They are, after all, newbie puppies

Stinky Cat looks on as puppies confront Master Beano.

Three puppies came to stay at our house. Three rambunctious, curious,

8-week-old newbies with a lot to learn. Big puppies, bigger than our own Lazlo Chiweeny who finds this crew a little intimidating. He thinks he wants to kill them, but he knows he can’t. They are, after all, puppies.

I cut a paper collar off the runt. "A29656204 Male" is written on the green facing in bold black marker. That's how he was known down at the pound. A2 and his siblings were owner-surrenders, dropped off by humans as no longer wanted. Or never wanted in the first place.

Puppies certainly raise hell, don't they? And these guys bring a certain celebrity with them, a growing social media presence trending mainly here, in Wichita Falls circles, and branching out to Flower Mound, toward New York. These guys are local rock stars, and damned if they don't act like they know it!

Louie's green paper collar is marked A29656204 Male.

So why would a couple of old married people, supposedly in their Golden freaking Years, take to foster three energetic, ravenous, "It's ALL about ME!" puppies? I mean, you KNOW why puppies are so damned cute, dont' you? It's Ma Nature's way of keeping all god's creatures from killing 'em. Why, indeed?

Asking to take on these three gave Annie and I naming rights. It's good to be Senior Foster Parents! We knew the names had to be triplets--as in Lion, Tiger and Bear--but not just any old triplet--Larry, Curly, Moe. Plus we had to have two boy names and a girl name. Peter, Paul and Mary! Ultimately, it was Annie's entry that took the vote and stuck. Frank, Louie and Ella.

Ella takes five from a boistrous meet and greet.

Fine voices all and strong, this trio. They will be with us for at least a month, at the end of which time we are expected to turn over three young, healthy, happy dogs; house trained and friendly to other dogs, cats and people. And if you can work in tolerance for human children, so much the better.

Like Betty said, It's gonna be a bumpy ride. You, Dear Reader, are welcome to FOLLOW along for these next five weeks and see how it goes. We'd appreciate your COMMENTS, too.

Anniepie Miller provided the pics. Rumor has it she has VIDEO!

Kimber Farrar-Hopkins, who is Emily's Legacy Rescue, pulled these guys from the lock up at the 11th hour.

Jan Herzog provided transportation and got our guys into the Road to Forever-Love on Wheels program for a fresh beginning through Helping Hounds Dog Rescue.

I'm Jim Miller. I string words together.

Our thanks to all the above and to all of you, Dear Readers, for being a part of what we do.

Is Your Dog Jealous?

Hot enough for ya? It's been a bear down at the dealership with temperatures well into the upper 90s combined with humidity levels beyond miserable. It's the kind of summer DOG days that saps one's energy, not to mention motivation. These dog days of 2014 are my excuse for not having fired up this blog before now.

But a couple of newsy items crossed my cell phone the other day. One had to do with a pioneering project out of Emory University in Atlanta that is using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans on dogs for the first time to map dogs brain activity. The other study out of the University of California, San Diego, considered whether or not dogs exhibit jealousy when confronted with a rival.

Dogs are smart. That's a given, right? I mean, they are WAY better at reading body languages--human as well as other animals--than people are. They alert us to dangers before we are aware a threat is imminent, they know from three rooms away when the fridge is opened, and they know when the outside world has kicked us in the teeth as soon as we walk through the door.

Dogs are smart. But just how smart? What exactly does canine intelligence look like, and how does it operate?

Dropping in unannounced is all a part of a day's work for Navy
 SEALs and their expertly trained war dogs.

Gregory Berns, Distinguished Professor of Economics and director of Emory’s Center for Neuropolicy, was inspired by Cairo, the Belgian Malinois, member of Seal Team Six who aided in the execution of Osama bin Laden, to learn how dogs "think". Berns was astonished that a dog could learn to be hurled from a perfectly good airplane at 30,000 feet, encased in pounds of gear, strapped to his handler's chest, and seemingly enjoy the experience! Thus was Berns' "Dog Project" launched.

Follow the above link to learn more about the project, but I do want to add that no dog was 'forced' nor even coerced into a fMRI scanner. The initial step in the project was to train dogs through positive reinforcement to willingly enter the scanner and place their heads on a chin rest. Each test subject was unrestrained, free to leave the scanner at any time and provided with ear protection against the high decibels generated inside the fMRI.

For readers wanting to learn more about Berns' ground-breaking work on mapping neuroactivity in dogs, I recommend his book How Dogs Love Us.

Dogs and the green-eyed monster

Anyone who has more than one dog at home no doubt has seen behavior that certainly appears to be jealousy. Give attention specifically to one dog and here comes the other to nudge and paw at you for her share, right? Annie and I not only have experienced apparent jealousy in both Beano and Lazlo, it has exhibited in every single dog we have fostered.

But is it really what we humans know as jealousy? Well, the short answer is, yes, it is.

Obvious to anyone who lives or has lived with dogs, right? However, the issue apparently has been one of some controversy among scientific circles. There is, it seems, one or more camps who hold to the notion that jealousy requires levels of cognition not attainable by mere dogs; i.e., human bias and hubris when it comes to "lower" animals is alive and well, even among the scientific sets.

So UC San Diego psychology professor Christine Harris and former honors student Caroline Prouvost set out to determine if dogs do indeed experience jealousy as we humans know it. 
The study enlisted households with dogs willing to be video taped while interacting with their respective dog companions, with a plush puppy robot, with a plastic Jack-O-Lantern pail and while reading a book.

The plastic pails and the books did not show much response from the dogs in question. Nearly eight out of ten dogs, however, definitely reacted to the animatronic toy dog with jealous behavior. Most even went so far as to sniff the toy dog's butt! 

Again, nothing we who live with dogs did not already know, but at least now our dogs' jealous fits are scientifically grounded. Further reading on this study may be found here.

"Bring him home."

In closing, I want to commend to you an NPR report, Advocates Say Military Dogs Aren't Pets — They're Veterans. 

When U.S. forces left Vietnam untold numbers of American war dogs were left "in country" to fend for themselves. President Bill Clinton passed legislation that says our war dogs "may" be brought back stateside when their foreign duties are finished. Earlier this week a group of former canine combat vets and their advocates went to Capital Hill, asking that the law be amended from "may be brought home" to WILL be brought home.

America's military forces pride themselves on "No one left behind." This policy needs to apply to our canine veterans, as well as extending veterans' benefits to surviving combat dogs. If you agree, please write or call your representatives in Congress and ask them to recognize our canine heroes as fully deserving veterans.

Thank you on behalf of Cairo and all his surviving brothers and sisters in arms. 

Introducing the 'New' Dog

[Note: We're a little behind on our publishing schedule. Please bear with us as we play catch-up!]

Rowdy checking out the back patch.

Rowdy, a Chihuahua-Italian greyhound mix (Annie suspects), checked in at Lazlo & the Bean's Bed & Barkfest. Strangest-looking little dog you'd ever hope to meet.

I see clearly now what Kimber down at the shelter meant when she described him to me as a "deer-legged Chihuahua"!

Like nine (is it, now?) guests before him, Rowdy is a rescue on the Rescue Road to Forever. He had to leave the foster he was with rather abruptly -- for reasons beyond his control -- so Rowdy will be with us until Dog Runner’s next trip, Monday, to Helping Hounds Dog Rescue in Dewitt, NY.

Annie: We decided that Rowdy looks a lot like a little meerkat and is so unlike his name. He's sweet, mellow and very affectionate. He has a habit of snuggling in and laying his head on your arm or chest. He is absolutely endearing. Beano and Lazlo took to him right away, as did Jim and I. Some family will be very lucky to have him.

[Actually, Rowdy left last Monday and arrived in Dewitt Friday. At last report yesterday, he is winning hearts and minds among the good folks at HHDR.]

Our regular reader knows we have two home dogs, Beano and Lazlo. Laz was a foster fail who came to stay a couple of months ago. Beano, the unchallenged alpha, has been with us some five years now.  Each time we bring home a new foster, like Rowdy, there are those initial moments of apprehension, watching to see whether or not Beano will approve.

Introductions are made in our backyard with the new dog on lead. Beano, of course, establishes up front that this is his turf. When new guy shows proper submission, Beano immediately turns curious, and the round robin sniffing begins!

Annie: I have to say, that Beano has relaxed considerably since we adopted Lazlo. He has relinquished most of his toys - even his favorite night-night buddy - to his little brother. He accepted Rowdy and CJ with very little ado. Maybe he's just adjusting to the fact that every few weeks a new dog appears for a while and then, with little fanfare, is gone again. I so wish I knew what went on in their minds!

I think Lazlo is a Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund) mix and, very active (Beano is actually losing weight trying to keep up with this little firecracker!) and single-minded. However, he does think of himself as top dog and doesn't like sharing - and that goes for his humans, as well. For instance, if Beano is curled up in my lap, Lazlo will come and place himself higher so that, eventually, Beano will relocate. Laz gets away with it because everyone, including the other animals, loves him. What can I say? Rowdy and CJ learned quickly that 10pm, when Beano and Laz are sent to bed, was their time for individual cuddling with us.

[Whew! We now return you to those thrilling days of What's Happenin' Now!]

"Can we go?"

This picture remains the same, day in and day out. I see it every time I pull into our drive when the dogs are out. Only the dogs change as fosters come and go along the Rescue Road. That's our current foster, C.J. (right above) who's been with us about a week now. Of all the chihuahua-mixes to come through here, C.J. is the most chihuahua-ish -- hyper, skittish, animated, and more than a little demanding at times.

Annie: I am constantly amazed at how easy it is to fall in love with each of the fosters we've had. Regardless of personality, there is something about each and every one that captivates me EVERY time! CJ is no exception. He is quieter that most, but he seems to have had more training. He's very agreeable, not demanding - although I think he'd like it a lot if Lazlo would allow him more alone cuddle time with the humans!

C.J.'s first couple of days were Beano and Lazlo laying down their rules for the patch. Not that Lazlo's that disciplined. It's just that as the Little Brother, he feels compelled to back up Beano's dictates. By day three C.J. was easing into the mix, a new trio testing and toying with one another.

Fostering truly is a family affair!

C.J. is good on inside skills save taking to his crate, the focus of this week's training. He will get on just fine in New York.

~~~~~~~

Jim & Sage

 In closing, let's give a Texas-sized THANK YOU and SHOUT OUT to Joan Nickum. She knows who she is, and some of you regular readers may, too. Joan made it possible for Annie and I to participate in our first rescue relay yesterday, driving Sage, a beautiful young Schnauzer. Our leg was from Wichita Falls to Childress, Texas (Sage will eventually land in Phoenix, Arizona). Truth be told, Annie and I have lusted after Dog Runner's gig ever since we first heard about Dave and Elaine. What could be better than road tripping with dogs!

Sage, crated and ready to start the journey to Childress, Texas

And Buddy makes three!

Just introduced a new dog into a house with two dogs and four cats. Why do I feel like I'm sitting on a powder keg?

Buddy the Bashful

That was me Saturday afternoon. After taking a week off from fostering, followed by another week with our first foster failure of the most fortuitous kind, we picked up a little brown and tan guy named Buddy.

I'd heard the name a time or two around the shelter, but we had not met. I'd also heard that Buddy had a past from which he brought baggage. Nothing vicious, of course. Apparently he had come into this world through the home of an hoarder.

Animal hoarding is keeping "more than the typical number of companion animals" resulting in "inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, sanitation, shelter and veterinary care," according to the Humane Society of the United States.

Which begs questions like what is the "typical number of companion animals" and "minimal standards" for care. I don't have a concrete answer for either, but I think most rational folks have a fair understanding of both. Hoarders, I'm sure, never start out with an intention to become a hoarder; it just happens that way.

And the irony is that most -- if not all -- hoarders started out with and yet maintain a genuine love for their companion animals.

Cheryl Miller is Director down at the shelter, a job not unlike herding cats. While Buddy was an inmate there, Cheryl took extra time daily to get to know this little guy. Here's her story.

"He came from a hoarding situation," Cheryl said. "He is a Rottweiler-Chihuahua mix," she added, her brows curling into question marks. "Not sure how that happened, but (hoarder) has over 20 of them. She handed over five to us, all very fearful and pretty aggressive toward people.

"Buddy was the only one that even tried to come up to me," Cheryl recalled. "I could tell he wanted me to pet him, but he was scared. So we gave him about a week of us trying every day to get to know him better and for him to even trust us. He never once offered to bite.

"Then, one day, he came up to me, jumped up on me and started licking my hand! So I'm very greatful that Buddy is in foster care now and training for our Rescue Road to Forever."

To be sure, Buddy has a hurdle or two yet to clear before leaving for New York later this month. We have no doubt he will make it. This little guy has come too far to wash out now.

Hmmmm? THREE dogs. FOUR cats? And just exactly, again; WHAT is "typical"? 

The Dog at the End of His Journey

Lazlo, the dog who came to foster and stayed!

Our sometimes annual anniversary road trip all but died on the drawing board Last week. Clearly, Gracie's Curse did not follow her to the whateverafter, for Mom always said, "The surest way to kill a trip is to plan on taking it."

So rather than dining on Gulf Coast seafood in the wake of the latest oil carnage in Galveston Bay, we grabbed a bag of Arbuckle Mountain Original Fried Pies while doing Glen Rose, Texas. Two of the pies actually made it all the way home with us!

Annie, Beano and I were planning a drive down to Freeport, Texas, my birth home, then along the coast to Galveston before winding our way back North. Consequently, we had placed a temporary hold on fostering another transport dog after seeing Sassy, our seventh, off with the Dog Runner Sunday, a week ago.

No one was more thrilled by not having a foster in the house than the resident homeboy Beano. He reveled in his week of being an only dog once again! HE got more treats! HE had ALL the attention!! HE got to take more walks!!!

Truth be told, we all needed a bit of spring break after seven dogs.

Lazlo and the Bean playing TAG!

Back to business as usual, we treked over to the Humane Society of Wichita County to pick out foster #8. That's when things began to go a lot like a Rod Serling short story.

Cheryl down at the shelter had a particular dog, Hazel, in mind for us. Upon arrival, however, a young mother was agonizing over whether or not to adopt Hazel. While we waited for the woman to decide, Beano had a great time running along the fence outside the kennels and getting all the dogs in a tizzy!

The woman opted to take Hazel on trial. 

"Great!" I told Cheryl. "Now show us Lazlo."

We had seen the name in a listing of dogs up for foster for the late April transport. Annie and I both were more than a little curious about this dog with a slavic name. Cheryl was elated that we showed interest in this dog. Seems he had been at the shelter for an exceedingly long time with little interest shown in adopting him.

Part chihuahua and part brindle whoknowswhat, Lazlo is a quiet little guy. He rode most of the way home sitting in my lap (Annie was driving, for a change) and calmly watching the world flash by his window.

Not an hour out from the shelter, Jan Herzog called to tell us Lazlo wasn't medically cleared for the transport program. A trifling matter of a benign skin lesion Doc B. was still treating. We would need to return Lazlo and select another dog.

That did not happen. Since Laz was not cleared for transport, he could be adopted right here in River City. Lazlo, as it turns out, had remained at the shelter for such a long time because Lazlo is Beano's dog! He had been waiting all that time for Beano to show up and claim him.

So Lazlo will not be relocating to New York. Sorry! Helping Hounds! We have initiated adoption proceedings. Lazlo and the Bean will be buddies for the rest of their days.

Annie: That got me a little weepy, right there!

We will be taking the rest of this week off from fostering to give Lazlo a few days to settle in.

Luckily, our next transport date was pushed back a week, so we will be back to the Rescue Road to Forever this coming Saturday in time for the April 29 run.

Speaking of Saturday...

Come out and visit with some dedicated folks and a bunch of worthy animals! Lazlo and Beano will be lookin' for ya!

Wrong Time Right for This Foster

Scots bred Sassy

By Jim and Annie Miller

Hey, Boomers! Which of these things don’t go with the others? Which of these things do not belong? Can you tell which ones don’t mix with the others before I finish this song?

Gulf beaches

Senior Baby Boomers

Masses of crazed high school and college coeds on Spring Break!

It’s not that we are too old for carnival, we’re too slinking slow! So we ended up with another dog, after swearing we were taking a couple or three weeks off “for the sake of the children.”

March 16, Annie and I have been together...what is it now?...17 years? No, 18 years since the man in black strode off an American airliner into the rain of Portland International….

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to drop down to The Gulf for a halfway decent seafood dinner that weekend….

Annie: We’re talking FRESH seafood - the likes of which I have been craving since we came to this landlocked location!

Meanwhile, down at the dealership, someone mentions “Spring Break!”, which gets me wondering, exactly, when is spring break this year. Turns out the weekend of the 16th sits smack on ground zero for Chaos on South Padre Island!

Crate training begins...

So the Great Gulf Coast Road Trip is postponed until the last weekend this month, and now we have Sassy, our sixth foster for the Road to Forever.

This girl is Sassy, and that’s a name, not a comment on her personality. She’s more focused stubbornness than sass, which she presents when faced with something SHE does not want to do!

I swore we would not take another big dog, for Beano’s sake. But picking up a rescue dog to foster for transport isn't exactly like ordering of the value menu at Mickey Dee’s. Naturally, we brought home another Border Collie!

At least we got the gender right, for Beano’s sake.

Miss-named or no, Sassy came to us with fair to middling domestic skills, signs that before she hit hard times, she had been loved deeply and rather well. She's eager to greet-and-sniff without showing aggression and readily responds to Sit when it fits her will. And when she is ready to be loved, she'll come right up, in your face, no matter what you may be attempting at the time and demand your full and undivided attention.

As for some of her others skills, she's accomplished at sleeping on the bed and sniffing out treats. She seems relatively attuned to "Sassy", to which she actually will stop whatever she's about and approach with the what-did-I-do-now expression on her hang dog face....most of the time. Ask or tell her to Lie Down! and odds are even that she will.

"Hey, there! Little red riding-hood...." 

Stay! and Wait! we are not prepared to comment on publicly at this time. And she does have a thing for cats! Fascinated by 'em!!

Annie:  The day Sassy arrived, Jim had picked her up in the morning, dropped her at home and headed to work, so there was little introduction. She came into my life like she was meant to be here - no hesitation on either side. The best part ... Beano accepted her right away, as well. The cats were/are a different story.

Sassy is a herding dog, after all. She isn't just curious about the cats; she wants to bend them to her will. What she doesn't get is that these cats don't play that. I've only seen Raja and Al*B after the dogs have been crated for the night. That's fine - that's how they are choosing to deal, right now.

Simba, well, Simba is exceptional. He has no fear - of any person or any dog. He is confrontational, pugnacious, AND friendly. He loves to engage the dogs, and I believe, likes being the object of the chase. So ... as much as I may tell Sassy, 'No, no!', it's basically Simba who decides how events play out. He sashays into the room slowly and deliberately, attracts Sassy's attention, and away they go.

Check out the new collar!

Interestingly, when I have sternly warned Sassy ('NO kitties!'), she'll come to me and nudge my arm - and continue to do so until I stop what I'm doing and focus entirely on her, as if to say, 'I'm sorry. Love me!' She is a cuddler, but more than that, she wants to share your space - her head on your arm, leg, or pillow. She is a honeybun, pure and simple.

Again, she IS a herding dog - stubborn and strong-willed as all get out. The first time I tried to get her into the crate was laughable. We struggled until we were both spent.  I put treats and toys in and left the door open, the idea being, that she would understand she could come and go on her own. She retrieved the chewy bone and took it to the living room and settled herself on the couch. I took it and threw it back into the crate - she decided she didn't need it that badly and came back and settled at my feet. Round 1:  Sassy!  I planned the next attempt would be when Jim was home.

We've been a little more successful since that first effort. She'll go in on her own when the door is open as long as it's HER idea. Bedtime is still a struggle. She is VERY smart and luring her with treats just doesn't work - she gets the best 'are you kidding me?' look on her face! Once she's in, she's quiet for several hours, but once she awakens, the barking and digging at the door begins (last night she moved the crate about four feet from where it started out!). Of course, so far, we've given in. As long as each night her quiet time is longer than the previous night, I figure we're ahead of the game - and we do have another week to get her used to staying in for longer periods.

Fostering has taught me many things, but chiefly, the amazing capacity the heart has to give and accept love. I know these dogs instinctively know we are here to help them, and regardless of what they've been through, their aim is to please us. We, for our part, open ourselves to caring for them, knowing their time with us is brief. It is bittersweet, but we wouldn't change these experiences for anything in the world.

Dog Say the Darnedest Things

Lady cat-watching

NOTE: Lady, our sixth and longest in-residence foster, left Texas en route to New York yesterday. She challenged us, brought us to question our methods and in so doing worked her way deeper into our hearts than any other foster to date. She is greatly missed.

Ever wonder what your fosters say about you behind your back? Oh trust me, they do talk amongst themselves when we aren't around.

Lady, our most recent foster, was in her final stage of crate training. For those few readers unfamiliar with the sport, Crate Training is convincing your dog partner that being caged is a good thing! Some dogs, like Lady, take more convincing than others.

We were leaving Lady caged for longer periods of time and at different times during daylight hours. To be fair, we confine Beano to his crate as well, sort of a remedial refresher course for him, too.

Lady being a “talker” ~ she has a wide range of vocalizations which she’s not shy about using. we know she and Beano must be swapping tales of woe betwixt their respective cells….

Lady: WELLOFALLTHENERVE!! CANYOUBELIEVETHEYJUSTWALKEDOUT!!

Beano: Put a sock in it, sister, no one’s around to hear your “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me” routine.

Lady: HOW Could THEY??

Beano: Easy, kid, they don’t LIKE you that much.

Lady: Oh, Really!

Beano: Trust me, they’re counting the days until YOU, dear sister, are out of here!

Lady: Aw, come on. You’re just trying to frighten me because YOU’RE Jealous!

Beano: Fine. [BIG YAWNING SOUND] Don’t listen to me. No hair off my tail, honey.

Let’s see….Opal, as I recall, was the first. I kinda liked her a little bit. How long did she stay? Two weeks?  

YOU're still here?

Lady: What are you going on about???

Beano: Oh, nothing. I was just thinking back to the beginning of this Open-Your-Home-To-All-Comers catcrap “they” call FOSTERING.

Beano:  You know they're never coming back, don't you?

Lady:  WHAT? You're kidding, right?

Beano:  Oh, heck no! They do this to me ALL the time!

Lady:  What are we going to do? I have no food ... no toys! Arrrrgggh!

Beano:  Oh? No toys or food? My, oh my. They left plenty for me.  I even have your squirrel!

Lady:  I'm NEVER speaking to them again! NEVER. EVER. AGAIN!

Beano: Geez, I've never known them to let one of us STARVE to death…

Lady: What do you mean, starve!!

Beano: Leaving you locked up with no food and all. Dog, they must really be down on you!

Lady: They saved me from starving once! They will save me again!!

Beano: [SOUND OF CRUNCHING] Didn’t leave you so much as a pig stick, huh. Guess they’re having a tough time finding some place to dump you.

Lady: That’s it! I’m NOT listening to YOU anymore!! OHMYDOGWHEREARETHEY!!!

[SOUND OF KEYS AND DOOR OPENING]

Lady:  YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME!! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!! Oh, I love you so much! I knew you'd be back!

Beano: YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME YOU'RE HOME!! LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT, LET ME OUT!! Oh, I love you so much! I knew you'd be back!