Medication Hump Day!

Transport Day minus 6

The lovely and talented Julie Andrews notwithstanding, half a slice of American cheese helps the medicine go down as far as Beano and his foster "Li'l Sister" are concerned. Three days into a five-day antibiotic regimen and neither dog is displaying upper respiratory infection symptoms. Energy levels are at or near normal, and appetites are back!

Which means, of course, we are back on track, now, at Transport Day minus six and counting. W-e-l-l-l-l...um, almost. There is the little matter of Opal Hound's final health certification exam on Thursday, but I'm fairly certain she will ace it. We've been studying for it for three days!

Playing and Displaying...

Warm weekend ideal for Beano and foster Li'l Sister

One observation from this bout of snotty noses I found telling: Both dogs seemed to prefer being outside rather than in the house. Beano--who had it the roughest--spent most of Saturday sprawled in the sun and totally ignoring everything going on around him. While Opal teased him to play with her, he would have none of it.

Normally, Opal would have pressed and taunted without mercy until Beano responded, one way or another. Saturday, she did not. She made initial overtures, looked at him for several seconds as if puzzled, sniffed his muzzle, then turned away and left him alone. Every so often she would walk over to him, lick his muzzle and return to her own devices.

By Sunday, Opal was symptom free and hyper energetic. Beano showed only minor sniffling and at least a willingness to play even if his endurance remained lacking. Their play (click for video) was fairly subdued, not a lot of running and chasing, but it did include some rather heavy bonding display.

Affiliation display, that special "Hello" kiss

Active displays used by both wolves in the wild and domestic dogs in the yard have been reevaluated over the past several years. Newer scientific studies suggest that much of what we formerly believed about dominance-submission hierarchies in wolf packs and, by progression, among dogs was wrong, according to best-selling author and animal behaviorist John Bradshaw.

Bradshaw is Foundation Director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol and a dog enthusiast. He and others have noted two basic behaviors in wolves and dogs, affiliation display and 

A somewhat lazy "affiliation" greeting?

belly-up display, formerly classified as "submissive" behaviors.

Affiliation display

"The 'active' display is the more common one among wolves," Bradshaw wrote in Dog Sense (p.20). "Rather than being a sign of submission, is in fact a bonding signal."

In affiliation display dogs approach with tails low, posture somewhat crouched, ears back slightly and nuzzle muzzle-to-muzzle.

Clearly, affiliation display is a form of greeting, much like humans' hugging and kissing when meeting. No one at this party is displaying a "submissive" behavior; rather all parties concerned--in a wolf pack, several individuals may join in this behavior--are strengthening their relationship bonds.

Opal takes it to the next level, belly-up display.

Belly-up display

The second behavior is a sign of submission and not as common as affiliation. The belly-up display is typical of infant pups who roll onto their backs to show their exposed bellies to a parent or another adult.

Bradshaw suggests that adult wolves and dogs adopt and adapt this puppy behavior in an attempt to stave of a possible attack from a more dominant wolf or dog. Essentially the submissive one is saying, "Go ahead, rip my guts out, but I'd really rather that you did not!"

From my own observations, Opal does show submissiveness toward her much smaller, somewhat older foster brother Beano. She is quite content to let him be Top Dog. And yet, that does not stop her from bullying him with her sheer bulk! 

Meanwhile, in other news...

Opal shared an intimate nose-to-nose-through-a-chain-link-fence moment with the toddler next door. Neither spoke and the baby girl slowly backed away once she discovered someone was watching. There's a missed Kodak Moment not likely to come 'round again!