Dogs

Big Puppy Play Date

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Sweet Red

We are a dog loving family. We have four dogs; a Rottweiler, a Bassett Hound, a Beagle, and a German Shepherd. The Beagle and the German Shepherd are both under one and a half years old. It can be quite chaotic in our house at times.

Today, we took our German Shepherd, Freyja (pronounced Fray-ya), to a friends house to play with their German Shepherd puppy, Stella, who’s a few months older. I was a little worried at first, Freyja had never played with anyone her own size and never on anyone else’s turf. Freyja isn’t the best behaved pup in the sandbox, she tends to bully her Beagle sister around a bit and doesn’t realize that she’s a 75 pound bundle of fur and energy.

Freyja Oct 2014

We introduced Stella and Freyja to each other slowly, in the back yard, keeping the leashes on. They seemed to be respectful of each other and there were only a few times when snarls and fangs were exhibited. After about ten or so minutes we unleashed them and eventually they got comfortable, their tails started wagging, the frisbee started flying, and happy pups were running around the yard. Freyja chasing the frisbee — Stella chasing Freyja.

The chase

All in all it seemed to be a successful morning of socialization and spent energy. A nap was definitely in order when we got home, after she said hello to all her sisters of course.

Freyja and Stella taking a water break

It was nice for Freyja to get out and play with a dog her own size. Hopefully we can make this a regular thing.

NaBloPoMo November 2014

Categories: Dogs, Life, NaBloPoMo2014, Pets | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

She’s perfect, with one exception

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Sweet Red

Today is day number four with our new love, Sassy. She has integrated into the family quite well though I wouldn’t say that she has become fast friends with our other pets, but she can be in the same room with them and no one gets snarled at or bitten; it’s progress.

Unfortunately, we discovered the hard way yesterday that she suffers from separation anxiety. I’m not sure if it’s because she still does not know us that well, or if it’s truly a behavioral issue that she will have forever, but we have to work with her a little more than expected.

While at work yesterday morning, I received a call from Sassy’s foster Mom that she had gotten out of the house. Fortunately, another foster mother lives close and was able to come get her while I drove home from work. Not knowing what to expect, once home, I walked in to find that she had torn up the blinds on the front and back doors and upon discovering the open window in my office, she jumped through it, making a quick escape.

I was able to get a vet appointment in the afternoon and for now, she is on puppy Prozac. I’ve taken the day off and M is taking tomorrow off and together we are working on getting her used to being in a crate. If we can’t get her settled in, and used to us being gone during the day, we will not be able to keep her.

Sassy at the Vet's office

Patiently waiting to see the Vet

Yesterday when I put her in the crate to pick up C from school, she howled and cried the entire time we were gone, about 15 minutes. Today, she has shown remarkable signs of progress. I put her in the crate to take both the girls to school and was gone about 35 minutes. She didn’t make a sound, no whining, no howling, no barking, she was like a different dog. However, when I got home and let her out, she followed me around worried that I was going to leave again. I couldn’t go anywhere; the laundry room, the kitchen, the bathroom, Sassy was always close under foot. However as the day has worn on, she’s started to relax and I have been able to move around without my bodyguard close at hand.

Things are looking up and if she does well when I leave to pick up the girls and is ok while I am at school tonight, I believe this will work. It’s just going to take some patience on our side and trust on hers. But just look at her, she will definitely be worth the work!

Silly Sassy

What a cutie!!

Categories: Dogs, Life, Musings, Pets | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

A Family Addition

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Sweet Red

No, we didn’t have a baby, at least not a human one.

Today we adopted Sassy, a Rottweiler mix. Malnourished and skittish, she was found wandering the streets of Mexico. She is a lucky girl because a wonderful family who happens to foster dogs found her, gave her a home, spayed her and gave her all of her vaccinations, then started looking for a great home for her. She’s been with them since June and they did a wonderful job getting her ready for a forever home.

Though she’s been waiting for us since June, our part in this story has only been three weeks in the making.  Charlotte and I had been running errands one Saturday when we ran across an adoption event at Pet Smart in La Mesa. During our walk through, Charlotte fell in love with a Shepard mix named Cherry Garcia, she was a sweet dog, and after much deliberation between M and I over text messaging, I filled out an application. Sadly, our application was denied. Cherry Garcia had some severe separation anxiety issues that required her new owners to be with her practically full-time, and well, that just isn’t my family dynamic right now. M and I work, I go to school during the evenings and the girls are in school all day, there was no way that I could be home with her that much.

This crushed Charlotte and the girl at the pet fostering agency felt so bad, she told me that our application was perfect, and had it been any other dog, we would have been going home with a new friend that day, it just couldn’t be Cherry Garcia. She also said that she would keep our application on file in case we did find another dog that we wanted. So, as any good mom would do, as soon as we got home I checked out the agency’s website and Charlotte and I found a few dogs that we felt would be acceptable additions to our family. Now, we just had to convince M that it would all work out.Luckily, that wasn’t very difficult, because even though he didn’t grow up with pets, he has been converted to a dog person, and I honestly don’t think that he can ever imagine life without one now. He picked the two that he liked the most; a German Shepard, and a Rottweiler, and I sent out the email. Sassy’s foster mom wrote us back right away, we never did hear back about the Shepard.

Corresponding with her foster mom, we made arrangements for her to bring Sassy up so we could meet her. It was love at first sight. She’s a sweet dog, and very loving but it takes a while for her to get used to other dogs, which is a problem considering we have two other dogs already. It’s been ok though, we are introducing them slowly and already she’s already gotten used to our Basset Hound, Daisy, but it’s taking a bit longer for her and our Boxer, Roscoe.  That’s expected though, he’s almost 14 and a bit more territorial than Daisy is, but so far, they are doing well. I’m convinced that by the time our 2 week adoption period is over, we will be one big, crazy, happy family.

I’m not sure we will keep the name Sassy. M had called her Lucy and I liked that, but maybe we should look into something stronger, or sweeter. What do you think?

Categories: Dogs, Life, Musings, Pets | Leave a comment

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