When I was a child we had a Labroador named Stormy. I was the type of kid who would do mischievous things like trick my little brother into eating things I knew he would hate. I probably gave Stormy his first pickle for the same malevolent reason, expecting him to just spit it out. Well, no – instead, he loved it, and from then on, it was one of his favorite treats.
Ruby, as you know, is our adopted Beagle. There was a time after we got her that I began to notice that coffee cups left lying about were totally clean instead of half full of coffee as had been the case previously. It didn’t take much testing to reveal that she loved coffee. She laps it out of a cup with the same gusto that she would a cup of soup. She rarely volunteers her paw, but will hold it outstretched if you have coffee and make the slightest hint that maybe you will give her some. I try to give her very little coffee because I am sure caffeine can’t be good for dogs. Ruby also loves to eat things that are much worse for her than caffeine: book matches and eyeglasses. (When I say ‘eat eye glasses” I mean literally eat them, not just break them). So now we must be careful to keep coffee cups, matches and eye glasses above her reach level. This has resulted in the living room tables being much less cluttered than before we got Ruby – so I guess its a good thing.
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If you read my book you know I thought birds were not smart because they could not figure out, that to escape from the garage rafters, they had to fly downward not upward. I thought squirrels were pretty smart because they could calculate the distance to allow between them and a dog based on the maximum speed of the particular dog.
Today, something happened that makes me not so sure about squirrel intelligence. When Charlie and Ruby are let out to their fenced yard, the first thing they always do is run at top speed around the perimeter barking loudly just in case there are any squirrels around to chase.
Today there was a squirrel on the ground right outside the fence. To escape, the squirrel jumped to the top rail of the fence, and ran along it to jump onto a small tree (Dwarf Maple) a foot from the fence. The dogs are now jumping, barking (Charlie) and baying (Ruby), right below the squirrel. The Squirrel is frozen in fear, but not for long. He has a plan. He starts to run along the top of the fence toward the big Mulberry tree. He slips and the dogs almost get him. He regains balance just in time and is back on the Maple. Suddenly, the squirrel darts out again onto the top of the fence and zooms along it about 30 ft until he is infront of the large Mulberry. Now he takes a flying 15 ft leap to safely land on the trunk if the Mulberry.
What the squirrel couldn’t figure out was that he was never in any danger as long as he was on the other side of the fence. He didn’t understand that he was safe, even on the gound. Similar to bird mentality, the squirrel thought that he had to get high off the ground to be safe. It almost cost him his life.
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The previous post was about a dog that I had never met, whose name I did not know. I have now been informed that he was euthanized at the shelter. Of the millions of dogs facing similar fates, I can only put on this blog a miniscule percentage. Even of dogs I see on places like friend’s facebook pages or blogs, I can only choose certain ones. It is hard even for me to know what triggers me to choose some and let others go. I guess there was something about his face, or more likely that he reminded me of Scruffy in some way. I am so sorry to see he couldn’t be saved. I only hope that there is some way that he can now feel the thoughts that so many of us have for him.
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I only know he (she?) is in Memphis Animal Shelter, and that he needs a foster home. If you contact me I will get more information. Keeshonds can be very expressive as you can see just from the picture. They are not always the most perfect pets, but at least I think they are the most communicative. They can not make it on their own, and can not be without a loving family.
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Charlie is definitely not perfect, but he definitely tries to be. He seems to live by a certain credo and live by certain rules. I have written these down and call them Charlie’s Ten Commandments.
1. Obey my daddy 100%
2. Never do anything Daddy thinks is bad
3. Warn and protect the family against intruders
4. Be nice to my sister and let her be the alpha dog
5. If I accidentally do something bad, let Daddy know how sorry I am
6. Show everyone in the family how much I love them every single day
7. Eat all my dog food no matter how unappetizing it may be (I know there are treats coming later)
8. Do no harm to any living thing. I can growl, bark, chase, but never bite (at least not hard). If there is an intruder that Daddy seems to know, I can not bite him at all or even growl (loudly).
9. Faithfully follow and be with Daddy all the time even if my sister is upstairs with Mommy
10. Never hide my enthusiasm and exuberance for every single tiny thing that is a part of my life (such as going outside, coming back in, such as chewing a bone that I don’t really like when Daddy gives it to me, and everything else).
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I have been asked how it is that Charlie went fron 36 pounds when we adopted him to 45 pounds now (where I want him). Turns out there’s really no secret. His previoous owners had kept him on a diet to keeop him at 34 -36 lbs at their vet’s suggestion. (We only found this out recently.) When Charlie first arrived he appeared to be in extremely good shape and I even wondered if he was doing agility or something. Our vet agreed that he was in “top show shape.” Looking at him, I still thought he was too thin and decided to “bulk him up” by making sure he ate a little more than normal at each meal, while maintaining exercise for him. I now think what really happened is that his frame is really for a 45 – 50 lb dog (almost same size as Scruffy was). Since I was not trying to keep him at 36 lbs like his prevous owners, he has now grown into his natural size.
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Margaret, me, Ruby and Charlie
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Many posts ago, I mentioned that Charlie weighed about 36 lbs when we got him. I also mentioned that I would try to bulk him up a bit, mainly by diet and exercise. I thought his frame could handle more weight without getting fat. Well, today he was at the vet and he weighs 45 lbs! He is as active as ever and is certainly not fat. I think this is about his ideal weight.
Ruby was an obese 44 lbs when we got her. We slimmed her down to 32 lbs which is slightly above what I think her ideal weight is (even for the super-large Beagle that she is). Well today she weighed 35 lbs, so we have some work to do.
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My wife, Karen, is walking for the 4th year in the 2 day, 40 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Help her reach her goal of $3,000 and support the fight against breast cancer. Make a secure online donation 