Manny Goes Home

So word is that Manny went to his new home Sat afternoon!!!  Much to my mild surprise  as due to overcrowding he had not made it into the public areas where would-be adopters could view him.  Which means his adopters either came looking for him specifically based on seeing him online, or were one of the couples who met him when I walked him in the lobby earlier Sat.

 

Manny in the exercise yard Sat.

Brenna and I are very curious about who adopted Manny, but as adopter information is private we may never know.  There was one very nice couple who were interested in him when I walked him, and someone on facebook who expressed interest.  It doesn't surprise me that he got adopted.  It's a rare half starved stray who knows sit, shake, down, and walks great on leash.  Not to mention is well mannered with other dogs and people.  So it was a numbers game until he found a home.


Sadly my fellow shelter volunteers didn't manage to get photo op like we got with Ned this Sat, but that's pretty much how it works as a shelter volunteer.  You work with a dog to get them ready to be adopted and see them regularly for weeks at a time.  Then they are gone and hopefully you'll never see them again.

Ned and his new owner

Thank you to everyone who forwarded Manny's blog post, the shelter workers who took him in, vets/vet techs who patched him up, and the volunteers who walked him and kept an eye on him for me.

PS- Brenna is very relieved that Manny has found a new home, and that she can abandon her plan to move into a hotel room for some peace and quiet in the event she came home one day to a third dog.  Sam is happy because he'd miss her....

PPS- About a month after this post I became facebook friends with Many's new owner.

Dog X

On Monday, a stray dog was hanging out by the dumpster behind our row of condos.  It stared hungrily through the car window, watching Brenna as she drove by on her way to a meeting at work.

All of its ribs were showing.  A long, unsecured tether stretched out behind it.  No human was around.

Brenna got that unpleasant feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know you're about to do the right thing, and you know it's going to be a pain in the butt.

That dog would move on if nobody fed it soon.  There were a lot of places nearby where an exhausted, starving dog could curl up on a hot day, and hope to wake up to something better.

And maybe never get up.

So she called Sam.

That may sound like cowardice, but the truth is that Sam is the dog person in the family.  The idea of rescuing a stray would make Sam's day.  And he'd know how to do it.  Whereas the idea of rescuing a stray makes that unpleasant feeling in Brenna's gut settle in for the long haul.

With a little bit of food in hand, Sam led it to our backyard.  It was emaciated.  Its ears were chewed up, probably from flies.  Somebody had tied a rope around its neck.  The rope had rubbed its skin raw over the white patch on its chest, probably from the dog's effort to escape.  It had other wounds, too - a cut here, a scratch there.  It had ticks and fleas.

And then, there were those ribs.

Shit.

This dog is a survivor.

In spite of the obvious neglect, the dog was also very friendly.  He didn't cower from Sam in the manner of a dog used to physical violence.  If anything, he demonstrated an easy going, "Sure, dude, whatever you say," kinda nature, even when Scamper (aka Little Miss Mayhem) let it be known she didn't like having a strange dog in HER backyard.  Indy objected loudly to not being able to greet the new dog properly.  (Admittedly said greet would last 5-10 seconds then the dog would be uninteresting...)

After some water and food, the dog followed Sam eagerly enough into the car.  It knew how to walk on a leash.  It knew how to sit.

Sam drove it to San Jose Animal Care, where he volunteers regularly.  While it seemed unlikely anybody would claim the dog (without serious questions about animal neglect, anyway), the dog clearly needed medical attention and more care then we could give it during the week.

Besides, we can't afford to bond with a third dog.  Where would we put it?  WE CAN'T ADOPT THIS DOG, DAMMIT.

So we called it Dog X.  You don't have to worry about bonding with something called Dog X, right?

Over the next week, Sam followed the dog through his contacts at the shelter.  The dog was eating.  The dog was getting de-flea-ed.  The dog was getting medical care.  The dog was getting some dental work.  The dog was getting its behavioral tests.  The dog was getting fixed.

Then, yesterday, it was official.

The dog had passed all its tests.  The dog was adoptable.

Here.  Take a look.  http://www.petharbor.com/pet.asp?uaid=SNJS.A842448

They had the nerve to name it Manny.  How Dare They.

Then, today, against her better judgment, Brenna joined Sam when he went in for his volunteer shift at the shelter.  Against her better judgment, she took some photos of the two of them together.

You'll notice how pleasant the whole thing is.

Then, against her better judgment, she joined Sam in petting the dog, 

and scratching him,

and feeding him. 

Unfortunately, the dog is affectionate.  This is a problem, because WE DON'T HAVE ROOM FOR A THIRD DOG.

Can you help us out here, anybody?  Anybody want a Real.  Good.  Dog???

(Here's that link again:  http://www.petharbor.com/pet.asp?uaid=SNJS.A842448.)

(This post is a joint effort by both Silbory's.)

Doggie Elimination diet

Indy has been having itchiness, and digestive issues of late.  The itchiness has of late gone to the extent of causing self mutilation from licking and biting. Leading candidates acording to my research are yeast infection in the gut, or allergies.  (Of course the 2 symptoms could be unrelated.)   This leads to a logical diagnostic of an Elimination diet.  Luckily for Indy my work's weekly lunch was sparsely attended, and I manage to save several pounds of chicken and beef.  So this week is yogurt, chicken, and beef....

The idea is that yogurt seems to calm his stomach issues so it's likely not causing them.  It's also said to be more for yeast issues.  The meat is much closer to a dog's ancestral diet which reduces the chance of allergies.  While it's not a horribly balanced diet it won't hurt him to eat it for a week.  Also the meat and yogurt should starve out yeast in the gut.  Hopefully this won't result in another night of horrible gas and frequent trips outside.

He seems to be loving it, which will likely not be the case for stage 2 the vegan diet....

The End for Shaggy

I got a call this Tuesday from the Shelter in San Jose.  Shaggy was picked up by his owners.  Given that the Shelter is closed Monday, Shaggy was picked up late Friday and the chip company is strictly 9-5 M-F.  The shelter had to have called the owners today.  The head of the shelter said they came right out to get him.  Given she called me around noon I suspect his owners dropped everything, and came right into the shelter.

PS- Months later I encountered Shaggy on leash on a walk in the neighborhood with his owner.  She relates he got out of the yard on 4th.  They live maybe a mile away.  She adopted the dog as a semi-feral stray.  He originally been living a creek near Alum Rock Park.

Curse Your Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal

All last week I've been working with Shaggy.  I feeding him on my morning, and after work walks.  Slowly I'm gaining his trust.  I've gotten him to sit before I feed him.  Then feeding him by hand. Shaggy has even let me stroke and scratch him while he eats.  (His skin is in bad shape covered in scabs from fleas.)  He is still leery of me.  Jumping nearly a foot in the air when I sprayed him with an herbal anti-flea/tick treatment.  By Friday the flea treatments seem to have worked as he isn't constantly scratching. 

Then late Friday the fateful call came.  I was home early from work.  (The new "faster" internet connection was having issues which left us off the internet, phones unusable, and the alarm occasional going off.)  My wife was down with a migraine which left us unable to head out camping, and I was wondering how to broach the idea capturing Shaggy today. At which point my phone rang.  Lisa, an animal control officer, was in the area looking for Shaggy.

I grabbed some food, Indy and headed out meet up with her.  We cross the dry creek and approached Shaggy's den.  Shaggy comes out as usual out when I call, and seems happy to see Indy.  He is leery of Lisa, but food convinces him rapidly to approach us.  He recognizes her attempts to slip a leash on him, and easily evades her.

So we regroup.  She puts the food bowl down, and positions a snare pole's loop around it.  Shaggy is leery, but I feed him a little by hand.  He goes for it, and Lisa expertly loops the snare pole around his neck and pulls it tight.

Shaggy desperately writhes in the nooses grip.  My heart sinks at the betrayal of his fragile  trust.  The struggle lasts an eternity, or perhaps as much as 20 seconds.  Indy is draw by Shaggy's struggles, and I have to hold him back.  I don't know if it was an attempt to help, discipline, or just curiosity.  After Shaggy calms a bit more we head back with obvious unease and occasional attempts to bolt.  Shaggy seems to calm when I bring Indy to walk beside him.

The creek that we had easily crossed a few minutes before seem a bit daunting  to cross with Shaggy.  I offer to walk Shaggy back to the bridge while she drives over to meet us.  I walk back with Shaggy and get a number of odd looks as I walk through the more populated park area.  He still has snare pole and a leash around his neck, and he is a bit wild on the leash.  Soon he settles, and the walk is some what pleasant and strange.

We meet up with Lisa and she scans him.  To her surprise she find an embedded microchip.  We both had until this point thought that Shaggy had been abandoned by the creek.  It's possible given his skittishness that he was frighten by fireworks, and has been lost for a month or so.  The chip is an unfamiliar one to her, and not used by local shelters or most vets in the area.  The company that issues it has an 1800 number only staffed 9-5, and that 9-5 isn't PST.

Lisa tells me they will attempt to find his prior owners, and if they can't be found then he will be tested for suitability for adoption.  If he fails he will be put down.  She isn't hopeful given how much he shys from touch.  I ask if I can foster him or adopt if he fails.  No apparently only a rescue group would be able to claim him at that point.  I'm not entirely surprised.  I've figured that I might need to involve a rescue group to find him a home or retrieve from the pound.  I've already sounded out a few groups.  I'd have to foster him myself as most rescue groups are pretty much completely full.

A Shaggy Stray

Over two weeks ago I had a bit of a scare when a collarless dog emerged out of the creek and head right for Indy.  Indy's not dog aggressive.  He in fact will ignore major provocation from small dogs, and tries to defuse situations with larger or more dominate dogs.   That said he has proven willing to try to go head to head with dogs close to his own size that are doggy polite.  He's never bitten another dog, but he has cowed or driven off other dogs.  This dog fit the bill for trouble young, full of energy, and slightly smaller.  Just the type of dog to mistake Indy's laid back tolerance for a submissive dog.

The encounter went fine the dog was happy to see Indy, and even tried engage Indy in play.  Even better he stopped pressing  the issue when Indy, annoyed by the attempt, asserted himself.  At the time I thought nothing of it as I see the occasional loose dog in the creek area.  As the week progressed I noted that a prime cat hang out stopped having cats, but Indy still often stopped to sniff the area.  Also I increasing saw the neighborhood cat closer to the park rather than the cat hangout.

Last week before my vacation I met the dog again, and noted that the dog was far more matted.  He still was friendly, but I noted that he had all the ear marks of a stray.  When I returned I expected to find that he had moved on.   The area regularly used by dog walkers, runners, and bikers.  Not all the dogs walked in the area are friendly to other dogs.  To my surprise not only was he still in the area, but he had establish a den.  Even more surprising is  that he and Indy greeted and he joined us on our walk for a time.  He acted healthy, but I saw warning signs.  Areas where he had gnawed on himself, and continued scratching.

I wandered a bit and ran into some on my fellow dogwalkers.  An older fit gentleman with a high energy you pitbull that always pestered Indy to play, and seem to enjoy Indy running him off.  Said he'd been dened up all week, and like to play with his dog.  The older couple with a flat-coated lab of questionable socialization said they had started feeding him, but were worried they were leaving on vacation soon.

It seemed that a responsible dog lover would call the local shelter and have them send some one out.  Sure some of you are wincing, but this is the Bay Area.  The local shelter has dogs that have been up for adoption for 2 months.  The San Mateo Shelter has a senior pit bull who had been there for years until it was adopted.  I could make sure they knew I'd foster the dog if it came to it.  There are rescue groups around.   It was simple they'd send some one out. I could work from home and lead them right to the dog.  We could lure him with food and Indy.  So I filled out the form on the local animal control site.

 A day passed...  Hmm the 2nd day around 4 I called the non-emergency line.  I was on hold until 5 when they went home.  Thus hatched my daring plan I'd capture the dog my self.  Sure he was wary, and grabbing him with my hand might not go well.  A dog bite needed to be avoided at all cost.  I reported it they come get him to check for rabbis, but it would greatly increase the chance he'd be labeled dangerous and put down.  If I didn't report it I be in for a series of painful shots.

So the obvious thing to do was to gain his trust enough to slip a leash on him.  Deciding that I nicknamed him Shaggy and set out to gain his trust.  I'm sure he's not going to understand my eventual betrayal, but I suspect it will be is his best long term interest.

Indy comes home

Out of the shelter things go much better.  Indy is nervous, but is obviously comfortable with a leash.  We get the the car and open the back door.  Indy climbs right in with barely a second hesitation.  We start on our way back, and the dog gives us little trouble.  He's unsteady on his feet in the car, but still prefers not to sit or lay down.  But he is extremely calm and no trouble at all.  His one bark is over a passing motorcycle.  For a dog just plucked out of a shelter he is an angel.  I'm far more worked up than him, and hungry to boot.  (Other than a boba drink I haven't eaten all day.)

We start looking for a Pet store, and food.  We don't have anything for a dog.  I know you should buy every thing BEFORE you get the dog, but when you are looking for a dogs between 15-50 pounds you can't buy ahead.  The crate, harness, lead, dish are all  going to be determine by size.  Even for the food I wanted to know what the dog  been eating before, and it's age.  So we pulled into a strip mall with a Petco, and an In&Out.  We hit the drive thru and hope that the dog won't cause trouble with us eating in the car.  To our surprise he seems interested, but polite, and calm.  Before we go to the pet store I try to feed him a piece of patty I've saved.  No luck.  He is interested, but won't take it.  I'm surprised by this, what dog won't readily eat hamburger patty?

  In the store we get a harness, 20 foot lead, 2 steel dog bowls, and a crate.  Brenna isn't a fan of the crate.  (Like me she grew up with dogs that basically just ran free.)  But I figure that Indy will prefer being locked in a crate inside rather than sleeping outdoors.  I wander the store looking for the right brand of food, and I'm grateful that Indy helpfully selects exactly the right brand himself (sniffing it with interest).  We get out to the car, and suddenly realize that there isn't enough room for both dog, and crate.  Wondering if we've made a mistake we put the crate in the car, and urge Indy into it.  He balks once, and tries to go into the floor the second time.  Then once he realizes that I want him in the crate.  He climbs right in.  I close the door, and he rides without complaint the whole way back.  The only noise is the occasional thump when he is knocked off his feet during braking.  (Some things never changed.)  By the time we get home he is asleep in his crate.

Bringing a dog home is a nervous experience.  Nothing in his paperwork indicates he is house trained.  You ask yourself.  Will he pee on things?  Get into the garbage? Chew on things?  He raises his leg once, but stops when he gets a harsh no.  We setup his crate, and have him go inside.  We put some food in the bowl, but he won't eat.  He spends the rest of his evening sprawled out on the floor, or curled up in his crate.  His one walk of the evening is nervous, and tentative.  The cars in the dark spook him leading me to think it may have been a very long time since he has walked in a public place at night.