Dog Bite Prevention Week

In honor of National Dog Bite Prevention Week, I am featuring our little biter - Jack the Skipper.  Jack, otherwise known as Jackjackjack or JackJACKJACK (he's a wee bit deaf now), is our current biter-in-residence.  Just because he has a taste for young children, don't even start comparing him to Epstein or Gaetz.  In fact, I believe that he is the actual victim here.  Pretty sure that the toddler deserved to be bit in the face and shaken like a squirrel.  She probably even squeaked like one.  In my opinion, when a dog bites a child, the child is probably the one at fault.  There weren't any witnesses that could say for sure that the kid didn't trip over Jack, in which case it would totally be self-defense.  

Jack is actually very much still loved by his former family.  Even his young snack wanted to cuddle him like a baby years later when they were reunited for a brief (supervised) visit.  We aren't really sure how old Jack is now, but we celebrated his birthday last month.  We've had him for 5 1/2 years now, and his former family had him for about 7 years.  He was somewhere between 3-7 years old when he was first rescued.  Doing the math, that would make him somewhere between ancient and dead now.

So, to sum it up for our lovely readers, the best way to prevent dog bites is to get rid of your children until they are old enough to behave properly around dogs.  Another option is to send your children to a trainer and keep them on a short leash when around dogs.  

Happy whatever birthday, Jack, and happy Dog Bite Prevention Week!

Don't Look So Dead

     Just curious - has anyone else ever told their dog (or other pet) "Don't look so dead"?  Well, seriously, they shouldn't do that to me!  Two out of three of our dogs do this on a regular basis.  And, since Jack is basically deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other (and blind in one eye and can't see out of the other), it is especially hard to tell if he is still on the side of the living.  Can't they breathe deeper as they age, or at least snore when they are sleeping?  Ok, just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one who said this to their pets more often than I would like.

I may or may not have just said this to Happy

Good thing Jack is cute, since he is pretty much blind, deaf, and not-so-smart

Not-So-Happy Feet

Last fall, we took the puppers on a hike to a gorgeous mountain lake.  The trail was busy with people and their dogs that day.  On our way up, we passed a couple of girls with a large golden retriever that had torn his pads walking on the rough rocks.  We checked our packs for vet wrap, but realized that we had used it all up when our spaz dog tore her toenail off a few months earlier.  Note to self:  reload pet first aid.

Do you like my highlights?

We made it to the lake and I decided to hang back with Happy while my Sweetpea took the other two dogs to play in the snow on the other side.  Watermelon snow.  Sky returned looking like she had been attacked by an orange highlighter.  She can't resist rolling and sliding down the snow, no matter how little snow there is.  Happy didn't go because the trail to the snow was rocky and I wasn't sure she could safely navigate the rough path.  The rest of the hike should be easy though - it was mostly downhill back to the car.

When the furmily was reunited, we started back down the trail.  Happy seemed to be slowing down.  My Sweetpea commented that she would probably get a second wind if she saw a deer she wanted to chase.  We had just reached the scree field, where the trail is cut into the side of the mountain.  An adorable pika popped up from the rocks and let out a loud squeak.  That was all Happy needed.  Second wind had arrived and she took off after the pika.  Her bumbling feet started sliding down the loose rocks.  Then, she started tumbling down - rolling on her side as she bounced off the rocks for 50 to 100 feet down the mountain.

The last picture I took, as we reached the scree field

Needless to say, I was a total wreck.  Sweetpea and I went down the mountain after her, while some other hikers held on to Jack and Sky's leashes on the trail.  Happy's front pads had been completely scraped off, but nothing seemed to be broken.  We hoisted her back up to the trail a few inches at a time.  Since we already knew that we were out of vet wrap, we had to improvise.  Her feet were bandaged up with gauze, my socks, and medical tape.

With the combination of wet trail, poor bandaging, and hurting feet, we didn't make it very far.  We tried to make a sling out of our rain pants to assist Happy, but the trail wasn't really wide enough to make that work.  She laid down on the trail and rolled onto her back, signaling that she was done.  Out of options and still 2 1/2 miles and 1500' of elevation from the parking lot, there was only one solution.  We took turns carrying her 70 pounds of dead weight on our shoulders.

Three days later, Happy (thought she) was ready to hike again.  I think she recovered faster than Sweetpea and I did.

Jack-iversary

Yesterday, Jack's other family sent birthday greetings for him.  We don't really know when his birthday is, but that was the day that they adopted him eight years ago.  He is now somewhere between 13 and 16 years young.  They still love him and he will always be part of their family, too.

Back in November, we celebrated our one year anniversary with Jack (Jack-iversary?).  In fact, we ended up taking him on almost the exact same hike as we did one year earlier.  Back then, he had only been in Colorado for a few hours after a late-night drive from Oklahoma.  He didn't know what hiking was.  Now, he is a pro.  He and his sister, Sky, inspect my clothes and shoes as I get dressed each morning to see if it is going to be a hiking day.  If they decide that it is, then we had better not try to sneak out of the house without them.  With a hiking buddy this adorable, why would we?

Jack's first day:

One year later:

I think we'll keep him.

 

Happy (Weekly) Birthday!

You know that your dog is old when you throw a little party every week, just because he made it another week.  Time to refill the pill dispenser!  "Operation Spoil the Shit Out of Andy" has gone into extra innings.  We did have to increase his dose of kitten food, though.  Small price to pay for this fuzzy muppet.

Treated With Love

For the holidays, "Grandma" sent a big box to our home.  There were loads of toys for the dogs and cats, presents for my Sweetpea and me, and a plethora of homemade goodies.  Included was a note aimed specifically at some mischievous pups:

If you remember from the year before, said pups helped themselves to the people treats, then assaulted us with bodily functions for several days.

Now, "Grandma" is extremely generous to us and the furkids, and even admitted that she would have made treats for them, but ran out of time.  To reward them for not eating the people treats this holiday season, I decided to make them some homemade treats of their own.  Afterall, doesn't everyone want to be popular in their own home?  A little effort goes a long way with these dogs.  My Sweetpea totally brought me back down to earth when he reminded me that our babies don't exactly have a refined palate.

Whatever.  They liked the treats.  I'll take that as a compliment to the chef.

Rug Rats

As soon as we stepped foot in our new house, we immediately began ripping out the carpet.  If you've ever done this, you totally understand how disgusting carpet really is.  Yes, you can see the pet hair on our hardwood floors all of the time, but I'd rather see it than hide it.  Plus, we didn't want to constantly be cleaning carpets when the dogs tracked in mud - or worse.

Fast-forward three years, and we have some aging dogs that sometimes have difficulty getting (or staying) on their feet on those same hardwood floors.  We have been solving that problem, one area at a time.  First, it was a welcome mat (with dog bones, of course) next to the couch to assist traction when the "running" start failed to boost Andy as much as he expected.  Instead of having his back legs end up underneath him (and the couch), he was able to stay on his feet and make a second attempt.  Next, it was a large outdoor rug in the middle of the living room to help Andy get on his feet when he wakes from his nap on his bed.

Now, we have added another rug in the bedroom for the same reason, a mat by his food bowl so his hobbit feet don't slide out from under him as he eats, a runway of rubber mats and bathmats from the rug in the bedroom to the back door, and another mat behind his bed in the living room for when his back end slides off.  My Sweetpea had already built a ramp off the back door, which also has welcome mats screwed to it for traction.

Our house is starting to look like a remnants sale at a carpet and flooring store.  If our visitors don't like it, I'll happily pull the welcome mat out from under their feet and find a more suitable spot inside for the old dogs.  Problem solved!