Tag Archives: dogs

animals, life, relationships

Day Seven

No photos from this morning’s walk, as we walked on main post (not allowed to take photos, really, and I was juggling three retractable leads and 2 bags of poop) but it was a good test of Odin’s reaction to cars and people. Wasn’t too busy, as we were there reasonably early – start of day for most people – so the only issues Odin had was with a large 18 wheeler coming by, and a very loud car (big engine sound) and Gina stepped up like a real mama dog and let Odin lean on her (literally) when he was scared and it was all good. I was so proud of all of them. We had a lovely morning walk. It would normally take us 45 minutes, but it took us about an hour with Odin – just taking it easy for him so he wasn’t overexerted. Gina is also a little sore from all their playing yesterday, so we slowed down for her as well.

Last night, another night out of the crate for little man and he was, once again, awesome 🙂 We also went to bed quite early last night, with our last “toilet break” being the one we did all together around 8pm, so it was a longer time as well, before the morning break and he was all good. The girls were also pretty tired from the playing and running around yesterday, so Azzie didn’t even wake me early. I actually woke them this morning 🙂

We’re all settling nicely – another thing that’s finally sorted itself out is traveling in the car: I showed the girls how it would work this morning and they were fine after that. Azzie in first, across to the other side (her side, behind me!) then Odin in the middle (he feels safer there) and Gina on her side next to the passenger side window. Happy dogs. Much better. Odin did lean on Gina for a bit and then moved ACROSS the seat to lean out Azzie’s window… but he got the idea eventually and curled up happily in the middle. Sometimes he turned around and faced toward the back seat, but he was snoozing, not scared, as it was on the way home after the walk.
They also waited very patiently while I dashed into the shop to stock up on treats (with the last of my money! See? They are way more important than I am – I spend my last pennies on them :D) I don’t normally leave the dogs in the car – especially when it starts getting warmer – but I needed to grab the treats rather than make a special trip later. Don’t think Odin’s ready for a long separation time yet: we’ll start with the training for that in short bursts.

Otherwise, Day Seven of the Gina, Azzie and Odin adventure and all is good 🙂

animals, life, relationships

what a difference a change makes

Amazing how something as simple as a change of route can solve so many problems.
This time, for our early afternoon walk, instead of going up toward the skate park, we headed down what would normally be our “lunch time walk” and for our lunch time walk earlier, we headed the opposite way.
It all worked out.
Had another LOVELY play around on the grass behind the buildings (this time, lower path area – lots of open space, and Odin STILL came running to me when I called)
with the squeaky ball.
All dogs off lead – had a LOVELY run around 🙂
No poopage. Pretty sure G needed to go, but she distracted herself.. plus.. i threw a spanner in the works because OH NO, we WENT THE WRONG WAY. So she was all thrown off balance and couldn’t bring herself to find a spot to poop. Also – I think she was pretty happy playing with Odin and Azzie 🙂 Which is quite sweet, really.

animals, life, memories, photography, relationships

Day Six

Another day in the Gina, Azzie and Odin adventure 🙂
Last night went well – out of his crate but very well behaved once again!
He DESPERATELY wants to come jump on the bed with the girls – but only really after breakfast… I’m still trying to decide if I should let him up or not, but I think the girls will let me know when he’s allowed up. They’re not ready yet, I don’t think – still a few grumbles from Azzie, and Gina EXPANDS on the bed when Odin comes into the room 🙂 She’s subtle, our Gina bear.

Lovely morning walk this morning. A bit warmer than yesterday, so we took it slowly. Went down to the forest behind the campground, and a wander back along the road.
Dogs were great 🙂 Azzie had a few “ears off” moments, so she had a run around and then went back onto her lead. All went well. All had good tummies too. Very happy.

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animals, life

Another good one

Our late afternoon, early evening walk was even better than earlier 🙂
What a LOVELY walk 🙂
Much better!
And I brought a squeaky ball for them to play with and Odin thought it was the BESTEST THING EVER! He chased it, threw it in the air, chased Azzie for it, booty bumped Gina for it (he learned that from Gina!) and then raced around with it in his mouth – but ALWAYS came back to me when I called!
I was so proud 😀
They had a blast.

So it’s just that lunch time walk that we need to work on… maybe a different route…
I’ll ponder it tomorrow.

animals, life, people, photography, relationships

Day Five

And it’s Sunday! Which means it’s Day Five in the Gina, Azzie and Odin Adventure!

And you know what? It’s going pretty well, all things considered. Still things we are working on, but better. Azzie is behaving much better with him, especially inside the apartment, and she no longer growls at him when he comes near her or her toys. She instigates a game sometimes too.

I’ve found a good balance for Odin’s food – his tummy is doing much better and he doesn’t need any more tablets to keep it that way. He’s eating his food very sweetly, and delicately and enjoying it a great deal – because he knows that there’s another meal coming and he won’t starve. I’ve given him an allergy tablet in the evenings and it seems to be helping his itchies a great deal.

This was his second night out of his crate and it all went well 🙂 He’s chewed up his blanket a bit, and Gina’s fake fur blanket too… but it’s a comfort thing, so it should stop.

 

My main issue right now is the walks on the short lead – so any walk on post or in areas where they all need to be on their leads. Which is all the rest of our walks, basically. We go for 3 or 4 walks as a pack every day around post, and generally it’s fine, until Azzie sees another dog. Then she turns into a complete idiot. It’s not aggression or anything – she just REALLY wants to say hello, and of course she drags Gina with, who also gets all riled up (again, no aggression, just way too excited) and now I’m worried she’s going to get Odin doing the same thing. I try to keep them all walking calmly next to me, or behind me (as Gina likes to be) but then they split up to go sniff things, and then it’s tangles and I’m swapping leads and climbing out of the center of lead webs and they keep swapping sides and switching who they want to walk with and Gina is going ahead and then dropping behind me on the other side, and Azzie just goes ahead and then I ask her to walk next to me and she does for a second, but then she finds something else she wants to sniff so she just barges in front of me (I’ve nearly fallen over her I don’t know how many times) and if I don’t want to fall, I sidestep or stop and then I stand on Gina or on Odin and it’s becoming a nightmare. I’m getting so annoyed and it was so nice before! It’s not Odin’s fault – he’s really sweet on the lead – especially on his own. So is Azzie, and so is Gina! But our pack walks.. arg.. it starts out really nicely and then it’s “OMG I”VE NEVER SEEN A DOG BEFORE I MUST GO SEE IT NOW NOW NOW!” and I’m being dragged from one side of the street to the other, or up a grass bank, or down a line of cars, by Azzie. She’s 115lbs (over 50kg) and Gina is almost 100lbs (almost 50kg) – they weigh, together, more than I do. Even separately they weigh almost as much as I do! My hands were torn up the other day by the stupid idiot and all she wanted to do was say hello to the wiener dogs. Happened again today. And the owners just watch us with this blank expression, no correction, while their dogs yap wildly and run around going nuts and growl at my three, which doesn’t help.

And Gina and Odin had an altercation – not sure what happened as I was busy untangling my thumb from Azzie’s lead before it got snapped off while she whined and went on about the dogs ON THE OTHER BLOODY SIDE OF THE FIELD – I think perhaps Odin stood on Gina’s tail, or Gina stood on his sore leg. Something. I don’t know.

*deep breath*

And then as soon as we had sorted ourselves out and carried on our way.. Azzie was FINE. Walking next to me again. Gentle as a lamb. I think I need to get her a martingale collar or something. Just some way to GET HER ATTENTION before she turns into Idiot Dog. And I AM remaining calm. I AM keeping my temper in check. So I really don’t know why she’s still doing it. I correct her, I try distract her (with my voice, by standing in front of her, or with a treat) but it only lasts a second.

It’s a bit hard to convince people that this 115lbs of hairy “rawring” dog barreling toward their dog, dragging me and two other dogs behind her, is “friendly” and “just wants to say hi” – because that’s it, really. She totally calms down when she gets to the dog. Waggy tail, big smile, no growling no barking, nothing. Even gives them a Berner play bow if she likes them. And Gina too – she’s all puffed up silliness and then when she says hi, she’s waggy tail and sniffing faces and then totally bored and moving on to something else and ignores them. Odin is very confused. He’s not sure if he should be all big chested and boy-dog with his hackles up, or if he should hang back and pretend he’s not there until it’s all over. I don’t want him picking up Idiot’s bad habits. I want him to make FRIENDS. I want him to meet Django and Luca and make MORE friends. I don’t want him to think that every dog we see needs to be GUNNED AT, like Azzie does, until we get to them. Ah well. early days still, right?

Hoping my friend Nicole can give me some helpful tips. I don’t have anyone to help me, you see, so it all has to be done by me. Sort it OUT! Fix it NOW before it becomes even more of a problem. And it WILL become a problem if I don’t get this right. One day, Azzie will gun at the wrong dog and it will be _bad_ and I don’t want that. She’s taken a LONG time to get over her incident with Marcel, and I don’t want her to go through that again. (and it wasn’t even that bad – it was a little unexpected/unintentional nip on the ear while in a dog pile at the dog park) She’s a sensitive dog and it would really do bad things to her psyche. And then Gina would step in. While she doesn’t approve of the way Azzie behaves, Gina is a real “big sister” and she would put ANY dog in their place that went for Azzie, even if Azzie caused it. And then there’s Odin… he growled at the little dogs today… which I don’t want!

So maybe a choke chain for Azzie? A martingale collar I would prefer – I know a lot of people with Berners who use them, because they’re big dogs who just don’t understand their size and strength. It’s not to harm them, just to have a little more control and a way of getting their attention. I would never hurt my dog intentionally. I’ll discuss it with Nicole, I think.

*sigh* As Nicole keeps telling me: Azzie is different. She’s just that kind of dog that takes a bit more effort. But she’s worth it. They all are. I love them all – even Odin. I don’t know him that well, but he’s definitely nudging his way into my heart very quickly. He’s a funny little man, with a lot of attitude, but a gentle soul and I know he is happy now and that makes my heart warm.

On a better note – what a lovely morning walk 🙂

Dogs were super well behaved – Azzie had a lovely roll around in the dewy grass at every opportunity, and Odin piddled so much he had nothing left to piddle after a while and thought he’d try drinking from some puddles to refill his supply (I stopped him of course – not taking a chance with bugs in the water, thanks) so he could carry on doing it. We took a different path, and I had a good idea where it would come out, so it was exciting, but not too scary not knowing where we were going exactly. We ended up coming out near the campgrounds and had a loop around there, and then headed down ANOTHER different path and ended up back at the car 🙂 It was great.

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animals, life, military, relationships

Day Four

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Moving on to another day in the Gina, Azzie and Odin Adventure…

We made it through a night without him in his crate! Last night, as promised, I decided to just trust in him, and I let him stay out of his crate at bed time. He was very pleased with himself and he rolled around on his… I mean.. GINA’S bed and made snuffly noises and had a big sigh of happiness and then went to sleep in seconds. I was, of course, alert all night to the slightest sound, but he pretty much stayed asleep until around 0300 or 0400 (I don’t know when exactly it was, as I was too tired by that stage to even reach up to get my phone to check) again and then paced around a little bit, got some water, came to check on us in the bedroom, had a think about jumping on the bed (but Gina told him no, and Azzie poked her head up from my side of the bed where she likes to sleep, so I told him “not yet”) and then went back to the lounge and fell asleep on Azzie’s bed.

Took them down individually at 0600, and he is a bit of a whiner when we are separated – he stands on the balcony and whines and makes a weird half yawn half grumble. It’s quite loud. So there’s separation anxiety there which we will have to work on. I’m already doing the DT, DT, NEC (Don’t Talk, Don’t Touch, No Eye Contact) thing when I come in through the door, because I found he was hanging out RIGHT by the door and trying to get my attention as I came in which I know is not a good start. I want him confident and happy, without clinging to me. But it’s only day four, so I’m not worrying too much. We’ll start with the separation training soon. Husband will have to help with that when he gets home, as well.

So I was pretty pleased with him this morning, and the girls for being so polite and gentle with him.

For our morning walk I took Odin and the girls to one of our favourite spots – one of the start points for the Bear path. I parked, he hopped out OVER the back seat from the boot. Full of energy.
I put his harness and lead on and off we went. Girls went off lead the WHOLE WALK and they were AWESOME 🙂 I was so proud. It made my life so much easier, as I wasn’t having to keep such a watchful eye on Azzie and worry about Gina getting stressed. They were both happy and playful and unstressed the whole way.
I decided on a shorter walk this morning – so that I didn’t overexert Odin, as he’s healing nicely, but by the end of the day and so many walks, he’s pretty sore. Plus, I had a feeling he would be racing around with Azzie again this morning, so I added that to his energy levels and thought it would be fine.
I was right! I even took him off his lead this time and HE came back before Azzie did, when I called 🙂
I was SO proud! All three had a blast – running around and playing and chasing each other. Just a few minutes, but Azzie was exhausted and Odin was WELL pleased with himself. Then we carried on back down the other path to the car.
He was interested in the horses in the paddock there, but not scared and not at all aggressive. He perked his little ears up, gave the air a sniff, watched them for a few seconds, and then carried on walking and sniffing things.
It was an awesome walk.

early morning zoomies in the farmland

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animals, life, memories, photography, relationships

Day Three and the secret pond

It started out way too early. It was Odin’s final “test night” in the crate and he went in willingly enough, but around 3am he got very restless and I _think_ he was whining, but I don’t really know (my ears ring when the pressure changes and sometimes I can’t hear things at certain wavelengths :/ thanks, head injury) so I thought maybe he needed to to poop as the last time he went was much earlier in the day, around lunch time. So I very tiredly got up, got G and Az’s collars on in case they wanted to go down and got the little man out of his den and took him down. He peed, and we wandered around for about 10 minutes, but apparently he didn’t need to… so then I went back up, got Azzie, took her down… then Gina… and then came back to bed and put him back in his crate. I wasn’t willing to take the chance just yet, because he’d not pooped. He went in just fine, with a big sigh though.

We all went back to bed for an hour or so and then I definitely heard him whining, and he was very restless. This was around 0600. Which I suppose is the “normal” time for him to go to the loo (if he was still back where my husband found him, that would be when he would be taken outside) and this time he DID go! I made a BIG fuss and gave him a treat and fussed him some more after I picked it up.

Gina and Azzie were WAY too tired to go down again – they stayed upstairs and Gina didn’t even move from my bed. 🙂

Now, I left him out of his crate and he settled down with a big happy waggy body and tail thump, on Gina’s bed. I was still “alert” for anything weird, but I managed to doze a little bit and the girls snored their heads off in the bedroom with me. Ods didn’t even move from the bed 🙂

So tonight is the night… he can stay out of his crate – as long as he poops in the evening before bed.

We’re still working on the trust. It’s only day three of the adventure.

This morning’s walk! WOW! What a GREAT one!

The dogs STINK, they are dirty, muddy and happy and very tired 🙂

DSCN1732 DSCN1735 DSCN1738 DSCN1740 DSCN1742              DSCN1840 DSCN1850 DSCN1857 DSCN1858
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On the way back home, Odin hopped in after Azzie (she was in her usual spot behind me) and then lay down, because that’s what he does. He doesn’t understand sitting up with his head out the window… yet.
So I asked Gina to hop in the front on the passenger seat. She did and then climbed across to my side, but I managed to get her back on the passenger side and in a comfortable sitting position. She likes to lie down on the way home though, so she wasn’t QUITE as happy as I would have liked. She rested her whole head and neck on the window so she could snooze.
But the walk! The walk was AWESOME 🙂 Odin is definitely part Galgo – he wanted to RUN RUN RUN and chase Azzie all over, but his leg was too sore, so he would start running, have fun and then realise he was sore so he would come to me and whine at me. We took a lot of breaks, but had a lovely walk and he ALMOST got into the secret pond to swim 🙂 Next time, I’m sure he will! Even though he’d never been to this area before, he was very confident and happy – especially at Azzie’s side.

As you will see in the videos – he is FULL of energy and playfulness – and that makes my heart warm 🙂 I’m sure it will make my husband happy to see it as well.

He did get away from me, but didn’t run away, just chased Azzie around until they both got too tangled to carry on.

Azzie was much kinder to him and raced around a bit, and Gina played with him on numerous occasions and tried her best to get him into the pond with her 🙂

A GORGEOUS walk. I kept it short, as I didn’t want to overexert him and it was also quite warm, so I didn’t want to make the girls too hot.

 

Here are some videos – it’s hard to hold the little camera steady while being dragged off all over the place, but I did my best.

A bit of a hodgepodge, as that’s how the compression software put them together.

 

 

 

 

 

animals, relationships

Some sound and video

I managed to get some video this time, of the zoomies and the digging and happy playing with squeaky toys.

Here they are!

Please excuse my squeaky voice – I’d been sneezing and coughing and had a very sore throat. (as I mentioned, I think I’m a little bit allergic to him) I also squeak to Odin, as it seems to keep him alert to me.

 

animals, relationships

Early morning update Day Two

Morning all (or whoever reads this!)
Update after Odin’s second night here and onward to Day Two.
Once again he was very reluctant to go back in his crate at bed time – I think he’s just getting used to the whole freedom to stretch out and a nice comfy bed (not that his crate is uncomfortable: I have a VERY nice soft, but firm, bed in there for him. I would sleep on it if it was my size!) so after a long talk with him, and a treat test (I put it at the back of his crate) I explained that he only has ONE MORE NIGHT, after this one, to show me I can trust him not to foul up his crate, and thus, the house. Just one more. If he gets through the night tonight, without any accidents in his crate (like he did last night!) then I will see about letting him sleep out on Friday night. He was still not convinced, but I guided (I never force – the crate is not meant to be a punishment) him to the front of his crate and said “bed time” and he sighed and went in and curled up. Gave him his treat and told him he’s a SUPER GOOD BOY (he thumped his tail) and closed it up and we all went to bed.
I don’t think he was making a lot of noise – I think he was just rolling around trying to get comfortable – in the wee hours, but I’m a very light sleeper (and totally cued up now to hear anything regarding the dogs in general) so I woke up around 0600 (which used to be 0500, but that’s another story) and listened for a few minutes. The girls were out like lights on the bed so I knew it hadn’t been Azzie grumbling. I listened some more and heard a few tick tacks of his claws on the side of his crate (that’s how I know he was just trying to roll over and get comfy and stretch out) and so I decided, since I’m awake (and we have to get used to early rising again soon when my husband gets home) I will get up and take them all down.
Gina gave me a bleary eyed look when I put her collar on, but Azzie was keen to go out, so it was all good.
Took them down in order, of course – Azzie, Gina, and then Mr O.
All pooped, all excellent – I made a HUGE fuss of Odin again when he went and gave him his treat etc. It was much better (I gave him a sucralfate tablet last night – just a half one – to help with the upset tummy. Most likely too much food and it was a new food too, for him – nothing serious) so I was well pleased.
Then I took him back up, went down AGAIN to feed the stray cats (Betty is heavily preggers again :() and then this time Odin went back in his crate semi-willingly and we all went back to bed for a snooze.
Maybe tomorrow morning I will let him stay out after morning toilet time – just as a test to see how it goes – IF he gets through the night in his crate without accidents.

It’s a bright sunny day out there, temperature is rising (not going to be a scorcher or anything, but way warmer than we’ve been used to) and we’re heading out for our morning walk.

I will update again later with some photos from yesterday and today on the walk.

animals, life, travel

crate and car updates

Husband got back to me and let me know that Odin is on his way (he flies out tomorrow afternoon, but he is at the facility now – husband says he is full of happiness and energy and was very excited to get in the car and go for a ride)
He also told me that the crate is ours and gave me the dimensions so I can see if it will even FIT in Helga (the BMW) or not.
I will have to do some measuring tomorrow morning. If not, then it will have to be in Naartjie (my little orange car)
Also – not even sure if Helga will be able to go anyway. I borrowed the jump starter from my neighbour and thought I would do a test run to see how it worked… it’s a good thing I am so paranoid, because Helga’s battery is SO DEAD that the little jumper couldn’t do a thing for her. So my very kind neighbour is now charging up the battery on his special “trickle down” charger. Here’s hoping it works tomorrow! If not, this measuring thing is moot anyway :/
I can take the crate apart, but it might not fit into the boot (or “trunk” as my American friends call it) or fit through the opening in the back door either.

*sigh*

countdown… just 22 hours until we go get him. I’m nervous, but also excited.
It was a bittersweet evening walk with my girls – this is the last walk where it will just be “us” – me and Gigi and Az. As I’ve said before: I am thrilled he is joining us, happy to give him a home like ours (because I know we are a great home for a dog – sounds braggy to say it, but I mean it from a home/heart point of view, not a “we are so totally awesome and perfect” kind of thing) and get him off the streets and let him have a good life with us for the rest of his life.