The Save Phineas Facebook Page or People are Stupid Part II

Briard Puppies from Mon Amie Briards

It is a wonder to me that people aren't bitten more often by dogs.   The Huffinton Post ran an article about how not to get bitten.  It centered upon a news anchor that loved dogs, but was a special kind of stupid around them.  The dog was clearly showing signs of anxiety which she did not read or understand.  She was more caught up in her own " I just love animals" and swooped in for a kiss and got nailed (bitten).  It is unfortunate that the dog  happened to be a pit bull type.  But it wasn't his breed, it was the behavior of the human that triggered this.  The three breeds most likely to bite are the Dachshund, the Chihuahua and the Jack Russell terrier.  Cocker Spaniels are also at the top of the list. 

Reality Check Folks:  Sticking your face into a dogs face is considered aggressive particularly if you are staring in their eyes.  How many ways can I say:  Don't Do It.

Having people stick their faces in your dog's face happens a lot.  I had Nana at a small town that is also a state park.  Nana is cute and attracts attention.  A young girl asked to pet her.  I said yes, and put Nana in a sit position.  My idea of "Can I pet your dog" was clearly different from hers.  She immediately swooped in, stuck her face in Nana's and started loving on her.  All I could think of is "Oh !@#$" .

 Being who I am I couldn't help but say:

"It's really not a good idea to put your face in a dogs face, it is a good way to get bitten".
"Oh, I never get bitten"  she said.
"You get bitten all the time" her Mother said.

Nana was a good girl and did nothing.  Maybe the girl learned something, maybe she didn't.  I did, no one gets to pet my dog; because Nana and I will be the one that will pay the price for someone's stupidity. 

Some dogs are vicious, broken or mentally unstable and that wasn't a breed statement.    I am not one of those who thinks there are no bad dogs only bad owners.  I do think there are lots of bad owners and stupid owners and owners that should never be allowed to have dogs and they have great dogs; and some bad dogs can have really good owners.   Some dogs should be put on the extermination list, but not without a fair trial and an opportunity to have the case reviewed by knowledgeable dog behaviorists not local county officials.  Blanket zero tolerance laws are bad laws.  Unless you plan to start putting children who bite on death row we need to stop putting dogs there unless they really have earned it.

The Save Phineas Facebook Page or People Are Stupid Part 1

I came across a page on facebook the other day and it put my panties in a twist.  I love dogs, but I could do without 90% of most people.  According to the Phineas Facebook Page   a yellow lab, named Phineas mouthed a child that had fallen on one of the children he lives with. No skin was broken, but the dog was confiscated the next day by officials, impounded and a movement has begun to get this dog off death row. Now I am not sure where the truth lies here, but I expect the dog intervened to protect his child. He very well might have grabbed the arm of the child to pull him off his the other child. Obviously if no skin was broken this was not a wanton attack. I'm not saying it didn't scare the child, but if a yellow lab was trying to do harm it certainly could have.  Dogs use their mouths to communicate and some dogs are "mouthier" than others. They have been bred to different functions (the original GMO experiment).

There has been a huge movement for zero tolerance for dogs that mouth, nip, or scratch  a human being.  In some counties, they are immediately confiscated and owners are given the option to re-home the dog, have it destroyed or move to some other county.  Some counties don't bother with options and just put the dog on the extermination list.  On the other hand there is a huge tolerance for humans that harm dogs.  Dogs may be kicked, hit, tied to chains and left in the cold or heat without shelter, water.  They can be confined to small cages for hours or days.  We even allow all kinds of medical experimentation on them so we can then euthanize them, cut them open and see how it all turned out.

Cattle dogs

A Heeler is a cattle dog, and they don't move cattle by sitting on the sidelines and politely pointing a paw in the direction they want the cattle to move.  They dive in there and nip at the cattle's heels, moving a herd by use of their mouth.  They are a member of the herding group and this group tends to be more protective and mouthy then some of the other breeds in my opinion.  We bred them that way.  We needed a dog that would move livestock and protect them from predators.  They aren't vicious, but they sure do communicate with their mouths.  If it's moving they have a tendency to want to herd it and they nip to get the job done. 

Does this make them vicious?  No.  A rancher does not want a dog that mauls or savages his livestock.  There is a big difference between a dog that nips to communicate and a dog that bites with intention to harm.  Unfortunately, too many humans can't tell the difference and dogs pay the penalty.  Owning a herding breed  offers some unique training demands.  To herd is instinctive, teaching them what to herd is a training objective.  Yes, to cattle.  No, to running children.

The Briard is a dog bred to herd and protect, it is in their DNA.  I was at my friend's house who does dog sitting for me and others in her home.  She generally has no more than 5 dogs at any one time.  We were sitting on the deck while the current group of 5 dogs were milling around.  A young Australian shepherd

Australian Shepherd

was down below us in the yard trying to engage a 1 year old, very small, rescue terrier with little experience of other dogs  This sweet little dog had spent the first 6 months of his life in a shelter.  He is somewhat timid; well, okay.....actually he screams like a girl if he feels threatened.  The Aussie was doing the play bow and tring to engage the small dog in they game of: now I'm going to chase you, then you chase me.  She hadn't even touched the little dog and was a good 10 feet from him,  but this poor little terrier was overwhelmed by this leaping, bowing Aussie and started to scream and leapt backwards to escape.   The Aussie was thinking GREAT!  It's play time!   At the first scream, my big, goofy Briard leapt off the deck and jumped between both dogs, gave the Aussie the "look" which immediately sent the Aussie up on the deck to sit. Then Nana looked around to see where the little black dog had gone, coursing until she located him under my friend's chair.  As soon as Nana determined all was well she settled down on the deck to watch over her domain until she was needed again.   This was no gang up on the little dog behavior.  Nana was intervening to protect a member of her flock.   Nana is a dominate female and the self appointed guardian of her flock whether it is a flock of dogs or people. 

More in part 2 of how stupid people are around dogs.

Life Goes On

 

Nana and her favorite toy

 

Nana and I are learning to travel light, though she does a better job than I do. Her needs are simple, food, someone to throw her toy and then play tug a war with her, a hissy toy or two (the second favorite toy) and someone to watch over.  I could do without the hissy toys however.

 

Me on the other hand am having a tougher time of it.  I have definitely learned one does not need a lot of things.  It is amazing how few clothes one actually needs.  Caring for my father has taught me a few things - like what I really need to make me happy.

 

I learned I don't need cats.

They bring gophers in the house and then devour them on the floor only to puke it back up later.

They leave bits and pieces of intestine of mice, gophers, moles, etc out the back door which become covered in ants.

They can't manage to hit the cat box, or maybe they can and just want to make me nuts. They decide that 5am is a wonderful time to get up and smack you upside the head to make sure you get up.

Cat boxes reek, and yes I clean them regularly. 

 They vomit hair balls just because they can. 

 

I need my Staub cast iron pots.

 

I have discovered you can cook, bake, grill and boil in these things.  I have never cooked with better.  Pricey yes, but worth every penny.  Buy them if you can, they truly are a joy.  You can also buy whimsical knobs: pig, rooster, snail and I am currently on the hunt for the rabbit.  Yes, caregiving can make you crazy. 

 

I need to garden.

I need to work with fiber, whether that is to knit, spin, or weave

I need books to read

I need dreams and friends.

 

And most of all I need Nana; funny, silly, loyal and such a clumsy dufus.

 

So Far, So Good

The good news is that Nana has been seizure free for weeks now.  Of course being very superstitious I am almost afraid to write those words.  The seizures had started when I had moved her to a Blue Buffalo dry dog food chicken product.  I then heard of a problem Blue Buffalo had about a year ago with the possibility of too much vitamin D in certain product lines.  To much Vitamin D can cause a drop in calcium levels which are implicated in the type of seizures Nana was having.  The line I was feeding Nana was not one of the affected dog food product lines, never the less I decided to change from Blue Buffalo.  Nana was now having between three and four seizures a day.  I switched her on a Tuesday evening.  She had three seizures the next day, then two days without and then a very minor event on the following day.  After that we have been seizure free.  It has been three and half weeks now.  Now any good scientist will tell you that correlation is not causation.  If I was a good scientist I would put her back on the Blue Buffalo product and see if the seizures come back.    I guess I will never be a good scientist.

In Recovery

The donut of healing

Nana was spayed last Wednesday.  Recovery has been slow and we have made two trips to the vet for rechecks.  She will be fine but she does not take to personal pain in a stoic fashion, she doesn't do pain at all.  She is on two pain medications, but she doesn't want to get up and move if she can possibly help it.  She should walk a little to help circulation and the healing process, on the other hand, she should not be running, jumping, climbing stairs or leaping into the car, not that she actually has ever done this last feat.  She is pretty clumsy and manages to place her two front paws on the back seat then waits until I hoist her hinney the rest of the way. 

She is also pretty good at training me.  Currently, she thinks she has me believing that she can't make it to her water or food bowl and that I have to bring it to her or she will perish.  She doesn't know I heard her in the middle of the night get up and drink water.  She also walked quite well at the vets without the spinning and laying down indicative of a pain response.   I know she is capable, but we are both pretending that she needs to be waited on during this "perilous" time of recovery.  For a dog that has been accustomed to long, long hikes everyday - this is purgatory. 

So we have 10 - 14 days of house arrest, short walks for potty breaks and other than that a calm and restful rehab.  So you will excuse me while I bring her some toys since she can't manage to get up and reach the toy basket at the moment.

Play Dates and Naps

My youngest asked me the other day if having Nana reminded me of when she and her sister were little. Boy does it ever.  My days are spent supervising the activities of the very young.  Mornings are spent making sure Nana gets the right nutrition, has plenty of fresh air and exercise, continues to learn her social manners.  She has a good lunch and then settles down for an hour or hour and a half nap.  While she naps I have an opportunity to get a few things done.  Instead of a play pen I have a crate that I use when I need to take a shower.  At least I know she isn't getting into trouble and eating the backs off my books.  My social activities have been ratcheted down.  There are some places you just can't take the very young.  I'm still looking for a reliable "baby sitter" and

I am making play dates with other nice "doggies" so she can learn to play nice with others. 

So yep.....having Nana is a blast to the past and very much reminds me of when the girls were very young.  Of course there are differences, next week Nana is going to get "tutored" so I won't have to worry about any unplanned pregnancies - now that is something you definitely can't do with your teenage girl type children - though I'm sure some parents wish it were an option.

Doggie Orthodontia and Carpet Cleaning

In the ongoing saga of Doggie Orthodontia, Nana had her gums sort of "shaved" back in an effort to create a passage for the stubborn lower canines that are coming in too straight and not flaring outward enough.  This involved her being put under anesthesia last Friday.  This made for a very calm and groggy Briard.  I, in my infinite wisdom, thought this mental state would be a perfect opportunity to take her to Meadowfarm Yarn Studio. It was a great idea right up to the point that her bowels decided to have a post op anesthesia fiesta all over the carpet at the Yarn Studio.  I have to wonder where my brain was that day.  I know that she reacts this way, I was just so lost in the - look what a calm puppy euphoria, I forgot about the rest.  Needless to say this did not endear either one of us to my favorite Yarn Shop.  So, I am on the floor trying to scrub the seven to eight "oopses" off the floor of the shop, before driving home and spending the rest of the day taking Nana outside every ten minutes. 

Of course I offered to pay to have the carpets cleaned which Ellen has taken me up on, or more accurately I am paying for half of the cost of the carpet cleaning since Ellen was getting about ready to do that anyway, I just hurried the process.  But more importantly I think I also precipitated the "no pet" policy that is going into place at Meadowfarm.  Sigh.....it was not my intention and Nana isn't the only dog that has "oopsied" there.  I know of another that has graced the carpet.  In addition someone's dog picked out a lovely cashmere ball of yarn for their owner to purchase.  Nana has been guilty of helping me pick a skein of yarn.

Personally, I wouldn't ban dogs - instead I would do a once a year "Dogs Run Amok" sale.  Something that would benefit the local "No Kill" animal shelter with a 10% of purchase donation.  It would work something like this.  Dogs get to pick your yarns off the shelf, which they would be more than happy to do.  Ellen would sell half her stock and there would be some mechanism in place for the owners not to murder their pets at the end of the free for all.  I think it would beat the heck out of the boring "year end sale", "going out of business sale", or "fire sale".

In the mean time I will keep Nana in the car when I visit.  However, in a couple of months I won't be able to visit the shop - summer is brutal here and I will have to fulfill my fiber addiction elsewhere until late in the year when temperatures abate.  Meadowfarm won't notice any big decline in sales, I'm not there biggest customer by a long shot - but hey at least I know their carpets will be clean for those customers who are.