The Sopranos and the Bumsters

I have been so filled with good news lately when it comes to the Polar Bear, I think it's important to also present a balanced view of life with him . While he has indeed made tremendous progress, the offer to sell him and the idea of having to explain to someone how to handle him, made me think about and remember just what is involved in caring for and loving PB.

He is still an incredibly difficult dog. When he tried to walk our new route on Saturday, he froze a gazillion times and it took us eons to move along. If one trigger appears, guaranteed that a second one is not additive but instead, will multiply his reaction to the nth degree. When that woman offered to buy him, I tried to imagine having to explain to her, hypothetically since I would never, ever sell him of course, all the things I have learned about how to handle him and all she would have needed to know: what to do when he meets men, how to handle kids, what he needs when it gets windy outside etc. etc. ad infinitum. I can't imagine how his foster mom was able to turn him over to me and have the restraint to let me figure it out by myself after she spent 13 months figuring him out. I had to muddle through (still am) and make so many mistakes with him which she let me do because it was important that I learn the process and not just the answer. It's made me better able to care for him since I can work it out myself now but I can't imagine having that restraint myself as she did.

Today, I thought I would walk him in a large open park very close to where I was getting my oil changed. So while we waited for the car, we walked through the park and trails. He had a meltdown. I am very cognizant that I tend to push him too far so I have been making a huge effort to keep him well below any threshold and not push him like I used to in the beginning. I truly thought he would have no problems with just walking through a huge park. Instead, he barked, growled, froze and generally stressed himself out completely. I can only guess that the men he saw from a distance at the dealership started the downward spiral. I should have known that was too much for him.

I recently read this book, financed by my squad!



The author does a great job of advocating for just relaxing and letting a dog be a dog. She gave me a lot of insight into a dog's perspective and after reading the book, I resolved to be even more relaxed about PB and not pushing him to be something he's not. And yet, today we ended up once again, in a place of fear for him.

I would be lying if I didn't confess there are some days I wish I had gone to the pound and gotten one of the zillions of dogs that just wants to be in an active home with someone who has time to run them, hike with them, thrown the ball for them etc. A dog who is uber social and can go everywhere and love everyone. PB is so stressful sometimes that I wonder what I was thinking and whether we have really come that far after all. Sometimes I need to give myself a reality check and realize that he is still a fearful dog with a sad beginning and that we really have come a long way.

PB will always be a stressful dog in many ways. He requires constant management and is a huge responsibility. But he has taught me so much and I now feel confident enough with what I know of shy and fearful dogs that I can agree to foster a dog and know that I can at least set them on the right path. Our obedience class reminds me of how relatively advanced he and I are compared to most people in this arena because we have to be and most of the time, I now know intuitively the best way to handle a fearful situation. And most of all, I love PB and couldn't imagine being without him even though he is an antisocial baby!

Blah blah blah! Quit with the psychobabble! You'll scare off the Sopranos!

This is PB in his frozen state in the morning when he goes outside only to discover that our 4 squirrels, whom I have christened the Sopranos, are at the bird feeder again. I started calling them that because they are little thugs who steal from all the birds but who somehow evade the law (PB) every time. PB will stand there for a good 10 minutes before he can take it no longer and races out to chase them. Evidently the fact that he fails every time has not been enough to make him rethink his tactics. It's not like they don't notice there is a large white dog standing 40 feet away...

Heh heh heh. Imported straight from Sicily...

As for the cats - Hornblower wrote in a recent comment that her word verification word was "bumsters" which we thought was pretty funny. In fact, I thought it was so funny that I decided it suits those miserable cats perfectly and they shall henceforth be called the Bumsters. The Bumsters nearly met an early end when their little pea sized brains short circuited yesterday. Why? Because the Sopranos drove away the blue jays who then moved closer to the house to get their food.

Heeere, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.

When the Bumsters looked out the sliding glass door and saw this guy about 10 feet from their fat little faces, they went into kitty seizures. Maybe that's why Dexter is sick. He has a blue jay stuck in his gullet.

We're not sure what's wrong with the orange menace other than his X rays show him to be STUFFED full of food. Unknown if he has a blockage or what is going on. Although he has not been sick since I brought him home from the vet, he is still coughing and he still feels as taut as a stuffed sausage and I think he still has some kind of partial blockage. So we will fast him tonight and he goes back to the vet tomorrow for more X rays to see if his tummy empties at all after fasting. However, he is still a maniac and clearly isn't dying because he's driving me insane, racing around the house and biting my toes. Why can't I have normal animals?