NewDoggyDaddy

Boy it's been a week full of babies and dogs and I'm exhausted.  Something had to give and unfortunately it was my UBC blogging. So on with the show.  It's been a looooong time since I had a puppy and babies under the same roof. I've had to relearn "eyes in the back of my head" mode. If there's food within nose level of the pup, she is all about checking it out. Nose and tongue first!  Of course the dining room table and high chair are at nose height. Thankfully she has not been aggressive. Just inquisitive.  I'm just going to say the chances of a rescue puppy being trained in the nuances of human food consumption will be slim to none! LoL  It's another consideration you must take into account in the adoption process

Soooo you've figured out you will be a rescue dog parent! Congrats and best wishes for your journey,  Before you pick up the pup, you'll need to figure out the food and water situation.  Let's start with the bowl selections. Your rescue may be coming with a water bowl and a food bowl, but then again, maybe not. In my experience it has been a not. Ever. We use dishwasher safe bowls. In the past we have used plastic bowls, metal bowls and ceramic bowls.  These days we use large, flat bottomed ceramic bowls for food and water. They're easy to clean and do not tip easily. We have two sets so they can be rotated every few days. They can get a little funky after a few days.  We also use fabric placemats under the bowls to make clean up easy. They get dirty and we just throw them in the washer. We keep a couple sets on hand, and change them out with the bowls.  Some folks use an elevated stand to hold the bowls up off he floor so the dogs aren't bent over while drinkin...

  W hat W ill Y our P up N eed at their new home?  So you made the decision to bring a new pup home. While it matters if it's a puppy or mature dog for some things, there are certain needs they all have in common. Leashes and collars first. Be alert! It is not unusual for a new dog to take off out the front door or yard after arriving at a new home. It's strange territory to them and you're strange too. I kept Sadie Mae with me on a leash everywhere the first day and a half she was here. Just to be safe. We have a 9 lb dog and a 90 lb dog. Sadie Mae here is about 55 lbs. They all have different needs when it comes to a leash. And collars! Little Bella uses a standard leather collar for a small dog and a light weight retractable nylon leash. The ones with the skinny rope don't work for us. Her collar has her name and our phone number printed on it. It also tells anyone who might find her she is deaf. If you're using a standard type collar, make sure it's not so...

  The evening stroll with Ziggy At the end of the day it's good to take a few minutes with just you and the dog.  (How cool. I had no idea I could post this video so easily.}

 This is Ms Sadie Mae the day she found out she was going to a new home. A friend asked me about adopting a rescue/shelter dog. Here is what I told them.  There are thousands of shelter and rescue dogs in the system. The rescue organizations are everywhere, some by geographical area some by breed. They are not easily found on line in my experience. It's a very fractured community. If you've been staying up with the news on inflation's impact on our communities, you may have seen the news about all the dogs being returned to pet shelters and rescue organizations. It is hard on owners and the pets.  Breed: The very first thing I looked for when I started my search was a breed. It may be a breed you're familiar with. It may be a breed you saw on TV or read about. Whatever your reason, make sure you read up on your desired breed. Even if you think you know the breed. Take some time and research it. Your rose colored glasses shouldn't get in the way of your decision maki...

17 is my favorite number. I use it for all sorts of things. My favorite use is when I'm not being productive when I need to be. I just set my timer for 17 minutes and get to work, hitting reset each time it goes off. It's a little harder to chop it up than say 15 minutes. Also it just long enough I can get things accomplished (within reason off course). I'm very time aware when I use that system. Sure I'll take a day off from the pup talk to talk about numbers. LoL I do love numbers. I'm not a math nerd by any means as my old Algebra 2 teacher Mrs/ Peterson would have told you. I do love numbers though. There are number games to play in your head or on paper. Heck, I like to add numbers on license plates. I'm old school. I still add faster in my head than using a calculator. I'm a big fan of prime numbers too. The bigger the better, That's because we hardly see them. But like I said. 17 is my favorite. I like 3 and 13 too. Who knows why? What's yours...

Well, that was a little bit embarrassing and painful at the same time. We were out for a walk this afternoon and encountered a dog my dogs didn't like. At all. They're a pair! After much barking and jumping and pulling, They managed to get me wrapped up and dropped me. Luckily we were in a large field and not on pavement. No dogs were hurt in this production. That said, I'm not doing all that great. I feel like I've been in a rugby game. Twisted knee. Jammed up shoulder. Tomorrow I think we'll be walking individually so I can heal. If I'm able to walk LoL Right now I need to practice some self care! Until tomorrow my friends.

Today was a big day for Miss Sadie Mae. Well, I think so anyway. This afternoon we went for a solo walk without her best buddy, and biggest distraction, Ziggy the husky. Up until now she has been following Zig's lead as we walked around the neighborhood.  She's a fast learner. Of course she is, it's the border collie in her! No overpowering urge to pull me down the sidewalk. She's not that good with Ziggy lol. No almost running in the road. No chasing rabbits and squirrels. Defended my honor with a neighbor dog.  The best part was crossing the street. She came to a full stop when asked, and then sat down on command. What a super bright girl she is! Progress is a good thing.

  Happy 1st Birthday to Sadie Mae She's been here a week and has made herself at home.

In my life I walk the dogs daily. Twice a day actually. Keeps the edginess down with the pups and me. It also reinforces lessons from the day before. This new pup Sadie Mae is not street smart at all. We have to work on  it all the walk. Of course the squirrels, birds, and rabbits are major handicaps along the way.  But, in all honesty, the puppers and wildlife are the least of my problems.  Drivers, as in human beings behind the steering wheel or bike handlebars (also skaters), are my major concern. These folks are unaware as to the realities of the situations around them. These folks just don't "see" the other vehicles in their immediate vicinity. And electronic distractions aren't required to to be in use to yield the resulting accident or injury. Some people just think they're better drivers than they are. That said, concerning vehicles, it's worse for pedestrians. Right turn on red after stop? No problem at all  Mr Pedestrian and your dogs, I'll run y...

As you may have noticed, we have a new rescue dog named Sadie Mae. She, Ziggy the husky and I walk the neighborhood daily averaging around 10,000 steps per day. When we are out, people frequently ask to pet/meet the dogs. It's a potentially dangerous interaction between the dogs and people, and it doesn't matter if the people are little kids or adults. This video I will share today has many good suggestions on what people should be looking for in that first meeting. They do a good job pointing out what to look for in the dog's body language.  However, in my opinion, none of the videos I viewed stressed how important it is to keep your (or your child's/grandchild's)  face away from the dog's muzzle. This is omitted from all the videos I checked out. I don't think a dog owner has the reflexes needed to protect anyone in close quarters from this.  As a former FF/EMT, I can tell you little kids are bitten on the face often. The children are at face level with th...

As you know, Sadie Mae came to us from a rescue group. I had started to look online for a border collie girl a couple weeks ago. But I'm getting ahead of the story. Many people are afraid of rescue dogs. We've been fortunate with ours.  My first border collie was a lab mix. She was not a rescue. I named her Boo because she looked like a little black bear cub and I thought we could go steal picnic baskets. She was 2 months old and had just been weaned.  Great spirit and disposition. Well behaved. Super duper Frisbee dog. Rugby dog. Learned her voice commands and ran like the wind. She went everywhere with me/us. Once the babies started coming, she was the best dog you'd ever want with your babies. I loved her dearly. It would be a few years before I could let another pup in my life. I really didn't want another dog when we rescued the next one. We found out about a young shih tzu female being kept in a garage 23 hours a day. In the cold and dark on an old bath towel. Tha...

Sadie Mae is a border collie/lab mix, or so I've been told. I've always been a bit suspicious of people declaring the genetic origin of dogs, But I'll take them at their word since they know the father and mother in this case. The owner of the parents didn't bother to spay or neuter them. After the litter was born, the rescue folks were able to recover the litter and put them up for adoption. As any good rescue group does, they had them fixed and got them physicals and shots. All this effort causes expenses that get passed on to the new owners. Sadie Mae's bill came to $200. Now you may be thinking that's a lot of money, but if you've been to the vet with any animal lately, it's a deal. Especially when you dig a bit deeper. The rescue folks feed and home these guys for however long it takes. Sadie was with her foster family for several months before she was adopted. Food, trips to the vet, toys...it all adds up. Sadie was adopted by one family and unfort...

It's been quite the weekend. 13 hour road trip. New dog. Getting every pet (almost) synched up. Pretty intense looking back on it. Today we started settling into the new daily routine. When I was looking at it last week it seemed to me to be a fairly straight-forward process, I was looking through rose colored glasses in anticipation of the new girls arrival. OK. I was a bit delusional. The reality is she impacts everything because: A, She's still a puppy.   A large 60 lb puppy with little concept of her size or strength. B. She was living on a 10 acre farm with a doggy door. We live in town. No doggy door. C. And while there were plenty of other animals on the farm,     she wasn't involved with them on a round the clock basis in close quarters. It's been a loooong time since I've had a puppy. All rescues are a bit different. They are rescues for a reason. Even from a good experience they are unsure of their new family and new environment.  Sadie is adjusting to all...

Happy 4th Folks  Please remember the reason for the season. 

Well here we go folks, New dog new day. New habits for everyone!! Sadie Mae, after a fairly restless overnight. started synching into life at her new home with her new furry family. Ziggy the 5 y/o 90 lb husky, Bella the 15 y/o 9 lb Irish Jack Russell and 3 cats. Sophie 18, Pumpkin 15 and Princess 10.  Ms. Sadie has had no contact with cats until now, so she was a little unsure of them at first. She wasn't sure if they were squirrels maybe or some other kind of prey. We demonstrated to her they were part of the family by showing the cats affection and sharing their smells with Sadie. She's coming along better than expected. The cats have seen their share of new dogs through the years and know what to do to maintain their space. Sophie, the oldest cat, swatted Sadie's nose when she got too close. Pumpkin hid in corners most the day. Princess decided to engage directly with Sadie and they chased around the house and yard this morning. BIG fun!! After a first time communal bre...

 It was a long trip full of bad weather, bad drivers and very good company.  SWe are safel at home after 13 hours on the road, Time for bed! 😴😴😴 A really bad picture of Ms Sadie Mae asleep with her head under my chair.  She is tired and confused. Tomorrow we will work on these things. If you have any experience or ideas, please let me know. Thanks 

Today I finalized arrangements and will be getting a new rescue dog! Her name is Sadie and she's as surprised as I am. She is an 11 month old border collie/black lab puppy. and I can't wait to meet her tomorrow. This has been several months coming but I really didn't see it ever happening. There's a whole bunch of stuff that goes with this news. I'll be sharing the history and updating events associated with this breaking news over the next several weeks so stay tuned. Right now I need to get to bed. It's a 13 hour round trip tomorrow! Talk to you after we get home!