Dog to English Translator

[apl68]

Rover has turned out to be part of a pack that occasionally wanders the neighborhood in the mornings.  At least once a week most weeks they meet me during my morning walk and follow me toward home.  They don't always go all the way with me.  There are usually four of them, though not always the same four.

It beats me where they're coming from.  They're too well-fed and cheerful to be strays.  I guess somebody--maybe a couple of neighboring households--has dogs that they aren't always diligent about keeping secure.

They don't bother me.  I've not seen evidence of their getting into people's trash or other mischief.  The worst I've seen them do is get into brief arguments with dogs in the back yards that they pass.  I do worry that they're going to get themselves run over in the street.  Some don't seem to be too street-smart.  I also worry that people are going to see them with me and draw the wrong conclusions.

They seem so happy roaming around like that.  It's what dogs naturally love to do.  But it's not appropriate that their owners allow them to do so in town, unaccompanied.

[apl68]

Spoke with my brother yesterday on the phone.  They have added a Great Pyrenees sheepdog to their eclectic collection of livestock.  He's a huge dog and still growing.  Sounds like a lot of fun to be around.

Also found out from him that if your dog needs something to chew on you can try these:


https://www.valuepetsupplies.com/collections/pizzle-chews


Which I guess goes to show that the livestock rendering industry can find ways to market absolutely anything....

[poiuy]

PoiuyPooch1, a venerable old lady of 17 summers, gave us the fright of our lives today. After a usual uneventful morning, she fell down a few stairs (maybe 5 ish) and had a huge seizure, jerking, screaming, frothing. She is normally very silent and stoic and otherwise quite healthy for her age. The vet suggested that the seizure may have caused her fall.
We rushed her to the vet where she seized again. They stabilized her with anti seizure meds and she is doing well now, and will likely come home tomorrow.
She has recovered fairly well, though given her age, larger and longer term issues are taking over our thoughts today.
Dog MRI's cost around $10,000 in this place, we are not doing this because information gained from that will likely not change the course of treatment.  Of course, if she has additional episodes then we will have to consider what to do next.

[AmLitHist]

So sorry to hear this, Pouiy! Good thoughts and wishes from here.

(FWIW, the first border collie we had when I was a kid had seizures. Very scary! The vet put him on one pill a day and he was fine. And I agree about foregoing the $$$ testing; our doxie Fritz had liver cancer, and the expensive testing and surgery wouldn't have made a difference except to make him uncomfortable.)

I'm very sorry you're dealing with this, but hugs from us and snuggles from our pup Rigby. Thinking of you.

[poiuy]

Thank you for the good wishes, and sharing your experiences, @AmLitHist. PoiuyPooch1 is home, and is a bit slow and shaky, though appetite unimpaired.
This may be the new normal.

[secundem_artem]

Mrs Artem and I need to have a serious discussion.  If we ever get divorced, which one of us will be required to take the damn dog!  Artem pup is a 1 dog wrecking crew.  Anything that can fit in that little mouth will get destroyed.

[Sea_Ice]

Sending good thoughts to PoiuyPooch!

Is Artem-pup constantly destructive, or only at times?  Asking b/c I've had dogs with severe separation anxiety who would chew anything and everything until I got back - then serene calm returned.

My dog-related adventure: I washed all of the dog toys, with the intent of donating those that are of no interest to Pup.  Getting all of the water out of the squeakers seems impossible!!  Setting them upright so it collects at the air-intake, then squeezing to spray it out helps, but it's a slow process - and noisy!  Something else for the neighbors to wonder about, I suppose...

[apl68]

This morning at the city park I saw a woman in the distance stopping on one side of a metal bridge crossing one of the park pond's inlets.  She picked up something I couldn't see, crossed the bridge, and then set down what she was carrying.  I then saw that it was a tiny dog.  The roadway of the footbridge is made of metal grating.  The slots in the grating must have made the bridge look like a giant cattle guard to the little fellow.  Can't blame him for not wanting to take a chance on walking across!

[apl68]

It has finally happened.  For the first time in some days, a couple of the dogs that sometimes run loose and follow me for part of my morning walk provided my unwanted escort.  This time Patch happened to be outside in his back yard.  He began voicing his thunderous bark.  The others ran to the fence and got into a short but fierce argument with him.  They acted like they'd kill each other if the fence wasn't there, though I'm reasonably sure they wouldn't (I've never been entirely sure about Patch...).

Then the dogs who were following me moved on, honor satisfied.  I wish they wouldn't get into arguments with backyard dogs like that.  It causes an unnecessary ruckus. 

Wonder where the other two dogs that I've often seen in that little pack of morning wanderers were?  Have they gotten run over?  Are their owners finally doing a better job of keeping them off the streets?  None of them impresses me as "bad" dogs.  They just don't need to be wandering the streets like that.

[apl68]

My parents are bragging on their dog.  They recently had friends over whom the dog didn't know.  He hasn't had a chance to meet strangers very often since COVID began, but he seems to have been quite a gracious host.  He welcomed the guests and played with them and ingratiated himself.  Not bad, and definitely good when you consider that he's a Chihuahua. 

[Sea_Ice]

My ageing pup had a red-letter morning!

I was cleaning the 'fridge (trying to locate an odd smell) and found a can of pink salmon stuffed in a back corner.  I vaguely remember opening it, sharing the liquid amongst the pets, using a little for a dip recipe, and putting the rest away for dinner the next day.  This was sometime near the end of the semester...

It still looked o.k. and smelled like salmon, so into the dog dish it went - the time spent there was measurable in seconds...

[poiuy]

I hope what goes in Sea_Ice pup stays in Sea_Ice pup! and you don't have a lot of unexpected cleaning to do.

That pack of dogs sounds borderline scary @apl68, although dogs love to roam, a difficult situation can develop in a blink. People really shouldn't let their dogs roam like that.

PoiuyPooch1 is still doing OK, but is a little more frail.  We have baby gates blocking the stairs and we carry her down and outside. More episodes of incontinence. Oh well. 

[Sea_Ice]

Thank you @Poiuy ! So far, so good.  Not that I was really worried, since it passed MY sniff-test - I'm much more picky about edibility than any dog I've ever known...

Hugs to PoiuyPooch!

[nebo113]

I was acquired by an 11 pound canine who seems to be an overgrown yorkie channeling Benjie.  I've never had a critter who needed to be groomed, and I'm wondering why a canine has hair that grows so long it curls over his eyes.  What was the purpose?  He goes to the groomer this coming week.

[Sea_Ice]

I was acquired by an 11 pound canine who seems to be an overgrown yorkie channeling Benjie.  I've never had a critter who needed to be groomed, and I'm wondering why a canine has hair that grows so long it curls over his eyes.  What was the purpose?  He goes to the groomer this coming week.

Awwwww!  He sounds adorable!

Since you've never dealt with a dog post-groomer... well, here's a very short video from Jonny Devaney on that subject https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ul0XtsBhvuw