Bart the Dog (Black Bart)

I have uploaded some pictures of Bart at http://www.rubmytummy.com.

Bart the Dog This is my new dog, Bart. I adopted him today from the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation.

I had to give up Rocko about a month and a half ago. I really didn't want to, so I haven't felt much like updating his journal. Maybe I'll write about it later.

Today I got a new dog, Bart. The rescue people were calling him Zach, but since they got him as a stray, they didn't know his "real" name. So, I decided to call him Bart, because his fur is nearly all black.

Rocko got into a fight in the dog park this morning, twice. I think he's been getting into scraps more often, and don't know why.

The first one this morning was a french bulldog. Rocko tried to hump him, red rocket and everything. This surprised the heck out of me, as I hadn't seen Rocko do that before, and I thought neutered dogs never did that. It's interesting that the other dog's owner said the frenchie frequently tries to hump other dogs (more on that below). The other owner and I stepped in pretty quickly, so I didn't take Rocko out of the run. I think it would have been better if I had.

The second was an adolescent male dog of some large breed. Best I could tell, Rocko was trying to play too rough, the other dog got frightened and became hostile, and Rocko responded in kind.

I think I can see a pattern. Strictly speaking, I haven't seen Rocko initiate aggressive behavior, but he does play hard, and he fails to XXX when the other dog doesn't want to. Perhaps more importantly, if another does is aggressive, turns from playful to hostile, or is very dominant, Rocko never, ever backs down or surrenders.

I've read that I can dissipate some of Rocko's fight energy by playing tug-of-war with him. Some obedience trainers say you must never do this, others say it's alright as long as you always win, and still others say you must always let the dog win; yay for consensus. So, I'll give it a try.

I also started a couple weeks ago removing Rocko from the run immediately when he's in a fight, regardless of who started it (as I should have done when he fought with the frenchie this morning). I'm hoping this will encourage him to walk away when someone is hostile, rather than respond in kind. Our training class instructor also suggested that I call him away when he interacts with dogs I know might be a problem. If I do that enough times, he might lose interest in them.

Rocko's separation anxiety has been getting worse. I was ill for a couple of weeks, and didn't get out of the apartment much. Rocko's stitches kept him out of the dog run, and I wasn't up to long walks. So, he wasn't getting much exercise.

The situation was enough that I took Rocko to the dog run a few days early, just a week after his surgery, even though strictly speaking he needs to wait until the stitches come out tomorrow. He had no redness or swelling, so I thought it would be worth the risk.

The past three days I've let him run all he wants for an hour in the morning and nearly that in the evening. It's definitely making a difference. He seems much more relaxed around the apartment. I've rigged up a couple of webcams so we can record Rocko's activity when we're out, and since his return to the dog run, he seems to be scratching and chewing at the door less. There's still a ways to go yet, but this is definite progress.

I'm also waiting for our vet to call me back to talk about possibly starting him on anxiety medication.

During our bedtime walk this evening, the umpty-zillionth person stopped us to say how gorgeous Rocko is. Seems I can pretty much count on that happening nearly every day. I'll get more of his pictures online Real Soon Now.

Rocko had his surgery today. It's 10pm, and he's still a bit ill from the drugs. But, the surgery went well and he's expected to be back at full speed in a few days.

Rocko had a growth on his gums, his teeth badly needed cleaning, a couple of teeth were loose and needed to be removed (only the gums were holding them in), and one tooth had grown in at a bad angle and needed extracting. He had a mole removed from his neck, another from his front leg. Dr. Crum removed a couple of the many skin tags growing on his chest, to have them tested. And, I think they cleaned inside his ears. They were supposed to, anyway.

I have a painkiller to give him tomorrow, and we're putting him back on antihistamines.

Three times in the last two days, Rocko has tried to pee on someone's leg in the dog park.

He also peed on an ornamental column in the lobby of our building.

It appears Rocko ate more of the garbage and kibble than I thought last night. This morning in the dog park he deposited lots of poop, most of it very squishy. Not quite diarrhea, but heading in that direction. Still, he contained himself all night long like a good dog.

I just checked my Hound Health Handbook, and it looks like there's nothing to worry about. There was nothing poisonous in last night's garbage mess, and the one plastic dish that was torn up seemed to be all there. Just to be safe, though, I'll cut his morning ration down, and maybe take him out an extra time or two..

Letting him into the dog park was a risk: when I did that on Wednesday, his limp came back. There was no sign of limping on the way home this morning, so I guess he's better now.

If he were going to limp at all, it would surely be this morning. Rocko must have had a whole lot of pent up energy. He spent nearly the entire 45 minutes we were in the dog park sprinting from one end of the run to the other. No wonder he got nervous last night. I hope he never hurts his leg again; I don't see how he put up with it.

Rocko made a mess this evening. When our friend Jeff and I got back from dinner, Rocko had strewn garbage in the living room, dining room, and kitchen, had peed on the garbage, and had broken into the kibble bin and spread that around. I thought that we had got past the separation anxiety thing, especially since Rocko's been so compliant on the leash the last few days. I guess I was wrong.

I noticed when we came through the door that Rocko's body language was oddly different, and his wagging tail was pointed down, not horizontal as usual. Also, while Jeff helped me clean up, Rocko seemed to be skulking. I'm guessing that he's been punished in the past when someone came home to a mess.

None of this is Rocko's fault. It's the result of several mistakes I made, and some uncontrollable circumstances:

• I forgot to close the kitchen door when I left.
  
• I forgot the bag of carryout leftovers that was on the dining room table waiting to be thrown out.
  
• I've been lax in doing daily training.
  
• I haven't been letting Rocko into the dog park to tire himself out, because his sore leg isn't quite better yet.
  
• I haven't been out of the house much in the last week, partly because of work I was doing, and partly because I've got a cold.
  
• Rocko was already worked up by our friend Jeff's arrival a few minutes earlier.
  
• I didn't leave Rocko the distracting treat I usually give him when I go out.
  
• The last few days, I've been letting Rocko have his way, attention wise, because I haven't been feeling well and, frankly, I enjoy the attention.
  

I've read several things on dealing with separation anxiety, but the one I liked best is My Perspective on Separation Anxiety, an article on the Greater Ohio Boxer Rescue web site by Karen Sollars. It's consistent with everything else I've read, and presents the matter well.

So, here's the new rules for the next couple of weeks. Some are new and temporary; most are things I need to be stricter with myself about.

1. Rocko's not allowed on any sofa or bed if people are in the room.
   
2. I need to be stricter with myself about NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free), meaning Rocko doesn't get to initiate petting or any other attention.
   
3. Daily training
   
4. desensitization exercises for separation anxiety
   
5. Bach's Rescue Rememdy in the kibble
   

I hope this works. It'll be awfully nice to have Rocko get completely past this issue.

Rocko was a piece of work, today. During our morning and midday walks, he ignored almost everything I asked him to do, pulled on the leash over and again, and was basically aggravating. I wondered what I might have done to make him think he's in charge.

We did a training session in the late afternoon, and the change was surprise. In addition to mastering the basic down, which got me excited, he was much better behaved the rest of the day. Go figure, right?

I've felt kind of intimidated by the training process. It's easy to forget, or to put it off until "later", which is usually code for the heat death of the universe. It's getting easier, though, as I realize the process isn't so bad, and the results get me so tickled when they come through.

Back to the vet yesterday: Rocko started limping a little bit on Sunday, and it was visibly worse yesterday morning. Dr. Crum didn't find anything specific, but she did rule out any major injury. She gave me an anti-inflammatory to give him for a couple of days. He does seem to feel better this morning.

On the plus side, she's impressed with how well he reacted to the antihistamine. However, we're going to discontinue that for a week. Rocko's having more trouble than usual keeping his feet on the slippery wood floor, and we need to see whether that's from whatever's making him limp, or from the antihistamine making him loopy.

Rocko has gained another pound since the last visit; that's about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds total since I got him. Dr. Crum says that's not a problem, but we don't want him to gain much more. So, starting today I'm cutting his kibble by another quarter cup per day.

The beef lung treats are running low after only a week. No wonder he's gaining weight! So, we're trying another treat, Solid Gold brand beef jerky for dogs. He likes them, and I like the fact that I can easily break them into very small pieces, to use for a training treat. We'll see if we can't take care of this weight gain before it becomes an issue.

Somebody is being a real prima donna about treats. If you pop a piece of kibble into his mouth when he's expecting a "real" treat, he'll actually spit it out.

I knew Rocko was due for a bath all this past week. Today he got wet, and reminded me. He holds still pretty well in the bath. The only hard part is getting him to hold his head up when I wash his neck, so water doesn't get in his ears.

I also Febrezed the sofa and carpet in the living room. Much better.

It's kind of hard to find toys that interest Rocko. I bought one of those big, 18-inch balls from the supermarket. It felt like fairly sturdy material, so I decided to give it a try.

He loved it. He looked really excited chasing the ball across the dog park. In fact, he was so excited that it took him about 8 seconds to puncture the ball with his teeth and tear the carcass in half.

Oh, well.

Rocko's stools were becoming extremely soft and messy this week. Not quite diarrhea, but moving in that direction. I took him off the lamb kibble yesterday evening and went back to fish and sweet potato, and this morning he's nearly back to normal.

We found a new treat Rocko just loves: beef lung! Not my favorite yummy snack, but he's nuts over them. Rocko will take his antihistamine pill no problem if it's hidden in a chunk of lung. Mmmmmm!

Rocko was in a fight in the dog park this morning. He doesn't have sense to back off when a small dog is afraid of him and doesn't want to play. He also doesn't ever submit when another dog is behaving dominantly. In this case, the small dog's big labrador retriever pack-mate jumped in, and things got out of hand. No serious harm, but Rocko does have several scratches and booboos.

The vet gave me hydroxizine, an antihistamine, for Rocko. His eyes are still very irritated-looking, but the discharge has improved a lot, and he's scratching his face less. I've also been cleaning under his chin with diluted hydrogen peroxide.

We went to the vet today for a followup about Rocko's allergies. He has continued to rub his face, paw at his ear, and scratch his chin, and his eyes still have the mucous discharge.

Dr. Crum gave me more of the eye ointment that worked before, and suggested a food trial. Food trial is a good word for it: We haven't even started yet, and it's already trying. The idea is to simplify Rocko's diet as much as possible, so we can reduce the number of variables that might be causing his allergies. The vet and I decided to shift to a lamb and rice diet, because I can get both kibble and treats that are made from them. (I need a treat I can give Rocko during clicker training, and he won't take kibble as a treat.) The idea is to feed Rocko nothing at all but the lamb kibble and lamb treats for 8 to 12 weeks, and see how that affects his allergies.

That's the idea, anyway. Turns out, Rocko is indifferent to the freeze dried lamb treats. Dang, dern, and tarnation! I can try the chicken kibble, and use chicken treats, which I know he'll eat. Or maybe I can stick with the fish and sweet potato kibble, and see if there's a freeze-dried whitefish treat (bleah).

The vet gave some other suggestions. I'm going to start washing the fur under Rocko's chin with diluted hydrogen peroxide, to see if the irritation gets better. If it gets worse, she's going to prescribe an antibiotic, as she says it looks like he might have a borderline skin infection from the irritation. If he isn't showing any improvement by Tuesday, I'll also call to get an antihistamine.

She gave Rocko his bordetella vaccine, so we can go to daycare if necessary. And, I left Rocko's stool sample.

We're going back in a couple of weeks for a bit of minor surgery. They're going to remove a mole from Rocko's neck, and a growth from his gums. They'll also use the opportunity, while he's sedated, to give his ears a more thorough cleaning than he'll normally hold still for.

We had a visit today from Peggy Spencer of Follow My Lead, a dog training firm. Originally I had called her for help with Rocko's separation anxiety. Since that has more or less evaporated, we talked about a few minor issues instead.

To discourage Rocko from barking at noises in the hallway, she recommended that we continue to acknowledge Rocko's warning bark, but in a bored, flat tone. The hope is that he'll pick up on the fact that we're not concerned. She also recommended that we consider putting up the baby gate in our entry hall, to make it easier for Rocko to see us when he's alerting, to make it easier to communicate our unconcern to him.

We talked about trying to encourage Rocko to pee and poop with his leash on and in one spot. The plan is that I'll reward when he poops while on the leash, but not in the dog park. Once he's more accustomed to that, I can try to focus on a particular spot. For peeing, we're going to stay on the leash until he really pees (not just a little marking spritz), then off to the dog park as a reward. We're going to use the same idea to try to focus on a particular spot.

Peggy also helped tweak what I was doing with clicker training. I've been trying to teach Rocko to down, and it has been going slowly.

After Peggy left, I discovered by accident that Rocko can catch food thrown to him if I use a verbal cue. It's really fun to watch.

Yay! Rocko appears to have made a breakthrough. We've had no sign of separation anxiety yesterday or today; no whimpering, door scratching, or massive drool. When we leave him sleeping in a room he doesn't come looking for us until he's done sleeping. And he's showing interest in food and treats when he's alone; he had been ignoring them completely.

There are other signs that he's adjusting. Monday night he tried to get into the kitchen garbage pail, for the first time, and he did it at 3:30 in the morning, the sneak. This afternoon while I was out he got the jar of treats off my desk and broke it open. He's finally expressing an interest in toys. And he's eating his food with much more enthusiasm than he had been.

Several books and a couple of people had told me that it takes about two weeks for a dog to reveal his true personality in a new home. Looks like it's true.

I have this great training book, The Dog Listener by Jan Fennell. The author describes her process for cultivating your relationship with your dog so he'll see you as pack leader, the Alpha dog. The goal is that, by showing the dog that you are a strong leader who can be trusted and relied upon, he will become better behaved; less fearful, anxious, aggressive or destructive; and more obedient and readily trained. She calls the process Amichien Bonding.

Rocko's troubles with separation anxiety continue. I remembered Mrs. Fennell had something to say about that. So yesterday, I re-read the summary chapter in the middle of the book. I found that I had only been doing about half the things she recommends for taking Alpha status, even though I had already read the book and decided to use her process. I got started right away using the missing elements.

This morning the change in Rocko is dramatic. He didn't try to scoot past me out the door, he didn't run ahead like he does when he wants to go to the dog park, and he didn't pull on the leash when passing other dogs. He's more like when I first brought him home, before I started carelessly setting him up as leader: relaxed, obedient, and easy-going. I figure we're not done yet, but this is definite progress.

Clicker training seems to be making a difference, too. I'll write about that separately.