A HARD DAY AT WORK

Mom got me a new rope.

I flossed my teeth with it.

Then I chewed on my blue & white

squeaky zebra

 That zebra wore me down.



Time for a nap break.

GOOD JOB!

Have we ever told you Buddy's story?

Three years ago, during what passes for an ice storm here on the Gulf Coast, someone dropped Buddy on the road near our house. We found him the next morning. The temperature was way way below freezing and the rain had turned to sleet and there was this wet, shivering black pit bull terrier huddled up on the outside of our gate.

We had to keep him separate from the other Hooligans until we could get him to the vet for a check-up. That took a couple of days because of work schedules and the local vet's office being closed for the weekend. But he finally had his health exam and  got scheduled for the Important Surgical Procedure all the other dogs have survived. And then, we talked it over and decided that we couldn't in good conscience put a pit bull with unknown history up for adoption. So he became a permanent resident of Hooligan House and Dad's special "Buddy".  He sleeps in Dad's lap and licks the grandkids clean when they come over to play, and he generally just ambles amiably through life. He's a Good Dog and keeping him was one of the best decisions we have ever made.

There were some areas where he needed help, like all rescued dogs need. For instance, he would not walk on the vinyl floor in the kitchen. It was NOT going to happen, no matter how much stinky canned food we put down on the floor to try to tempt him. Buddy sank to his belly and refused to move. That shiny expanse of slippery floor was just too scary for a dog who had never lived in a house. So we got some cheap carpet runners and put them about two feet apart from each other, and made him a red carpet runway to the kitchen. That did the trick, and gradually we moved the rugs farther and farther away from each other until one day there was no more runway. 

Rescue dogs do come with issues. And rescue volunteers and temporary foster parents often don't have the time to research what to do to help the dogs. Shelters have to move dogs into adoption or foster as quickly as possible to make room for new dogs that need help. Sometimes, dogs are adopted out who just aren't ready to deal with the environment of a family situation. That can be big Trouble. Recently, a couple of the local rescue groups here have contacted me with questions about how best to help some of their new canine residents who came from particularly neglectful backgrounds. I'm working with them and the foster parents involved are wonderful people who want to do whatever it takes to help the dogs acclimate to living with loving humans.

Not everyone can adopt a dog and the reasons vary. Most often, people can't afford an adoption fee and vet bills. But if you have a place in your heart and home where a newly rescued dog could be temporarily fostered through his issues until he is ready for adoption ---- what a wonderful gift that would be for everyone. Imagine helping a dog learn to trust that the outstretched hand of a human means something fun is about to happen. That a shiny floor or a doorbell are not really scary things. That another dog sniffing him is not cause for alarm. Teaching a dog how to play with a toy. Teaching him what a dog treat is. And even teaching him that it's perfectly acceptable for him to eat his food from a bowl instead of the ground.

Imagine the joy and the feelings of accomplishment you would experience. Yes, it hurts to send them off to their new adoptive homes, but the tears are rewarding ones. You have done important work and you know this dog has changed from being fearful and shy to being the confident, relaxed and, hopefully, mischievous critter God intended him to be.

One dog at a time. It's special work and it's not easy work.

 But it's Good Work.

Dad and his lap dog, Buddy

EVERY SHAPE AND SIZE

There are lots of different kinds of Hooligans in the world. There’s Little Giz in Florida, and Popie up in Yankee Land. And there are the Hooli-guinapigs in Bellingham. I think there’s even a c@t somewhere that Mom calls a Signifi-Cat, who is a Hooligan. His name is Cujo. I don’t think we’ll ever get together but I’m okay with him being in the club. Being Anofficial Hooligan just means you have a Hooligan spirit. You get into mischief just for the sheer joy of it. Because you can’t not get into the mischief. If you understand that feeling, you’re a Hooligan too.

Mom and Dad went to N’awlins the other day to see a whole lotta Hooligans that are from the same dog family our Buddy is. There’s an Animal Planet show about this pit bull terrier sanctuary that just moved from California to N’awlins. It’s called Pit Bulls and Parolees. The Grand Opening of their place was last weekend. Mom and Dad took them some food and some money and spent the day touring Villalobos.

There are over 150 pit bull terriers there. Lots of them are ready to be adopted and they are GOOD dogs, happy and loving and playful like Buddy. Here are some pickshures of a couple of them. And you can find out more about them at http://www.vrcpitbull.net/dog/

 

Next time the ‘rents go to N’awlins, it will be to visit a new foster Airedale named Godwin. He was transported from Tuscaloosa to Meridian to N’awlins and is staying with a family that was really really excited to get him. Here’s a pickshure of Godwin. He didn’t come to stay with us but he’s part of the Hooligan House family anyway.

Y’owl have a good week! And watch out for Hooliganism.

April is a good month for it!

AAARRROOOOOO!!!!

ANAVENTURE!

TODAY we are going on ANAVENTURE! 


Me and Mom and Dad and GG are going to the pet supply store. It will be GG's first time there. She is going to get her toenails dremeled down. That ought to be fun! I can't wait to see what GG thinks about the dremel!

 AAARRROOOOOOOOO!!!!

GG contemplates the definition of "dremel"

WE LOVE YOU, DAD!

Jack and GG playing with Dad last night.

Hooligan kisses are the best!

TRAINING QUESTION

Dear Mom of Hooligans,

I just adopted a three year old Weimaraner named Rocky. He's sweet and affectionate and I love him to death but he doesn't walk well on a leash. He almost pulls my arm out of the socket. What kind of leash should I get for Rocky? My sister has a retractable leash for her beagle mix.


Congratulations on adopting a great Hooligan! Even his name says "Hooligan"! I foresee alot of happy challenges in your future. As to leashes aka training leads, the one I swear by is a six-way leather leash that has been used in European schutzhund dog training for many, many years. You can use it several ways, but what I like most about it is this: It fits across your upper torso and attaches to the dog's collar. This will keep Rocky beside you so that he has no option but to walk at your heel, with you giving him an appropriate treat reward every so often. Plus, it will leave your hands free. I bought my leads many years ago at a dog show, but I believe you can order these from amazon.com. Just be sure to get one that is leather and is six feet long.

I never recommend retractable leashes for any dog. NEVER. EVER. Don't buy one. I have seen too many owners use these the wrong way and just let their dogs wander wherever they want to, as far away as they want to. It allows the dog the opportunity to annoy other people and other dogs and it also can cause horrid injuries to dogs. The retractable leash is in fact like a wire that can get wrapped around a dog's leg and slice it like a knife. It can do the same thing to human flesh. Big dogs can break a retractable leash with no problem at all, just snapping it like a string of thread. Stay with a strong, six foot leash like the 6-way lead I mentioned above. It's safer and it's reliable.

DEVILTRY

THiS iss MAGGIE! I FyNULLy goT to comPOOTER all By Myseff aND noBuddy iss wATCHING!

Yesterday ouryard was soaken wet beecoss of rainrainrain alladale long. We cooddint play out there for long. Well DUKE and BUDDY ddnt want to play out there for long.

I wass liken that rain, me. But they wanted to get outta rain so we came bak inna houss and wass habben a borren ole morning until me and Duke got the grate idea to tteach Bud how to do the Airedance.

Only Mom says Airedances don’t beelong inna houss and she fusssd and made uss stoppit.

Then we deesided to snoop around in the dog den to see if there wass anny spilt food on the floor. There wassent so I went counter surfing and I got inta trubble for that too.

IN a few minnutts Buddy saw sumthen red on toppa da kitchen tabble. He dossent like red and he goess after it every time. Whitch he did again it wass a red dish towel and he pulled it down and it was sittingg under a pan and when Buddy yanked the red towell it made the pan come down too and it clanged and banged and Mom jumped and yelled and blamed ME for it becoss I had just been counter surfen a few sekunds before when she looked through the door. 

She put me in TIME out and DUKe hadda come too even thow he wassent even inna kitchen when it happenned. Dales get blamed for EVERYTHING around here.  I think Duke told yhall one time that the hoomans think Buddy issa little PRINCE!

Here iss a exsample. Buddy even went and foun one of Dad’s clean hankees in the laundry basket. He picked it up and rann inta the den with it and tried to get Dad to play tug. Dad just said, no Buddy, all my handkerchiefs have holes in them from your teeth and the people at the office make fun of me. He took the handkerchief away from Buddy and that was all that happened! Buddy laid down at Dad’s feet like a real good boy. GRRR.

After awhile the little prince got bored and wannedd us to play with him. He play bowed and wagged and finully began jumpping at us. He iss like a bowling ball when he jumps on us. I think Mom tole you that once, too.

Affter Buddy bowled into me a couple of time, and made me grrrowl he started in afta Duke. Duke doesn’t play bowling and he stood up and gave Buddy whut for which of course got us in trubble all over again. Then me and Duke looked at each other and got the best idea of all.

It wass still raining outside but you know when a dog hass to go, a dog hass to go. Me and Duke ran to the door and barked and of course here comess Buddy too. He ran right up between us and bowled us away from the door. But we didunt snap at hm this time. Dad came over and opened the door so the DOGS could go outside to take care of their bidness. When the door opened, Buddy almost broke a leg running outside into the storm ahead of me and DUKE. He just hass to be first, in everyTHING.

BUDDY ran out into the storm and me and DUKE just sat down. And grinned at each other. And stayed dry. GOTCHA!

The Dale who AAARRROOOs last, AAARRROOOOs best!

FRIENDSHIP

Our Jack is probably close to 14 years in human age. He's been with us since 2002 and was an adult when we adopted him. He's a little slow getting up, and very slow walking... unless there's a strange dog on the other side of the gates and then Jack finds enough energy and agility to put up an impressive vocal and threatening performance. But most of the time, he just meanders through his golden days and we all try to anticipate his needs so that he stays comfortable.


One of the things that's going on as Jack ages, is that it's difficult for him to make up his mind what a command means. Or possibly, he's just thinking that he's old enough to make his own decisions now and has earned the right to decide when to come inside from the yard. Often when my  husband or I open the front door and invite the dogs back inside the house, Jack will wobble to his feet and then stand there for several minutes looking at us while he ponders the situation.


This morning, while the dogs were outside, a heavy rain started to fall. DH went to the door to call the dogs and get them inside before they got drenched. Everyone except Jack came running in out of the rain. Jack slowly, agonizingly lurched up on his back legs, managed to stand up, took a couple of steps forward and then stopped. He either wasn't sure what to do or wasn't sure he wanted to do it. DH called to him a couple of times while GG stood in the doorway and watched. The rain started falling harder and Jack still stood there. 


Finally, GG ran back outside into the rain and went over to stand beside Jack.She pressed up against him, then walked with him over to a bush where he lifted his leg. When he was finished, GG escorted Jack to the front porch and up the steps and into the house. Now he is snoozing on his orthopedic bed in the master bedroom, while GG lies just outside the door. 


Great story, huh? 

She's Ready for Adoption!

GG is ready to find her forever family!

Here's what you need to know about her: My best guess at her age is around 2 to 2 and a half. She is leash, crate and house trained. I have her on a feeding schedule which basically keeps her elimination times very routine. She is still nervous about sudden noises and movements, but she recovers quickly. She loves other dogs and she loves our grandchildren (boy and girl ages 9 and 11). I do not know how she is around cats. I recommend that she goes to an Airedale experienced home with one other dog. 

Please share this post with people who might be interested in adopting GG. To start the adoption process, read GG's story and/or donate to Alabama Airedale Rescue visit the following site:

http://alairedalerescue.blogspot.com/

Update on GG's Training

Hi to all our Friends!

Things have been very busy at Hooligan House. GG and Jack and Duke are getting along very well together and GG has been proclaimed "officially potty trained"!  HURRAH! The tether technique does work, if you work it. And we did, 24/7 until a couple of days ago when she started showing us that she wanted and needed to go outside to do her business.

While we were working on that Very Important Problem, we also began training GG to "come" to us on command. That's a little trickier to teach an adult rescue dog than it is a puppy.

Puppies come to humans out of curiosity and playfulness, so they are easy to teach. The best way to get an adult dog to come to you is to gain that dog’s trust. And you can’t do that by barking commands and raising the household stress level. Instead, each and every time the dog is near you, reach over and scratch behind her ears or gently scruffle her chest while you repeat her name a few times. Offer her treats and say her name while she is eating them. After a few days of this, when she hears you say her name she is going to perk up and look at you. A couple of days later, she’s going to come to you when you say her name. The first time that happens, pet her gently and say the word, “Come” in a happy voice. Continue working with your dog this way and she’ll learn the come command without even realizing she is being trained.

GG now turns and looks at us expectantly when we call her name and then comes trotting over to us to have her ears scruffled and receive a treat. She even does it off-leash, while playing in our fenced yard. We vary the reward so that sometimes she gets a tasty treat and sometimes she gets a backscratch. She enjoys both equally, so we are checking the "come" command off our list. Good GRRLL, GG!

In other news, Duke has weathered the first thunderstorm since his new crate arrived. He did very well, and we didn't find any evidence of physical trauma in the dog den. Of course, he and GG were howling and crying to get to each other when I got home from the office that day, but that's not a sign that anything was wrong. It's just how Hooligans roll.

Training A Rescued Adult Dog

Mom of Hooligans here! We've already had a breakthrough in GG's housetraining, so I thought that in today's blog, I'd share with you how we're handling this.

We use two leashes, one six feet long and the other at least ten feet long. While GG is in the house, I keep the six foot leash snapped to her collar and tethered to my belt. That way, I know where she is at all times and can read the signals she throws out when she is ready to go potty. If I am going to be doing something that will make it inconvenient to have her tethered to me, she goes into her crate until I am finished and then she comes out to be tethered to me again. Not only is this helpful in learning her body language, but it will help her develop some socialization she may be lacking from her time on the streets and in a shelter.

When I take GG outdoors to go potty, I put the long leash on her and take her to the same area each time. Many newly adopted dogs don’t want to “go” in front of their new humans. The longer leash gives GG a sense of not being right under my eye while she takes care of private business. I praise lavishly every time GG potties outdoors. We are associating the word "potty" for urination and the word "poo" for the other business. And, for the record, if your dog makes a mistake in the house, it’s your fault, not hers. This training process should only take a few days. GG made her housetraining breakthrough night before last (the very first afternoon we used the tethering technique) and we know she is going to be completely successful!

EARS!

Remember this photo of Maizie's right ear that 

we showed you about a week ago?

This next photo shows how much things have improved!

Maizie's new mom has been spraying both ears 

with colloidal silver every day. Isn't the difference a-MAIZing?

MORE ADVICE TO THE DOG-WORN

DEAR HOWLING HOOLIGAN,

The neighbors decided to use the corner of our yard as a parking lot, and yesterday, our dog, Ruger decided he was afraid of the one and a half cars that were parked half in our yard and half in the street. (Yesterday morning, there was food, or something, in the street near where one of them had been parked. My husband Mark said it looked like cake and ice cream. Whatever it was, he took the hose out and washed it down.)

Now Ruger doesn't even want to go out the front door. Once I get him out the door, he won't go near that area of the yard, even though the cars aren't there. He'll walk west, quickly, with his butt tucked. But coming back home, last night and this morning, when we get four houses from our house, he sits down and absolutely refuses to move. Last night, I started playing with him and got him running and ran him past the next door neighbor house. This morning... no go. He'll pull backwards until he hurts himself with the prong collar, then do it again. So I carried him, all 60 pounds of him, until we got to the neighbor house, then set him down in the middle of the street. He immediately tried to go into the yard across the street, then finally rushed past the neighbor house and home.

<sigh>

I've walked the area over and can't see anything, like a snake or wasp's nest, that would make him so afraid. And if it was the cars...they're in their yard today. Where the food was smells bad, so I'm going to take vinegar out there and wash it again, but...since when does a dog mind the smell of rotten food?

Any advice?

Veronica

Dear VerRoNIca,

YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE RUDE.

First of all, you need to go over there and ask them NOT TO PARK IN YOUR YARD.

Then, go get some kind of permanent structure to put in that corner so that they cannot park there.

Ruger thinks that part of the yard belongs to someone else, that it's not his property anymore. Someone may have thrown up or urinated there, who knows? But that's what's probably going on with him. Mark may have to go out there at midnight, take Ruger with him, and urinate in that corner. Seriously. Let Ruger watch him do it. Of course, Mark should stand with his back to the neighbor house so that they don't see him doing it <grin>.

And he may have to do that several times before Ruger gets the point. You can also take a chair over there and sit in that corner with Ruger and read a book for awhile. Don't make a big deal about it, just do it.

Wow, your neighbors must have really unpleasant body function odors to make a tough dog named Ruger too scared to even go past the house.

Sincerely,

The Hooligans

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

DEAR HOOLIGAN HOUSE

DEAR HOOLIGAN HOUSE,

Dad's and Mom's beloved Westie (West Highland Terrier) died of old age and kidney failure. Zack was Mom's reason for getting up everyday. My sister and I decided that they needed a new dog. I went on Petfinder and found a Westie rescue group in N. Al. It happened that the lady in charge was delivering 2 dogs last Thur and she had a dog she thought perfect for them.

My husband and I drove to Montgomey to pick him up. He was a puppy mill reject. They called him Chops as someone had cut off his tail. He was found a month ago after he was attacked by dogs and then tossed in a dumpster to die. he is appox. 4 yr old and only 14 pounds. He is very sweet but very very nervous. He shakes from fear and hides in corners. We went out to dinner and before we left he was in a crate that had been stuffed with a huge pillow. The door was left open. Dad put out a bowl of food. He gets canned mixed with warm water as they have not seen him drink. When we got back the bowl was empty and he was hiding in dad's office in a corner between the bookshelf and the wall. There was only enough room for him to sit.

If you have any ideas on how to help this little guy, PLEASE let me know. Thank you.

Nancy

Dear Nancy,

Thank Heavens for Rescue Groups! It breaks my heart to hear stories like this. Someday, maybe, there will be no more puppy mills.

I do have suggestions on initial help for this dog. You have to proceed as though he is in triage, as though this is an emergency situation. And I have very firm rules about how to help him.

First of all get him completely checked out by a vet, blood work and all. Then, don't force anything on him - not even affection. Go about life as usual and pay him as little attention as possible. Don’t leave food down all the time. Two meals a day at set times so he gets used to a routine. Give him a week or so to start adjusting. Your parents need to be committed to letting him figure out on his own that he is safe and can trust them.

After about a week or ten days, please get in touch with me. I will be glad to help in any way I can.

Mom of Hooligans

TO THE RESCUE!!!

Another Hooligan House Adventure!!!

This is ABBY. Her family had to give her up because they couldn't afford to take care of her. She is leaving a shelter in Mississippi today and going to New Orleans for a few days and then she will be coming to Hooligan House! Mom already has a foster home lined up for her AND a possible forever family. Abby just needs to spend some time in foster care so that Mom can evaluate her and be sure the applicants will be a good fit for her. ISN'T THIS GREAT?? WE ARE VERY EXCITED AND CANNOT STOP ARROOOING!

Besides the evaluation Mom will do, we Hooligans are gonna do a Hooligan evaluation, to see if Abby is worthy of joining our ranks. We've already heard that she is very high energy, so that's a real good sign. Hope that adoptive family knows what to expect!

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

Howling Hooligan's Advice Column

Dear Howling Hooligan,

My dog is unable to reverse. Is this normal or simply more proof that her mom and dad were indeed brother and sister? Thanks for your time.

Sincerely, Suzy's Mom

      Dear Mom of Suzy,

 

Dogs can develop fear of any person, place or thing. Hoomans call it having a phobia and they go to hooman vets and get spensive trankwillizers to cover up their phobias. Dogs just hafta deal with their issues.

If Suzy had anunfortunate puppyhood all on her own without kind hoomans to help her, she might be refusing to go backwards because something turrible happened to her one time when she did go backwards.

Maybe she stepped on a nail or a piece of glass. Or onto something blazing hot. Or maybe some other dog attacked her from behind. It’s hard for hoomans to understand dog fears sometimes, because we don’t think exactly the same way you do.

Is it really important for Suzy to walk backwards? If it is, my mom can probly help you come up with a beehavyer modafacashun plan that will help Suzy. But it won’t happen right away. You will need alotta paeshense and compasshen and you will need to help Suzy take tiny steps toward the goal so that she won’t feel presshured.

We hope this helps. You seem to be a nice Mom, in spite of your strange sense of hoomer.

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

Sleepin' In

This is the way I like to spend rainy mornings.

Sleeping with one eye open

Tell it to the paw



Havin' Mom right where I want her

AAARRROOOOOOOO!    z z z z ....

The REST of the Story: the Grrls Go HOME!

The rest of the Great Rescue Run is that last Monday, the Grrls all went to a veterinarian in Lakeland, Florida. Miss Cindy emailed the chauffeurs and told ‘em about it. The vet said the Grrls are healthy -- no heartworm, no ear or eye problems, good development in hips, good skeletal development.  They have their vaccinations now.  

They went to their forever homes that afternoon. Turquoise Grrl is now called Aly. Pink Grrl is Xena. Purple Grrl is Zoey and she has already had her first grooming. Xena even slept in bed with her new family the first night.  Do you think she's going to be happy with them? They are all scheduled to be spayed within the next week. 

Things are quieter around our house, but Mom says we might have another rescue dog to Hooligan with real soon. She hasn’t mentioned this to Dad yet though.

Note from Duke’s Mom:

I’m sure you will all be happy to hear that the ADT mom of the Grrls has been rescued from the puppy mill too! We are thrilled.  She had 2 litters back to back and she is not even 2 yrs old. UGH!! She is terribly thin and needs some real  TLC. Her foster mom and the family vet have put her on a good diet and are seeing to her medical needs. Eventually she will be ready to be adopted by a loving family who will take care of her for the rest of her life. 

She will never be a puppy mill dog again.

 

This is the Grrls' mom! She is safe now, thanks to Miss Diane and to NAR.

Transportation Volunteers Are Frequently Needed.

You can help by applying at:

http://www.airedalerescue.net/  

The Great Rescue Run, Part Four

Mom says this is the next to the last installment of The Great Rescue Run and it is kinda long. Y’owl need to be sure to go potty before ya start reading, okay?

So, the parents settled us all down for the night. Jack and Sissy went to bed in the dog den. Buddy curled up in Dad’s office. Me and Maggie were in the big bedroom with Mom and Dad.

After Mom and Dad chased them around for awhile, the puppies got crated in the guest room. They were used to crates so that wasn’t a problem. But they weren’t used to the guest room or to the rain, the thunder and the lightning that was going on outside.

So they howled. And they howled and they howled and they howled.

Well, natcherly the rest of us had to chime in and teach them what howling is sposed to sound like. Pretty soon there were EIGHT Hooligans AAAROOOING at the top of our lungs! We sounded great! Xceptn I think we might have startled the puppies because after only a few seconds, they stopped singing and they didn’t make a peep the rest of the night.

Mom set the alarm clock for early thirty so she could get up and get us all medicated and fed before time to get the pups ready to go to Florida. We woke up all excited like we usually do and Maggie stopped on her way outside to growl at the door to the guest room. Mom bopped Maggie on her rear end and helped her move on down the hall. I always like it when that happens.

Just so’s you can appreciate the mileage involved in transporting the Grrls, here’s how the whole thing was organized.

Jackson, MS to Hattiesburg, MS to Gulfport, MS to Grand Bay, AL (overnight) to Pensacola, FL, to DeFuniak Springs, FL, to Tallahassee, FL, to Gainesville, FL, to Lakeland, FL. From Lakeland, Purple Grrl had to go about another hundrud miles to get to her new family. All in all, Miss Cindy at Sunshiner Airedales in Florida said she guesstimated it was about an 800 mile trip for the puppies. That’s a lot of stress. But they did fine because all the people who chauffeured them took time to cuddle them and kiss them and talk to them. One lady even rode in the back of her SUV with them while her husband drove.

Here’s a picture of the MS-ALA rescuers and drivers. That’s Miss Virginia on the left, Miss Delia is next to her, Mom is next to Miss Delia, and Miss Diane is next to Mom.

the Rescuers in the Rain!

It had been storming when the Grrls got to our house and it was storming when they left. Thunder and heavy rain was drenching the entire Gulf Coast and there were flash flood warnings from New Orleans to the Atlantic Ocean. But Mom kept on driving (she always only does the legal speed limit anyway) and even though she passed two bad wrecks near Hwy 59 in AL, Mom didn’t have any trouble getting to Pensacola.

When she got there, she met Ms Kathryn and her husband at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. The rainwater in the parking lot was ankle deep. They had to carry each pup separately to Ms Kathryn’s car and of course, everybuddy got completely drenched. The pups were smelling like… well, like wet dogs. Mom kissed each Grrl and wished them long and happy lives. Then she hugged Ms Kathryn and got back in our SUV. And Mom cried most of the way home. It doesn’t take long to get attached to dogs. That’s cause we’re Man and Woman’s Best Friends.

These are pictures of the Grrls trying to evade capture by hoomans and by the camera.

This was pretty much how the entire evening went.



Sunday night, Mom admitted to Dad that she was having separation anxiety. She *needed* to know how things were going and if the pups were okay and where they were and when they would finish their long trip. Late late Sunday night, Ms Cindy emailed all the chauffeurs to let them know that in spite of a long delay outside of Gainesville due to a traffic jam, the pups had arrived safely in Lakeland. Mom cried again, but this time it was from relief.

She let me sleep with her that night. Which is where I should sleep all the time, except that Dad has a different opinion.

But sometimes, Dad has to travel away from home on business.

                        AAARRROOOOOOOO!





Great Rescue Run, Part 3

Before we get started again, Mom says there’s no need for you all to keep jamming my email box with requests for muddy pictures of her and Dad. She says don’t hold your breath because that’s not the kind of image she wants getting’ spread around the internet. I don’t really get that. She was laughing the other night and she acted like she thought it was fun. Oh well.

So… where were we? I can’t remember so I think I’ll tell you next about that Purple collared grrl. She had really long legs (I like that in a grrl) and she was a liddle bigger than the two sisters. And she was fun, like me. She played tag with Mom and Dad. They chased her all over the house, trying to tighten her collar, but she was fast and she can jump higher than they can. I just lay on the sofa and watched the excitement. My head went back and forth: PG would run past, then Dad would run past, then PG would run back by me, then Mom would try to grab PG’s collar, then PG would jump over the ottoman and run away again. Whew! It wore me out but I laughed and laughed.

Purple Grrl

Finully Mom caught hold of that pretty purple collar with one hand and PG’s bottle-brush tail with the other. Dad came over to help. He held PG while Mom tightened the martingale.

What’s a martingale? Oh, it’s a speshul collar that’s not supposed to slip off. Heh heh heh. But PG is an Airedale. There’s never been a collar made that we couldn’t slip out of if we want to. She wanted to. And she did. Then it was run run run run through the house some more, and leaping over chairs while the parents did it all over again. (The camera was in Mom’s purse behind a closed door, sorry.)

Anyways, they gave up on the fancy-dancy martingale and got a harness to put on the Purple Grrl. It was red. She didn’t like it much but she couldn’t get out of it. Then they gave her a rope toy to play with and she had never seen one of those before. She sniffed it and cocked her head at it and put a paw on it so she could find out just what it was made of, and then she put it in her mouth and she ran into Dad’s office with it and lay down and started chewing it. Pink Grrl went right after her and tried to take it away from her, and they started tugging on opposite ends of the rope like they’d been doing it furever. Mom was so P R O U D of them and so happy their rescue experience hadn’t stressed them out too much to play. Mom and Dad took the two grrls out to potty and then brought them back in for some more playtime with the rope.

Mom offered them treats but I think I told you before that they weren’t familiar with treats. They sniffed and licked them but that was about all. Mom says these pups are going to be motivated by toys & games more than treats when they go through obedience training.

Well, those two grrls were busy with the rope and the third liddle grrl, Turquoise, still hadn’t left the guest room. Not because she was locked in there. She just stood at the doorway and whimpered for her sister. The other two would trot down the hall and try to ‘splain to her that it was okay to come out into the house, but she just couldn’t get up the courage to do it. And any time a parent went into the room to talk to her, Turquoise would run into one of the crates and hide. Mom knew Turquoise needed to go potty because she drank a lodda water when the pups first came home. And Mom was worried that Turquoise would strain her bladder by holding it for a long time.

It was sad, watching Turquoise at the door and listening to her whimper.

At last Mom said, well, maybe she will go potty on newspaper. So she put some newspaper down in the hall.

Guess WHAT? Nope. Turquoise didn’t potty on the paper.

Instead, she used it like stepping stones to get to the hall runner rug and then onto the living room rug. She had been afraid of the vinyl tile in our hallway!  None of us had even considered that, and we all felt pretty silly about it.

But really, it makes sense. The pups had been kept in crates most of their 8 months of life and they didn’t know nuthin about house floors. Purple and Pink were bold enough that it didn’t bother them, but Turquoise was more shy and Mom says T is gonna need an understanding, patient hooman to help her adapt to real dogdom.

Her bladder finully did let go inside the house but Mom didn’t say a word about that. She just cleaned it up and pretended it hadn’t happened.

Before bedtime, though, TG was following her sister around the house and she even took a treat from Dad’s hand. WOW.  She wouldn’t come when Mom called her though, she would just hunker down on the floor. Finully Mom got down on the floor with TG and started stroking her on the back. Just for a minute or so, and then she stopped and TG got up and ran away. About thirdy minutes later, Mom did it again.

And you know sumthen? Before the pups were crated for the night, Mom offered TG another treat. TG came over to take it, and she let Mom touch the side of her face evuh so gentle.

It was a good night at Hooligan House.

AAARRROOOOOOOO!

That's Turquoise Grrl on the far left. In the middle is Pink Grrl. And on the right, is Purple Grrl.