Pat Arnold's Daily Dog Log
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15 2002
Busy morning!
Sweet little old Snowflake still isn't feeling well, and she's had diarrhea all morning. Freckles is fine except that she also has diarrhea, and I've been spending the morning out with Snow, out with Freck, out with Snow, out with Freck.
Freckles is learning (and I am learning) that if she needs to go out, she sits up, while still nursing her kids, until I notice her, and when I open her gate, she walks to me now. I've been making a cloth leash/double harness out of two leashes, criss-crossed around her chest, and she is getting the hang of learning to walk a little bit with this harness on. The ramp still scares her tho.
Then one of Freckle's little white puppies got her head through the fence loop of their kennel, and I spent another hour tying folded towels (like baby playpen liners) around the bottom of their kennel so the tiny kids can't scooch their tiny bodies out!
Randy and Guy are in the process of moving the back (southern-most) kennel (currently the kennel of the threesome which includes Melissa, Amber and Little Max), so we had to put Happy and Rover in the tiny outdoor Snowflake kennel and move the threesome to Happy and Rover's (much bigger) kennel so we can take down the threesome kennel and move it down to the west end by Arthur and Candy's kennel. (The main reason for moving this kennel is that it's very difficult getting the threesome to the park for their outing every day, having to walk them between [and close to] several other kennels. The dogs in the kennels lining the path go nuts every time we walk the threesome through, and someone has to stand with a hose while another caregiver walks the threesome through the gap.)
During this temporary arrangement Amber (now in Happy and Rover's kennel) has been climbing on top of the shelter, and I've had to go flying outside to spray her off the roof a zillion times, stopping her from jumping into "The Family's" kennel (containing Mommy Dog, Bobby and Briar) just one foot away! Geesh!
I was hoping to get in a full morning of office work, and it's been doggie work from 2:00 a.m. till now, and it's just 8:30!
Hopefully the rest of the day will be quiet.
The property and house of our neighbor just to the south of us is for sale
This property would be absolutely perfect for Straydog Inc. It includes a house, but most importantly it includes a huge metal building (perfect for housing the many dogs with special needs). The neighbor used to raise emus, so there is already a lot of fencing in place all around the metal building.
The property is on 27 acres, and adjoins our property. I just found out the asking price: a whopping $229,000, more than five times the value of the property Straydog is on!
ANOTHER FLASH UPDATE:
Amber gets too aggressive with Melissa, and we separate them!
Just as I came into the house from taking Freckles potty again, Randy radioed me (on the walkie-talkie) saying that Amber is showing strong aggression toward Melissa. Amber is a sweet little dog, as long as she's with male companions, and up to a point she's been okay (for a while at least) with female dogs, but pairing her with another female dog is not wise we have found out after several tries. We would now need to separate Melissa from Amber right away.
Randy, Guy and I got together immediately and decided we'd try "Top Dog" Amber with sweet, big, Shepherd-mix Arthur. Then we'd try gentle, quiet, timid (most of the time) Candy with Melissa. Melissa likes all dogs and Candy does too (at least so far here at our shelter).
Amber and Arthur get along
It took a while for Amber to realize this big fellow was nice, after which the rest of their introduction went okay, and Amber has moved into Arthur's kennel with him.
Melissa, Little Max and Candy get along beautifully with no hesitation
The three of these fellas are now in a temporary kennel while Randy, Guy and Tina take apart, and then move all of the fence sections and the wooden shelter and dog houses (which is the second kennel of the back row) up to become a first-row kennel next to Arthur's kennel.
A whole lotta work is going on today--as is the case every day.
AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Freckles' two little white babies get into trouble
Freckles' babies are just two days old, and I've noticed a big difference between the two chocolate pups and the two white pups.
The chocolate babies stay "stuck" to their mom. They are very seldom ever away from her tummy. The two white babies, on the other hand, are all over the place! Mommy Freckles takes just as good care of the white pups as the chocolate ones, but the little white fellas are more "inquisitive," I guess--if it's possible for two-day-old puppies even to be inquisitive!
While I was away from the kitchen for a few minutes early this morning, Tina came in to shut off the outside lights and saw one of the little white puppies beginning to scooch her way out of one of the fence panel holes. Tina picked the little tyke up and placed her back with Freckles and the other three puppies.
So that this wouldn't happen again I spent about 45 minutes securing a thick "liner" of towels around the bottom edge of the kennel (which I reported on earlier) so that the pups couldn't try to get out anymore.
Then, thinking that that puppy problem was solved I went back to the laundry room to start washing another load of soiled puppy bedding. It wasn't long before I heard the soft, familiar, little squeals of a puppy "in trouble" again, and sure enough, it was the same little white pup. This time she had managed to crawl beneath the towel lining and couldn't get herself back out from under it! I'm going to have to call this little one "Lucy." She needs a name because I have a feeling her antics will have her mentioned quite often.
During these first two days of their lives whenever I hear the faint little squealy sounds of a pup "in need," it's always been one of the white puppies scooching herself too far away from mom. The two little chocolate brothers are always attached to Mom!
More Photos (finally) from two weeks ago (posted Saturday):
(4) First photos of Helen in the big play yard
(5) Dobie's bug bite + Helen & Sweetie in park again
(6) Little Max returns from re-stitch + Helen & Sweetie in the park again
Click here for continuation of Page 1
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