Adam and Eve's Pets

I must ask that you go visit Comedy Plus today for her post about Adam and Eve’s Pets. It is hilarious!

And an update at the Casto Zoo. Timber and Trooper are getting along better and just this morning were giving each other kisses as they played.

Trooper’s Conjunctivitis is cleared up. Putting eye drops in his eyes was oh so fun for those seven days.

I went to my first Agility Trial last weekend…just to watch. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It looked like so much fun and I had a blast just watching. It was crazy though. People and dogs everywhere. I want to take Trooper with me just to get him used to the noise though. I’ll bring lots of treats. *grin*

Kodiak has started getting massage. The first time we went he cried the whole time like he was being tortured. I giggled a lot. But the last time apparently he did much better and hubby actually agreed to let him get massages every week. I was surprised but happy about it. I want Kodiak to be more comfortable and the massage gal said he’s very very tight in his back legs.

Quinn is still up to her usual barking and policing the other dogs. Silly girl. She’s been very spunky lately and I’m not really sure why. Maybe she’s lost some weight because we’ve been feeding her less.

So life is as crazy as ever here. We really need to get Timber into some obedience classes though. I cannot control him when we encounter other dogs on walks. He goes nuts and barks like he’s insane. Not to mention he still pulls like a Mac truck.

Walter Reed for Dogs

I love this!

A new $15 million veterinary hospital for four-legged military personnel opened Tuesday at Lackland Air Force Base, offering a long overdue facility that gives advanced medical treatment for combat-wounded dogs.

It sounds like, from the article, that dogs are in high demand for the military. So much so that they’ve started breeding programs on base. Which is interesting. I wonder why they are in such high demand.

I love the last quote in the story though…after their service is over…

“the military tries to adopt them out and “station them at Fort Living Room,”"

More Fights

*sigh*

So, Thursday night the T’s (that’s my new shortened term for Timber and Trooper) got in a massive brawl right on top of daddy and he got bit. Pretty badly. Threw a blanket over them and they stopped.

Then apparently on Friday while at daycare Trooper instigated some stuff with dogs and was riling them up and got in a scuffle. I called and got this update and then he got sent home with a note. I was so sad … and embarrassed. My kid came home with a note!

Daycare said that Trooper has been acting like this more and more since Timber joined our pack. They said that he’s acting jealous. *sigh*

So how do we fix jealousy? I have no clue.

On Sunday I was in the shower and hubby came in to tell me that the T’s got into it again while he was fixing some sausages. Well, that makes a little more sense because Trooper is more food aggressive. Unfortunately this time Timber got an owie on his eye…I’m just thankful the eye itself wasn’t too badly injured, just the eye lid.

I talked to one of the trainers at Agility on Sunday and her advice was to not give Trooper extra attention at all. He’s being a spoiled brat and we should pay attention to Timber just as we want to do and if Trooper tries to be “doggy rude” (cut in between Timber and me/hubby) or growls we should discipline him immediately. It’s not about what Trooper wants…it’s about our rules and what we want to do as pack leaders.

Trooper’s breeder mentioned that being a young male malamute…who was the baby until Timber showed up…is just one factor in his aggression. And he has been incredibly spoiled … and still is although he doesn’t get all the attention now. He was never aggressive with Kodiak or Quinn but they were in the pack before he was and he grew up with them from the time he was 8 weeks old.

The only other thing I can think to do is to watch them carefully and look for any signs of aggression. Hubby and I brought home four toys and four bones yesterday from the pet store. Each dog got a toy…which of course they promptly abandoned because they all wanted someone else’s toy. Sheesh. Timber wanted Trooper’s toy. Kodiak wanted Timber’s toy.

Thankfully there were no fights … I watched them all very carefully.

All dogs are home with hubby today since he has today off. I hope that they all behave and that he watches them closely. I’m a little concerned that he gets easily distracted and doesn’t catch those subtle first signs.

Like Trooper’s ears going back this morning when I was giving Timber lovin’. I immediately told him NO and back up they popped. The little spoiled stinker.

All I want is a happy and healthy pack.

Throw a Blanket Over Them

Last night I was making copies of some rebate forms in the office (it’s not like an “office” … more of a spare room with a desk) and all of a sudden I hear screaming and the sound of dogs trying to maul each other.

I dropped everything and ran out to the living room (our house isn’t big…it wasn’t much of a trip) to find my husband in the middle of a violent dog fight between Trooper and Timber.

I head toward the couch and grab a blanket and throw it over the dogs. This stops the fight immediately.

It probably didn’t last more than 30 seconds, and the dogs had no injuries, but unfortunately hubby was a casualty. He has three large puncture wounds on his arm and they bled pretty good. He was still complaining this morning about the pain.

Could this have been avoided? I’m sure. I have no doubt that it started because of a toy. They’re both young males and I think Trooper has felt less secure since we got our foster dog in September and now have our new member Timber. Since September he’s been quicker to lash out and growls much more than I’d ever seen him before.

Trooper and Timber get along really well normally. They play together roughly and chase each other around the yard. They even play tug of war in a playful manner. But twice now they’ve had these major blow ups with each other.

It just reminds me that we can’t let our guard down, even for a minute. Hubby was playing a video game and surely not paying attention to the two monsters who were right next to him on the floor. Should he have gotten in between them? Probably not but that is our first instinct…to break it up.

Thankfully, I remembered the advice we received when we adopted Quinn. She was our second dog and we asked the lady at the rescue what to do if there was a fight. We had no idea how Kodiak would respond and Quinn was a complete stranger to us so we were concerned.

The woman at the shelter said that the best thing to do in a dog fight situation is to throw something over the dogs - a towel, blanket, coat, something. This will generally break it up. Thankfully it worked this time.

Both dogs were taken down … I laid across Timber and hubby held down Trooper until they both relaxed and submitted fully. This is also an important part of calming things down…getting both dogs to submit and realize that they are not in control.

Trooper and Timber are both at daycare today…together. Both have no doubt forgotten all about their little scuffle last night. But hubby and I won’t soon forget.

I Am Very Lame

I have all these great and fun photos of Timber and the other doggies but haven’t yet uploaded them into my Flickr account. I also went to an amazing wedding on Saturday and MUST share it with all of you because it involved dogs. And horses. And cows. And unfortunately some bees but I’m trying to block them out of my mind.

And yet work and life are sadly getting in my way. I’d much rather be home right now cuddling up with Timber and hubby in bed. But no. I had to pull myself out of a very warm and cozy bed into the freezing cold and drive 40 minutes to work.

And I actually have a lot of work to do but I don’t want to do ANY of it. Is that wrong?

Oh and my baby boy Trooper has all this goop draining from his eye and it’s been doing that for several days now. Mostly that icky radioactive green color. And this morning when we got up to go potty he was coughing. My baby has a cold! His nose wasn’t -dry- but it wasn’t wet either. It wasn’t warm but it wasn’t cool. I think he’s sick. I hate that.

Do I take him to the vet? Or just let it run it’s course? Could it be something more serious or is it just allergies? Quinn has been coughing more than usual too but I generally ignore it or give her Benadryl (or her prescription medication which we’re almost out of).

Trooper’s appetite is fine and he doesn’t seem lethargic but we’ll be watching him closely.

Now I have to get back to work. Blech.

Wordless Wednesday - Timber is a Happy Boy

First Grooming

Trooper and Timber went to the groomers this morning. I can’t wait to see my big fluff ball all cleaned up. He’s such a handsome boy. Don’t you think?

Of course I’m slightly biased.

Timber is handsome too, but not in the same way.

He’s such a sweetheart … he finally spent a whole night cuddling with me on Wednesday night. Daddy had an overtime night shift so it was just me and Timber and he wanted to get as close as he could without actually being ON me. And I figured when papa got home that he’d move to the floor, as he’s tended to do. But not that night. He decided to sleep between us with his head in my arm pit. *grin*

He’s so soft … silky almost. I really want to dress him up in clothes but I don’t know if papa will let me get away with it.

So he went to the groomer’s for the first time EVER (I’m guessing in his whole life) and we’ll see how he did. I don’t expect his look to change but his toe nails will get cleaned at the very least. It’s nice to have a dog who doesn’t have dirt CLING to him.

We’re still working on walking on a leash … he pulls SO hard it is unbelievable. I can control Trooper, even when he pulls near his hardest. And Timber isn’t as ‘large’ though he’s fairly big and over 70 pounds. He’s total muscle.

So I’ve resorted to the gentle leader that goes over the nose. I hate it. Mostly because when a dog pulls really hard with this thing it moves back toward their eyes. With Kodiak he pulled so hard that it actually ended up CUTTING his nose!

And it makes it harder for our dogs to open their mouths all the way. But it also lets me take them for a walk…which is the most important thing.

I may try to find a gentle leader that goes around their chest instead. I think they’d be more comfortable. Timber threw a fit for two full times around our neighborhood. But he did much better today when I used it at daycare/groomer (same place).

Oh … and I got my 451Press payment for the month of September and it was the highest yet at over $9. Woohoo! I know I know … it’s not a ton, but it’s $9 more than I get with my other blog. *grin* And it’s $9 more dollars that I can send to Saving Shelter Pets.

Thank you for continuing to visit here at Home Zookeeper. =)