Mr. Photogenic (As Seen Through My Completely Unskilled Lense)

Waiting in perfect stillness for his prey (a fly).

Wondering why he is rarely ever fast enough to catch the fly.

The prelude to his enormous bark. This look means he heard something on the street.

This look means we are ALL going to know someone is out on the street.

My handsome boy guarding me in the hammock. No, my photography skills aren't THAT bad.

Furiously expanding on his hole.

All in a day's work.

Trials and Tribulations

I read somewhere that when you have a dog like TWO, you have days where you wish he would somehow disappear, runaway, find his way into the wilderness etc. and I would be lying if I said I don't have those days. Recently, I have been having lots of those days. He's been tough lately - snarky and unpredictable and I wonder why I am giving up options for my immediate future for a dog I can't throw a ball for, can't take for a walk, can't let people touch and generally can't take anywhere in broad daylight.

But then I come home to him, which I always look forward to and there he is with that flag of a tail, ecstatic to see me and a big grin on his noble face. Part of our difficulties lie in my still stunted ability to read him. I was so used to Hudson who wore his heart on his doggie sleeve and now I have a dog that is like an onion and I still haven't been able to peel back all the layers. Only rarely can I say with any confidence what he's feeling.

The few things I know for sure that make him happy are the dog park, greeting me when I've been gone, his nightly massages/T Touch before bed and me being in the backyard with him. He loves his walks but that joy can disintegrate faster than we can get to the end of the driveway if there's something out there that scares him. The rest of the time it's almost impossible to tell if he's afraid, worried, terrified or merely nervous.

This makes it hard to figure out why he now goes after every dog he comes in close contact with at the park. I stopped taking him until my new, custom made and ordered muzzled arrived as the previous one didn't fit well and bothered him. We finally got it and although it looks like a medieval torture device, it fits very well and he is much happier with it. Ironically, he has been fine with everyone, even men, at the park these days. It's the dogs that he now has to wear it for.

This morning, a friendly dog approached and at first TWO showed every sign of wanting to play - his tail was up, he tried to get the dog to chase him and the dog seemed interested in playing but all of a sudden, TWO went after him and there was no doubt about his intentions. He was snarling, growling and it was clearly not play time. Thank god for the muzzle. My being upset over it registered far less than the first time and I managed to be firm without yelling, put him on the leash and have him sit until the other dog passed. So now we will work on what I have been doing for his on leash barrier frustration issues which is bringing treats and doling them out when he sees other dogs off leash so he associates dogs with good things.

However, it's another big setback to now have to deal with what clearly seems to be a new issue. The dogs he is attacking are neutered males as well as intact ones so it makes it hard for me to believe it is only a male dominance issue. My guess is that with Hudson and Maudie gone, he no longer shares me with anyone and when these dogs at the park do not play with him but loiter or linger around me, he begins to resource guard me. Purely my uneducated guess but I will take him back to the behaviorist for our check up appointment and see what her thoughts are.

I constantly struggle with whether it would be better or worse for me to get another dog. I think it would be better for him but I'm not so sure about my own sanity. TWO requires so much of me and my mental energy that I'm not sure another dog is the answer right now. That said, I took him through the McDonald's drive through as a special treat for him. I get (what's left of) a breakfast sandwich which I share with him. He no longer even looks at the cashier, doesn't bark, growl or even bat an eyelash. I never thought I'd see the day...

That's when I remember that despite our setbacks, he has made enormous progress and I have to try to keep the long view in mind. He has another vet appointment next Monday as he is due for some shots and I have a whole host of questions for her. I will also have blood drawn for the special thyroid panel so many have recommended. It may require a sedative to do all we need to do but we'll see.

Today I went to meet with and interview (interrogate :) ) the boarding kennel the behaviorist recommended. They were fabulous. Lovely facility with huge runs and outdoor areas. They have lots of dogs with "issues" from dog-dog aggression to dog-people aggression to food and bed resource guarding. They assured me they would not to anything beyond the absolute necessary with a minimum of contact while TWO stays there. My biggest concern was that a well meaning kennel attendant, thinking he is such a beautiful dog is going to fall in love with him and try to "save" him or work with him while I'm gone. They gave me absolute guarantees that that would not be the case.

There's even an outdoor only, large covered run he could stay in during the summer months and after explaining that I was concerned he would refuse to go back inside the inside portion of their indoor/outdoor kennels once he was let out, we decided the outdoor ones would likely be best. But for now, I don't have a need for the kennel so we'll see what happens when the time comes. At least I have a back up if parental doggie sitting is not possible.

So despite all the frustration, hair pulling and my moments of questioning whether this was all a big mistake, I still love my baby and I couldn't give him up no matter how snarky he gets. We will keep working together and of course, his "home self" of excellent manners, devotion to me and funny, quirky traits make up for all the times we have come to a screeching halt in the middle of the road, the times he has growled and barked at men scaring us all half to death because he's so sudden and now this new habit of dog-dog aggression.

If anything gets him kicked out of my house, it's going to be this: my bathing him yesterday on the deck and then taking his damp self over to his favorite depression in the dirt and rolling around in it creating a muddy mess and then hauling himself back inside to lie on my sofa! Here is a picture of him in the hole he has dug down to where the earth is moist to keep him cool on hot days. He will pass out in it for hours, oblivious to the screaming kids next door and Isaac, our neighbor's Viszla sticking his nose through a hole in the fence to see what's up.

And One Step Back

As well as TWO has been doing, we have had some recent set backs when it comes to other dogs. I took him to the park early in the morning last week, muzzled of course. For some reason, he has a very strong reaction to certain other dogs. They are few and far between but in this case, some poor chocolate lab walked by, they never even interacted and TWO turned on him, snarling and growling, threw a leg over his neck and went for his withers. Hard to tell if this was an inhibited bite response and he was just trying to make a point or whether he would have actually bitten. The muzzle tends to obscure his body language a little and of course it also forces inhibition regardless of TWO's intentions.

Needless to say, this does not please me. Interaction with other animals was one of the few things I could rest easy about as he has always gotten along with other animals. This is a relatively new thing and started after Hudson's death. I am not sure if it's related to how little exposure he is getting to other dogs and thus his social skills are getting worse or if it's related to the Prozac or is simply a growing pain. I have an email in to my veterinary behaviorist to discuss it. In the meantime, he has been fine with all dogs since that time and of course he gets along famously with Samson, Keila and his regular friends.

I also asked the behaviorist about the benefits of getting another dog as company for him at home. I have toyed with the idea for some time but in anticipation of a K9 spot opening up at work and thinking about putting in for that, I have held off as 3 dogs is too much given my current lack of land. That of course, hasn't stopped me from looking on petfinder all night :)

Aside from this new issue, TWO is thriving. I have been leaving him home more and more rather than taking him to work as my intuition tells me this is starting to stress him out a little more than it used to. Even though it's cool as it's an underground parking garage, it's been really muggy lately so partly due to weather and partly due to keeping him as stress free as possible, I have been leaving him to guard the house while listening to suicide doggy music. The only downside to this arrangement is he gets NO exercise in this scenario. He refuses to walk anywhere around my house so I can't walk him before or after work. The only places he will walk are at or around work which was part of the reason I was taking him with me as he could exercise before and after work before I go home. He clearly gets cabin fever but I am at a loss as to how to get him to walk or exercise when he is at home during my work hours. We try to make up for it on our off days but it's not ideal.

In the meantime, before I can sell my house and move to a much larger space, we work with what we've got which are kongs, bully sticks, his Busy Buddy toy, playing chase around the yard etc. to try and keep him stimulated and active. I constantly buy different toys and games for him to see if anything will catch his fancy but so far he is only interested in his Busy Buddy cube.

Our next great challenge will be at the end of July when I take a couple days to climb Mt. Baker, my last unclimbed mountain in Washington. Here it is in all its puny glory:


I say puny because when you consider the summit is just about base camp for Rainier, it kind of puts it in perspective. Anyway, back to my original point. My parents are unavailable as TWO-sitters for this weekend and thus the time has come to arrange my backup plan for him. I have no one else who has either the circumstances or whom I trust enough to watch him for me. He is not a dog I can take a chance with and so I will be going to look at a boarding kennel that my behaviorist recommended. She has sent many of her clients with fearful/aggressive dogs there as they are apparently very good at caring for the dogs without interacting with them and they will respect his space and not try to "win him over" or otherwise fix him. I'll go look at it next week, have a meeting with them and make sure that everything is up to par. It kills me to put him in a kennel as no matter how nice it is, I think it's going to traumatize him but the reality is my parents can't always care for him as they are often out of town as well. So we'll see how that goes. Stay tuned...

And no, I STILL haven't decided on a name. As convenient as TWO is, it's not him and my recent suggestions of Atticus, Laszlo, Atlas and Gandalf have all been shot down. Pretty soon it's just gonna be Rover!