both dogs have been rescued from a shelter that was over capacity. these two dogs were among 11 that were scheduled to be put down last week. it seems like all 11 dogs will be saved thanks to the tireless volunteers at barlees for organizing this spectacular rescue operation!!
from liaising with the shelter, to finding appropriate foster families for these dogs, the work that the barlees volunteers do is absolutely amazing.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
we've recently moved into a house and since there are less yuppies/bar stars in our new 'hood, there are less dogs too. this has made life more relaxing for duke.
sometimes we won't even see a dog for the whole duration of a 45min walk.
interestingly, when we do encounter dogs now he has been pretty calm and rarely has his howling bouts. he has yet to go ballistic over a dog in this new 'hood.
we've even had a few great run ins where we've been able to walk past dogs on the same side of the sidewalk. sure he needs his treats to get past the dog, but at least he doesn't howl!
another interesting thing. in our old neighbourhood, duke would sometimes pick up a scent and would go into what we call 'hunter mode'. in 'hunter mode' duke is squeeking and sniffing at an extremely rapid pace. during this time he can't even hear his name and he pulls like he's forgotten how to walk on leash. sometimes these trails would lead us to an un-neutered dog.
what's interesting is that in this new 'hood, there are more dogs that aren't altered, yet duke has yet to go into 'hunter mode'.
all in all i think duke is enjoying his new life in the new 'hood!
I found this video of another Beagle who suffers from separation anxiety. Notice how the beagle leaves the food and water alone... he is too upset to think about eating. I'm sure if there were chew toys and other things they would be left alone too.
Duke, when we first adopted him, was far worse. He'd urinate within minutes of being left alone and howl non-stop, destroy rugs, chew his leash, and overturn everything in sight.
We've been working on this and he's getting better. We've left him alone for 1 hour and recorded him as well (audio only). He generally settles down after howling for a few minutes and in the span of an hour may howl 5-10 times in total. Patricia McConnell has a great booklet called "I'll Be Home Soon" which describes the program of desensitization we're following.
Some key takeaways:
1) Leave home and come home without fuss. We ignore Duke when we come home and when we leave we try to do it promptly and ignore him.
2) Associate positives with being home alone - We feed Duke his meals by the door and leave as soon as he gets his food.
3) Slowly turn up the length - We started by just sitting outside the door for 3 minutes.. then 4... then 5.... and now we're able to go to the gym and work out (1 hour)
4) Exercise helps - we make sure Duke has plenty of activity like fetch, tug, etc. to make sure his natural prey drive instinct is well satisfied.
What we've read is after you break the 2 hour window, your dog is pretty much cured!
***Dec 2010 Update --- we abandoned home cooked meals about 6 months into it because either directly or indirectly his urine developed a weird PH level and he started having pee dribbles. I suspect it had to do with our homecooked meal that was FAR from properly balanced. Since then we went to different commercial foods finally settling on hiring a proper canine nutritionist to make a raw food diet plan just for us. There are upwards of 8 different ingredients and 10 supplements used to make it balanced. Moral of the story: Don't just wing it like we did back then.****
Its been about 1.5 months since the change from kibble to natural food. I ordered a great book that has a ton of recipes that are easy to follow. The book also lists foods that are dangerous for dogs (ie. onions, chocolate, etc.) and also has a section on calcium supplements.
I hypothesized that Duke's improved behavior may have been because of the food, but I'm convinced that its an absolute fact. In fact, the author of Natural Dog Food clearly states that a change in diet can fix behavioral issues.
Its worth noting that cooking for your dog doesn't mean cooking every day. We typically prepare batches of food and freeze it and serve throughout the week.
If you think about it, its worth it - after all - if kibble can sit in the open for months and not get moldy, it means that its either loaded with preservatives or it lacks nutrients to the point that bacteria can't even thrive off it.
Monday, June 9, 2008
we're really lucky that we have a beagle we can take off leash. his recall is pretty good and he is ball obsessed. duke gets a lot of exercise b/c he loves to play fetch!
2 days ago, however, the designated off-leash area was filled with tents and there were a lot of trucks and cars driving around getting ready for a festival on the weekend. so, i decided to play fetch in an area that is technically an on-leash area (despite 85% of all dogs being off leash there).
duke and i were happily playing fetch when all of a sudden he caught a scent and dropped his ball mid-way through bringing it back. despite calling him, he wouldn't come back. he started running across the park. he was definitely on to something.
that something was a lady's sandwich! as i was running after him, i saw him approach the lady and her baby on the lawn. as i got closer, duke jumped up and took a bite out of the lady's sandwich directly from her hand!! CHOMP!
needless to say, i received a well-deserved lecture on keeping dogs on-leash.
In the last month we've switched from feeding kibble dog food (Wellness Super 5 Mix Chicken) and started feeding him homemade food. His meal typically consists of:
1. 50% Lean Protein - chicken breast/thigh, or baked salmon 2. 25% Complex Carbs - ground up brown rice. 3. 25% Vegetables - celery, carrots, bok choy, pumpkin, etc.
We've read that you need to use a calcium supplement as well. We've been adding cottage cheese or ground up eggshells.
There are a few books on dog nutrition at www.dogwise.com that I want to pick up to ensure we're covering all of Duke's nutritional bases but from the last month we've observed a lot of changes in Duke:
1. His bad breath is gone! 2. He doesn't fart nearly as much! 3. His poo is a lot smaller and richer in color (and less stinky)
Perhaps on a separate note, he's been very well behaved too! Not sure if there's a correlation with the diet or not...
