Heartworms Heartache

My next foster dog will be a little chihuahua mix that I'm calling Tuffy because he will have to be tough through the next few months. He is heartworm positive. The Tulsa Shelter picked him up and asked ARF to take him on. This means he would be euthanized if Animal Rescue Foundation didn't step in to save him. The call went out and I answered it. I can't stand to hear about any chihuahua being euthanized. Tuffy is at the veterinary right now. They are giving him his vaccines and starting him on heartworm preventative to kill the baby heartworms first before they tackle the adult heartworms.

Heartworms are transmitted through mosquito bites. They are preventable if you give your pet a heartworm preventative every month. In Oklahoma, we suggest that people keep their dogs and cats on heartworm preventative all year long because of our weird weather. You never known when you will see a mosquito! People with inside pets should keep their animals on HWP because mosquitoes come inside and they can also land on pets and bite them while on walks or outside going potty.

Once you allow your dog or cat to contract HWP, you are in trouble and so is the pet. Heartworms are fatal in cats. So say bye-bye to your cat if she/he comes up positive with heartworms.

In dogs, the heartworm treatment is fairly aggressive. If the dog is older and sickly, he/she won't live through the treatment. Young dogs can make it through, but it is tough and the whole treatment takes about three months. And the treatments are not free! Get ready for a hefty veterinary bill.

I feel sorry for little Tuffy even though I haven't even met him yet. No one was looking out for the poor, little fella and now he must suffer for it. He has been neutered, so that tells me that he was someone's responsibility at one time. Someone who was irresponsible.

The first dog I fostered was heartworm positive and that was a trial by fire! Believe me, I wondered what I had gotten myself into as I struggled to keep a young, rat terrier mix quiet and calm after she had been treated for heartworms. She wanted to race about the backyard and jump and leap at squirrels. I couldn't allow this because if her heart pumped too hard, it would pump the bits of decomposing heartworms into her blood stream and that would kill her. I got her through it, but just barely! She broke two or three knick-knacks in my living room and beheaded a statue in my back yard. I had her on a retractable leash and she bolted. The leash went taut and cut the head off the statue. I was just glad my fingers hadn't been cut off. I have never used a retractable leash since then.

If you don't have your dog or cat on heartworm prevention, make an appointment today to have your pet tested for heartworms. If given a clear bill of health, then buy some HWP. You don't want to put your dog through such an ordeal when it is so easily prevented. And heartworm preventative will literally save your cat's life.

New Year, New Dog

I have Breeze now, a dog who looks like so many dogs running wild in the country. Throw-away dogs. Common, ordinary, not so pretty dogs. Breeze is a brindle, terrier something or other. She is young, bony, and a free spirit. She comes....sometimes. She loves to eat, although she stays thin. I feed her twice a day and I can still see her hip bones jutting out, although her spine does have a layer of fat on it now.

She loves to eat pooh.

Oh, how I fret over pooh eating dogs! One or two of mine try to sneak around and eat it. Breeze LOVES it. She grazes out there, seeking it. With the snowfall and icky weather, I have not been on pooh patrol, so there is plenty out there right now. As the snow melts to reveal it, Breeze is in pooh heaven. She runs when I approach, shaking my finger and telling her "No. Don't eat that! No!" She grabs it and gobbles on the run. I had made great progress with Slim, stopping him from eating pooh, but Breeze has renewed his bad habits and now he is at it again.

I have heard many tips on how to stop this and I have tried every one of them. The best is to go on poop patrol and keep it picked up. With 7 or 8 dogs here, that is a BIG job, but necessary.

When you take on pets, you take on the icky stuff that goes with them. Just like when you have a baby, you know you are going to be up to your eyeballs in poop and throw up, so get used to it! Better yet, prepare for it!

Of course, all the goodness they bring with them should more than make up for the inconveniences and yucky stuff. The tail wagging, big doggy smiles, racing about, chasing squirrels, gazes of adoration. That's the good stuff. I try to remember that when I chase Breeze to no avail as she swallows another mouthful.

Yuck. Don't you DARE try to lick me, you bad dog! Anybody want to adopt a sweet, gangly, multi-colored, pooh-eater? Huh? Anyone?

Terrible Terrier Squeal

I have a rat terrier mix that I love, but I don't love her terrier high-pitched squeal/scream. That ear-piercing shriek that is like a rusty knife. When I bring home a foster dog or Gypsy sees a squirrel or any other exciting thing, she does that horrible pain-inducing scream.

Naturally, I scream back at her to SHUT UP! Lot of good it does.

When neighbors approach the fence to tell me the latest -- the Nelsons are moving, Sadie Hunter's son finally visited her, the Bakers got a new dog, etc. -- I can hardly hear them because of Gypsy's screaming. I can stop it only by picking her up and holding her while I warn under my breath, "Shut your mouth!" I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts to be fostering dogs when I can't even keep my own under control. No matter if Gypsy has seen these neighbors numerous times and enjoyed being petted by them, she does the scream until I pick her up and make her shut her dogfood hole.

It really is her only major flaw, though. I adore her. She looks me right in the eyes and I can see the love she has for me in there...in those chocolate brown eyes. So what's an ear bleed here and there when you have a dog who can melt your heart with one long look?

Think Before You Adopt

The more I read about breeds and their characteristics, the more in tune I am when I consider placing dogs in specific homes. Recently, someone who has a rabbit wanted to adopt a dachshund that has already shown a burning need to chase cats and tear into them. When I explained that doxies are prey hounds and it is in their DNA to hunt small game, she said she thought she would train the dog not to bother the rabbit. Yes, but could she accomplish this before the doxie killed the rabbit and did she really want to put her poor rabbit through such an experiment? She wasn't convinced, but I was certain I wasn't sending a dachshund to her apartment.

Then there are the elderly sweethearts who are nearly blind but insist that they want black puppies. Puppies! Why do they insist on dark colored dogs that are younger than three? If you tell them that a dog is four or five, they invariably say, "Oh, that's too old." Too old??? You are 83, legally blind, hard of hearing, and you use a walker most of the time, but a five year old dog is too old for you. Delicately, I ask, "What will happen to this dog if you are hospitalized or no longer can live alone?" They usually answer, "I'm doing fine. If I go into the hospital, I will board the dog." In the past I have asked if a daughter or son will take the dog to keep it in the family, but I don't bother to do that anymore. Those who believe their children will take the dog should they have to be in the hospital or a assisted living facility are usually wrong. The dog comes back to us.

Most dogs do show signs of stress when they are bounced from home to home. They like to belong to a pack. The pack represents security; the pack is their family. Remove your whole family and plop you into a strange place or with a new family and wouldn't you be stressed? Often, dogs are taken to a shelter or veterinary first where they languish, confused and depressed and anxious, for days and weeks before being adopted or placed in a foster home. Either way, they are usually distraught and it will take several weeks -- perhaps months -- before their old personalities reappear. Unfortunately, humans are impatient and expect a dog to settle in like a pair of worn slippers. No fuss. No muss. A perfect fit for their households. When it doesn't go this way -- which it rarely does -- they call us with complaints:
"He pissed on the carpet."
"He chewed up my slippers."
"She won't come to me when I call for her."
"She growled at my husband."
Oh dear, I think, those darn dogs are behaving like dogs! How dare they!

Before you adopt, research the breed and take a good look at your house. Are you and your abode ready for a dog and are you certain of the breed or mixture of breeds you want?

It's a big committment. You are saving a life and adding a new member to your family. It's personal. Very personal.

Trix and Treats

Dogs are a constant surprise. Just when I think I have Gypsy, my female chihuahua/rat terrier mix, all figured out, she tricks me. I brought home Scrappy, an energetic "in your face, bub" kind of pup. He has been in a couple of other foster homes and I have always admired him. Being a solid black kid, he was more difficult to adopt out, so I took him in to give it a whirl. As it happened, I only had him a couple of weeks before he was adopted. However, when I brought him home I figured that he and my Gypsy would go a few rounds. I thought it would be good for Scrappy to be put in his place by a bossy alpha female. He needed to be taught a few manners.
So I waited and watched. Naturally, Gypsy proved to me that I don't know nuttin'.
Gypsy ignored Scrappy at first...hardly even giving him her usual welcome of charging at him and screeching in his face in an attempt to make his eardrums bleed. For two or three days, she barely gave him a glance.
Then she did start watching him and I thought, uh-oh, here we go. Gypsy is going to teach him what's what in the dog-dominance world.
The next thing I knew Gypsy was doing the play-bow in front of Scrappy, inviting him to frolic with her! Huh? Then they were racing around the yard together. Gypsy was deliriously happy, almost smiling as she ran in large circles with Scrap-Happy on her heels.
This behavior continued. Gypsy even began cutting him from the dog herd, singling him out, getting him away from the others to have him to herself. Then they would do the chasing thing, both of them grinning like drunks on New Year's Eve. It was downright weird. And very unGypsylike.
Scrappy went to his new home this week and Gypsy seems sort of droopy. She misses the little guy.
Darn it, so do I. I enjoyed the show.

Fear and Aggression

Probably the most distressing problem -- aside from dogs that actually attack people -- is a dog that is aggressive because of fear. I have seen my share of them and I have never found a one-size-fits-all solution to the problem. Every dog is different and you have to approach them that way. If you expect one training method to work every time, you will be disappointed and the dog will be a basket case.
You can usually tell a fearfully aggressive dog by behavior such as sneaking up behind and trying to nip someone, lurching at bigger dogs and growling, barking at bigger dogs, barking incessently at any strangers (two-legged or four-legged). A mean dog doesn't try a hit-and-run method and doesn't bark first. Mean dogs go for the kill with no warning.
Fearful dogs are trying to get the bluff in on others so they won't be hurt. They need to be convinced that they are in no danger and that you aren't in any danger either. When you have fearful dogs on the leash or in a crate they will usually show out more. They feel vulnerable in a crate. On a leash, they are also restricted and they can feel that they need to protect you or they can feel your anxiety or fear that something bad is going to happen. Dogs are incredibly sensitive to our feelings and emotions.
I always begin by creating a bond between me and the dog by walking it, feeding it, and loving on it. Then I try a number of things to see what works:
Spray the dog with water or water and lemon juice to stop it from barking.
Give it treats to get its attention off whatever it thinks is a threat and rewarding it further when it calms down.
Telling it, "No barking!" and standing before it with a stern look on my face.
Snapping my fingers or blowing a whistle to get its attention and then moving into its space to make it back away.
If I'm out in the yard and it starts fence-fighting and barking I pick it up and say "No!" and take it inside. I leave the dog inside and go back outside, knowing that the dog wants to be with me. I let it back out after a minute. Every time it starts barking and not minding me, I take it back inside and leave it there. This usually works, but you might have to do it numerous times before it sinks in.
That's the key here as it is with all training -- making it clear to your dog what you want out of it. Often, we send inconsistent and muddled messages so it's no wonder our dogs keep misbehaving.
Mind you, I have two dogs of my own who show fear aggression and I have used all of these methods. Nothing has completely worked, although I have seen improvement.
Training takes an enormous amount of patience and that is something that is often in short supply. I know I don't have any to loan out!
So if you are struggling with this problem, join the crowd. Just don't give up.

Degrees of Affection

I have several dogs and they all have their levels of affection. Like people, some dogs are extremely affectionate and demonstrative and others are reserved and even aloof.
My female chihuahua/rat terrier loves me. No doubt. We have a deep, abiding affection and respect for each other. She looks me right in the eyes and there is understanding there. It's a gift to have a dog who knows you so well and loves you so completely.
My female chihuahua is 9 and has always been a bit stand-offish. She will come to me once or twice a day and want affection, but never for very long. After a few minutes, she gets antsy, growls, snarls, and jumps down, ready to snap at any dog in her path. Her bark is worse than her bite and everyone here knows it. But we tolerate her showing out.
My male chihuahua is all baby. He wants to be in my chair with me every evening and he enjoys being kissed and snuggled. The more, the better for him.
My other male chihuahua is a whole 'nother story. He is a lump of quirks. When I catch his eye and tell him I love him, he turns away quickly and hotfoots it out of the room. Never fails. When he is in his doggy bed and I utter sweet somethings across the room to him, he folds back his ears and turns away from me. Can't bear to even look at me! He will allow me to pick him up and love on him. (He usually pees a little when I pick him up. So charming!)I can tell that he actually enjoys being petted, but he never allows himself to really let go and wag his tail or anything so overt. He acts as if he is annoyed and could care less if I continue to snuggle, pet, rub, and tell him he is one handsome hunk of burnin' love. He will never, ever show me that he really digs me. But I know he does.
Do you have a dog with attachment issues? Do you think the dog will someday turn over a new leaf and show you the love?
Do you also believe that fleas can run off and join the flea circus?
Just wondering.