When we got back to the apartment, Tara sniffed Peter a little bit, and then I tied his leash onto the treadmill, so I could groom him. I also put some blankets underneath Peter, as to catch all the fur and dandruff. As I was clipping fur off Peter's hind paws (he has dewclaws on his front paws, and one of his toes on his back paws has no toenail), Tara continued to sniff all over the livingroom (trying to find all the biscuit crumbs?). When she was standing on Peter's blanket, about 1 foot away from him, I heard one short, low, half-growl from him. Since it was nothing serious, I just ignored it. Besides, if I do yell at him at this point, he might think he got yelled at from Tara getting near him, he might not relate it to his growling. And I don't want him to have any bad feelings toward Tara. Tara completely ignored the growl and continued sniffing around him. After about 30 seconds and no growling, I gave Peter a cookie, to reward him for not growling, and hopefully he realized he gets a cookie when Tara gets near him. Tara looked at me like, "Where's mine?", so I gave her one too. I continued to gave Peter and Tara cookies, maybe every 2 minutes or so, as I was clipping fur off Peter's paws, and he did not growl again after that.
I also used electric clipper to shave some fur off his head. When I shaved the fur off the underside of his ears, I could definitely smell the yeast then, but I'm still hoping he does not have skin fungal infection. I also cleaned his ears with ear cleaning solution, lots of wax, but I don't think they are infected. I will check them again when I see him next time. Peter was very good when I used the electric clipper on him.
I also used treats and tried to lure him to a Down, but I don't think he knows Down. When my cat started walking around, Peter was a little curious and pulled toward her, but did was not aggressive toward her at all. Peter was in my apartment for a little over an hour, even though I had him tethered to me or to the treadmill the whole time, he never once lifted his legs to mark, yet he does it all the time when we are near trees or shrubs outside. I really think he's at least partly housetrained. However, I don't know how long he can hold it though, because with some dogs if they have doggie doors, they never have to hold it for long, so their bladders are not used to hold large volumes. I guess we can test Peter with that too in the near future. I didn't crate-test him, but he did not whine a bit when I disappeared into the back of the apartment for two minutes and left him tied to the treadmill. But then both my cat and Tara were in the livingroom with him at that time, so I don't know if that helped. I also put some fatty acid liquid on some treats and give it to him that way.
I didn't have time to go see Peter yesterday. But I decided to break the routine and go this morning before work instead of after. It's cooler in the mornings so we can spend more time outside for him to stretch his legs.
Peter was happy to see me of course. When we got to my car and I was trying to get the bowl, treats, and fatty acid bottle out, Peter tried to get into my car. I think he enjoys car rides very much.
I decided to drive Peter back at 5 PM, and we took Tara with us. I put Tara in the front passenger seat and Peter in the backseat, they were both very good and stayed in their places and did not bother me when I drove. When we got to the vet clinic parking lot, they were walking side by side with no problem.
Near the front door at the vet's, both dogs were sniffing this shrub, and Peter decided to mark it when Tara was still sniffing. I yanked Tara's leash, but she still got some on her. After we dropped Peter off, we went back to my apartment and Tara got her first bath with me. She kept sniffing near the edge of the shower curtain, but she was very good and stayed inside the bathtub and did not even try to jump out when I bathed her.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
So far I had been feeding Tara half Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul Senior formula and half of whatever from Kevin (he put Iams in one bucket and Kirkland Signature in the other, they pretty much look identical, so I don't know which one I've been feeding). Tara liked that combination okay. I just didn't want to switch her too fast and have her end up with uncontrollable diarrhea. And I've been giving her one capsule of acidophilius per meal. Today we ran out of Chicken Soup brand and switched to Wellness Chicken formula. She appears to like that flavor better than Chicken Soup brand and ate the whole thing right after I put it down (with Chicken Soup and Iams/Kirkland mix, she would walk around for 2-3 minutes before eating).
Tonight at obedience class, Tara and I were waiting in the store area before class started. A female Lab mix with the same pink collar Tara has was picked up, and she and Tara sniffed each other as the Lab mix and her owner walked out. They were fine with each other, no growling, no barking. Then Robo (shepherd mix puppy, maybe 20 pounds), came up to Tara. I didn't know if he was licking her or just sniffing her mouth, but after about five seconds, I saw Tara's lips curling, and two seconds later, Tara had Robo pinned down on the ground. I think Tara only barked once during the ordeal, whereas Robo squealed a couple times. I just pulled Tara off. Robo's parents were worried that he got bitten, but I'm pretty sure Tara didn't bite him. Anyways they and Rebekah checked him out and no bite marks, only saliva. Then I saw some blood on Tara's toe, when I cleaned the small wound up with water from my car, I can only see a small wound, I don't know where she got it.
In class, we learned "heel" today. Rebekah was jerking on Santee (yellow female Lab)'s leash a couple times to demonstrate, then we went outside to practice. I didn't jerk on Tara's leash of course. There were seven other dogs in class this time, three shepherd mixes, all about 30-35 pounds. Santee, Robo, a Yorkie, and a male Chocolate Lab. Tara also did very well with sit and down and stay, I think it's easier outside when we are all spread out, so she could hear my commands better.
At the end of class, Rebekah asked us to stay outside of the gate when they were ready for playtime. I guess she thinks Tara's aggressive now. My sister says Tara didn't like Robo because he looks like my cat, haha. I think maybe Tara just don't like pipsqueaks.
I asked Deborah if her vet said Tulip�s skin fungal infection is contagious, and she said her vet told her it�s not. I�m feeling much relieved. There�s an approved applicant who�s interested in foster-to-adopt Peter, but she wanted to know if he�ll be okay with large male dogs. It�s weird that Peter hasn�t really met any male dogs or little kids with me, so I emailed Amanda and Mary for help evaluating him. Amanda is a third-year undergrad at AU, and she applied to adopt a Springer back in April. But since she was in the process of moving from an apartment that does not allow pets, we asked her to wait until she has moved into her new apartment before we do the home visit. Over the summer, Amanda adopted a male Springer called Buster from PetFinder. Mary is a third-year vet school student, whom contacted us during vet school�s open house. Somehow her information was misplaced, but luckily she contacted us again in July, asking for help regarding a Springer she and her friend were fostering for the Lee County Humane Society. I went to evaluate the dog when Mary was thinking about relinquishing the dog to ESRA. The male Springer was named Mickey and later adopted by Mary�s friend, and the dog�s name now is Porter. Mary�s family in Kentucky also has a young Springer, who was at the open house also, his name is Echo. Both Amanda and Mary said they are willing to help evaluate how Peter does with male dogs on Friday afternoon. Mary said she has a male Black Lab/Standard Poodle mix called Huck, but Huck was not properly socialized as a puppy, and if the other dog shows any kind of aggression (growling, barking), then Huck would turn aggressive too. But if the other dog is friendly, then Huck would be friendly too. Mary said Huck and Porter didn�t get along, that�s why her friend, Nik, had to foster Porter for her.
When we went back to the clinic's waiting room, there was a six-month old female Aussie mix who was there for spay surgery. She did not have a collar or leash on and she ran toward us. She and Peter sniffed each other for a few seconds, and then Abby (the Aussie) kept licking Peter's mouth, and he let her, for about 3 minutes, until they took her to the back. I petted them both and told Peter "good boy" several times as he continued to allow Abby to lick his face without any objections. Then a large (65 pounds?) female shepherd mix came in with her owner. The dog was very hyper, so Peter and I moved to the other end of the waiting room, right next to the kitten cages. The large dog continued to jump around acting excited, but Peter was very good, he sat right next to me and leaned against my leg, looked at me, and I petted him. I think Peter trusted me enough that he decided I can protect him, and thus he ignored the excited large dog. In any case, he acted very much like a gentleman.
After the shepherd mix left, the kittens in the cage caught Peter's eyes. He was curious and stared at them, sniffed about 5 inches away, but did not press his nose on the cage.
If everything goes okay at the lab, I am planning to take tomorrow off to bring Peter to my apartment tomorrow morning (after I take Tara to the vet for her teeth cleaning), and then give him a bath, and then let him walk around my apartment to see if he's housetrained, and then meet Mary and Amanda (two new Springer rescue volunteers) at 2 PM to test Peter with the male dogs they have.
Friday, August 18, 2006
This morning we went to the vet to have Tara's teeth cleaned. At the parking lot, I saw Dr. Marine's large male black Lab walking around in the grass area, and he (the dog) came near us when we got out of the car. I've met this dog before and he's very gentle and is a senior also, but the dog can still act hyper if not exercised enough (according to Dr. Marine) and does not look like a senior at all (walks around fine, no gray hair). The dog came to us and he and Tara sniffed each other's behind for about ten seconds, no growling and no barking, they just sniffed and walked away.
The vet just called and said Tara's recovering from anesthesia and is doing well. She said Tara's ears look fine, no need to give her anymore ear medication, and I told her she hasn't been getting it for a week now. Dr. Tamblyn also said she did not hear any heart murmur. She said Tara will be ready to go after 4 PM.
Liana wrote a really nice bio for Keely, so I asked her to do one for Tara too. Tara�s is so cute! I think Liana got it perfectly!
The original foster-to-adopt family who was interested in Peter backed out (decided to take another foster instead), but I decided to go ahead with Peter�s evaluation with Mary and Amanda�s dogs.
I got a call from Amanda at 3 PM today and she said she and Mary had been trying to call me all day today. I just checked my cell phone right before she called because I was getting ready to go home and saw it was somehow turned off and it's low battery, didn't notice it earlier because I was trying to get all the samples finished so I can go see Peter. Amanda said she and Mary talked and said they would meet me at Amanda's apartment at 4 PM if that's okay with me and I said yes. Amanda's apartment allows pets and it has a small dog park thing right in the apartment complex, and it's right next to campus.
When I got to the apartment complex (after picking up Peter from the vet), Amanda and Mary were already there with their dogs. Amanda's Springer is Buster (she got him from owner relinquishment from Petfinder), and Mary was there with her black Labradoodle, Huck. Both male dogs, all got along fine, just sniffed each other in the little fenced in dog park area, no problem. Mary said she was very surprised, because Huck is a little dog aggressive, and when they go to dog park, he would act all excited wanting to meet other dogs, but if they even growl or bark at him a little bit, he would act aggressive. Anyways, all three boys just walked around fine. Then Amanda had to leave to work at a restaurant, but she left Buster with one of her roommate with us in the dog area. Mary and I continued talking about the dogs, and Amanda's roommate had to go to work too, so she left with Buster. I let Peter off leash to sniff around, and he and Huck got along fine that way also (Huck still had his leash on).
Mary was asking a lot of questions, so I asked her if she would be interested in temporary foster Peter, and she said yes because it looks like he and Huck get along. She asked me how would she proceed if she wants to foster, and asked me if I need to take a look of her home, and I said if she has time, we can do it right now. So I followed her back to her home.
Mary lives in the county, not in Auburn city limits I don't think. Anyways it's about 10 minutes drive on county roads. Her home is a two-bedroom mobile home, she lives alone, pretty nice inside, and she has a fenced in yard (two sides are picket fence, one side chain link, the fourth side is privacy fence). Mary said Huck has learned to stay inside the fence, but she crates him inside during the summer when she's not at home (too hot outside). I told her that we do not allow our Springers to be left outside without supervision, she said she didn't know the rules, and I said that's fine just ask if she has any questions. But she understands that even if she has full privacy fence, Peter might climb over or dig under it, so she said she's thinking about crating Peter too but she doesn't have an extra crate. So I told her I can let her borrow the one I have, and if needed, I can probably borrow a crate on Sunday from somebody else (after Keely comes on Saturday). I asked her when she would be ready to take Peter, and she said she wants to see more how the dogs and her two cats interact, she said she wasn't able to foster Mickey because Mickey and Huck got into a fight. She said she got Huck when one of her friends� friends thought he's too hyper for them, and she had him for the day to sort of evaluate him to try to find a home for him, but Huck ate some cat toys and had to be operated on. She was told the operation would be $3000, she didn't have that much money, so she took him back to Louisville, KY to a vet friend, who did the operation for her for $100, but part of Huck's intestine had to be removed. She felt bad about the incident and decided to adopt Huck herself, but she has to put him on some sort of separation anxiety medication. Anyways, we had both dogs on leash still and we walked them all over the home, including the hallway (Mary said that's where Huck and Mickey got into a fight), and they did fine. Mary said her friend at the vet school does Bulldog and Boxer rescue and got heartworm treatment for the dogs for $60, and she's going to ask for that for Peter too. I told her if he starts HW treatment here, he can't be moved for at least a week, or two. Mary said if Peter and her animals get along, she can foster him through the treatment. Mary said she would be willing to take Peter tonight, but I haven't heard back from Heather at this point yet, so I told Mary that I will take Peter back to kennel for tonight and if we hear back from Heather, I will bath Peter tomorrow and bring him to her tomorrow morning.
About five minutes after Peter and I left Mary's house, Heather called and said to go ahead letting Mary foster Peter. So I called Mary and asked if she would still be able to take him tonight, and she said yes. I told her I have to pick up Tara from the vet first, but then I can stop by my apartment to pick up the crate, and then take Peter and the crate to her, she said okay. I also called the Opelika vet clinic and told them about the situation and asked for vet records, they said okay.
I took Peter with me to pick up Tara, and Dr. Marine saw Peter. Dr. Marine's first name is Peter also, by the way. Anyways he said Tara did fine but he's sending her home with antibiotics. He said he listened to her heart and no heart murmur. I asked about the pre-op blood test, and he showed it to me, said everything's within normal range except ALT is high (normal upper limit is 150 or something like that, Tara's is 300). He said it's not unusual in senior dogs, and it's probably caused by gallbladder sludge, he said it'll probably get better after Tara's on good quality food. I told him I am feeding him half Iams half Wellness, he said that's fine. I said Penelope had the same high ALT and he said yes (Penelope lived a good three or four years after that, and they couldn't find anything wrong with her internal organs even after ultrasound). Anyways he said not to worry about it for now but repeat the test in six months to make sure it's not increased.
Then the dogs and I went to the Opelika vet clinic. They didn't have the records ready, so they copied the blood test results for me, and they had Dr. Colley type up what procedures had been performed. Angie the receptionist also gave me a copy of tissue results. It's dated today, so I guess they just received it. I skimmed it and asked Angie, it doesn't look like he had cancer, and Angie agreed. It said something about "hyperkeratosis", I didn't understand all of it, and we didn't have time today for me to ask Mary about it. Anyways the paper says it looks like it's completely removed. Angie said the vet wants to see the stitches so she took him to the back. When she brought him back, I asked her when do the stitches need to come out, and she said they just took it out. Dr. Colley came out and said if we still need the HW treatment, he'll do it half price. I looked on the bill, it's originally $700 for the surgeries and tests and boarding, but he made it 50% to $350. Angie said they will send the bill to Cathryne.
Then we all went back to my apartment to drop off Tara and to get Peter's stuff (crate, fatty acids, paperwork). And then Peter and I drove to Mary's again. Mary was working in the yard when we drove up. Huck was not leashed this time. When Peter got out of the car, Huck rushed over, and Peter gave this low growl, and Huck started growling too. Mary was a little worried and put Huck on leash. She said she wants to observe more before committing to temporary foster Peter. I told her if it doesn't work out or if she just had enough, just call me anytime and I'll come get him, even if it's midnight, I'll just keep him in the crate in my apartment until boarding kennel opens. So we let the boys run around in the yard. Peter sniffed around, then we noticed that the wound on his hip is split open. I asked Mary if that needs to be re-stitched. She said just that top part is open, but it looks deep, and the rest looks intact. She said she will take a closer look tonight, and if it needs to be re-stitched, she will take him to the vet school for it tomorrow. Then Huck was bow playing, running around, and the Peter growled, that set Huck off and he started barking at Peter. Mary was very worried so we separated them. But 10 seconds later, the boys were sitting right next to each other with no problem. So we don't know what set Peter off growling in the first place. I told Mary, if she needs to keep Peter in the crate when she can't supervise him, that's okay. So we went inside to see how the boys would do inside.
We put them back on leash, and both of them did fine inside. But Mary's cat Bourbon (large medium-haired mix) did try to tease Peter (standing on the kitchen counter and walking back and forth). Mary said Bourbon does that to Huck too and Huck's afraid of the cat when the cat is mad. The boys look fine, so I asked Mary about filling out the foster home paperwork. She put Peter into Huck's crate while we worked on her computer. Peter did whine once or twice when he was in the crate (crate's in the kitchen, other side of the house). We both ignored Peter and he stopped whining. Mary was pretty good about filling out the application and made sure all the info are correct. Yes I saw her submitting the form and it came back saying thank you for submitting and somebody will get back to you soon.
Before I left, I gave Peter�s paperwork to Mary and told her that I didn't have time to make copies so she needs to make sure they go with Peter. I showed her the tags and she said she will put them on. I told her if she needs anything for Peter just let me know, and I will bring them to Woofstock tomorrow. Anything like food, brush, shampoo, and Mary said they get Science Diet food really cheap at the vet school (I saw the price list too when I had to pick up something for my experiments at their warehouse, they sell it to students and employee something like $12 for 45 pound dog food), Mary said she can get five bags per month. She's planning to go to Woofstock tomorrow at 9 AM and stay for half hour or so. She asked me if she needs to bring Peter to Woofstock for me to see him, and I said only if she wants, I said usually it already gets too hot by 9:30-10 AM. And I told her all expenses that she wants reimbursed she needs to ask Heather first. She asked if she needs to send daily report of Peter, and I say I do that with my fosters, she doesn't have to, but she can do that too if she has time. I told her definitely let us know if there's any changes or important events with Peter. Her friend Nik, who adopted Mickey (Mickey is a Springer from Lee County Humane Society, Mary was trying to foster him but Nik had to take over, she was worried that if she returned Mickey to the humane society they would euthanize him, that's why she contacted us a month ago; but actually Mary and I met in April at the vet school open house, her family has a Springer called Echo, very cute, he's the one on my website in the open house page, Mary said he just turned one years old and is going to take his field trial this weekend), is going to come tonight to see Peter and help her introduce Huck and Peter together again, she just doesn't feel comfortable doing it by herself. I told her again, if she just doesn't feel right, just give me a call and I'll come pick him up. By the way, Mary's other cat is Oatmeal, a Siamese mix. Oatmeal is a little more skittish than Bourbon, but Mary said both cats had teased Huck before.
I called Mary and left a message at 9 PM tonight and said to call me if any issues, but no need to call if not. She didn't return my call. She was really worried about how the two dogs would interact, but I told her to just leave Peter in the crate whenever she can't supervise. I will ask when I see her tomorrow about how many hours a day she has to leave Peter in the crate.
Heather emailed back and said, �From my point of view, if it's less than a vet would keep him crated, it's perfect. If she can get him through heartworm treatment at such a reduced rate and can keep him crated and yet not to the point where he gets angry crated, I think it's the perfect place for him.�
