These are the dogs that I foster. I'd like to become a canine behaviorist, but until I do, I intend to foster and rehabilitate dogs with behavioral problems. And the money I make from my pet portraits (http://believepetportraits.blogspot.com/) go towards supplies for these homeless dogs. The dogs and I thank you for your contributions!
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary!!!
I got accepted into a 5 week internship at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the largest no-kill shelter in America. It's been my dream to go there ever since I saw the show DogTown on National Geographic, which highlights specific dogs that need special medical attention and/or rehabilitation. My wonderful mother has created a separate blog for my adventures at DogTown, you can read it at DesertQuests.com. Wish me luck!! :DDD
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Kay Gets Adopted :DDD
I recently got a job at PetSmart. Like, really recently. About 2 weeks ago actually. One of my opening tasks is to clean the cat adoption center, where NHS puts some of their cats for 2 weeks in hopes that the extra attention will get them adopted. Well, I was in there one morning and petting a cat. I told her straight up, 'You look just like the mama cat I just fostered!' In fact, she looked so much like Mama that I went to the front and looked at her paper and guess what, it actually was Kay!! How funny is that! I never expected to see her again, and a month later we meet again in a completely unrelated circumstance. So I got to take care of her again for a few more days (I assume her litter was old enough to be adopted out, she was alone. Her teats were still oozing and a little crusty though, so it hadn't been long)
One morning I went into the adoption center and found she was gone, she had been adopted!! I'm so happy for her! Just wanted to update :)
One morning I went into the adoption center and found she was gone, she had been adopted!! I'm so happy for her! Just wanted to update :)
Friday, June 28, 2013
Kittens!!! :DDD
Chris got a bit burnt out fostering Kyra with all the work she required, so we took a long break from fostering. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for me!), kitten season interrupted our fostering vacation. This time every year we start getting frantic emails from the Nevada Humane Society with a list of kittens that need foster homes. There are kittens of all kinds to choose from: orphaned kittens that need to be bottle-fed, kittens with moms that don't need as much work, healthy kittens, sick kittens that are on meds, friendly kittens, feral kittens... you name it, chances are there's a kitten in that situation that needs to be fostered.
Me and Chris learned a few years ago that bottle-feeding orphaned kittens is a big pain in the ass. An extremely rewarding pain in the ass, but at the moment, far too much trouble and time than we were able to give. Not to mention Chris isn't particularly fond of fostering and I don't want to get him involved if I don't have to put the burden on him, but kittens need to be fed every 3-5 hours, depending on how old they are, and I work. So Chris would end up helping me feed them when I'm not home.
So on one of the lists that the NHS sent us was a mama cat and her litter of 5. Well technically, only 4 were hers. There was a single orphaned white kitten that was put with the litter closest to his age and that happened to be with Kay and her 4 kits, so we ended up with 5. The little white one's name was Ken and he was only a few days younger than the others (they were 17 days), but those few days make a big difference when you're doubling-to-tripling your size every week! Ken was having a harder time fighting off his older stepsiblings to get to the milk, so he stayed smaller than the others. But he was still growing and doing well so I helped him out a bit, but mostly let nature take its course.
Kittens are fun! Mama does most of the work, so I mostly take care of her, keep an eye on the kittens, and get to play! As horrible as it sounds, I kept them all in my bedroom closet. I put down a blanket and a towel to make a soft nest for them, I kept their kennel in the corner so they could hide, I put Mama's food and water on my small dresser where the kits couldn't get into it, and I put the litter box in my room with the other side of the closet door open so Mama could hop over stuff and get out, but the kittens couldn't follow. I would've moved them eventually, but for the time being it was a decent-sized place for 5 tiny kits. I kept the closet doors closed at night so Briar couldn't get it, and open during the day, blocked with the plastic bottom of Breeze's kennel so the kits couldn't get out.
It was a good arrangement. My only complaint was that Selene doesn't like other cats, so I had to keep my bedroom door closed 24-7 so the cats couldn't see each other. Which wasn't a problem except for at night; Selene likes to sleep with me and instead she was alone, which I felt bad about. But I tried leaving the door open, hoping Kay would stay near her kits and Selene would stay away from another loathed cat, but I ended up breaking up a hissing argument and kept the door closed after that.
At 3 weeks, I started trying to teach them to lap milk up from a bowl. And how you do that is dip your finger in the kitten formula and touch their nose. The point is to get them to lick their nose because there's something on it, and then hold your finger out for them to smell there's milk on that too. And then graduate to using a bowl instead of your finger. A few caught on pretty quick, the others were having trouble getting the hang of it. Ken didn't get it at all, but I gave him a bit of leadway because he was a little younger than the others.
It was around this time I picked Ken up to give me a bit of milk and noticed his eye was goopy. I cleaned it out with a warm wet washcloth and it looked fine. But the next day it was goopy again, and this time red and irritated. So I called up the NHS clinic and made an appointment to get him looked at. The doctor gave me a bottle of eyedrops and I gave it to him every 12 hours and it soon cleared up.
Little Ken was everybody's favorite. All my friends who came over to see them loved Ken and the friend I brought the kittens to (we stopped by her house on the way to get their first vaccines, and of course I couldn't leave them in the car!) loved Ken too. I think it's because he was the smallest and cutest, but also because his tiny white body stood out so much more than the other black/gray striped kits. But personally, I liked another little one best. Her name was Kibo. (Ken, Kibo, Khan... all of the kits began with Kay) I thought little Kibo was the cutest because she had a little white muzzle, white paws, and she was the only one to have a patch of brown on her otherwise-black/gray forehead. Plus I'm biased towards girls ;D I gave some serious thought to adopting her when she was old enough, the only things stopping me was us having too many pets as it is and Selene not liking other cats. But other than that, I fell in love with little Kibo.
They were supposed to get their vaccines when they're about 4 weeks old, so on their 4 week birthday, I took them to NHS to get weighed. They were too little, so I was told to bring them back Friday (it was Monday then) and see if they were big enough then. Well Friday didn't happen, but due to unfortunate events, I was forced to bring them back Saturday. I woke up Saturday morning and Ken had passed away. I was devastated. He was fine the night before, sleeping in a pile with the rest of the kittens. I've never lost a foster before, much less one barely a month old! I didn't know what else to do, so I brought poor little Ken back to NHS. I wasn't thinking very clearly at the time, mostly just bawling my eyes out, but after I gave them his cold little body, I decided to bring the rest of them too, just so they could be looked at real quick and they needed their vaccines anyway. So I went home, got the other little ones, and went back to NHS. They all weighed enough for their vaccines except for Kibo, the littlest after Ken, and since they measure by the smallest, none of them got their vaccines that day either. But the lady who weighed them said they seemed healthy enough, exploring and protesting their now-too-small kennel. She said poor Ken probably didn't get enough milk, or maybe he had a birth defect Mama knew about, so she gave her milk to the healthy kits. It would make sense, since he was the only one found in his original litter. If he had a birth defect, maybe his real mom abandoned him because of it. Kittens are lost all the time for unknown reasons. But Ken's passing was probably a one-time, unfortunate occurrence.
The next morning is when I found Kibo. The second kitten lost in 24 hours was both more and less painful. It was less painful because it wasn't as much of a surprise, more painful because she was my favorite. Less painful because I was already emotionally drained from losing Ken, but more painful because it wasn't just one kitten anymore. It was now two dead kittens, and now I was sure it was no coincidence. We were giving all of them back. Chris packed Kay and the remaining kits in their kennel and drove me back to NHS (Luckily I wasn't alone that day, I found little Ken on my own and didn't see Chris until later that night). I held poor little Kibo against my chest and cried the whole way. I just handed Kibo over to the same girl that helped me the day before and let Chris do the talking. He explained it was our second kitten lost in 24 hours and the whole litter had been exposed to whatever had killed those two. It couldn't have been coincidence, they had to be sick. Ken and Kibo were just the first to go because they were the littlest, but I was sure if I didn't do anything the entire litter would soon be gone. They put the litter in quarantine and we left.
This has little to do with the kittens, but I just want to acknowledge that I have the best friends ever. Chris especially. I was alone when I found Ken and Chris came home after I had already left for work. So when I got off at 2 in the morning, I woke him up, broke down yet again on his shoulder, and finally cried myself to sleep with him in his bed. And he was totally fine with it. So the next morning when I walked into his room holding a kitten and me trying to keep from crying, I didn't have to say a word; he knew immediately I'd lost another one. He sat me down on my bed and held me for a few minutes, then packed the others up. We silently agreed they had to go back to NHS, but we had different reasons for it. My reason was of course for the good of the kittens, and Chris was thinking that too, but he also wanted to give them back because he didn't want me losing a third. He knows how sensitive I can be when it comes to animals and he didn't want me to go through that yet again. When we left NHS, he drove me to Starbucks, bought me a drink, sat me down with my box of tissues, and immediately began making plans with other friends to keep my mind off of my two lost fosters. That's where Katie and Susannah make their guest appearances. Going to the dog park always cheers me up no matter what, so we made plans to meet Katie at the dog park and we spent a while there. Then we had lunch with Susannah for distraction #2. I wasn't crying anymore, I was tired of crying and emotionally drained. I certainly wasn't in a good mood, but the day was actually kinda fun considering how it began.
One last note. The day after I lost Kibo, we went back to NHS. Chris didn't think it was a good idea, because he knew I was too raw to take bad news well. Luckily we didn't get bad news - the rest of the litter were just fine. The doctor looked them over and they were perfectly healthy and happy, Mama too. So I guess it was just coincidence that the two passed so close together, it apparently wasn't anything contagious. The sad news is that when we got there, they were already fostered out to a new home, but I don't care much about that. I'd like to have them back, but as long as they're healthy, that's the most important thing :')
Me and Chris learned a few years ago that bottle-feeding orphaned kittens is a big pain in the ass. An extremely rewarding pain in the ass, but at the moment, far too much trouble and time than we were able to give. Not to mention Chris isn't particularly fond of fostering and I don't want to get him involved if I don't have to put the burden on him, but kittens need to be fed every 3-5 hours, depending on how old they are, and I work. So Chris would end up helping me feed them when I'm not home.
So on one of the lists that the NHS sent us was a mama cat and her litter of 5. Well technically, only 4 were hers. There was a single orphaned white kitten that was put with the litter closest to his age and that happened to be with Kay and her 4 kits, so we ended up with 5. The little white one's name was Ken and he was only a few days younger than the others (they were 17 days), but those few days make a big difference when you're doubling-to-tripling your size every week! Ken was having a harder time fighting off his older stepsiblings to get to the milk, so he stayed smaller than the others. But he was still growing and doing well so I helped him out a bit, but mostly let nature take its course.
Kittens are fun! Mama does most of the work, so I mostly take care of her, keep an eye on the kittens, and get to play! As horrible as it sounds, I kept them all in my bedroom closet. I put down a blanket and a towel to make a soft nest for them, I kept their kennel in the corner so they could hide, I put Mama's food and water on my small dresser where the kits couldn't get into it, and I put the litter box in my room with the other side of the closet door open so Mama could hop over stuff and get out, but the kittens couldn't follow. I would've moved them eventually, but for the time being it was a decent-sized place for 5 tiny kits. I kept the closet doors closed at night so Briar couldn't get it, and open during the day, blocked with the plastic bottom of Breeze's kennel so the kits couldn't get out.
It was a good arrangement. My only complaint was that Selene doesn't like other cats, so I had to keep my bedroom door closed 24-7 so the cats couldn't see each other. Which wasn't a problem except for at night; Selene likes to sleep with me and instead she was alone, which I felt bad about. But I tried leaving the door open, hoping Kay would stay near her kits and Selene would stay away from another loathed cat, but I ended up breaking up a hissing argument and kept the door closed after that.
At 3 weeks, I started trying to teach them to lap milk up from a bowl. And how you do that is dip your finger in the kitten formula and touch their nose. The point is to get them to lick their nose because there's something on it, and then hold your finger out for them to smell there's milk on that too. And then graduate to using a bowl instead of your finger. A few caught on pretty quick, the others were having trouble getting the hang of it. Ken didn't get it at all, but I gave him a bit of leadway because he was a little younger than the others.
It was around this time I picked Ken up to give me a bit of milk and noticed his eye was goopy. I cleaned it out with a warm wet washcloth and it looked fine. But the next day it was goopy again, and this time red and irritated. So I called up the NHS clinic and made an appointment to get him looked at. The doctor gave me a bottle of eyedrops and I gave it to him every 12 hours and it soon cleared up.
Little Ken was everybody's favorite. All my friends who came over to see them loved Ken and the friend I brought the kittens to (we stopped by her house on the way to get their first vaccines, and of course I couldn't leave them in the car!) loved Ken too. I think it's because he was the smallest and cutest, but also because his tiny white body stood out so much more than the other black/gray striped kits. But personally, I liked another little one best. Her name was Kibo. (Ken, Kibo, Khan... all of the kits began with Kay) I thought little Kibo was the cutest because she had a little white muzzle, white paws, and she was the only one to have a patch of brown on her otherwise-black/gray forehead. Plus I'm biased towards girls ;D I gave some serious thought to adopting her when she was old enough, the only things stopping me was us having too many pets as it is and Selene not liking other cats. But other than that, I fell in love with little Kibo.
They were supposed to get their vaccines when they're about 4 weeks old, so on their 4 week birthday, I took them to NHS to get weighed. They were too little, so I was told to bring them back Friday (it was Monday then) and see if they were big enough then. Well Friday didn't happen, but due to unfortunate events, I was forced to bring them back Saturday. I woke up Saturday morning and Ken had passed away. I was devastated. He was fine the night before, sleeping in a pile with the rest of the kittens. I've never lost a foster before, much less one barely a month old! I didn't know what else to do, so I brought poor little Ken back to NHS. I wasn't thinking very clearly at the time, mostly just bawling my eyes out, but after I gave them his cold little body, I decided to bring the rest of them too, just so they could be looked at real quick and they needed their vaccines anyway. So I went home, got the other little ones, and went back to NHS. They all weighed enough for their vaccines except for Kibo, the littlest after Ken, and since they measure by the smallest, none of them got their vaccines that day either. But the lady who weighed them said they seemed healthy enough, exploring and protesting their now-too-small kennel. She said poor Ken probably didn't get enough milk, or maybe he had a birth defect Mama knew about, so she gave her milk to the healthy kits. It would make sense, since he was the only one found in his original litter. If he had a birth defect, maybe his real mom abandoned him because of it. Kittens are lost all the time for unknown reasons. But Ken's passing was probably a one-time, unfortunate occurrence.
The next morning is when I found Kibo. The second kitten lost in 24 hours was both more and less painful. It was less painful because it wasn't as much of a surprise, more painful because she was my favorite. Less painful because I was already emotionally drained from losing Ken, but more painful because it wasn't just one kitten anymore. It was now two dead kittens, and now I was sure it was no coincidence. We were giving all of them back. Chris packed Kay and the remaining kits in their kennel and drove me back to NHS (Luckily I wasn't alone that day, I found little Ken on my own and didn't see Chris until later that night). I held poor little Kibo against my chest and cried the whole way. I just handed Kibo over to the same girl that helped me the day before and let Chris do the talking. He explained it was our second kitten lost in 24 hours and the whole litter had been exposed to whatever had killed those two. It couldn't have been coincidence, they had to be sick. Ken and Kibo were just the first to go because they were the littlest, but I was sure if I didn't do anything the entire litter would soon be gone. They put the litter in quarantine and we left.
This has little to do with the kittens, but I just want to acknowledge that I have the best friends ever. Chris especially. I was alone when I found Ken and Chris came home after I had already left for work. So when I got off at 2 in the morning, I woke him up, broke down yet again on his shoulder, and finally cried myself to sleep with him in his bed. And he was totally fine with it. So the next morning when I walked into his room holding a kitten and me trying to keep from crying, I didn't have to say a word; he knew immediately I'd lost another one. He sat me down on my bed and held me for a few minutes, then packed the others up. We silently agreed they had to go back to NHS, but we had different reasons for it. My reason was of course for the good of the kittens, and Chris was thinking that too, but he also wanted to give them back because he didn't want me losing a third. He knows how sensitive I can be when it comes to animals and he didn't want me to go through that yet again. When we left NHS, he drove me to Starbucks, bought me a drink, sat me down with my box of tissues, and immediately began making plans with other friends to keep my mind off of my two lost fosters. That's where Katie and Susannah make their guest appearances. Going to the dog park always cheers me up no matter what, so we made plans to meet Katie at the dog park and we spent a while there. Then we had lunch with Susannah for distraction #2. I wasn't crying anymore, I was tired of crying and emotionally drained. I certainly wasn't in a good mood, but the day was actually kinda fun considering how it began.
One last note. The day after I lost Kibo, we went back to NHS. Chris didn't think it was a good idea, because he knew I was too raw to take bad news well. Luckily we didn't get bad news - the rest of the litter were just fine. The doctor looked them over and they were perfectly healthy and happy, Mama too. So I guess it was just coincidence that the two passed so close together, it apparently wasn't anything contagious. The sad news is that when we got there, they were already fostered out to a new home, but I don't care much about that. I'd like to have them back, but as long as they're healthy, that's the most important thing :')
 |
| Ken is the white kitten on the left |
 |
| Kibo is the kitten on the right. I still think the brown spot on her forehead made her the cutest of the bunch |
Friday, April 26, 2013
Goodbye Kyra TT_TT
Kyra didn't get better. The black liquid presents she was leaving us got redder and redder until they were more blood than feces. So we took her to the vet. I figured she was old and now sick and I was expecting the worst news. And I felt terrible because she got sick because of the dentist appointment I made her :( But we decided even if she turned out ok, today was goodbye regardless. She was too sick for us to keep her and she needed to be near the vet in case she took a turn for the worst.
Luckily the vet determined it was just a stomach virus and she gave us some antiviral meds for Kyra. We gave them back, saying we were returning her to NHS and we went to the surrender counter.
We were waiting for quite a while, which gave me a few last minutes to enjoy Kyra's company. And then after Chris did the paperwork, the girl led our Kyra away :'(
I feel really bad because she's so old and we're just bouncing her around. She needs a steady home to live the rest of her life in, and we weren't it. I feel like we abandoned her :'(
Luckily the vet determined it was just a stomach virus and she gave us some antiviral meds for Kyra. We gave them back, saying we were returning her to NHS and we went to the surrender counter.
We were waiting for quite a while, which gave me a few last minutes to enjoy Kyra's company. And then after Chris did the paperwork, the girl led our Kyra away :'(
I feel really bad because she's so old and we're just bouncing her around. She needs a steady home to live the rest of her life in, and we weren't it. I feel like we abandoned her :'(
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Poor Kyra :(
Me and Chris have decided to give Kyra back to the Humane Society (Well, technically Chris wanted to give Kyra back and I half-heartedly agreed). It's too difficult to take care of her, she needs a home with a yard or at least on the bottom story. Because of her Cushing's disease, she obsessively drinks water and has to pee every hour or so. And of course, neither of us is willing to carry her down the stairs every hour so she goes on the carpet. And we're both really tired of carrying her and cleaning up after her. She seems happy enough, but she really needs a better home than a second-story apartment.
So me and Chris were going to give her back, but about a month ago I made her an appointment to have her teeth cleaned. She was always rubbing her face against me, almost like a cat, and she had some nasty breath that no amount of doggie breath mints would help. So I thought maybe she had some rotting teeth or something and I made her a doggie dentist appointment. Well, that appointment was yesterday and she did have some rotting teeth, three of them. So those were pulled. I was worried about the anethesia because she's so old, but the vet told me she's in great health and it wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't, as far as her waking up went.
She was loopy when I picked her up, of course, and I made her bed up so she could nap the drugs off. I got an antibiotic and a pain med on top of her usual Rimadyl and Thryroxine and the vet said I could start giving her meds tomorrow morning. Well I guess the anethesia made her pretty sick, once we were home she started throwing up. She was also whining and pacing, so I thought she was in pain. So I gave her her meds, which she promptly threw back up. I know anethesia makes people and animals sick sometimes, but I was mildly concerned so I called the NHS foster care emergency phone just to be sure. The woman who had the phone last night said she was still probably under the pain meds they gave her during her surgery and would be for a whlie. And the vomiting did stop. After it stopped, she slept and I thought all was well. Until she started whining and groaning and panting in her sleep.
One negative side to having a big heart is I can't STAND seeing an animal in pain. The whining and groaning was even getting to Chris and he doesn't even especially like Kyra (but of course he has a big heart too, when it comes to animals). So we sat with her for a while. I put her head in my lap and she just lay there groaning for a while. I was really worried about her, especially when we noticed her stomach was distended. I immediately started stressing about bloat, the deadly condition that happens to bigger dogs where their stomach gets twisted inside of them, cuts off blood flow, and starts dying and rotting inside of them. So I called the foster emergency care phone again. And of course I was crying at this point - I thought she was dying right there in my lap! - but I was trying to be brave. The woman who had the phone that night called the vet up and then called me back. She said not to worry, it all seemed pretty normal. Just give Kyra her pain meds and call her again if it doesn't help. And that's exactly what I did and pretty soon, she was back to sleeping soundly.
It seems pretty silly now, but I was so stressed last night. I know she's old and she probably won't live much longer, and I also know it'll be hard on me to see her go, but last night I really did think she was dying and I was in tears. She seems like her normal self this morning, although she left me several black, liquidy presents in the night for me to clean up. As soon as we give her back to NHS, we're getting the carpets shampooed!!
So me and Chris were going to give her back, but about a month ago I made her an appointment to have her teeth cleaned. She was always rubbing her face against me, almost like a cat, and she had some nasty breath that no amount of doggie breath mints would help. So I thought maybe she had some rotting teeth or something and I made her a doggie dentist appointment. Well, that appointment was yesterday and she did have some rotting teeth, three of them. So those were pulled. I was worried about the anethesia because she's so old, but the vet told me she's in great health and it wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't, as far as her waking up went.
She was loopy when I picked her up, of course, and I made her bed up so she could nap the drugs off. I got an antibiotic and a pain med on top of her usual Rimadyl and Thryroxine and the vet said I could start giving her meds tomorrow morning. Well I guess the anethesia made her pretty sick, once we were home she started throwing up. She was also whining and pacing, so I thought she was in pain. So I gave her her meds, which she promptly threw back up. I know anethesia makes people and animals sick sometimes, but I was mildly concerned so I called the NHS foster care emergency phone just to be sure. The woman who had the phone last night said she was still probably under the pain meds they gave her during her surgery and would be for a whlie. And the vomiting did stop. After it stopped, she slept and I thought all was well. Until she started whining and groaning and panting in her sleep.
One negative side to having a big heart is I can't STAND seeing an animal in pain. The whining and groaning was even getting to Chris and he doesn't even especially like Kyra (but of course he has a big heart too, when it comes to animals). So we sat with her for a while. I put her head in my lap and she just lay there groaning for a while. I was really worried about her, especially when we noticed her stomach was distended. I immediately started stressing about bloat, the deadly condition that happens to bigger dogs where their stomach gets twisted inside of them, cuts off blood flow, and starts dying and rotting inside of them. So I called the foster emergency care phone again. And of course I was crying at this point - I thought she was dying right there in my lap! - but I was trying to be brave. The woman who had the phone that night called the vet up and then called me back. She said not to worry, it all seemed pretty normal. Just give Kyra her pain meds and call her again if it doesn't help. And that's exactly what I did and pretty soon, she was back to sleeping soundly.
It seems pretty silly now, but I was so stressed last night. I know she's old and she probably won't live much longer, and I also know it'll be hard on me to see her go, but last night I really did think she was dying and I was in tears. She seems like her normal self this morning, although she left me several black, liquidy presents in the night for me to clean up. As soon as we give her back to NHS, we're getting the carpets shampooed!!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Kyra, part of the pack :)
Kyra is already part of our pack! Once she got settled in, she fit right in with the family. She knows that as the oldest dog, she's lowest rank and she doesn't question it. She'll sleep on the floor while the rest of us are up on the bed (the top dog gets the highest, most comfortable place to sleep. Even when I help her up on the bed she just gets back down), she'll let Briar and Breeze sniff her first and put their heads above hers, she eats last, and we have to go out of our way to give her affection because if we're giving her affection and Briar or Breeze come over, we have to give them the affection. Because she's the new dog and she's old and frail, I want to give her the most attention but we have to let the dogs figure out rank amongst themselves and we have to abide by it. If we don't, if for example we feed the lowest rank first, it causes disrest in the pack, sometimes to the point of dogfights. If Kyra has food and a higher ranked pack member takes it away, it's their right - higher ranks get the most and best food. And if Kyra protests, it'll be seen as a challenge. So, though I'd rather give poor Kyra more attention, we have to follow pack law too, even as the leaders, and especially since Breeze is so dominating. Breeze and Kyra actually did get into a scuffle over food. Breeze got a little too interested, Kyra gave her a small warning growl, and Breeze swiftly silenced that protest. Neither was hurt, Chris was in the room and he quickly broke it up. But I like to give Kyra her twice-daily pain meds while the other two are locked in the bedroom, so Breeze doesn't think it's food and demand it. It's just the law of the pack, and me and Chris follow it too, for the good of our pack.
I also have a hunch about something, though I haven't read it in any of my dog behavior books. I've noticed old Checkers at my mom's house will follow the rest of the pack in the living room or wherever, and get comfortable so that his back is towards the pack and he's looking out the door. Well Kyra does the same thing. And because every dog in a pack has its purpose and the lowest member's is to watch the back and sound the alarm in case of danger, I can't help but wonder if yhat's what Checkers and Kyra are doing. They're so old that they wouldn't be much help if there was danger, but by God they can at least sound the alarm! So if this is the case, Kyra is already looking out for her new pack. She certainly settled in quickly :)
 |
| Breeze watching over her newest pack member |
 |
| Kyra can't get on the bed without help, so she usually stays on the floor. Breeze and Briar were actually playing right before I took this picture and Kyra started play-growling and joining in on the fun! |
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Heavy Kyra!
(By the way, in my last post I forgot to mention that if Kyra isn't completely deaf, she's extremely close. Which isn't much of a problem, we just have to be careful not to startle her when we come up to her from behind)
Because Kyra's arthritis is so bad, she can't do stairs at all. Chris has to carry her up and down our apartment stairs every time she has to go outside. But when Chris is at work, I'm in trouble because I do NOT feel comfortable carrying her up and down stairs. I may be able to pick her up, she's 40-50 lbs, but there's no way I'm carrying her for any length of time, much less on stairs. Chris takes her out right before he leaves for work and again right after he gets home, but she's old and doesn't have as much control as she used to, so she ends up going on the carpet. The brand new carpet management put in just before we moved here :/
We have a porch in our apartment now. Every time she gives me the tell-tale signs (she makes it very obvious. She starts panting and pacing and coming up to me every 10 seconds. She doesn't want to go in the house, she's a very good girl about it :) I open the back door and let all the dogs out on the porch, but she doesn't seem to get the message. I even put the gate up so she couldn't come in until she did her business, but then she just started barking at me. So she ends up going on the carpet. And she's been having diarrhea too because of the sudden change in diet, and probably a little bit of stress too, so we have a couple brown/orange stains on our new carpet. Which I don't especially care about, but she doesn't want to go in the house and I don't want her to go in the house. But until she gets the hint that she CAN go on the back porch, I'll be cleaning up messes. Maybe if I lay down a square of sod on the porch...? I tried the puppy pads with Briar and Breeze, but they were a pain in the butt because they would just blow everywhere. When Chris comes home today, I'm doing to go down to Lowes and see if they have anything to help.
Because Kyra's arthritis is so bad, she can't do stairs at all. Chris has to carry her up and down our apartment stairs every time she has to go outside. But when Chris is at work, I'm in trouble because I do NOT feel comfortable carrying her up and down stairs. I may be able to pick her up, she's 40-50 lbs, but there's no way I'm carrying her for any length of time, much less on stairs. Chris takes her out right before he leaves for work and again right after he gets home, but she's old and doesn't have as much control as she used to, so she ends up going on the carpet. The brand new carpet management put in just before we moved here :/
We have a porch in our apartment now. Every time she gives me the tell-tale signs (she makes it very obvious. She starts panting and pacing and coming up to me every 10 seconds. She doesn't want to go in the house, she's a very good girl about it :) I open the back door and let all the dogs out on the porch, but she doesn't seem to get the message. I even put the gate up so she couldn't come in until she did her business, but then she just started barking at me. So she ends up going on the carpet. And she's been having diarrhea too because of the sudden change in diet, and probably a little bit of stress too, so we have a couple brown/orange stains on our new carpet. Which I don't especially care about, but she doesn't want to go in the house and I don't want her to go in the house. But until she gets the hint that she CAN go on the back porch, I'll be cleaning up messes. Maybe if I lay down a square of sod on the porch...? I tried the puppy pads with Briar and Breeze, but they were a pain in the butt because they would just blow everywhere. When Chris comes home today, I'm doing to go down to Lowes and see if they have anything to help.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)