Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November.

Max will be 6 on Friday the fifth. Hard to imagine that he is nearing senior status himself, D even found that some of the hairs around his nose have turned white.

Just don't tell him that he is getting old. ;)

Max started life as a pound puppy, big feet, big ears, big lavender tongue, and was adopted by a girl named A. Due to the curve balls associated with being in the Navy, A needed to re-home her 2 dogs and cat. Enter D, A and D worked together during shore duty, so we went to her house one day to see which dog would get along best with the girls. Max was it.

He has taught Buela and Colbert to be little fetch monsters, and with out a doubt played a massive role in rehabilitating Colbert into a nearly normal dog. He is always the first to play with any new foster and is affectionately called the ladies man, I mean, who wouldn't want to pet a big yellow puffball with a cheezy poof tail?

Happy Early Birthday Maximus fluffious (big fluffy)! (and a big thank you to A!)





6 months-ish





























Last winter here at the farmhouse, and oh so handsome.

Home in NH.

I love him too.

We have been in NH for nearly two months now. Everyone has settled in and has lost weight from hopping through snow banks. D is 55% of the way through sub school in CT which will make the dogs happier because he will be home during the week instead of 48 hour stints. (D will be happier to be home as well ;])

So what has happened in the last 3 months you ask?

We officially adopted our 10 year old foster, Oreo, on veterans day, fitting since he used to be an USAF dog and is now a USN dog. We have taken to calling him Grandpa, he grumbles like a grandpa, snores like one, and occasionally smells like one, especially when you play "pull my paw" with him. His foreleg has finally healed from the constant anxiety licking, we are just waiting for fur to grow back, and yes, where his fur is black, so is his skin.


This is my couch; damn kids.

Our drive from SC to NH was 'fun' to say the least. Previous snow storms and the upcoming holiday (we started out Dec 22nd) bogged up traffic. We hit lunch traffic in Philly trying to stop and see one of our esteemed rescue contacts Liz Hathaway.


Colbert and Buela in Lizzie's backyard.

In NJ there was an accident so bad that staties made traffic exit in the middle of nowhere causing us to take Rt 1 across...making what was usually a 2 hour drive into 4. Rush hour on the Geo. Washington Bridge in NYC caused me to add facebook to my phone. We finally made it into town around 1 am, and of course I was going by memory and not looking at signs, which was a bad idea seeing as they had flipped the exit around a few weeks before we showed up, a U-Turn with a stretched F150 hauling a trailer is not fun, nor easy. Needless to say the dogs do not look forward to car rides lately ;).

Digging in snow banks and sniffing under the porch are favorite pass times of Buela. Corona likes to blend in with and tromp around through the thickets. Max likes to catch snow balls. Oreo is in sniffer heaven, and since there isn't a fence he as learned the command "Too Far" I am sure the neighbors have too. Poor little Colbert doesn't want to leave the porch at night because of his light phobia.


Buela after digging to China in the snow.


Max catching sight of something small and prey worthy, I love the color of his coat in the sunset.


Mr Handsome, Jr after his bath at K9 Kaos in Dover, NH.

Everyone who comes over tells us how great and well behaved they all are. Everyone wants to steal Corona and or Max. They also want to see Colbert and win him over, I tell them that Colbert doesn't even come to me someday's but they persist. It is good for him.

The girls went to the vets the other day for boosters and general physicals. All their tests came back perfectly normal, despite Roni needing to shed a few pounds and having a faint heart murmur. The Dr said that she has probably had it her entire life, just no one had caught it.


Her favorite place to be, snuggled in bed on my pillow.

D is on his way home for his weekend leave and will be here at 3:30pm EST. Everyone will be so excited, even me. ;)

Failure to launch

So yesterday was Dixie's visit with prospective parents. As you can see from the title, not so much.

She does have an issue with meeting people and wanting to protect who ever is holding the leash. Once she gets over that she is her adorable love bug self. Just needs some training. They weren't too crazy about that idea. However, they would have taken my handsome boy Max in a heart beat I think.

I will be driving her to Newberry, SC to meet up with Martha tomorrow, and give her back to Blue Crush. Hopefully being closer to HQ will find her a home quicker. There apparently are some people interested in her anyhow, plus Martha has another slot lined up for January on the local news which has a certain day that show cases animals in need of a home.

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A note on taking in any new dog, adopted or (shudder) purchased, they will always need training to meet your standards. Some people don't mind when their dogs like to talk, others cannot stand knowing when the neighbor walks by to check their mail. TRAINING!!

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This is "The Dixie Report" that Donovan typed up:

December 24, 2008

Dixie Report

We took her in because she tested positive for heartworm. We were to be her calm, quiet environment while she went through the heartworm treatment—the goal to minimize her physical activity. This was an uphill battle with Dixie in a perpetually playful mood; instigating bouts with anyone willing. Oh, did I mention she likes to bark…

She’s a very mouthy girl. She vocalizes everything. Sometimes it’s a normal, “Hey, there’s another dog barking.” Other times it’s, “Hey, someone’s walking by the house,” or “Hey, I’m going this way now.” So if you dislike barking, then you are in store for a relationship built on compromise. It’s not constant, it’s chronic.

Sweet, affectionate, playful…she has many good qualities. She can be easily trained—just use food. She is highly motivated by food. If you look at her like a 5 year old child, then she’s easier to endure. Likewise, she can be entertained by almost any manner of play—be creative.

It’s been very amusing to watch her learn how to play fetch and catch. She loves it. She’s also an explorer; she has no recognition of property lines. She’ll dart off the second you turn away to go learn about the neighborhood. She doesn’t understand “Come” yet.

Her background, as much as is known, is that she was left outside on a large lot alone almost continuously. This hands-off approach to dog care being the root cause to her exposure and contraction of heartworm. This also resulted in her being semi-anti-social. As far as we knew for a long time was that she was simply not human-savvy, so we worked on her manners (keeping her distance while we eat, giving everyone their personal space). As she encountered more strangers we observed her behaving confused and insecure, showing itself as sudden barks and a motion of her head as though she’s trying to snap at the person but she’s not serious about it. It’s a convincing show, though. It took her the entire 5 days my parents came to visit us in November until the night before they left for her to warm up to my mother and sit with her on the sofa.

She’s exhibited these outbursts with neighbors and everyone whom she doesn’t know. She’s pretty good with strange dogs, but she’s not wholly stable herself. So if the newly introduced dog isn’t perfect, then expect some tension and negative behavior.

A more serious issue she’s developed over the past two weeks is aggressive confrontation with the other dogs of the pack. It appears to be motivated by possessiveness. She’s been getting too much cuddle time during the day and access to the bed during the night. She starts fights that are only a couple notches down from a genuine intention to injure. As a result we’ve had to keep them separated during the day while we’re away at work.

As corrective actions we’ve aligned all of our actions to convey to her that she’s not the top dog on the list. After I mix the wet food with the dry every night with a spoon or fork, she’s the last to lick the utensil. Her food bowl is the last to be placed on the floor. She’s the last to receive a treat. It’s made a noticeable difference—she’s getting the point.

Dixie has grown quite attached to us. So she will very likely be morose for some time after she leaves our home that’s been hers for about 4 months. She will make an excellent companion for anyone willing put forth a little effort to mold her behavior.

Hurray!!!

Captives of the kitchen while the carpets were getting cleaned yesterday. Buela on the left, Dixie on the right.















Sweet Nothings, Sweet Nothings...














Adopt ME!

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We took Dixie in to have her 2nd heartworm treatment yesterday. Per Martha's vets advice we asked for another heart worm test prior to the injection. The one done at the office was just barely tinged with the faintest of a blush of color. Our vet, Dr Stephen Jones, who is on the board of the American HeartWorm Association and one of SC Veterinarians of the Year, wanted to call it a negative test. We had more blood drawn from Dixie and it was sent to a lab for confirmation.

We got the results today when we took our FF Colbert in for his rabies vacc.

Dixie is now heartworm NEGATIVE!!!

YAY!!!

Anyone want to adopt a super submissive love bug bluey?

Nothing new here.

Check out those bear claws...




















Guess who hates having his photo taken.




















Look! it's the Firefox logo!

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Everyone is still getting along. No one has any new scars, no one died, and no puking (woo hoo!)

Dixie is still a cuddle monster, and doesn't EVER want to miss out on anything. So even if you say Corona, Dixie will scramble up from the wood floor on the other side of the house and be sitting next to you before Corona can even hop off the ottoman 2 feet in front of me. All because, of course, you might have food. Ugh.

Her final two shots are scheduled for the 26th and 27th. Her incontinence has abated and was probably exacerbated by the vet visit. The vet we had that day said that she is a very timid dog and anxious dog and this is probably what is causing her accidents. Good news is that it eventually goes away. Good thing she is a love bug, so that her eventual 'furever' parents will love her despite having to clean up the floors for the first few days after a vets visit. Poor Girl.

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Colbert is still a card. he squeals like a girl while playing with Max. He also has developed a sneaky typical little brother tactic to steal Max's rawhide. He will go over to max, tail tucked and ears down, tapped his paw off Max's head while rolling over. He will then curl his body around Max's head all while 'talking' and squeaking. This makes Max grumble and turn his head because I am sure it is all very annoying. Once Max turns his head Colbert, whose mouth just happens to be next to the afore mentioned rawhide picks it up and walks to his corner in the living room. Here he promptly plops down with his big Corgi butt facing the rest of us and goes to work on his newly acquired rawhide. We all know that a stolen rawhide with someone else's slobber tastes alot better than the dry one that has been sitting at the top of the stairs for a week.

I would tape this, but Colbert runs from the sound of the camera.

C'est la vie.

x0x W

The Hand

Family Portrait.















Lucky Puppy.


So as posted before, Colbert likes to observe play time with Max and Buela. This morning, as D was wrestling with them Colbert tried to get in on the action. However when D reached out to Colbert he would back off but still huff and bark...with an actual onomatopoeic "woof". It truly was cute. When D was patting Max during this episode, Colbert would come up and sniff at D's hand and arm. But again back away when D reached solely out to Colbert.

Apparently during the afternoon, Colbert got comfortable enough to nearly quasi-play with "The Hand".

Barking!

Colbert sleeping, his bum in in the corner with his tail wrapped up along his body, his head is under the green dog bed.
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Today Colbert barked for the first time, it was while he was playing with his consummate playmate, Buela. It took me a minute, lying in bed at 6 am, trying to figure who that was because it didn't sound like any of the other pups. It makes me so happy that he is relaxed enough to bark and play with them, I just wish he would consider getting closer to us.

Contrary to what I just said, this afternoon he was walking towards me, possibly to flirt with Max or Buela, he got with in a foot of me until I turned my head at the movement. - sigh

At this point in time he has found himself another cubby hole to hide in , he did a ferret double over move to get in there and has buried his head under a dog bed while wedged between the wall and a bookcase(see the above picture). I can hear him sleeping now because he is doing the same huffing and whining that Buela does when she's caught something good while dreaming.

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Sunday night, I brought everyone into our room for bedtime. I also brought the last bits of rawhides from an open bag...I figured 6 or 7 pieces and 4 dogs will work out just right. In about a half hour or so Colbert growled at Buela when she got too close to a rawhide that was a foot from the open crate he likes to lay in. I got up to find Buela a different rawhide to go after, only to realize that all of them were gone. These were 4" x 4" rawhides, even the most anxious, bored, and hungry ACD couldn't have eaten all of them in 30 minutes. So I checked on Colbert to be sure he at least had one and to swipe the one in front of the crate for Buela. That's when I realized that Colbert had retrieved every last rawhide and was hoarding them under the cushion in the crate.

Time will only tell - however I have heard of dogs being in homes for years and still hiding things like food, toys, and anything else that they think will get taken away.

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In the mean time, this is my newest favorite forum: AUCADO.

Preparation: T-minus 3 days and counting...

Max, Corona, and Buela.

Thursday marks the day we pick up Colbert, previously known as Zambia, From Pet Helpers on Folly Rd in Charleston.

But first some background on us. D and I (W) live in SC courtesy the USN. We live with our 3 dogs, Corona (chichi mix) , Buela (AuCaDo), and Max (Chow mix).

Corona was an ASPCA dog. Turned in for chewing, barking, whining, digging, and other destructive behavior, we were told to put away our shoes and protect the cabinets and carpets. I immediately told the representative at the ASPCA, she's still just a puppy, that's what they do. We are her 5th and forever home. She is now 2 years old, she may still have minor housebreaking issues and not like strangers, but she is a lovable little cuddle bug. If your lap is available; she is there.

Buela is our only 'breed' dog, and though we are now against people 'shopping' for a dog vs adopting one that surely needs a better life, we wouldn't return her for anything. Still a puppy at nearly 11 months, full of energy due to her breed, she is an active, excitable, endearing ball of fur that seems to live for jumping on us at 6 am, complete with a tongue bath ambush to the face.

Max is another ASPCA rescue. His previous owner, adpoted him from the same shelter we got Corona from. She is also USN and had to report to her ship in CA. We took him in hoping to break him of his fear of discipline. After 6 months with us he has developed into playful fluff ball, has developed a love of fetch and competition in Buela, is a resolute truck dog, and eager assistant in all landscaping projects, which means he just follows D everywhere.

As for D and I, we have been together nearly 3 years come New Years. We are followers of Cesar Milan's teachings, though we know that they will not be useful to us for some time with Colbert. We also believe in proper use of choke chains, micro-chipping, nail clipping, eye cleaning, discipline, love, and fun.

PS: don't know who Stephen Colbert is?