Sleeping with Pitties

Photographer Ezra Caldwell

This is how the four of us sleep... we really need a King size bed!! We've tried kicking them out before- Winnie is fine with it (in the summer time), but Bruno whines and whines until he gets his way. The funny thing is- before we adopted Bruno, Winnie would only ever bother us to sleep on top of the covers at the foot of the bed. Then she learned from Bruno that being under the covers is WAY cozier. Now she noses and paws at the covers just like him. We notice that in the winter she is all about heat conservation, snuggling to the bottom and pushing herself into the warmest spots, but in the summer she'll be content to sleep on the cool leather couch in the living room. Bruno on the other hand, tends to over-heat, and will get up and bug us to come back in a million times a night.

Do you let your pitties sleep with you? I think it is rather hard not too- they're so cuddly and snuggly... and persistent!

Riding out Irene with the Pups

Well, Hurricane Irene barreled through last night, leaving down branches and extensive flooding in her wake, but not much else. Even though there was a tornado headed straight towards us last night- expected to hit Hightstown, NJ at 11:25, we never lost power- or even cable. We grabbed Winnie and Bruno and huddled in the tub in the bathroom- the only room in our house without windows.

Winnie and Bruno were well behaved and slept through the high winds and pounding rain.
Bruno even began cheerily helping with the clean-up of the yard this morning. :)

Unfortunately, our town of Hightstown did not fare so well- and due to flooding of the water treatment center, we can not use the water for an undefined amount of time.

Check out Main Street- once a road, now an extension of Peddie Lake.

Luckily, the canine residents don't seem to mind, watch as this adorable pooch enjoys the new-found swimming pool that once was main street...

(Video courtesy of resident uploads on Patch.com,
check out all the other photos videos of the huge flood here.)

Prepare your dogs for July Fourth.

The Fourth of July may be an exciting holiday for humans, but our canine counterparts dread the flashing lights and banging noises that they can never understand.

Because dogs can hear at a range of  40 Hz to 60,000 Hz (while humans can only hear 12 Hz to 20,000 Hz, the noises of fireworks and thunder are very terrifying for them.

These frightening sights and sounds drive many dogs from their homes or owners in search of a safe place to hide. When they eventually end up at the local shelter, they displace many dogs that are already there.

In 2009, Salt Lake County Animal Services- 
which usually takes in 5 dogs a day- took in 73 dogs in the days after July 4th.

                                                                                                           

Sometimes the consequences can be worse than a night's stay at the shelter. A few years ago, my boyfriend and I were in the Thousand Islands for July Fourth when a family member's elderly Wheaten terrier named Caramel was let out at dusk to do her business. When no one could find her a little later, no one was concerned because the house we were at was surrounded by water and Caramel wasn't very mobile at this point in her life. Blind and somewhat deaf, she usually bumped into things and stood in corners for long periods of time because they were safer.

Later that night, after the fireworks, we feared that she had gotten lost in the woods nearby and went searching with flashlights. Unable to find her we waited till sunlight.

The next morning, family members circled the islands in boats and climbed through the woods. Finally, a neighbor on a neighboring island said she heard barking. We ran to the reeds where the water met a portion of the wooded island and found her in the water, clinging to some brush. She had yelped not 15 minutes earlier so we jumped in, pulled her out and carried her back to the house where we laid her out in the sun.

Somehow, despite her arthritis and age, she was able to swim to a safe spot and tread water all night, only to die when we got to her. She was bleeding from her nose from exerting so much effort, so we knew she had just recently passed. It was an extremely difficult sight to witness for Caramel's family- whose children had grown up with her.

Later that day we buried her among the wild lilacs, knowing that her time was coming soon but sad that she passed with such stress and anxiety. Other stories include a dog who had a siezure and died during the fireworks, and another who tore up the whole house in panic-causing himself to bleed. (Read here.)


To prevent these kinds of tragedies and the unfortunate influx of family pets to already crowded shelters- please keep your dog somewhere safe and quiet on Monday night.

First of all- do NOT take your pet to the fire works display. It is NOT fun for him or her- trust me, your pet wants to be at home, in the dark- in their crate or under a blanket. My parents' Wheaten terrier even tries to climb into the refrigerator to hide when fireworks or storms are rumbling outside.

DO NOT leave them outside, especially without identification.

DO NOT wait to go to the shelter if your dog is lost. With the large influx of animals, some shelters may not wait as long as it takes you to find your family member.

For more tips on keeping your dog safe, click here.

Thanks for reading---Good luck and enjoy the holiday weekend!

Winnie loves the water- this seems like a pretty safe depth to me!

Working with Difficult Dogs

Recently, we have been going through a tough time with Bruno. When he first came home from the shelter, he was so scared that he didn't show his true personality. Now that he is becoming more confident (and gained 15 pounds!!!) he is starting to display some concerning behavior. He has been barking at strangers for many months now, but we were unconcerned because when people approached him, his anxiety would cease as soon as he realized they were friendly.

(Read my May entry on Bruno's anxiety issues.)

Lately, however, even friendly strangers distress him. In the past week, we saw the first behavior that truly tested us-- he growled at strangers. People who wanted to approach him were terrified as he growled and barked at them, and lunged.We realized that this was a stress-response, because his blood pressure would increase- his eyes would water and his ears would turn bright red and blotchy. We decided to take him to the vet and see if they could prescribe him some canine anxiety medication.
Unfortunately, the two vets that Bruno knows were not in because it was a Saturday. The vets he knows are females and this vet was a male. He was reasonably comfortable in the waiting room- barking and whining only to get closer to other animals. Once we brought him into the room with the vet and the vet-tech, he completely freaked out-- he barked and growled at them both. Usually Bruno can acclimate to strangers eventually, and he has ALWAYS been docile and friendly at the vet's office in the past (it was the exact same room he has been in many times), so we gave the vet a treat to offer him. Bruno sniffed it and actually lunged at him! We were terrified he was going to try to bite the vet! I've never feared Bruno would ever bite anyone- we can put our hands in his mouth while he is eating or chewing a bone and he will just lick our fingers! All of a sudden I lost my confidence that I could promise people that he wouldn't hurt them.

We know we have to work on these behaviors and nip them in the bud before he becomes more aggressive strangers. Has anyone worked through issues like this before? Have your dogs ever threatened to bite?


The vet suggested a behaviorist and when we can afford it, we may try that- but in the mean-time he suggested a muzzle. We talked very seriously about this, and I've ordered one for certain occassions, but we decided after a lot of thought that Bruno gives us and strangers a LOT of warning before he becomes agressive. He warns us that he is uncomfortable with his voice and his posture and if we continue to allow people near him- we are asking for trouble. We are pretty confident that if we explain to people that he is not friendly to strangers, he won't need to be muzzled on an every-day basis while we are working through his issues. (After all, he has never bitten anyone, even under extreme circumstances.) On routine walks, he sits very nicely by our side and as long as we can keep his attention on us- he is comfortable.

Unfortunately, we know that Bruno may not be a good mix with children-- we know that in the next 5-10 years we will want to have a family- but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.


For the time being- I am going to take advice from this article about training a difficult dog named Feebe- that really touched me:

"There are no words to describe the amount of gratification we feel knowing we have helped Feebe live up to her greatest potential to become the best dog she can be.  Bad habits have been curbed because we did the work with her.  Good habits have replaced them.  She is not perfect – neither are you or I however, nor any other dog.  But she is good enough just being her goofball self, doing the best she can with our help, and she has enriched our lives exceedingly.  We did the work with her, and that is always what it takes every time.  We cannot expect these animals to teach themselves or to come knowing how we want them to live in our homes – and thankfully, we get to build our own personal characters as human beings because we help them flourish.

The best gift for me in having a challenging dog has been that she taught us the true meaning of unconditional love.  We have learned to love Feebe no matter what.  When she slips up, when she digresses, when she is imperfect.  She has taught us that she is worth loving no matter what, worth fighting for and working with despite her challenges.  We still separate our dogs when we are not home, we still have to give a little extra care when it comes to Feebe – and it is always worth it.  Its not that bad, it’s doable, and in the end, we get to fulfill the promise we made to her when we walked her out those shelter doors.
 
In exchange, Feebe loves us unconditionally too, when we mess up or are anything less than our best selves.  Maybe if we looked at it another way, she’s not a challenging dog but we’re challenging people?  If you can help a homeless pet in need recover and rehabilitate, if you can offer love and benevolent leadership to help them thrive, I guarantee you the challenges will be meaningful.  You just might be able to surpass your wildest imagination in terms of what you can do for another being, learn what you’re really made of, and expand your heart beyond belief."

Canine Anxiety

We have had Bruno now for six months (YAY! Half a year with a stable happy home :)) and have been working on his anxiety issues. When he goes out for walks, he wears a backpack and a gentle-leader and we bring treats mostly to distract him from people in the elevator who stare at him. He doesn't bark at anyone unless they stare at him- usually smiling, or make a sudden movement or noise. We try to preempt this by placing him in the corner close to us, sitting, and focus him on our faces, so he doesn't get scared.

While walking, his backpack helps him focus on his job- and we have trained him to walk closely by our side and sit whenever we stop walking. He usually doesn't have any trouble on this part of the walk- even though he used to jump and bark whenever someone ran by or children shouted. The gentle leader really helps get his attention quickly because it raises his muzzle towards our faces.

However, while we feel that this helps Bruno feel calmer on his walk and definitely scares our neighbors less, we still feel like walks and new experiences make him super nervous and anxious and that anxiety is always ready to bubble up from under the surface if someone startles him.

 

(Bruno at ACC-Manhattan)

When we brought him to Petco to have his portrait taken, he did not enjoy being kept on-leash in a small enclosed area with us ordering him around for a half hour. He actually broke out in hives on the backs of his ears and elbows and his eyes began running with tears as he barked incessantly. My mother suggested that this was high-blood pressure caused by stress, and I agree. I've started to notice he tears-up whenever he is in a new situation. Even when we walk him a few blocks away from his usual route, he gets very anxious and begins tearing up, whining, fidgeting, tugging and acting up. Unfortunately- he also scratches his ears until they bleed- something we think is tied to the anxiety.

Children of a certain age scare him with their spontaneous nature and someday I want him to be comfortable around our own kids. (Luckily babies don't scare him at all- he even licked a girl's bare foot in a stroller in the elevator once.) Usually he doesn't mind when we leave him in the kitchen during the day- he doesn't seem to whine or have separation anxiety. I think he feels comfortable there because it is dark and quiet and no one bothers him. His fear of sleeping alone has really improved and now we can kick him out of bed at night without him peeing on the floor out of fear.

I'm sure if he was left out in a large area, he would be very destructive when left alone- but having the kitchen to himself really seems to be the answer. He is comfortable with strangers after the second time he meets them (one time he barked at a friend every time he saw him for a whole weekend- one time even peeing himself out of fear- but the next weekend when he saw him, he wasn't scared at all.)

The only thing we need to fix is how Bruno experiences new things. want to be able to sooth him and help him enjoy new experiences and places and people. Today he got upset when a security guard outside out building clicked his pen a few times. Bruno barked at him, and proceeded to bark at everyone on the way inside. In other words- something sets off his anxiety and he can't stop.

Since we saw the hives, tears and bleeding ears, we have been thinking about bringing him to the vet to have him put on anxiety medication. We have used non-medical techniques to manage his anxiety and keep him calm and happy and for the most park they have worked- but we don't know how to help this. Apparently, they are meat flavored versions of human anti-depressants. I know if I felt the way he does about the world- I would never want to leave the house, and I don't want him to live like this. With children, you can explain loud noises and scary people- but dogs can't really learn and understand that these things won't hurt them- especially if they have hurt them in the past.

Does anyone know about this or have any suggestions?