realized that even if they were heavy they could still be dragged. Especially by Muppet. I did the calculation that a gallon of dry sand weighs ten pounds, wet sand is even heavier, so I went back to my good old friend the 5 gallon bucket.
My first idea was to simply take a 1 inch paddle bit and drill a hole under the reinforced rim to run the tie down through. I was worried about cracking, and went to the hardware store. I was staring and looking at stuff for like an hour while I over-engineered the shit out of my idea. I brought some doo-dads home, but ended up going with the original plan. Took five minutes to make, they were super stackable and made good storage to boot.
I got a small plastic shovel and they were easy peasy to fill. We would dig a hole to about half the depth of the bucket then place the bucket into the hole for added stability. They worked so well! Especially in wet sand, it made like a suction to the bottom of the bucket and they were actually harder to dig out than to fill.
Only draw back is that they don't swivel. So the pups can shorten the tie downs by wrapping it around the bucket. Thankfully, my pups are smarties so I was able to teach them how to go around the other way the first afternoon.
I also bought a bunch of reflective pinwheels to stick in the sand to indicate to drivers how far the dogs could go on the tether. Just an easy visual marker, to let them know how close they could come without danger to anyone. They worked great.
I hate tethering them, but for moments when we can't give them our full attention, like cooking or going for a swim, it is necessary to keep them safe. Muppet in particular thought it was the most terrible and unjust thing in his life and pouted and cried and was generally a big old baby about it. Sylvie was kinda adorable on the swivel tie down. She was all prancing in a big circle with a goofy grin all, "Look at ME!! I can takes myself for walks!!"
Next trip I am looking at portable pens that we can set up. I am leaning towards this one. I might just bash two together to make an extra large rectangle run. It is short, but that will make the panels more transportable and easier to manage. I plan to cover the top with a tarp anyway, adding grommets and using zip ties to connect it to the pen with flaps and guy lines down on the sides to provide deep shade and a wind screen. They will need to have a good, quiet place to rest in the heat of the day for the longer summer trip. Old man Dante was so over stimulated and so excited and took so many walks and so few naps, that by the third day of our trip he was exhausted. I actually had to stop about a mile and a half from camp and wait with him just before dark, while C got the 4Runner and drove back for us. Poor Boo.
They should be much more comfy in there for the longer trip and we can just use the buckets when we load up and explore other parts of the island.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
Quote:
Originally Posted by BrotherMan
Quote:
Muppet in particular thought it was the most terrible and unjust thing in his life and pouted and cried and was generally a big old baby about it.
Nailed it.
I kinda wonder if he had been to the beach before with his previous owner. He knew a lot about how to dig down to the cool sand, enjoyed swimming and jumping the waves and what not.
He isn't as schooled at jumping rope like Dante and Sylvie are. Of course, when he is out on the town on the patio with us, even with a six foot lead he is so big that only gives room to turn around or lay down.
But yeah, he was pathetic, all DON"T YOU TRUST ME? BIG SAD EYES. He actually got to the pouty point where he would turn his back to us and just lay there giving big sighs and creaky whines. I have to report, he was really, really good on leash. Covered himself with glory on that, and would even do a sit-stay with it dangling in the sand when we had our hands full. I was so proud of him!
Then, off leash he went full Jack London on us a few times. Raced a mile down beach and climbed the dunes. We ended up having to turn our backs and walk away so he thought he was being left behind before he came back. Meanwhile, Dante got it in his head that if Muppet could climb to the top of the dunes HE would go OVER the dunes into the mudflats. At least he came back when called.
The last day I had a conversation with Muppet about it. He got into the habit of crying anytime one of us would walk away from camp. I was with him and Dante on lead, while Contra and Sylvie walked up to get something we forgot before our walk. He started yip crying about it. I pointed out that he wanted the freedom to run around on his own. We gave him that, and he abused it. But we weren't all crying and freaking out about it, we trusted he would come back eventually. You want us to trust you to come back, but you don't trust us? Now, really is that fair? He got quiet and was very introspective about it.
Since I am not saying enough about Sylvie, another thing that I wish I got pictures of was her in the tent. The side walls under the windows were just high enough that she couldn't see out while standing up. We had schooled them that night about not touching the side walls with their paws, but that first morning she was dying to see everything. So she stood up on her back legs, like a meerkat, in the middle of the tent. But she wanted to see the panorama, so she started doing little circles, shuffling her little feet and spinning like a ballerina. It was so freaking cute.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
Okay one more camping story and a home story.
So while on the trip we were extra vigilant with trash. We cleared our section of beach of wash up clutter, were very particular to ensure none of our trash flew away, and guarded our trash from the local wildlife by locking it in the car at night.
Even so, we had visitors in the night. Besides kangaroo rats, coyotes circled our tent and camp with their footprints each morning. I laughed about it and called them our Indian visitors. Because seriously, we could tell from the tracks, the approached from up wind, searched around and left super quiet like. They never woke us, or the dogs for that matter, even though nothing separated us but a paper thin layer of fabric.
I found it funny. Like our pups were these super socialized domesticated settlers who could circle the wagons, yet still be oblivious to a smaller canine equivalent just outside. Imagining Sylvie in a pioneer bonnet and the boys in cowboy hats.
I will say that Sylvie walks all dainty like. The coyote prints were barely visible, but she walks so lightly on the sand that besides a slight impression and a drag mark from her center toe on the right front foot, they were practically invisible.
Our home story is that when we came home from dinner, Dante had closed the doors and shut himself into the bathroom. It is now thunderstormy and a tornado watch, but was clear when we got home. He didn't bother to help his brother and sister to safety, instead he was all in a bunch on the bathroom floor waiting for Armageddon. Funny, smart, brilliant boy. I never taught him to do that, but after several close calls when I was home, he knows the drill and does it now automatically.
He is now glued to my hip and panting heavily. He was brave and went outside when we got home before the rain started. I think my brilliant, high strung boy is getting braver with the out of doors exposure.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
I will do my best.
Alright I have one more puppy story for this evening.
So when Dante was a pup back in the early, suburban days he had fans. Serious fans beyond the soccer mom inquiries at Starbucks, "oh you are Dante's mom, how is he?" etc.
One time while driving down the main street where we lived, a car full of teenaged girls pulled up along side us. One shrieked "OMG it's DANTE!" They all started crying "OH HAI DANTE!" while he had his head out the window and just grinned and grinned like the hero, super star he was. We had no idea who any of the kids in the car were and just laughed and laughed at the silliness of it.
Sylvie got herself some fans this trip. We got to the park late and camped at the four mile marker the first night. The next morning we pulled up stake to move further down island. First order of business was to run to the Visitor Center to make sure we were stocked up on ice and water. No pups are allowed in the VC, but the weather was gorgeous, so we rolled down the windows a bit and went up for a few minutes to take care of business.
When we come out of the VC there is an older couple laughing to die. We ask what is going on. They say that there is a dog who is in the driver's seat of a car honking the horn waiting for her peoples and their son is taking pictures of it.
You guessed it. Sylvie is sitting up as proud as can be in the front seat, beeping the horn with her paw, while this young 14 year old kid is filming her. She is loving the attention and hamming it up. Dante is laughing in the front passenger seat and Muppet is peering between the seats wondering what the fuss is about.
I am sure the kid imagined she would be a youtube sensation. So if any of you find a viral vid of a white dog in a 4runner honking the horn, that's my girl.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
All three dogs have had diarrhea and stomach problems. All three. And because of Buddy's special diet, there's no crossover food, so I know it's not that. I was thinking maybe someone was tossing something into our yard that they were eating, but they're never outside alone, so it's not that. We'd have seen it.
You know what it fucking is? It's the fucking lawn poisons, I'd bet you. Everyone except us and like one other house sprayed their stupid fucking lawns with it, and I'm pretty sure the parks are using it too. And the dogs started getting sick right as the flags started going up.
BRB going door to door punching everyone in the face.
Re: An Arf-Arf Here and a Meow-Meow There... E I E I O!
We have a harness for Jasper and have taken him in the yard on a leash a few times. We are hoping regular time outside will cure him of his desire to get out on his own. Of course it could increase said desire as well, but so far so good.
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