Tidbits & Kibble

Tippette, Toy Destroyer

I thought I’d include a photo of Charlie’s. Tippi scrounged through her training class bag and found a toy. She loves disemboweling them, but at least she’ll play with the carcass for weeks to come. We have a bucket full of carcasses that she’ll go digging through every once in a while to find something to toss in the air to show excited she is.

Tippi’s little incontinence problem seems to be much better now that she’s on estrogen, which is a good thing as she’s been sleeping in the bed. Charlie really wants to know why all the dogs we’ve had choose his side of the bed to lie on; it’s like they know he doesn’t want that doggie smell all over his pillow.
Her sleeping in the bed started last week when she figured out how to get out of her crate while we’re at work. “Figured out” is one way to put it. Really, she just muscled her way out by grabbing the crate’s wire mesh door and pulling until she bent it enough that the latches gave way. The first time she did it, Charlie bent the crate door back and the next morning he put her in there as he left for work. Dan, who’s screening in our front porch, got to the house around 10 AM and she was already out. She bent the door again. We gave up; she now has free range of the house when we’re gone. So far the most trouble she’s gotten into is cleaning out the cat’s wet food bowl, but she does that every time our back is turned anyway.

Saturday morning we had a little excitement on our bike ride. Tippi got her paw caught between my wheel and the bike frame. It was my fault. I asked too much of her. There was a dead rabbit in the road and I rode right by it and tried to make her come along. It was too enticing and when she stopped she went around the back of my bike and I heard a click, click, click, whimper. I stopped short and by the time I turned around she had pulled her paw out. I was afraid she’d hurt it, but she was standing on it in seconds. We ended our ride and went back home. Monday was the next time we went riding and she was just fine, no residual fear.

WCAC Fun
Last week’s WCAC story of the week wasn’t even part of my paparazzi duties.

I snapped this shot as I made my last pass through looking for a particular Chow Chow. Look closely and you’ll see that the food is scattered to the very back of his kennel. The bowl isn’t removable from the inside so he had to do this a mouthful at a time. He never got up; he just sat there and gave this look of disdain. His name is fitting: Hercules.

I think the photo just screams for a whole series of LOLdog type captions …

I will not tolerate mediocre food under any circumstances.
They told me this place served 5 star meals, not!
This IS my opinion of the food and accommodations.
I am the son of a god. I demand better.

Nina
I have to include one last photo. Nina (36525) is just too cute with her one crimped ear. She came into the Center pregnantI have to include one last photo. Nina (36525) is just too cute with her one crimped ear. She came into the Center pregnantand all of her puppies have been adopted, so now she’s looking for a home of her own. She has a great smile and was very friendly when I was in her kennel for her photo shoot. She was surrendered by her previous family, so we know she’s about 2 years old and is partially housetrained. It’s also noted that she’s good with kids, dogs, & livestock. She’s in isolation at the moment as they think she has a cold.

Which reminds me, I took on another role at the Center this weekend — biographer. I was talking with Julie, the main (actually the ONLY) biographer. There are lots of photographers and I figured I could combine my paparazzi duties with writing up biographies and putting them in the system. It’s not the easiest program to use, but I have an advantage in having dealt with non-logical/poor interface systems in my work, so it really was pretty easy for me to pick up what to do. My biggest concern is estimating their weight and determining breed. Need to get me a pocket breed book soon.

Pulling Heart-Strings

I know that working at the Wake County Animal Center (WCAC) is going to tear my heart out at some point. It can’t not. I’m also sure that I’m going to want to bring lots of them home with me. Okay, so they already got me on that one with Tippi. And then there was Shelby the little Chow Chow with the Beagle coloring. Oh, and we can’t forget Kesha, a Pit Bull mix, the first Pittie that I ever considered owning.

These two guys from last week’s Paparazzi shift struck a chord with me. Both of them were sweethearts and just wanted loves. Max was so insistent on being next to me that I was barely able to get a good photo for the website. Lucky for him, little dogs, like Yorkies, are the quickest to be adopted.

Max had been there a few days, was available for immediate adoption and didn’t have the “I’m being adopted” sticker on his kennel. That was a little strange, so despite the fact that I expected him to be adopted at any moment, I went ahead and took his photo. He was a sweetie and was just looking for someone to pet him, but yuck. I know that sounds harsh, but those little white specs in the photo are not dirt spots on my lens. Max had one heck of a case of dandruff and he was greasy. He was surrendered to the WCAC for financial reasons so I don’t know who gave him his proper Yorkie haircut, but he needed some serious bathing. Once I was done taking his photo and didn’t have to worry about keeping my camera clean, I sat down on the floor with him and stopped worrying about my hands.

Dennis got to me for other reasons. He was a little unsure of me coming in to his kennel and pointing my camera at him, but a well placed Pup-Peroni® soon brought him around. Dennis was on meds for a neck injury; one of the other volunteers said something about it being from a collar or chain. He had lots of little scabs all over his head. I’d seen that before, from where wood ticks had been pulled off. It wasn’t until later that night as I was processing photos that I noticed Dennis’ torn nostril. I looked closer and realized that he had slits in his ears and some of those scabs on his face were old and elongated. The poor little guy had been in a scrap or two in his short life. What was his story? What does he have to tell us?

Maybe PEDIGREE®’s Heroes commercial says it best:

Shelter dogs aren’t broken

They’ve simply experienced more life

If they were human we’d call them wise

They would be the ones with tales to tell …

Stories to write

The ones dealt a bad hand and responded with courage

Do not pity a shelter dog

Adopt one

http://youtu.be/5v5Ui8HUuN8

Tippi's Update

Each day we’ve seen Tippi get a little more comfortable in our house and consider herself a little more part of our pack. She is constantly stealing the cat’s wet food. I think Spice has actually lost a little weight because we can’t keep the wet food out there for him the way we used to.


She barks. And not that “Pterodactyl” bark when she’s not getting her way, but a big bass bark. So far her barking is reserved for the doorbell ringing and people actually walking up to the house. She was barking out the door Saturday. I went to make her quit. It was annoying me and I didn’t want her to get like Snips, who barked at anyone walking down the street. When I got to the door there were two Jehovah’s Witnesses coming up the walk. “Good dog!”


The incontinence is “mostly” under control. I think we’ve done a great deal of it through controlling how much water Tippi gets throughout the day. Still, every few days there will be a big puddle on the floor where she’s lying. The vet did a final test and there was a residual UTI, but they’re convinced that the “puddling” is a separate issue. They ordered her estrogen and we should be starting it any day now. There are some side effects, such as the potential for cancer and diabetes, but they’re hoping she’ll need such a low dose that it won’t be much of an issue. I’m waiting to see how much this is going to cost as the vet went to a local compounding pharmacy for Tippi’s prescription. We’re told that estrogen is the shiznit when it comes to controlling incontinence.


Tippi got into another little spat with a friend’s dog on Sunday. In retrospect, I’ve watched enough episodes of Cesar Millan’s “Dog Whisperer” that I should have done better for initial introductions of Leeloo and Tippi. First mistake, we met at Leeloo’s house when we should have been on neutral ground. Second, I didn’t walk Tippi before we went over to Leeloo’s as I thought the meet & greet wasn’t going to happen until after we went for a walk with Robin & Ivy. Tippi had WAY too much energy in her. Finally, I just need to be better in my corrections and directions in these situations. My leadership is there because Tippi calms right down, but I need more consistency. Next time we’ll do it right and meet in the parking lot across from Leeloo’s and go for a walk together. Some good bonding time will be good for the two of them.

Pitbull Stories

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Poor, poor, baby. She came in to the Center as a puppy, but even by this time she was still afraid of everyone coming through. I think she spent most of her days cowering in the back corner of her kennel. I went in to take her photo; she tried to press herself closer to the back wall, gave me the most pitiful of looks, and started shaking worse than a Chihuahua in the middle of a Minnesota snow storm. I spent about 20 minutes just hanging out with her and even then this was the “happiest” photo I was able to capture of her.

I tried to make a point of hanging out with her in her kennel at the end of my Paparazzi shifts. I knew she needed to get used to people to be adopted. Someone did adopt her, although she never did warm up to me. On my last visit she at least didn’t try to push through the back wall to get away from me.

DOMINGO

I like sweet fluffy dogs, like Chow Chows. I know Pit bulls can be sweet, like my friend Tracy’s Sprocket, but they scare me a little. It was my first or second shift as a paparazzo; Domingo had been there a while and he was on the list for a photo shoot. It was time for me to face down another fear and step into the kennel with this powerful animal. And he turned out to be so very calm and sweet.

KESHA

“Pitties” no longer scare me. I look for the mellow ones. This little mix is an absolute sweetheart. She’s short. She’s soft. She is beautiful – aren’t all redheads beautiful? When I stepped into the kennel to take her photo all she wanted to do was lick my fingers. Soft, sweet, Pittie kisses.

I stopped by her kennel to say hello last night and her tail started wagging. Before I knew it her whole back end was wagging. I really meant to go back and cuddle her before I left … I think I’ll swing by this weekend just to sit with her for a moment or fifty.

PITTIE PUPPIES

OMG! And then there was the litter of nine Pit Bull-mix puppies that came in and were living in one kennel together. What utter chaos! The dog bed was right in front of the door and when you’d stand there to look at them they would ALL congregate on the bed. They were so small they all fit, very close, but they all fit.

I couldn’t take it. It was the first time there were puppies there that actually needed some photos taken. I had to go in. I don’t have a photo that can fully express the chaos. I was swarmed. It looked like a feeding frenzy at my feet. They did decide that my Crocs were puppy chew toys and at one point they even started tugging at the strings on my cargo pants.

I never got the chance to sit among them; I probably would have been eaten alive, but I held the smallest, and cutest, one for a little while, well after he flipped out of my grasp a couple of times; he wasn’t “balanced” well for trying to pick up with one hand.

Character Stories

Chip


Doesn’t he look like just the cutest thing? I’m rather proud of the photo ‘cause even in real life he didn’t look this cute. No one had bathed or groomed this baby in a very long time and he looked a mess.


I don’t think my photo ever made it to the Center’s website; he was adopted while I was still going around taking pictures. I’ve had that happen to me a couple of times and it happened to most all of my photos from the Grand Opening as the Center was able to adopt out bunches of dogs during their $25 special event. But, it’s the best time I’ve ever wasted. Like different folks at the Center have said before, “Please put us out of business!”

Jeremy

This is Jeremy. Everyone was so surprised to see him back; apparently the other dog in the house was just not going to put up with anyone new in his space. He may have grown a little bigger, but he still had his mellow, pitiful little attitude when he came back. He tugged at your heart strings every time you looked in his kennel. He never raised his head, only his eyes, and almost nothing will look sweeter than that.
 
Mars
 
Mars on the other hand has nearly driven me nuts several times. His barking is insane … insanely loud, insanely high pitched, and insanely constant. He was in the kennel across from Strawberry Shortcake originally and would carry on non-stop while I sat with her. And it was more than barking during those sessions — it was more like an unending wail.

Having been at the Center a while, Mars has moved around quite a bit. I’d go to take a photo of a new dog and BARK, BARK, BARK, - my goodness, who is that? Oh, Mars. I checked out his profile in the adoption gallery and he had a really “crazy” picture where his head looked much too long for his body. I decided, maybe for my own peace and quiet, that I needed to take a new photo of him for this web profile.

What a beautiful dog. Oh, he’s still high energy and loud, but his coloring and patterns are just beautiful in my opinion. BTW: yesterday I noticed a “Deposit. I’m being adopted” sticker on his kennel … woo, hoo!

Benny Boy

 

It worked, it actually worked. I used the Cesar Millan “don’t acknowledge them if they’re acting crazy and they’ll settle down” method. Benny Boy was just a puppy and the moment I got in his kennel he was racing around like a mad man. He had no training. He had no manners. I held my camera up above his jumping reach, leaned against the wall and turned my back on him. It took a moment, but he calmed down. Well, only for a split second. He was a challenge to get a good photo of. Luckily there was enough variation in his coloring to focus quickly. Even so, several times I had to go back to my “ignoring you” stance and then turn and quickly grab a snapshot of him.
 

Triton
 
And Triton — isn’t he beautiful, so majestic? Even his “just off the truck” entrance photo looked good. I was actually considering him as an addition to our family until I saw him try to make his escape from one of the dog walkers. That chest, man - he POWERED his way past the girl and out of his kennel. It took two of us to hold him back while she worked to get the lead around his neck.


A week or so later I decided he needed some updated photos, so I took the “leap” and got in his kennel. He was actually a very nice dog and you can see here that he does know how to sit. He obviously also knows how to work it for the camera. I keep telling these babies it’s all about marketing yourself.

Tippi's Night Kong

I went to bed early last night and “zonked” out almost immediately. I was sleeping hard when rattling noises woke me up. It started with kennel rattling noises, like when somebody, TIPPI, opens the kennel door, then there was chewing, then there was more rattling, a different kind of rattling, the rattling of a lone treat inside a Kong toy.

Chew, chew, chew. Rattle, rattle, rattle. Chew, chew, rattle, chew. Rattle, rattle, chew, chew, rattle.

It seemed to go on for hours, although it was probably just a few minutes. Finally the noise stopped and she flopped down to go back to sleep.

I looked at the clock - 11:00 PM, that was it. I thought it was going to be the middle of the night. I got up to get a drink of water and luckily noticed the Kong in my path before I stepped on it and twisted my ankle. I picked it up. The treat was still inside. Several muscle-flexing squishes later, the treat broke and fell out on the floor all around Tippi’s head. She popped up and cleaned it all up. We both went back to sleep, with me thinking about checking the sizes of the Kong treats tomorrow morning and Tippi dreaming of Kongs of never ending treats.

A Purpose Driven Dog

Tippi don’t cotton to random play or those long-haired hippie dogs.

Pretty much from the day we brought her home, Charlie had wanted to take Tippi to the dog park over in Oak Wood. I, on the other hand, had been stalling until I was sure that she would come when called. I wanted her to be “our dog” before we went to such a big area with so many other people and dogs.

The weather was so beautiful last night and Charlie pestered me like a small child until I gave in and we went for a quick visit before dinner. It was almost like Tippi had been there before; I think she just smelled all the dogs as we turned in to the parking lot.

We were lucky and weren’t rushed by a pack of dogs as we entered. Tippi started meandering around, sniffing and marking while Charlie and I followed her at a distance. At a certain point we joined the other owners in the “owners’ circle” and played with some of the other dogs. Tippi was doing well.

And like that it all changed - it was just a flash in my eye and there was a fight. Tippi and a black Chow mix started to scuffle around a group of three owners sitting in chairs. It just as quickly turned in to a full- fledged fight and several other dogs in the park joined in the fray.

Luckily I was standing very close by and sprang into action, grabbing Tippi by her collar, pulling her away from the pack, and stepping in between dogs with a Cesar Millan confidence. And it was all over just as quickly. The woman with the black Chow mix decided it was time to go home. Charlie, Tippi, and I ended up staying a little longer and having a conversation with some of the other dog owners, talking about Tippi being new to us. It was interesting how much more understanding people seemed once I said that we’d only had her for a couple of weeks.

Tippi typically calms down very quickly, so she stood very quiet and friendly like while we conversed. A couple of times the Bull Dogs and the Boxer came up to sniff Tippi again. Each time I made sure to step between them and Tippi’s head (she has “snout” issues), which worked very well.

Right before we left, a Golden Retriever who was part of the big scuffle strode through our little group and Tippi started to growl. I gave her a quick correction and it dawned on me: all the dogs she’s gotten mouthy with have had long fluffy fur. Huh! Guess she has a thing about those long-haired hippie dogs.

All in all it ended well. No one was hurt, unless you count the little old lady’s arm where the young girl next to her grabbed it so tightly it left a bruise. Charlie was disappointed that Tippi wasn’t running and playing, and it embarrassed him that she was in a fight.

This morning during our bike ride with Tippi she trotted and galloped and seemed to be having great fun … her fun needs to have purpose … she’s a Purpose Driven Dog.