MN Boxer Rescue and Chuck and Don’s, Roseville

I ignored my jet lag on Saturday and, along with Tim, ventured out to Chuck and Don’s Pet Food Outlet in Roseville. MN Boxer Rescue had several dogs there for adoption and for general information about the breed, so we knew there would be some adorable dogs. We left our rowdy pair at home.

There are more dogs available for adoption on the MN Boxer Rescue site than I remember ever seeing before. It’s good to see a lot of them in the recently adopted section, though.

We met an adorable dog named Joe Black. He’s in the list of adoptable dogs, but that’s not the case anymore, because his foster mom decided to take him in permanently. It’s easy to see why. He is the biggest cuddle hound I’ve ever met. He rested his head in the crook of my arm while I petted him, and he almost fell asleep in my arms. It was heartbreaking to think that he was almost euthanized. The people who gave him up said that he couldn’t be housetrained, but it turned out that he had a urinary tract infection that was causing all his accidents. Once that was treated with medication, he was fine. His owner said that he was quite happy in his new home, and he was getting her two older dogs to play a little more. It’s great to hear about a happy ending.

Our dogs sniffed us vigorously after we arrived home. They don’t give us that look of “hey, you were out cheating on me with other dogs” that Abby did, though. They were just excited for something new to smell.

[Things I learned while writing this post? WordPress and the latest version of Safari do not get along, especially when you're trying to add links.]

Two Cute Links

Laughter is the best medicine, right?

An adorable (is there any other kind?) Boxer puppy on Cute Overload.

And the inevitable consequences (from the comments on the previous link).

Christmas 2008, in Pictures

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave each dog a rope toy for Christmas. It all started innocently enough, each dog playing with one toy.

Dogs playing peacefully

 

 

Then Zoe noticed Otis was playing with something.

Hmmm... what do you have there?

 

 

A tug-of-war ensued.

Grrrrrrr....

 

 

The dogs pulled at the green rope, while the red rope lay unnoticed underneath the action.

It's mine! Mine!

 

 

Then, for no reason at all, they returned to playing with separate toys.

Peace at last

 

 

The green rope toy was destroyed two days later by a vengeful Zoe, in a fit of chewing.

Ode to Otis

I can’t believe I get anything done with this much cuteness around.
 

Otis curling up on the couch in the office

 

Otis looking suspicious at the camera noises

 

Otis snuggling with Tim's shirt

 

Sometimes he sleeps with his tongue sticking out, and it takes him a couple minutes to notice:

 

Otis waking up

Unintentional Break

Wow, I didn’t mean to be gone for so long. Pictures from Christmas are coming soon.

The dogs are continuing to do well. They’re starting to get cabin fever, as our walks have become shorter with the colder temperatures. 

They’re starting to get the hang of Orange Ball, so I’ve been sticking a few treats in there and letting them roll it along the floor to make the treats pop out. Or, in Zoe’s case, trying to chew the toy to make the hole bigger.

Zoe has destroyed 3 tennis balls in the past week. We’ve been watching her closely with them, because she tends to turn them into chew toys instead of things to fetch. I wonder if this makes Otis slightly sad, because he really loves to play fetch. 

We’ve noticed that Otis has really started to settle in even more over the last couple weeks. I wonder if it’s partly because he’s a little older and has memories of several different homes, not knowing when the party is going to end at a particular place, or if it’s due to him reclaiming his spot on the bed at night. He’s no longer sleeping on the old comforter on the floor– his legs have been strong enough that he’s hopped onto the bed each evening for the last couple weeks.

And Otis has been a lot more affectionate lately. He did the most adorable thing last night. Instead of curling up at the end of the bed or between me and Tim, he lay his head on my stomach and draped a paw over, almost like he was giving me a hug. It was so sweet I almost melted. 

I think I need to have the Detrol Discussion with Zoe. After a week or so when we were all sleeping through the night, she’s been getting up at least once (thankfully, not so much where I’m concerned that there’s an actual  medical issue). Last night, it was 5:00. The night before, it was 3:30. The night before that, 2:30. I don’t mind as much when it’s earlier because I can get more sleep in before the evil alarm goes off. 

Cute as they are, I think they’re conspiring to take over my side of the bed. It all starts out innocently enough, with them curled up in a neutral location. Then gradually, as my defenses are down, they slowly move over onto my side. I wake up in the middle of the night, wondering why there’s a draft, and then I realize my feet are hanging off the edge of the mattress and I have no covers. The one good thing about Zoe getting up at night is a chance for me to reclaim my spot on the bed.

A Study in Contrasts

Zoe is large (75 pounds at her last weigh-in). Otis is petite. He’s 60 pounds, but next to Zoe, he looks much smaller. 

Zoe is a dark brown reverse brindle color. Otis is a light brown fawn color.

Zoe has a very tiny tail. Otis has a little more to wag with. 

What she lacks in tail, Zoe makes up in nose– hers is fairly long for a Boxer. Otis has a smaller, more scrunched up snout. 

Zoe has had the same name her whole life, but has no idea what it is. (It probably doesn’t help that we have about 10 nicknames for her.) Otis has had his name for just a few months and answers to it when called.

Zoe takes up the entire space she’s in. Otis curls up into a tiny ball.

Zoe wants to be the center of everything. (Tim calls her the least subtle dog in the world.) Otis is fairly unobtrusive.

Zoe is lumbering and occasionally clumsy. Otis is delicate and mostly graceful. Mostly. 

Zoe loves every dog she encounters and wants to make friends. Otis is much more picky, and occasionally surly with strange canines. (We’re still working on that.)

Despite a major bout with mange when she was younger, Zoe is strong and healthy (knock wood, cross my heart, and may she stay that way for a long, long time). Otis has had a couple health issues, most notably the hip thing. 

We know quite a bit about Zoe’s beginnings through various people in the rescue group. Otis has something of a shady past. We’re not even sure of his birthday. 

We continue to marvel every day at their differences, but we’re happy to have them both around.

A Brief Respite

We wrapped up obedience class this week. The last session went well, except for the woman who thought it would be a great idea to bring her kid, who was having some serious attention span issues.

In Zoe’s obedience class a few months ago, there was a little boy who was fantastic. He participated in class and worked on commands with their puppy and was on his best behavior the whole time. He was awesome. He could come to any dog class and I’d be thrilled to have him there. 

However, the kid who was in Otis’s class didn’t participate at all. The first few times his mother brought him, he cowered behind her, afraid of the dogs. At this session, he kept asking to pet our dogs while we were trying to listen to the instructor, and he was wandering around the room while we were doing exercises. Also, I tended to get a little tense during class anyway, not sure how Otis would behave around other dogs that day, so I was highly irritable in the first place. This did not help.  

The instructor handled it really well– at first she tried to involve him because she was trying to have our dogs sit with distractions, so that was perfect. After we moved on to other exercises, she politely asked him to not do some of the things he was doing. His mother finally realized that her kid was being a giant pain and put him in a corner with something to read. And all was well after that. 

I was still happy that we took the class. I found the techniques really helpful, and I feel that I can handle some of Otis’s aggression issues much better now. It’s going to take time and consistency, but I am definitely better equipped. 

Now for dealing with their new habit: becoming completely unglued when someone knocks on our door or rings the doorbell. Zoe will bark, and then Otis will bark but he’ll also start snarling in her direction. It’s something we need to practice with one of us coming to the door and the other one nipping the barking in the bud right away.

On the one hand, I like having guard dogs that could scare away potential intruders. (And I have to say I wasn’t upset when they precluded me from hearing more about Watchtower from a couple of young Jehovah’s Witnesses last week. Shame, that.) On the other hand, I don’t want them to get out of control. So that will give me something to do this winter. 

Otis is feeling really good these days. We have him on one tablet of 100 mg of Rimadyl (half in the morning, half in the evening), and two tablets of Glyco-Flex III (one in the morning and one in the evening), which contains glucosamine, methylsulfonylmethane, and a whole bunch of other stuff with long words that I’m too lazy to type right now. We’ve also been giving him liquid fish oil in the morning, although the dog trainer warned us to watch that he doesn’t gain weight. She recommended the fish oil pills instead. We’re already giving him so many pills that we’re a little reluctant to add another. (The Glyco-Flex is huge– we have to cut it up into several pieces and it won’t even fit into our pill cutter.) We’ll continue to monitor it closely.

He’s been getting back to his old self, although I’m afraid he’s pushing it a little. He’s started leaping off the deck, and he’s ventured down into the basement a few times. If he decides to sleep in the basement, it can be a struggle to get up the stairs because he’s stiff. Otherwise, it’s fun to see him zipping around the yard with his sister again.

Otis will have his first overnight stay at the Puppy Hotel soon. I almost want to call and warn them in advance that they might have some extreme whimpering on their hands. Once one of them gets going, the other one starts in. They’re quite a chatty pair.

More Puppies!

Tim and I were watching the local news, and they kept showing a teaser for a guy singing “Goodnight Sweetheart” to his puppies. It must be a slow news day when you’re looking to YouTube for your content, but I’d rather have that than bad news (hello, economy!). At the end of the hour as part of a promo for something called myFOXpets.com, they finally showed the full video. And best of all, the puppies are Boxer puppies! 

Oh, the cuteness. It hurts.

And Now, to Cheer Everyone Up… Puppies!

Here’s a link to a live video feed of Shiba Inu puppies playing. Do I even have to say how cute this is?

What a Difference a Day Makes

Tim heard back from Dr. T and he called me at work today. The radiologist confirmed what she had already seen– severe dysplasia of the right hip, and spondylosis of some of his lower vertebrae. 

They recommended keeping him on the Rimadyl, along with some other supplements (either food or medication) for the next several weeks, and then we could evaluate him again to see if we wanted to go the surgery route. We would need to take him to the U of M for the evaluation and possibly to have the hip replacement performed. 

We’re both feeling much calmer and more positive. We don’t have to make any decisions right away. Plus, this gives us time to save some money in case we decide on surgery. That would be better in the spring, anyway, because we’d probably need to escort him outside to make sure he didn’t injure himself. Recovery time is from six to eight weeks. 

Tim asked about his current activity levels, and Dr. T said that we should let him dictate that, which was a relief. If he feels good, he’ll be able to play and run and jump. And if he overexerts himself, he’ll let us know. We need to watch for specific activities in case we need to limit them (for example, if he’s always gimpy after walking a certain distance), but for the most part, we can let him be himself, which is great. The thing that concerned us the most was his quality of life. We want him to be able to run and play and enjoy himself. 

Otis is feeling much better today, which helps. He’s back to his usual self, picking fights with his sister, stealing her toys, and running around the yard. 

We went to obedience class tonight, driving through the freezing rain. Only two other dogs (the Norwegian Elkhound puppy and the Springer Spaniel) showed up, so everyone got a lot of individual attention.

(My friend and her dog Molly had a good excuse– Molly was rushed to the emergency clinic last night for an allergic reaction, most likely to a bee or wasp that had been hiding in some bushes, and both dog and owner were still recovering today.) 

Otis still doesn’t do “down” on command (and I think his hips are partly to blame), but he can sit, stay, and come when called. He did amazingly well on “leave it” tonight, better than he’d ever done before. 

At the end of class, we got group playtime, and Otis and the puppy roughhoused a little. He seemed excited to be slightly larger than his playmate (the opposite of what happens at home). Although on the way out, he forgot that the puppy was his buddy and he growled as they passed each other on the sidewalk. I wonder if he has some sort of leash aggression, even though we’re on leashes in class. 

Our instructor recommended trying fish oil supplements to help with his joints, so we’re going to give that a shot. We’ll get the blood test results from the vet soon, so we’ll know what other medications or supplements we’ll be giving him for the next couple months.