Understanding Bugsy

Apologies in advance this will be a longish post.

Bugsy will be 5 in September - we will have had him in our lives for 5 years in December. I would have hoped I would have figured out and accepted some of this years ago but hey - we've gotten there. So here it goes.

1) He has no use for going slow. I think if you could ask him he would say he hates walking. Trotting with a few sprints thrown in seems to be his natural rhythm. We have tried various methods, collars, harnesses and tricks to get him to walk. He will humor us and walk a few feet, nicely, with a loose leash. Then he gets a whiff of something and he trots. Oblivious to the task of walking.
Bugsy from here on out I will do my best to kick it up a notch. I do have to look out for your knees but we'll go faster and quit this 'walking'

However please slow down in the house, when I see you fly down the stairs it really stops my heart. I know you've put your TPLO behind you but pal I will never be able to, so humor me on this one and slow down.

2) He should have been an experienced bird dog handler and hunter's dog. He hunts and works non-stop. I believe if he had consistent outlets for his prey drive and that from early on it was worked on he wouldn't have been so troublesome. As it is we constantly try to manage the prey drive and contain it. I have in the last year worked on using it more and it does make him more balanced. Unfortunately keeping/getting control over him while he is 'hunting' is exceptionally difficult to try to implement at this stage.

3) He should have always had at least one other dog to live with. He is a pack animal and yes he sees himself as leader of that pack. His happiest moments are with other dogs, always have been. Fortunately we always seem to be able to find him a buddy to run with at least once a week. This helps but again I will state he'd be more balanced if he had his own canine pack.

4) He needs challenges thrown his way regularly. Intellectual challenges. We do a fair job of this I think but I wish there were more interesting classes to go to or groups to attend. Obedience isn't his thing (LOL) but I think classes in which he was active and asked to achieve things would be great. I realize it is late but perhaps we can do some basic agility with him.
He loves to learn and gets excited when he sees the clicker or one of his intelli-toys come out of the closet. He doesn't just want to 'play' he wants to learn. I have always known this too but I have better skills to deploy now.
I contacted various agencies in the first month that we had him because I was able to see that he wasn't 'just a pet' sort of guy.
Wow am I glad no one was interested in a mutt!

5) He has extraordinary pain tolerance. Seen this over and over and in case you think it is just me when I picked him up the morning after his TPLO, the girl came around the corner with him and when he saw me he started wiggling and attempted to sprint to get to me. She laughed and said, 'wow he really loves you' and 'I've never seen a dog the day after surgery so stable and happy' LOL Oh and she also told me he took his Fentanyl patch off a couple of minutes after it went on so he wasn't too doped up.
I have heard so many stories of dogs crying and not being able to sleep for the pain. He was just my Bugsy, happy and alert during the day and asleep at night.
So when he limps or yelps it really, really hurts. Pay attention to it, take note and watch him like a hawk.

ah well that is all I can think of for now.
Thanks Bugsy for hanging with me as I learn who you are and how to work with you. You are a good boy and I love ya lots - even if you give me fits at times!

Dog walking etiquette

It is unfortunate but our neighborhood has seen an increase in reactive/impolite dogs and walkers. Used to be that everyone knew the basics of controlling their dog and being aware of others out walking.
These days way too often dogs are on LONG leashes and allowed to pull and lunge toward other dogs with their humans not paying attention and/or not doing anything to stop this behavior.
I've discussed this with several other people who agree that it is getting worse.

So when I saw this from Pedigree I thought it was worth posting
Etiquette for City Dogs

It isn't that difficult to:
Ensure your dog is close to you when approaching other dogs/humans -
Lunging towards other dogs just isn't cool!

Pick up after your dog - I find it hard to believe that you'd be OK with dogs pooping in your yard, why allow yours to poop on others' property?

If you want to allow your dog to meet other dogs - ask first. Its all about being polite.

I really didn't think much about meet and greets with other dogs when my dog was younger but after a few incidents where a careless owner let their aggressive/reactive dog get way too close, my dog sometimes acts out.
It is something that I work on regularly and also something that makes me quite sad as before that one dog was consistently allowed to threaten us he thought all dogs were wonderful.

Please don't let your dog be impolite!

Bugs and bugs

Although some don't believe it Bugsy is not named in honor of his affection for bugs. We were struggling to find a name for him, I was calling him to me, and he just sat there scratching himself. I queried whether 'he had bugs' and he came running to me.
LOL so I called him Bugs. DH wasn't too pleased but Bugs or Bugsy as we usually call him is a perfect name for him.
About this time every year the cicadas start to be available on the ground or are low flying, clearly slowing down and nearing their end.
Bugsy has been fascinated by them forever. And he loves, loves, loves to play with them.

Today he had his first play with a cicada this summer. We were out walking and nearly stepped on it.
Oh he was thrilled!
His tail was wagging vigorously and he ever so carefully touched the silent bug. And that caused it to rattle or buzz.
Oh he looked at me like "oh ma I never thought I'd have this fun again"

Each time the bug stops he touches it. When it becomes less active he gets a little firmer with his touches.
Once even a mild "whack" doesn't wake it he tries to awaken it with a nip.
Nothing.
Ah well if it isn't going to play any more I will eat it.

And so he does.
RIP cicada number 1 of 2010.

the heat is on!

Woohee it is hot folks - been hot all of June really but this week is especially hot
So keep an eye on your furry friends, they can't deal with the heat as well as us.
There is a bunch of essential information here
LINK

Some of the things I do for Bugsy are:
only walk him very early (pre-sunrise) or after sunset
I wet him down prior to his walk/run - the best parts to wet are their underneath, groin area, armpits, & feet. I do these and then wet his back for good measure LOL

After our walks I fill his kiddie pool and he stands in it (Oh how I wish he would lie down in it) and he has a huge drink. I splash the water underneath him again making sure his groin area and armpits get wet.

I don't let him out for long during the heat of the day. For some bizarre reason he will go lay on the deck and bake himself so I limit this.

In the evenings when he goes out I often give him one of the ice treats I make with an old 32oz yogurt tub water and cheese. This helps occupy him for a bit and cools too.

He basically sleeps all day which is highly unusual for him so he is raring to go when it cools a bit.
A few energy burners -

I tend to not just throw his meal in his bowl - I use some sort of kibble dispenser to occupy him.

I do some indoor training and/or games.

The heat really limits his activities and he is a dog that needs activities so the above are simple ways that I try to use up some of that unused energy.



Here's an interesting tidbit - a short single coat dog is the worst in the heat as double coats insulate from cold and heat. Obviously darker colors absorb more heat. So if you like me own a short single coated dog who is dark in color be very aware of them overheating

Oh and of course dogs with 'pushed' in faces (think bulldog) have extra difficulty breathing in the heat.

Lastly watch you dog's tongue - sure it is normal for it to lengthen with exertion but watch the color as it shouldn't go too dark and also watch for when it will widen. If you see your dog's tongue dark red, extended and widening it is time to stop what you are doing and cool them off. For more specific details read that link above

Oops!

the busy times continue............ sorry for the lapses in posts
The high heat is here to stay so we are constantly looking at ways to exercise without spontaneously combusting..........

In a Bugsy funny he has decided that the best position to drink from his outside water bowl is to stand on the steps and reach down to it.
Don't ask.
Today he tries this maneuver while his friend Izzy is here and although I am not sure exactly how it happened he managed to tip the water bowl on his own head.
It was hysterical as he looked at me like whoa how did that happen.
But he didn't stop drinking or wagging his tail as I replaced the bowl.
One crazy dog I tell you

getting back to normal

it has been a busy time here but we have been getting back to our routines starting yesterday. I think Bugsy was going to disown me if I didn't give him a good walk so we went for a long way this morning.
I sure wish I could get him to stop tracking all the time - he seems to be 'hunting' which I don't need. Don't have any ideas about how to change that though
Other than that not much to say. I still think he isn't 100% but can't figure it out.
Also can't comprehend why he thinks it a good idea to go lay in the sun on a day that is well into the 90's.

He is happy to have his normal schedule but he misses our boisterous and fun guest who brought him lots of stuffies and played with him all the time.
Such a poor neglected dog

Woohoo extra humans at my place!

We have some guests this week including a retired dog handler from a major police force and Bugsy is super happy with this development. We are too, but we just don't show it in the same exuberant way.
For me it has been wonderful to talk 'dog' and to get an experienced outsider's view of Bugsy.
The dog handler is very impressed in many ways but just had a ton of fun playing find it in the yard in the dark with B.
I feel validated in a way to hear someone who has worked with amazing and intense dogs talk about my silly mutt with such respect.
I plan on getting as many tips and suggestions as I can off this guest before they leave next week
These are also the first guests that I don't have to constantly manage Bugsy for - they are perfectly capable and happy to take care of themselves and he has been very well behaved