Putting 'The Dread' to Bed

Doesn't have to hurt to say 'Good bye!'

Don't ask me to explain it. I can't. All I know is I woke up this morning feeling 100% okay with Opal Hound leaving Sunday.

That is mine, right?

Yes, both Annie and I seriously considered adopting our first foster rather than packing her off to New York. That's one way to get around the heart aches of separation, I suppose, but one old--excuse me, mature--couple can only adopt so many critters. We're at our limit with Beano, four cats and a noisy bird!

We could have, would have made room for Opal somehow, and therein lies the rub. Room. Space. Our little quarter-acre lot simply is not big enough for a hound who needs room--lots of room--to bound and romp. Opal Hound at the very least needs a small farm, a country home with space and distances to unlimber those glorious, long legs of hers!

Preparing a dog for this journey halfway across the continent is almost as bad as getting a kid ready for sleep-away camp! Five days' worth of food in daily meals baggies, blanket, collar and leash, KONG, treats, favorite toy(s) and all packed in a travel bag appropriately labelled with the dog's name.

Again, there is the health certification exam tomorrow that Opal must pass before she get's her ticket stamped for Sunday. She's ready. So are we. Well, we will be...after the packing!

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!

Sick as a Dog X 2

Well, hell, we've got two sick dogs.

Of the two, Beano Boglen, our resident terrier, is down the hardest with symptoms of an upper respiratory infection, but Opal Hound has been wheezing and sneezing as well. Having multiple dogs is a lot like having multiple human offspring; if one picks up something, they all share it around sooner or later.

One of the conditions of fostering is that signs of illness must be reported immediately to the Humane Society (HS). Technically, the foster dog remains the responsibility of HS, including any necessary medical care. Additionally, any dog scheduled for transport to New York must pass a final health certification exam.

Opal--aka "Olive", aka "Elvira", aka "Li'l Sister"--is scheduled to board the transport a week from tomorrow, and final medical exams must be done by no later than Thursday. Five days.

Can't say enough about the quick response from Jan Herzog and Cheryl Miller. We had antibiotics for both dogs in under two hours early on a Saturday morning. Only time will tell now if Opal makes her departure date.

In From the Cold

Shoe??? What shoe???

Beginning Week 2

Someone left the north gate open last night, and an arctic air mass came roaring in on 30 mph winds. That's what's known as a blue norther in these parts, but seeing as how it blew in after dark, there's just no telling what color it was.

Opal Hound and her little buddy Beano have been confined indoors more than any of us really like. The dogs enjoy their romps in the back yard, exchanging rumors on the Bow-Wow grapevine with other hounds of the hood. Nor do we two-leggeds have to spend quite so much time "domesticating" a 50-pound puppy with a penchant for chewing when we can declare "exercise time" in the yard.

This chewing thing, common among puppies, did not manifest itself until the past couple of days, right at one week since she checked in to this fostering canine bed & breakfast. Along with the chewing--first on Annie's slippers--came exploring under our bed and snooping into nooks and crannies in the back catch-all room and closets. We're pretty sure she bribes the cats to open the doors for her!

Opal, I'm told, also whines briefly at the front door any time I leave and do not take her, and she usually come bounding across the hardwood to greet me when I return. I'm certainly no dog expert, but to me these recent behaviors indicate Opal Hound is feeling "at home".

Damn dog!

On the one hand, I'm thrilled she is settling in and feeling comfortable. She is a great dog, deserving of a great home. What she doesn't know, however, is that she is not there yet. This place to which she is growing more and more accustomed is a way station at best.

So begin the separation pangs.

She had a home once upon a time. Then for reasons we will never know, she lost that home, ending up in a shelter, anxious and frightened.

Now we have returned her to a happier place. She's playful, often more playful than Beano cares for. Her appetite is healthy, even if we can't turn our backs on the kitchen counters when preparing meals. And she's feeling safe and secure enough to be the puppy she still is. Never mind she's bigger than most Shetland ponies!

Tearing it up out back in warmer fall days...like yesterday!

That all changes in under two weeks when she will leave this place she has come to know as home. We can only hope "our" Opal Girl--who's real name is secretly Olive--finds a final, forever happy place after her long trek to New York.

I don't know how long dogs remember. I do know, though, that when she boards that transport one slobber soaked, eagerly chewed gray leather slipper will go with her. I can only hope it helps. 

When Dogs Collide

This was bound to happen, sooner or later, and no one was at fault except myself. Beano and Opal Hound got into it last night. No injuries were sustained in the brief scrap that points out how essential it is to fully consider the personalities, likes  and dislikes of every member of the pack.

It's MY bread dammit!

Since Opal came to stay with us, Beano has received precious little ink in these pages, even though he is an essential player in fostering. So let's start off this Sunday morning by getting to know a little boglen terrier full of sass and attitude!

Beano has been with us going on four years, now, having been adopted from a co-worker two days after his birth. He is intelligent, loving, does not take kindly to bathing and can be extremely poutish when things do not go his way. I guess you could say Beano is the typical four-year-old...human four-year-old, that is. It's all about him!

Beano gets on well with Annie's four cats who tend to tolerate him. At least, they've stopped hissing and raising a clawed paw when he passes too near, and we have even caught Simba and Beano being almost playful toward one another. Cats being cats, of course, the playfulness comes to a screeching halt as soon as Simba sees they are being watched.

Beano is very open to other dogs, although Opal is only the second dog with which he's had the chance to bond. Our daughter's chihuahua-terrier mix, Patti Mayonnaise--yes, named after the Patti Mayo--is an occasional playmate. Both seem to enjoy their irregular play dates immensely. Beano is always totally tuckered after one of Patti's visits.

Opal, on the other hand, is the first dog to come into the pack and not leave. Therein lies the rub. Beano is territorial and terribly possessive, particularly when it comes to food.

On more than one occasion we have seen him stand guard over a crust of hard, dried out bread he clearly had no desire to eat (photo above). Yet he would give his Back Off! glare and a low, throaty grumble to anyone, man or beast, who dared approach his hoard.

So it was yesterday evening. The trigger was food. Annie had cooked a turkey breast and was slicing the meat from the carcass. The aromas alone were more than sufficient to get both Beano and Opal highly excited. 

Now, Opal stands a good two feet tall at the shoulder, and can clear a table or counter top before you can holler DOWN! Hollering does no good, anyway, as Opal, like most hounds, has excellent selective hearing. So working on the turkey with Opal at her elbow was a new and potentially frustrating challenge.

So to take the pressure off Annie, I collected several scrap bits of bird. Soon as I started for the back door both dogs knew what was up. There excitement peaked a whole 'nother level. It was when we stepped through the door onto the patio that Beano lunged into Opal.

Beano's attack was Pearl Harbor all over again without the carnage. He went straight for the throat, and caught Opal completely by surprise! At first, she tried to back out, but Beano pressed on. With a single swipe of a right paw she had Beano pinned on his back and abject terror in his eyes!

Ever try to separate two tangling dogs with two handfuls of turkey scraps? Lord, it must have been a sight for some ten or fifteen seconds!

After getting them apart, both dogs remained highly agitated. Neither, however, received a scolding. We just talked about it calmly and soothingly as I fed bits of roast turkey to each dog in turn. Each got a morsel. Each got quiet praise. Each got acceptance and understanding, and so it went until the last bits were devoured.

Dogs do not come into this world vicious. They are not haters from birth. Beano's hoarding behavior over food links back through his canine genes to ancestral wolf behavior. If there is fault here, it lies squarely on the shoulders of his human pack alphas. 

The Fix Is In

Day 3

First thing this morning Opal was checked into the P.E.T.S. clinic to be spayed. No pictures for today's update. Some things just don't need to be seen on Facebook.

How is it that a dog who was a total stranger a mere 40-odd hours earlier can be physically and emotionally missed mere moments after she's gone? Damn dog.

She came through the procedure with the proverbial flying colors. Folks at the clinic couldn't brag on her enough, although I suspect they heap praise on every patient. But in Opal's case, all the good things they had to say about her were absolutely true!

This evening she is up but minimally active. As I write she is curled on the bed beside Annie. Some pain and discomfort registers in her eyes, and she certainly isn't bounding nor galumphing anywhere. She has taken fresh water, asked to be let out to pee but turned up her nose at food.

Oh, yeah! Opal apparently came to us house trained! Thank you, Lord! Two days and two nights without letting loose in the house, and this evening she walked to the backdoor, asking to be let out. She took care of business, checked the perimeter, whoofed at a dog barking up the alley, sniffed a couple of pee mails from Beano, then asked me to escort her back to the cozy warmth of our shared den and Annie's bed.

And there's the crate thing....

Annie picked me up from the dealership this afternoon, and we set off in search of something called a KONG , a rubber chew toy that can be filled with treats. Jan Herzog, our friend from the shelter and Opal's true rescuer--suggested a KONG as a tool for crate training. Jan said KONGs are the toy of choice among dogs on long, crate-confined road trips. Like from Texas to New York.

Our local Petco offered more options than you can shake a toy chihuahua at. Plus, they had TOTALLY rearranged their store since last I had called! Half an hour and some 25 bucks later, I was out the door with a KONG Classic, Large, and a box of KONG STUFF'N.

Some nice voice from the clinic called around 2:30. Opal was ready to be picked up anytime before 5. She was subdued, not her "bubbly" self, but if she was pissed at us for what she had gone through, she hid it well. Frankly, I think she was groggy from the drugs and too uncomfortable to be angry.

Back at home, Annie was on the desktop. Opal slowly made her way to the desk and curled up at Annie's feet. She did not want to drink. She did not want to eat. She did not want to squabble with Beano over Beano's smelly old cow. Yes, she seemed glad to be returned to what (we hope) is beginning to feel a little bit like a home, but she clearly did NOT want to be bothered!

Which was cool with all concerned. Oh, Beano made a few overtures toward her, but reluctantly backed off, whining softly, when Opal refused to be enticed. We all left her to her recovering, each doing his or her own thing, including Beano.

Opal takes to Beano's crate

After an hour or so, Opal got up and silently slipped into Beano's crate all on her own. Discovered, she gazed out, somewhat forlorn-looking, as if to ask, "Is it okay?"

We let her stay, thrilled that she had CHOSEN to excuse herself on her own. We would have been more thrilled, perhaps, had she chosen her own crate. We are quite aware of the potential problems that can arise if Beano feels like his space is being invaded by this come-lately hound, even as we are careful to give him the attention and acceptance he has come to expect in his forever home.

Then, after napping out in Beano's digs for some 20 minutes, Opal again got up on her own and walked directly to her borrowed crate in her borrowed bedroom!

All things considered, Opal's very bad, no good day turned out not so completely horrid after all.

Look what followed us home!!!

Opal found us on Facebook.

Opal (front) and Beano take a brief break from The Sniffing Game"

One of the Humane Society of Wichita County's best friends posted Opal Hound's pic on her page with a brief synopsis of her plight. That dog had me at first glance.

We do not know much about her back story. And we have a little over two weeks to build a file about her before she goes to a permanent home in New York.

NEW YORK CITY!??!

No, thank heavens. I wouldn't wish relocation to New York City on .... a cat! No, Opal Hound is destined for the upstate woods and countryside.

Our mission--before the transport departs--is to learn as much as we can about Opal's likes and dislikes, her level of training, her habits and behaviors. Is she housebroken? How does she relate to other creatures on her turf? What is her tolerance for small humans totally lacking in social skills?

And between bouts of observing and reporting, get her crate-trained for the long relocation road trip ahead.

Crate training may be the biggie here. She has no love for The Box. That was evident when we loaded her aboard the Blazer to bring her home, and again, just moments ago, putting her to bed in her new (to her) borrowed bedroom.

For all her dislike of being crated, though, she is profoundly silent about it. Once inside, she accepts her fate, calmly and quietly. So somehow we need to broaden her acceptance to entering the crate mostly on her own without gentle-yet-assertive persuasion. 


So as Day One comes to a close, what have we discovered?

Opal is a sweet-tempered dog. She gets on well with other animals, although she is a little leery of cats.

"She has obviously had dealings with cats at some point," Mrs. Miller adds. "She is leery, but not the least bit aggressive toward them. She hasn't shown any signs of aggression toward anything."

Annie also noted that she car rides well.

She likes playing ball even though her ball-handling skills are slightly north of tripping over her own feet.

She is keenly alert to her surroundings, her attention peeked at any new sound.

"Even when other dogs are barking, Opal remains quiet," Annie says. "This may change as she becomes more accustomed to her new surroundings, but so far she has not barked at anything."

Brought into a strange environment, her first task is a thorough investigation of the turf.

She is affectionate. Wouldn't take much to make a lap dog of her, but it would require one strong and ample lap! She does have a desire to jump up on you once she gets to know you a bit, but she remains hesitant to do so. When she does climb into your face, she is easily dissuaded from doing so.

She is able to negotiate terms with at least one other dog sharing her "home" turf.

As for the cats...well, she'll just wait for them to come around to her.

Day 1

Excuse me, but is there a big old sign on my back screaming in all caps, "KICK ME!!"?

Mrs. Miller and myself brought Opal home this afternoon. Opal is a rescue hound from the Humane Society of Wichita County, and what she lacks in grace, she more than compensates for in subtle seduction. This gal, young as she is, knows how to win friends.

Her ungainlyness stems from her, well, stems! She's pretty much all legs and too-big feet, so she's still a growing girl. She is mostly hound with a black and brown blend coat that would do any bloodhound proud. Still, her pedigree has to read "mixed blood". Little to nothing is known about her former family.

Opal Hound is New York bound!

This decision to foster a dog was not taken lightly. Anyone who has ever lived with and lost a friend knows parting is much more than sweet sorrow. It hurts like hell.

Annie and I have talked about it for a few months at least. She, of course, was ready to try it long before I was. Separation anxiety aside, our household supported two elderly humans, four cocky cats, a lonesome cockatiel and one adolescent boglen terrier. I had some concerns about, shall we say, logistics?

Hey! I got an idea!! Let's throw a strange animal into the mix and see how many feeding, watering, peeing, pooping, sleeping, ball chasing, cat baiting routines we can upset!!!

And it's not like you introduce the outsider into the pack and let her figure things out for herself. This is NOT YOUR PET! She is a guest, if you will, a sojourner in transit from Wichita Falls to Whoknowswhere, NY. She'll be a fleeting foster member of our pack for three weeks.

Three weeks. Then she's gone. Damn Dog!

So why do it? All kidding aside, for a moment. Why would any sane person volunteer to have their heart slammed full between a rock and a hard place?

The late Joe Brown once said, "I can't do a damn thing about hunger, poverty, or war or any of the big problems like that. I can help this one dog here, though, which should be good enough for both of us."