Clarifications

My last few posts have brought in a lot of comments and emails with questions and suggestions. I feel I should answer some of the questions and give some updates.

First  there's Tsar's attack on Monkey.

Tsar has always been a very solitary dog. He needs his space and doesn't want anyone, human or canine invading it. In the house, if another dog gets too close, he'll make high pitched squeaky sounds to let the intruder know that they're getting too close.

Everyone respects his need for privacy and Bailey was definitely invading it by putting Monkey next to him. He has watched Monkey before without incident, but this time I guess Bailey took him for granted.

This face is unusual. Tsar has never been aggressive toward another dog or a person, but here he was letting us know that he did not appreciate Bailey and Monkey getting in his space.

This is the happy face we're all more accustomed to. I rescued Monkey before Bailey became aware of the attack. I don't know what would have happened if she'd tried to rescue her friend. Bailey has a temper and I wanted to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand. That's my job.

 Our next adventure was rolling on dead creatures, in this case a snake.

 We don't know if the snake was dead when they found it, but we think it was. We don't usually see single baby snakes in the yard. Generally you find a lot of them together. This time it was a single snake so we assume a bird dropped it. It was probably already dead, but one of the dogs may have pawed at it, causing it's fatal injury.

As for the doggy perfume, that's what garden hoses are for. Everyone got a chance to get sprayed, so it was a good day for them.

Finally, Samba. This is a tough one for me. Samba is ill. Her MMM requires that she take prednisone for the rest of her life. The common dosage of pred is 5mg, but Samba is taking 20mg and that's down from 60mg originally. Any dog on 5mg shows an increased desire for food and water, but Samba's hunger is off the charts. I don't want her gaining a lot of weight, so she has to remain hungry most of the time. It's hard for both of us.

Several readers have asked why I don't just crate her when I have to leave the house. It's a great question. Fudge was the first dog I ever crate trained. I taught the pups to go into their crates because with eight of them I needed to confine them on occasion. Morgan, Tsar and Samba have never been crated.

Because of her illness, trying to start crating her now would be way too stressful. The steroids have made her anxious and she overreacts to situations that she would at one time have accepted. I need to find creative ways to deal with her problems. Keeping food out of reach is one way to help her. I've also started giving her a small snack before I leave her. That seems to have helped.

All Porties are vocal, but Samba is especially so. She talks to me all the time, so answering back when I reprimanded her isn't unusual. We have conversations and although there is a language barrier, it's pretty amazing how well we can understand each other.

I know that I won't have Samba with me as long as I'd like. Her illness has made her frail and she hasn't recovered from the recent flare up as well as I would have liked. She's nervous, has a tremor and just isn't the strong robust dog she once was. Our time together is limited and I intend to make it as full and happy as I possibly can.  I won't get upset over a damaged plant or stolen dog treats. We have more important things to concentrate on, like frisbee games, swimming at the lake, snuggling together on the sofa and sitting together on the deck. Building memories together.

Happy Mother's Day to those of you with two or four footed children.