Tag: pet ownership

Charlie Makes a Great Pillow

What Did We See?

Since I normally walk the dogs at 4:30 in the morning, we routinely  run across deer, raccoons and possums.  Some mornings I can hear hoot owls calling each other.  But this morning as we topped a hill, there at the bottom of the hill standing very still watching us was a fairly large animal.  The animal had a large full tail that curved down to the ground.  It had its’ left front leg lifted as if it was in mid stride when it spotted us.  I could tell it was brown in color.  Not a real dark brown and not a tan color either.  The head was squat and did not have a pointed snout like a dog.  But it could have been a dog.  The animal had large powerful looking legs.  It wasn’t a deer.  It wasn’t tall enough and deer don’t have long tails.

The dogs stood very still with their ears at attention, and watched the animal with their whole being.  You know how you can tell when a dog is totally fixated on something.  None of the three dogs moved a muscle toward it.   That’s why I not so sure it was a dog.  After an eternity, maybe fifteen seconds, the animal gave us a final look and walked quietly away into the dark wooded area at the bottom of the hill. 

Did we see a dog or maybe just maybe we saw a mountain lion?

Maybe One Day

The official word from the Conservation Department has been that there are no Mountain Lions around here.  That maybe, even though there have been photographic evidence and a few that have been hit by cars, those must have been traveling through on their way to someplace else.  Where, I’m not sure. But I would like to think that there are Mountain Lions around, it would let me at least pretend that I might get to see one someday.  Bear in mind I don’t want to be a statistic, but I would like to get a picture of one.  Not likely that it will ever happen, since I usually walk the dogs at 4:30 in the morning.  My camera is not that good. 

Today when I took the dogs down to the woods by the house for a snow romp and some much needed exercise for me, the dogs promptly found skeletal remains of a fairly large animal.  Charlie came carrying a joint.  It was part of two bones connected with a joint, maybe an elbow or knee.  Each bone section was about a foot long.  AJ found part of a spine.  The remains looked like it had been a good sized animal, bigger than a raccoon or opossum.  Maybe a young deer.  I’m also guessing the animal that killed it was fairly good sized too.  Coyote, Bobcat or maybe just maybe a Mountain Lion.

My Snow Dogs?

I’ve noticed that this year the dogs aren’t as excited about the cold and snow as in years past.  The trio would wrestle and play, eating so much snow that I would have to stop them for fear of an impending stomachache.   AJ was and still is content to stay fairly close to me and be ever watchful.  Charlie used to run as fast as he could through the snow with his head down scooping up as much snow as he could, dining and dashing, so to speak.  This year he has started lifting up a paw to shake off the cold and not showing the past interest in “snow to go”.  Orso is still young enough to want to run full steam at either AJ or Charlie and slam the closest victim to the ground, which usually provokes a sharp growl and a biting snap followed by a show of contriteness on Orso’s part.  Then it’s game on, but it doesn’t last for nearly as long as last year. 

Yesterday I was home working on getting ready for this year’s taxes, and thought that I should take the dogs for an outing, but when I looked for them, all three were snuggled down on the bed, sound asleep.  They have definitely embraced the indoor life.

Smell Your Dog’s Feet

My dog’s feet smell like Fritos.  We don’t buy Fritos, so I have no idea why they do.  Go figure.

A Short Insight to Charlie

We got Charlie as a puppy and with us has never known a day as an outside dog.  His daddy was a great big chocolate lab and his mom was a little German shorthair.  Needless to say he was an accident.  Charlie is small by my standards.  He weighs about 65 pounds (5 pounds too much) and favors his mother in appearance.  Long shorthair ears, short hair and pointer shaped head.  Charlie got his chocolate coloring from his dad.  He was such a happy puppy that loved all things.  He would run through the house with his ears flying back.  He had this wide eyed look of wonder,  until he was attacked twice by a neighbor’s dog.  Since then he has hated that woman and all of her dogs.  Her dog set him on a path of animal aggression  so bad at one point, we considered euthanasia.  We contracted a dog behavioralist who helped us learn to spot the signs of aggression and how correct them.  But we still are very vigilant with Charlie around other dogs and people.

As a hunting dog, Charlie is an excellent hunter.  He has a great nose, a beautiful point and fast as the wind.  Plus he has the energy to boot.  We have to continually call him back because he will range out too far and flush a bird almost in the next county.  He makes me look good in the field by his intensity in searching out the bird.  The dog never stops hunting.  Even at home on walks, he is always on the hunt. 

We have a hunting trip coming soon and have been working to get into “hunting form” again.  This past summer was such a hot one, we let the refresher training slide.  I think Charlie will be in fine form, with the cooler weather, his energy level has increased.

Our Not So Happy Family

I didn’t want Orso, I didn’t even want to go see him when Mitch said, “Come on we’ll just take a look see.”  We had AJ and Charlie and I was quite happy with just two dogs.  Orso was a rescue that one of his co-workers’ son had and needed to find a home for.  He was 10 months old and a huge brown clumsy, lovable dog.  Very calm and just wanted someone to want him.  So we took him home.   Charlie hated Orso on sight.  We thought that Charlie would come around in a few days and all would be calm.  Not so.  The attacks just got worse.  Orso would look at Charlie, or just walk into the same room as Charlie and the fight would be on.  Orso would yelp and scream and Charlie would rip into him.  These attacks were not just a show of force or putting Orso on the bottom rung of the pack.  Charlie wanted him dead and gone.  Blood was usually drawn on Orso.  One day I tried to break up an attack in the yard and Charlie bit my hand drawing blood.  Mitch grabbed him and slammed Charlie to the ground and held him there until everyone calmed down.  That was when I told Mitch that something had to change.  I didn’t want to come home anymore.  Not to the tension and chaos.  I was done. 

The dog behavioralist our vet recommended turned out to be a godsend.  On the first visit she just sat at the kitchen table and talked to us, while watching the dynamics of our inter-relationships with each other.   She helped us realign our pack, spot the signs of eminent danger and how to counteract and prevent the fights.  The change didn’t happen overnight.  It took hard work and vigilance on our part to spot the signs of impending doom.  We are still very aware of Charlie and the “psycho” switch.  Without her, one or more of us wouldn’t be here today.

Orso

I have always laughed and poked fun of some pet owners.  You know the ones I’m talking about.  Those pet owners that pamper them,  give their pets special treats, dress them up like people, paint their toe nails and basically fawn all over them.  Don’t get me wrong, I love our dogs dearly.  We have spent so much money at the vet’s office, that each year our goal is to NOT get the annual  Christmas calendar.  And each year we get a new calendar.  We feed them carrots for treats and I make frozen yogurt pumpkin pops for them as a cold treat.  But I think  we finally became one of “those” pet owners.

Orso, our chocolate lab, a.k.a. water dog, does not particularly like water.  He doesn’t go swimming really.  He might go in up to his chest or swim out and back a few yards when he’s hot, but that’s all he does.  He absolutely abhors the rain.  He will stand under the eave of the house and refuse to go out in the yard to go pee or on walks, he’ll walk next to me under the umbrella, just to not get his head wet.  He’s not interested in retrieving anything on land or in the water.  When we go pheasant hunting, he usually walks at my heals.  Last week we were at our friends’ house for a play day with their two dogs, which entails a walk to the public access boat launch for an afternoon of swimming, tag and a good game of wrestling.  Tied up to the dock was an old aluminum runabout.  No one was around and Orso walked right up to the boat and jumped right in like it was his own.  We had to pull him out a couple of times fearful the owner would show up. 

The rest of the dogs decided on a game of tag, but Orso wasn’t interested.  I turned around looking for him and there he was sitting at the back of the dock wagging his tail waiting patiently for a pontoon boat to come in and tie up to the dock.  He wanted to get on that boat so much.   We talked another friend of ours into taking Orso for a boat ride on his pontoon boat.  Our friend asked if Orso would try to jump in the water and Mitch told not to worry, Orso wouldn’t jump in.  He walked back forth looking at the other boats in the water.  Mitch opened the gate to the front deck and Orso walked out and sat down totally at home afloat on a boat.  That was the best day of his life.