Keeping calm and still?

[Bogwoppit]

If you absolutely had to keep a dog very still and confined for a few weeks, what would you give her to do in her crate? I realise that "my dog wouldn't" is a very likely answer...

I don't want to jinx things (or build up my own hopes for some brief canine company by blabbing too much), but if things go ahead, I have been offered the chance to care for a recovering dog who cannot shake, bump or bounce her head.

So far I'm thinking chew toys (nothing that involves tipping, shaking, etc), and keeping the crate close to where people are working and sitting all day might help.

I just right now fear for a bored dog. I know a lot of dogs would sleep all day given the option, but being prepared with a few ideas would be really.. reassuring.

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

Patricia McConnell's Willy was a similar case. I'm sure there's some old posts on her blog http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/.

 

Donald McCaig

[Cass C]

Kongs filled in different ways with varying treats/foods. There are tons of kong recipes online with various levels of difficulty to empty.

[Bogwoppit]

Thank you both very much.

If I get confirmation of looking after the poor dog, I'll be straight on Amazon for some Kongs and pastes. I don't own any doggy things at all, so I'm holding off buying anything until the day before she arrives.

I want to gush and show pics and say how wonderful she is, but I'm still awaiting a timescale, confirmation and it doesn't feel like it'll really happen yet. I've been let down before by other rescues.

 

edit: Not to say I don't trust this rescue or my friends. I'm just incapable of believing good things happen lately.

[Jim Kling]

Sheepherding videos? I think my dogs would watch enraptured for hours...

[Shetlander]

How old is the dog and what is he recuperating from? Also, any idea of the dog's history with crates? My Sheltie seemed bored and resentful on crate rest when she had a soft tissue injury years ago. Some of that may have been she spent minimal time crated as a pup. Also I don't know how much discomfort she was in, especially towards the end of the healing period.

 

When Quinn seriously injured his spine this past summer, he seemed to have pain and the Pred really dragged him out. Just trying to walk exhausted him, so he basically slept in the crate and accepted the 24/7 nature of his initial confinement. But even as he recovered, he was mellow in his crate. I think this at least partly because he was crated throughout puppyhood and seems to see crates as comfy dens. So he continues to like his crate, even though I still crate him during the day as a precaution when I'm gone.

 

Any word on whether the dog is coming?

[Bogwoppit]

I was fostering... The rescue is coming to reclaim her. She has a home to go to after all the work, so I don't feel too awful.

 

The dog is a 5 year old Jack Russell, Staffie and something mix. She is completely blind from mature cataracts and is due to have them removed and replacement parts fitted.

I was supposed to take her for 2 weeks, settle her and do the after care for four more. I've had to admit defeat after four days.

I have never cared for a dog before, and a blind, bouncy dog with severe separation anxiety and little to no crate training is beyond me.

Her leash and outdoor manners are superb, and she's very good in the house which is heartbreaking.

 

It's shot my confidence for any kind of future dog ownership. I'm sorry for the little whinge.

[Bogwoppit]

Here she is.

 

The upshot is the cats are fine. Lucina who we thought would be a neurotic puddle (in every sense) has adopted her. She's a little shadow. Admittedly not too close because she gets trampled. She hasn't raised a paw once to protest being snuffled, stepped on or charged into. She just complains LOUDLY. This is more restrained than she ever was with kittens or children.

 

Edit: I'll rotate that pic later, seems the board software didn't agree with my phone as to how gravity works.

[chene]

 

It's shot my confidence for any kind of future dog ownership. I'm sorry for the little whinge.

 

No, no, no. Don't think of it like that. All you know is that you're not ready to take on a dog with huge issues that you have no emotional attachment to and are under pressure to keep calm right from the get go. That is a huge challenge, and most of us honestly couldn't do it. No one comes in to dog ownership being able to handle everything. Raising Aed has taught me so much - probably more than I ever learned just from doing research. If he went blind or developed separation anxiety, I'd be able to work through it, because I love him and I know him well enough to help him, and the only pressure to fix him is on me. You had none of those advantages. This experience does not affect your capabilities as an owner, I promise. You're going to be a fantastic parent to some lucky little border collie (who may be bouncy but at least learns a hundred new things a day).

[Bogwoppit]

Thanks Chene, I'm just so tired tonight that it all feels a bit doom and gloom.

I learned a lot of good from her too - I don't react to whining, I don't mind picking poo up as long as I can do it one handed, I can't smell "wet dog" at all... The cats were ok with her when she wasn't creating noise. They shared her bed, and permitted a lot of sniffing and trampling. With a puppy that I can work with from day one, these issues may be lesser. I can go a small way towards picking personality, and choose the background in rearing.

This little dog had the deck stacked from the start, she spent years living on the street so was immune to tiring out from walkies, for example. I had some connection with her, but I feel less like a pet has left (sad) and more like a friend and house guest has gone home (slightly relieved that I may be my lazy self). Other than a 90 minute driving lesson, I've been with her constantly since Sunday afternoon. I've been sleeping with my head by her crate on an air mattress. She was not a quiet lodger, and my OH couldn't sleep for work if she was wailing. If I went for so much as a shower, she howled to the point where you could hear her in the street. I'm working on about 12hr of sleep since her arrival.

She had no interest in high value toys, treats or calming voices in the crate.

I started some very basic training of rewarding her with chicken every full minute of no whining in the crate, and we got to 5 minutes by today.

 

The downside is I had no physical support from the OH either as he was scared of her, and he considered her unpleasantly smelly. In four days he handed me a dog jacket by his fingertips, and refused to speak, which she found stessful (movement but no voice). I asked if it was this dog or all dogs, and he said it was her as a loud barking adult.

I'm no longer sure how to continue forwards.

My parents are coming next week to throw out a lot of furniture and make the house open plan downstairs, which has been the test of whether I can fit a pup here physically. If it's not viable, it may be later in the year before I examine this again as it will become far harder to move home with 3 cats and a puppy.

[chene]

Man, that's some way to get introduced to dog ownership. Kudos to you for going through it. I do wonder, though, if you might want to work with your husband and his fear before you go looking for a puppy. Dogs can be so unpredictable, especially as they're growing up, I wouldn't want him to be frightened of your own dog if the pup developed resource guarding, separation anxiety, reactivity, or just generally turned into a big loud crazy teenager. I don't really know how to say this tactfully, but it sounds like maybe the foster dog shouldn't have been there at all. I mean it would have been better for both of you if he'd met her first and discovered that he wasn't willing to go near her? I don't really know how intense his fear of dogs is, but judging but the way he acted does he really want a dog at all? Is he really willing to face his fear and move past it? I'm sure you've discussed all this with him and I know nothing, but that's just how it seems from the outside. Sorry if I crossed any lines here.

[Bogwoppit]

Your comments are entirely fair, Chene, no worries in the slightest.

What I will say before it looks like I'm painting the rescue negativity is that they had a back up plan from the beginning, and were able to pull her out within 12hrs of me saying I was done. She is now with an exceptionally patient foster lady and her family.

 

However I was originally asked if I could look after a sedated, calm dog who would need 24hr bed rest straight after surgery. I had not anticipated 2 weeks of getting to know her first. It made sense but by the time I found out, she was on the way to my home. My mistake and perhaps an assumption on the rescuers part that I was used to the system.

I will not be volunteering again, but I would rescue of my own accord and help with transport in future.

 

My OH (long term partner but not husband, again no worries!) is himself a bit of an odd animal. He doesn't like sudden changes. He doesn't like strong smells or loud noises... And he is a creature of repetition, habit and unbending views. If he were a child these days, perhaps there would be a term for it. Those aspects also make him very reliable, and passionate. Gradual acclimatising is the key. He is fearful of adult dogs but not puppies. Watching one gradually grow up would be acceptable he says.

Personally having seen the cats reaction, I would go out tomorrow and get an adult collie from a specialised breed rescue who knew their stuff. But that would make things unliveable here. His stress was causing a change you could feel when he came home each day.

[Shetlander]

I have lived with dogs for over 40 years and I think I would have been ready to self injure after one day with that dog. I can't even imagine that being my first experience caring for a dog. I encourage you to explore various options with your OH. A puppy may be best in the sense of starting when they are babies and growing with them, but they can be little terrors with needle sharp teeth. An older puppy past the nipping stage or a calm, sweet adult might be worth looking into.

 

Not all dogs are a good fit for us. And the initial days with a new puppy or dog can be stressful. I am usually pretty high strung when I bring home a puppy. But as we settle in, find the right routine and bond, it becomes much easier and fun. I have watched friends' dogs. One I knew, was fond of and she loved my dogs, so she was easy enough to have around. The other dog I didn't know and while she was mainly well behaved, I was very happy to have her go home. She didn't feel like my dog and she was not a special needs dog like the one you fostered.

 

So obviously only you and your partner know what will work for you, but I think for your first dog ever, you did amazing. I honestly wouldn't have made it past the second night. Dogs (and puppies) range from very easy to extremely challenging to live with. Whatever you decide in the end, please know that not all dogs would be as difficult for you as that foster.

[Bogwoppit]

It was a bit of trial by fire. The entire time I was tense, and I think even by the 4th day we hadn't bonded.

On my first walk with her - the first walk in about ten years for me, a small terrier dog jumped a broken fence and started following us. Every time we took a pace, he'd match us. I kept telling him to go away, blocking him with my legs, and (probably stupidly) putting my foot on his butt and pushing him away from her. She was very calm but he was incredibly rude. Can you imagine trying to say "No! Go away!" loudly and firmly to a dog whilst the one who can't see who you're talking to assumes you mean her? I felt awful.

Add to this that I was in combat pants, a studded old leather jacket, and work boots, coupled with walking a dog seen as a "fighting breed", the fear of someone coming up the path and finding me with my foot up this dogs rear end was somewhat horrifying.

I chased him back into his garden eventually.

 

It raises the point that I'm not experienced with meeting dogs out and about. Every owner I met this week waited patiently whilst I brought her to one side of a path and let them pass, after I waved at them, but that was probably lucky considering not everyone is so careful.

[chene]

OH not husband. Got it. Sorry. Maybe you could see if a friend would be willing to lend you their pup or calm adult for a weekend or something? As a trial that doesn't involve crazy blind bounciness.

[Bogwoppit]

It's a point of great amusement at the moment that we're not in fact married. His 80 yr old father accidentally played a long running practical joke on us by buying a huge "to a special Son & Daughter in law" Christmas card, which has caused everyone visiting the house to say, "Oh! Congratulations!" - At one point in rapid succession when we had the Monday night gaming group come over.

He'd be mortified if he knew, the lovely old gentleman.

 

Anyway, I'm giving it a resting period before trying again. I said before bed, "if I had a dog that didn't smell heinous, and didn't whine constantly, had a playpen and was crate trained, would you give it another go?" His eyes looked worried, and I continued, "-and I wouldn't expect you to get hands on. It took you a year to even like being near [male cat]."

"I think so. I wouldn't walk it and I wouldn't want to eat if it was a few feet away."

So there's a thing.

 

So far as bouncing, biting and jerky puppy activity, he's a lot more forgiving of youth than untrained adult digs. We had a batch of feral kittens to raise indoors, and the things they got up to make a hyper puppy sound sedate. One of them had to be forcibly removed from a bare buttock it had clamped onto in the shower, and repeatedly fished out if the toilet (sometimes mid-use).

We'll see how things go. I expect to be done learning to drive soon, which means I can get some hands on experience with pups.

[alligande]

I also want to say that, whatever you don't let your experience put you off. We foster a few times a year (only border collies), some dogs we devolp a bond with, others we can't wait to leave. I also would have found your foster dog challenging especially if my partner was stressed by the experience. From your descriptions of the kittens it sounds like you stand s chance with a puppy.

[Bogwoppit]

Well today is the first time I've come to bed feeling upbeat about moving forward.

I was physically and mentally fatigued after 4-5 days of her, so felt very defeated. However my parents have been over, helped me rearrange the ground floor (it's completely open plan) and throw out tables, cupboards etc. It feels like a new home and I'm even picking out crate and pen layouts in my head.

The important part is not to press the idea with my OH right now as he is also fatigued and the recent pup is raw in his mind. We're also having a terrible time getting our oldest cat to take her meds. It all adds up to needing a rest.