Runaway!

Well, today Chai had her first major runaway incident. She was whining at the door and Aiden (my 3-yr-old) decided to be "helpful" and let her out. She was whining because there were a couple strays running around outside that she wanted to play with! She bolted as soon as the door was open, and my wife couldn't get her attention to come back for anything. Julie chased the dogs for about 3 blocks before giving up and rushing back to the kids she'd had to leave alone in the house!

I got the frantic, stressed-out call at work a little before 3:00, and got someone to give me a ride home since I had dropped out car off at the shop this morning (thanks, Gary!). I spend the next hour or more on foot, roaming the 10+ square blocks between our house and Franklin Park to no avail. Some people thought they had seen her, but she was no where to be found.

I ended up heading back home to pick up my bike to cover more ground. By the time I had gotten my bike ready to go (both tires were flat), the neighbor kids came running down the street to tell us that Chai was down the street in their yard! The bitch had come back on her own, panting a bit, but none the worse for wear. She had gone at least a 1/2 mile away, crossed two major 4-lane roads at one of the busier times of day (TWICE), and just came trotting back into the driveway like nothing had happened.

We're glad to have her back, and even more glad that she came back safe and sound. But we're definitely gonna hafta work on self-control a lot harder with her for a while now.

An (overly) eventful night at the park...

Last night we were walking with our friends up at the park as usual. All the "regulars" were there - the happy-go-lucky Great Pyrenees female, the laid-back Bernese Mountain Dog female, the energetic little cattle-dog mix female who is Chai's bestest girl-friend, and the big lug of a Great Dane male that's been joining our group lately. All of them get along great, and the girls have always been very welcoming of new dogs to the group as well. Unfortunately, the Dane wasn't so welcoming of a "newcomer" last night.

Well all usually make at least one lap around the park with most of the dogs off-leash so they can get a good run and wrestle in. We were most of the way through our "lap" when the "newcomer" showed up - a timid yet playful Doberman male. He's been around the park when we're out there off and on, but isn't really a regular and doesn't spend a lot of time with us. This was the first time the Dane had encountered him.

When the Dobie showed up, Chai and her buddy rushed down to greet their familiar playmate. No big deal, goofy playing pups as usual. But then the Dane came rushing down to see what was going on. Neither the Dane or the Dobie have been neutered yet. Not good. Before anyone could blink, the Dane went territorial and attacked the Dobie who was less than half his size!

The Dobie's owner was closest to the mess, and started beating the Dane with his leather/chain leash and kicking him to try to get the beast off his dog. I was next on the scene, and tried to pull the Dane back, but 150+lbs of dog is not something that is easy to control. The Dane's owner was pretty quick after me, and between the two of us we were able to wrestle the Dane to the ground and break his hold on the Dobie. But not before some pretty significant damage was done.

The Dobie ended up with at least half-a-dozen puncture wounds in his neck and shoulders. Fortunately, none of them were gushing blood, but the poor dog was terrified and obviously in a lot of pain. We tried to get ahold of various emergency clinics and vets, and finally managed to make contact with one. They advised that if the wounds weren't bleeding, that it would be best to take the dog home, clean him up, and bring him to get patched up in the morning. The Dobie eventually got settled down enough to walk on his own, so that seemed like a good plan.

Both dogs' owners were pretty shaken up by the ordeal. I didn't get to interact with the Dobie's owner at all since I was busy helping the Dane's owner hold his dog down (it was taking both of us to keep the Dane down until he had calmed down again), but the Dane's owner was horrified that his dog had injured another dog. He left his phone number before taking his dog home, and plans on paying for all the vet bills. And it sounded like even though they've been planning on breeding the Dane, that they may go ahead and have him neutered since this is the second time he's shown aggressive behavior towards another male (first time attacking though).

The adrenaline finally started to subside a bit, and we finished our walk. But that was a very tense half-hour or so. Im' happy to report though, that all the girls did a good job of staying out of the way and not getting involved. They were curious about the triage efforts, but were just as content to play with each other from 50 yards away. Hopefully, we won't have to deal with that type of encounter again.

Back from getting spayed...

Well, Chai's surgery went great, and she did really well overnight at the vet's. We went to go pick her up this morning, and she was VERY happy to see us. And very energetic too! I expected her to be a little more groggy, but she's her usual perky self: wagging, trying to get up on the furniture, licking everyone in the face... All in all, I couldn't be happier with how well she's doing .

The challenge now will be keeping her calm and laid back for a few days to let everything heal up. I'm sure she'd be out playing with her doggie friends right now if I let her. And we'll have to keep an eye on the licking. So far, she's doing pretty well leaving the incision site alone, but we may end up needing the "cone of shame" if she decides she needs to clean it herself.

Off to the vet...

Well, her "big day" is finally here. No puppies for my puppy. I took Chai to the vet first thing this morning and left her in their care overnight. She was understandably nervous when I left her, but the vet called and said she went through the surgery just fine and is taking it easy now. We'll pick her up in the morning and keep her comfy and calm for a few days, and she should be back out playing with her doggie-friends before we know it. It's just tough to have to leave her overnight. But at least that way the vet can make sure she's not gonna have any complications before we bring her back home.

Rebelious Puppy...

Well, we've made it to nearly 6-months with a very loyal, well behaved little puppy. I suppose it's about time she started acting up. Up until the last week or so, Chai has been doing exceptionally well at behaving around the house and out at the park with other dogs, both on-leash and off. She had even been doing really well at being recalled while off leash even with distractions.

But this week, the rebellious phase has hit full force! It started the other night after I had sat her down for her nail trimming and teeth brushing. She doesn't mind the toothbrush so much (it tastes like chicken!), but trimming the nails is always a nervous time for her. She won't hold still for it without being somewhat restrained, so I usually have to flip her over and hold her like a baby in my lap. With a little bit of wrestling, lots of patience, and some help with treats from the kids, we got it done, but then she pretty much ignored me when we took our walk up at the park. She did great until we met up with our doggie-buddies, then there was almost no getting her attention for anything. She did stay with our "pack", but would rarely come back to me, even for a treat. She did eventually start listening again towards the end of the walk, so I didn't think too much of it.

However, the next night, she was back to not responding again, so we went back to being on-leash instead of her usual freedom until she was heeling and following commands again. So far, so good... Then came last night!

I was exhausted and badly in need of chiropractic treatment and a good night's sleep, so I was going to take her for a shorter walk to a closer park without her doggie-friends last night. She was pretty wound up in the first place and really needed to get out, otherwise, I would've skipped it entirely for the night. She figured out pretty quick that I was not in my usual happy mood, and that we were taking a different walk, and she didn't like either very much. To top that off, a medical helicopter was flying fairly low over the neighborhood about the time we were halfway to the park. That was the last straw for her. She stopped dead in her tracks and backed right out of her collar! From there, the night was all downhill.

Once she had escaped her collar, she would not come to me at all. It didn't help that I was already dead tired, grumpy, and didn't have any treats to offer. She promptly started to head back home. I was proud of her that she stopped at the curb before crossing the street like we do every time on-leash, but she wouldn't let me get close at all. She went all the way home, refused to go inside, and made me follow her all the way around the block before I could catch up to her. We finally got her collar back on, but then she lunged away before I could attach the leash, and we did ANOTHER lap around the block! I got her to sit, then turned her over to a submissive position and growled my disapproval to her (not the best action, considering she had finally done what I wanted her to). Then she finally decided that she would come inside. I insisted she go to her kennel, which she did without too much hesitation, and I went off to cool my head for a while (literally and figuratively).

After I had cooled down and collected myself, I went back and let her out of her kennel again. She was pretty sulky, but we did a few basic training commands and she got lots of positive praise for sitting and laying on command. She seemed happy with that, and stuck close to me around the house until bed-time.

In retrospect, I could've been a lot more positive in trying to regain control of her outside, but at the time, I was too exhausted and not in the best mindset for dealing with a rebellious puppy. Well, back to lots of positive reinforcement today! And back on the training tether for a while in the park instead of completely off-leash until she starts showing that she will respond to commands reliably again.

First Hiking Trip

Chai got to go out on her first hiking trip this week at only 4 months old! We've been walking quite a bit, and she always has more energy than she knows what to do with, so it seemed like a great opportunity to introduce her to the great outdoors.

We had planned a 4mi round-trip day hike, but it was going to be mostly on snow. I was worried about Chai's paws getting hurt since she's still so young, so I picked up some Granite Gear "Endurance Dog Boots" for her. I had been working with her on getting her to wear them, and she actually did really well about putting them on and walking in them. The only problem was, once we were actually on the snow, they were too slick and were making it too difficult for her to stay on the hill (most of the trail was along the side of a hill).

So we ditched the boots and risked the paws, but she did just fine after that! No more slipping around and a much more sure-footed pup. We checked her paws fairly often, but even with all the trekking through the ice and rocky trail, her 4-month-old paws held up great! She was just thrilled to be able to be outdoors without a leash. And to get to explore and play with my hiking buddy's experienced Border Collie too.

If anyone's interested in the hike itself, I've posted the trip and photos at EveryTrail. Here's a link:

Sheep Lake - In the Snow (at EveryTrail.com)

Enjoy!