Remembering Butch: Family memories

On Friday afternoon, I received this delightful e-mail from my grandfather-in-law (my husband’s grandfather), who is seriously one of the most wonderful human beings I’ve ever met.

A German shepherd with a big ol’ head. Click for source.

If you are thinking about a German shepherd, I need to tell you about Butch.

We lived in a very small (6,000-person) town and Grandmother Tillman’s home was about two blocks from downtown.  She lived alone, but had Butch to be her guard and companion.

Two tales of Butch the German Shepherd:

Most mornings, about ten, Butch would walk downtown, into the drugstore, and make a straight line to the soda fountain.  The manager would greet him and hand him a little tin pan with a scoop of ice cream.  It went on the bill for the month. Butch would eat and exit gracefully. Sometimes he would come back in a little while and try again. But the manager would shake his head and say, “No more, Butch”. So off he went home.

Because there were many children in Lake Wales, the mothers would visit with Grandmother Tillman on the porch and let the children play in the yard while they visited. One day while they talked, they missed the toddler who was wobbling out towards the sidewalk and the street. As they watched, Butch walked quickly up behind him, gently mouthed the seat of his diaper, and pulled him back onto the lawn.

The local paper praised him in the next edition.

And many years later, when Butch died, the Lake Wales news had a memorial article, complete with a picture of Butch.

Have a nice weekend.

Granddad T

Isn’t that sweet? Butch sounds like he could have played in some Americana film from the 1940s with his good sense and everyday heroism. I particularly love that the local paper published an article about him when he died. Dogs live so differently in our neighborhoods today, but I love imagining what it might have been like to have had a dog like Butch in such a time. Such sweet family stories about a remarkable dog! Thanks so much for sharing, Granddad. Love you!

Our sleeping pets

Sleeping dog. Photo by Flickr user zseike.

“The satisfaction that washes over us as we watch our pets sleep is the ancient reminder that when all is well in their world, all is well in ours.”

– Meg Daley Olmert, Made for Each Other

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(Isn’t that such a sweet quote?) Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have beautiful weekends. We have a really busy and crazy month of May, so my posting here will probably be sporadic at best, but I will sure to keep you apprised of all the important happenings as we inch closer to adopting a dog of our very own…

First home visit scheduled

Not much to report today, except that we have scheduled our first home visit with a volunteer and foster parent from Southeast German Shepherd Rescue! I am SO excited.

Lyndi, whom we'll meet on our home visit.

She will be bringing her two current fosters with her, too: Lyndi and Onyx.

Lyndi (above) is a 1.5-year-old female who was rescued from a backyard breeder in North Carolina. She is a very beautiful and ladylike black-and-tan, but she does have some shyness issues and needs work with confidence-building. Lyndi was on trial with a family, but the family’s busyness and young children didn’t make her very comfortable. Her foster mom says she’s already made great strides in her confidence, but will continue to need gentle and reassuring guidance and training.

Onyx, whom we'll meet on our home visit.

Her foster sister Onyx perhaps has the opposite problem: She’s a very bold, extremely intense Belgian malinois/shepherd cross and she is just stunning; she is sable with orange-rust-colored eyes and looks like a wolf. Onyx sounds amazing, but probably way too much to handle for us, being first-timers. Her foster mom says she is twice as intelligent and twice as energetic and driven as any shepherd she’s ever fostered! Schutzhund–and daily 5-mile runs–would probably be best for Onyx. She doesn’t sound like a fit for us, but I am excited to meet her just the same.

Right now, I have my heart set on Lyndi… I am now petrified that someone is going to snatch her up before we can meet her. (I hesitated even posting her picture here, for fear that someone would see her beautiful face and try to adopt her… You won’t do that, will you?) I am positively obsessive right now. Can’t wait. Can’t.

The visit is scheduled for just two days after we move in, so it will be a little crazy, but I am more than ready for it to happen! One week and six days…

Pup links!

A woman feeds a circle of harlequin Great Danes. Source: LIFE Magazine Archives.

Dog-related links from around the Web this past week:

The Lifetime Costs of Pets. Here’s a sobering infographic about how much, on average, your pet will cost you over the course of its life. Dogs? Get ready to shell out an estimated $25,620! This is a great thing to show people, perhaps, who underestimate the financial commitment of bringing a dog home. Is it too scary, though? What do you think? (Mint Life Blog)

Enrichment. Simple, powerful ways to enrich your dog’s daily life. Great, practical tips! (Raising K9)

Do You Have a “Heart” Breed of Dog? Even though we’re gunning for a German shepherd, I think my “heart” breed of dog will always be the Australian shepherd. How about you? (That Mutt)

Dog Haul. Vanessa shares some great, mini-reviews on some recent products she found and loves for Rufus. (The Rufus Way)

Canine Diabetes: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Diet. A very thorough article about canine diabetes. Good to be in the know about this disease. (The Whole Dog Journal)

Know Your Bo. We’re so used to seeing “Bo” in the headlines and thinking about the Obama’s Portuguese water dog that it’s been jarring, perhaps, to see his name in the headlines as a disgraced Chinese official. Just a funny little news bit. (Daily Intel, NY Mag)

Weekend with Bo (and the ZoomGroom)

I’m trying to get as much time as possible with Bo before he moves to Florida at the end of June, so I kidnapped him for most of this past weekend.

On Saturday, we walked briskly in the rain and then I brought him back to our apartment to test out the ZoomGroom I recently bought. I know it’s not the most effective brush for hair removal, but I had heard good things about its massaging powers and how much dogs seem to like it.

Goofball, with a small pile of fur behind him. (We hadn't really started yet.)

When I pulled the ZoomGroom out, he became extremely excited. I think he thought it was a new chew toy. After he calmed down a bit, I was able to use it and he seemed to enjoy the whole process. The brush did pull off a lot of fur (not nearly as much as a Furminator), but it was still a considerable amount for such a seemingly simple product.

My pants, post-grooming session.

My only critique is that the ZoomGroom seemed like it just loosened up a bunch of fur instead of collecting it. After grooming for about 10 minutes, he was just covered in even more loose fur than when we started. I don’t know if I was using it wrong or what, but I definitely won’t be using that indoors again. There was fur flying everywhere!

He's just happy all the time.

Still, he seemed to enjoy the whole session.

On Sunday, we went back to the trail and hiked briefly with Bo and our friends Matt and Liz. I was just daydreaming the whole time about how soon I’d be able to do this with my OWN dog.

Moving in two weeks and one day! But who’s counting?

Shared by his dog

Ryan Gosling and his dog, George. Click for source.

“If you eliminate smoking and gambling, you will be amazed to find that almost all an Englishman’s pleasures can be, and mostly are, shared by his dog.”

– George Bernard Shaw

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OK, so Gosling isn’t English, but I thought the diptych was a nice example of the sense of this quotation.

We received very sad news last night: My parents-in-law’s dear springer spaniel, Aoive, passed away. She was only 8 years old. Aoive has suffered from seizures for her whole life, and for the past two days, she was trapped in an unending, all-day seizure cycle. It was a horrific way to go, but my father-in-law and the vet agreed that putting her down was the best and most merciful option. I am thinking of them all today, especially of my mother-in-law, Windy, who had a very close and affectionate relationship with Aoive. That dog loved no one else quite like she loved Windy. I hope she is stalking birds to her heart’s content in heaven. Rest in peace, Aoive dog.

Handling your dog’s car sickness

Photo by Martin Usborne.

My childhood dog, Emma, was not a great car passenger. The car made her extremely anxious and caused her to drool uncontrollably and vomit (even when the car was standing still). At the time, we were all fairly ignorant of any training techniques to mitigate her car sickness/fear. Her vet recommended Dramamine and so we gave her a small dose any time we had to take her anywhere in the car. It mostly worked, but she was always (understandably) woozy whenever we arrived at our destination.

Because of her terror of the car, we didn’t often take Emma anywhere. I always regretted this and have since been hoping for a dog who was an easy passenger. But I don’t know if I’ve actually encountered any dogs who actually enjoyed the car; most of them who are termed “good in the car” seem to express small signs of distress. Bo, for example, totally balks any time we ask him to jump in the Jeep. I always have to pick him up and put him in. Once we start going, he doesn’t get sick, but he does drool more and seem anxious about the whole endeavor. In another instance, I once took a short car ride with my friend Anna and her German shepherd Heidi. Anna told me that Heidi was great in the car, but Heidi flipped out for the duration of the ride. She kept trying to climb into both of our laps (a restraint would have been a good idea) and started crying and screaming like she was in physical pain–but as soon as we opened the door, she was happy-go-lucky and acted like she had no memory of her former panic attack. It was a stressful 10-minute car trip, to say the least.

So, if you have a dog who rides well in the car, how did you do it? Is it something you trained, or did you just get lucky? Do you have any tips for training a dog out of his or her fear of the car? I’m all ears!

Review: Adopt the Perfect Dog

Adopt the Perfect Dog.

English trainer and author Gwen Bailey compiled this short and helpful introductory guide to dog adoption. Adopt the Perfect Dog was published by Reader’s Digest and is short and hands-on, filled with lots of photos and instructional side bars.

At this stage in my dog-book reading process, it wasn’t the most illuminating book. But that’s not Bailey’s fault: When I was reading this, I’d already read 52 other books about raising and training dogs (I know; I have a problem). Most of her advice and recommendations–while being very true and helpful–I’d already encountered numerous times. (I think I’m finally realizing that I’ve just about exhausted my dog reading potential. Until some other great book comes out, I may be nearing the end of my dog book list for now.)

This book would be a great place to start for someone who, again, was a total stranger to dog adoption, particularly adopting an adult dog and acclimating him or her into one’s home.

Bailey advocates positive reinforcement training techniques and provides clear, hands-on advice about how to introduce your dog to your family, how to set house rules, how to handle possessiveness, and how to avoid separation anxiety, among other things.

On the whole, I think I’d be more willing to recommend Petfinder’s guide to dog adoption, as it is far more comprehensive while also being very accessible to a first-time dog owner. But this is a nice, quick little book and it is not without value.

Pup links!

Metropolitan Opera's tenor Lauritz Melchior with his wife and their Great Dane, April 1944. Source: LIFE Magazine Archives.

Dog-related links from around the Web this past week:

Paying the Price of a Fat Pet. Just another friendly reminder: Don’t let your pets gets overweight. For their sakes and for your wallet’s sake! (Well Pets, the New York Times)

The Crazy Ones Are Always Beautiful. On loving one’s German shepherd, even though she’s a handful. (Especially compared with those genteel greyhounds…) (Tales and Tails)

Don’t Let Your Leash Hold You Back. Tena shares some advice on how we humans are particularly prone to misuse leashes in training sessions. Good reminders! (Success Just Clicks)

Why Tyler Is My Dog. Moira just adopted this handsome boy, and she finds that they have something in common. Too sweet. (Dog Art Today)

Black-and-White French Film Takes You Inside a Cat’s Daily Torment. OK, this has nothing to do with dogs, but I think it is hilarious and that most cats probably have a similar internal dialogue. (Best Week Ever)

Ginger and Blue

Oh, man. I might be the worst dog-sitter ever. Before the story, here’s the cast of characters:

This is Blue:

Blue by the azaleas.

He is a small and rather quiet, self-possessed hound mix. Blue is somewhat shy and, as his mama warned us, rather nervous around men, so I handled him when Guion came to take the walk with us on Friday night.

And this is Ginger:

Little Ginger, from above.

Hi, Ginger.

Ginger is a spunky and vocal little terrier mix. I can’t, for the life of me, guess what her lineage could possibly be. Do you have any guesses? There’s clearly some terrier in there (the beard and the wiry hair). But her coat color, those little drop ears? No clue. What do you think?

Anyway. So, we show up on Friday night to take them for a walk. Immediately, we can’t find the key anywhere. The dogs are barking; they’re desperate to be let out and I am mildly panicking about it. Thankfully, we finally get in touch with their family and they give us some more insight on where the key is. We get inside and the dogs are a bit frantic and scared. I speak to them softly and go about locating their leashes and walking chain collars.

Without thinking much, I put the chain collars on the dogs (prongs with teeth–I didn’t want to use them, but their nylon collars didn’t have any rings on them) and march them outside. I have Blue and Guion is following behind me with Ginger. I march Blue over the sidewalk into the street and, suddenly, he starts beeping. He ducks his head and his tail and then I realize… CRAP. I just walked that dog straight through an invisible fence.

I felt SO terrible. So terrible. How stupid of me. In the frenzy, I didn’t even think that those big collars with the black boxes on them were probably for an invisible fence–and not for bark control or anything else. (Slightly in my defense, I wasn’t told to take these fence collars off when we were going to take them out for a walk, but I really should have noticed.)

The rest of the weekend, both dogs stopped trusting me when I would take then out–even though I took off the fence collars promptly. I had to actually pantomime that I was taking something off Blue’s neck for him to follow me into the street! The poor thing. I felt so, so horrible about it. Lesson really learned. I hope they’ll forgive me.

But the rest of our time there was pleasant and provincial and I enjoyed our walks with Blue and Ginger. Their family also has a sweet mini-menagerie in the backyard, complete with chickens:

The chicken coop in the backyard.

The three broody hens.

And a funny little bunny, who seemed very friendly and very eager to get out of his hutch:

I think the rabbit wanted out.

On an unrelated note, I was thrilled yesterday to learn that I won the Go Pet Friendly giveaway for a Kurgo backseat car cover! (I never win blog giveaways, on the random event that I enter them, so this was quite exciting.) A car seat cover has been on my wish list for a while now, and so I am really excited to receive it and try it out. A nice way to end the week.