I went to see Jackson for 25 minutes this morning. He's starting to have kennel smell. Depending on his transport time, I might be able to give him another bath before travel. If not, I would recommend the new family plan to give him a bath on the day they take him.
We walked around the block once, he was very eager and pulled on the leash. He pooped and peed twice, stool still looks normal. Then it started to rain, so we spent the rest of the time in the backseat of my car. I just brushed him and fed him some more beef jerky treats. He flipped on his back and let me scratch his tummy (he did that in front of Keely too on Saturday in my apartment, so he's definitely submissive in front of her, whereas Keely only did Down on command in front of Jackson to get the treats, but I could tell she did not really want to do it).
Back inside the vet clinic waiting room, there were four dogs there, all small sized. A small Spaniel, two Mini Poodles, and a Boxer puppy. One of the poodles started whining, and Jackson got a little anxious, but I think it's because he wanted to sniff and possibly play with the poodle. Overall he's just a sweet, sweet boy, reminds me a lot of Jake.
Heather emailed later today to say that they have approved adopters in Tuscaloosa, AL, who are going to take Jackson as foster-to-adopt and thus get him through heartworm treatment. Heather also mentioned those potential adopters actually drove to Atlanta a couple weeks ago to the regional Springer Specialty (a dog show where there�s only one breed competing) to see some of the Springer fosters. Liana said they are University of Alabama students who are engaged and planning to get married later this year. Jackson is such a great dog, I know whomever gets to adopt him are the lucky ones.
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
I went to pick up Jackson around 11:30 this morning. They gave him a bath this morning! I'm so happy and grateful about that. So he's all clean for Brad and Lensey today (Brad and Lensey are the foster-to-adopt people). Dr. Elrod forgot to do Jackson's medical file, and she was out to lunch when I was picking him up, so they told me to come pick up his records later. I will go there again first thing tomorrow morning. I did ask them for a rabies tag so I could give it to Brad and Lensey. Before we went on the interstate, I stopped by my apartment, walked Jackson around the apartment, he pooped, no diarrhea. Then I went inside to get new batteries for my camera. He and Keely did not meet.
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
I went by the Opelika Animal Hospital this morning to pick up his records, and they said they lost the rabies tag number that they gave me yesterday. I told them I can get the number from Brad and Lensey, but they said it would be easier for them just to give Jackson a new rabies tag. So I need to send them his new rabies tag, so they will have him in their system if anybody ever calls them about Jackson. Also, they gave me his blood results, including blood chemistry and heartworm test (blood chemistry can be used before they do the heartworm treatment and neuter surgery). Also I have his rabies certificate, and also his history report, which shows he had his Bordetella and DHLP vaccination, and also that he had a fecal test, was dewormed, had ear smear cultured (to make sure he doesn't have ear infection), and also that he's 45 lbs as of a week ago.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Tuesday's obedience class, Keely and I actually got there early (I rushed back from Birmingham after dropping off Jackson; the first three classes we were always the ones who arrived last, so this time I was worried that we would be late again), we were the first students there. So I helped Karlene set up the chairs and ex-pen for the ring. One of the Petco shoppers saw Gemma (Karlene's dog) and started talking about how she breeds her Labrador Retriever too. Karlene asked her what color her dog is, and shopper said she has a black Lab, but she's trying to get chocolate Labs out of her. Karlene then started talking to her and asking about the stud (chocolate Lab) and the female Lab's family colors. After short conversation, it's apparent that's it's very unlikely that any of the puppies will be chocolate (probably all black, slight chance yellow maybe, if the stud's family has yellow gene). But the woman insisted that nobody can predict what color the puppies will be if you mix the colors of the parents. Karlene was not happy, because the shopper apparently does not know anything about genetics and is not being a responsible breeder at all. Anyways, it was good that the shopper decided to walk away. By the way, Karlene said Gemma's homozygous for chocolate gene (she didn't say it exactly that way to the woman, I don't think she would understand it anyways, but that's how I interpreted it).
There were only four dogs in class today, Gemma, Rebel the black Lab mix, Abby the hound/Lab mix, and Keely. Lexi's parents came, but they didn't bring Lexi (Pom). So Karlene said they could try using Gemma for practice, but Gemma had never been handled by anybody else before, so she didn't know if Gemma would work for Lexi's parents. Gemma was a little nervous when she was being handled by Lexi's parents, but overall she was pretty well behaved.
Keely is much better this time, because I spent about five minutes a day practicing with her this past week, after last week's embarrassment on my part, because I didn't practice with her at for last week. Because there were only three student dogs in class today, Karlene had us show her one by one, in front of the rest of the class, how we did with the new commands from last week. Keely was very good with the heeling with automatic sit. I didn't think she did well with the Wait command, but I would say she's the best out of the three dogs. Sit-Stay everybody did well. Rebel had leg injury and the vet said to minimize activity for two weeks, so when we were learning this week's new commands, Karlene recommended them to sit it out (just concentrate on learning longer Sit-Stay for Rebel). This week we learned heel with turning, longer Sit-Stays (time and distance), Recall, and Stand. Karlene had to help me with the Sit-Stay with the handler walking circle around the dog (Keely kept her butt on the ground, but she kept turning her body with her front legs, as I was turning around her, just like Brenna had done; by the way Karlene called Keely �Brenna" and she didn't even realize it, but during the first class she did tell me that she would probably call Brenna to Keely). But when Karlene handled Keely and turned circles around Keely, Keely just stared at me and remained sitting. Karlene was happy that Keely was okay letting her have control of the leash, but she said just to do more obedience with Keely to build her confidence so she won't be so attached to me and keep looking at me when we do this command. Both Rebel and Abby did well with the Sit-Stay with circle command, which is a surprise with Abby because she has separation anxiety after surviving Hurricane Katrina. Karlene decided to use Keely as demo dog for the Recall command this time. Keely went with her outside of the ring to do the command, but once they walked back and Keely saw me, she ran toward me. Keely did all new commands fairly well in class. We'll practice more this week before the next class.