Week Four

Making a good impression

Puppies get hurt. It is just a fact of life that, like children, they are clumsy, don't have full control of their limbs, they tangle, and they injure. Jed had what appeared to be an innocent fall this week, I saw it happen, and didn't really think much of it. He was running just in front of me on our way to the barn, when he folded up like an old cardboard box and collapsed in a heap. It did appear that he he hit the left side of his head flat on the ground though, and that is what caused the problem. Within an hour his left eye was all but swollen shut, his inner eyelids were red and irritated, and I started to worry. It was Sunday though, and I really wanted to avoid the emergency room, so I cleaned his eye with a warm, wet cloth and flushed it with saline. When you have as many animals as I do, you keep supplies.


I cleaned and flushed every 4 hours or so, and we made it to Monday and the regular vet. He was due for his 2nd of 3 wormings anyway, so we were able to kill 2 birds with one stone, and his eye was looking much better by the time we got there. The good news is that his cornea was not scratched, and my vet loves him. No bad news.

Five things:

1. The big boy box
2. It's time
3. Taking turns
4. Force fed
5. All night long

I am tired this week. I am tired of getting up with the puppy 2 or 3 times each night at zero-dark-thirty, and I wanted to acclimate Jed to his big-dog kennel. But, I didn't want to scare him, so I eased him into it. I began by leaving him outside, by his little puppy-self, all alone in the world, inside his big, scary kennel for a few hours while I went to the store. My kennels are chain-link, 5 in a row under a big Chinese elm tree, all attached so the dogs can see each other. All but Price, who is on the end shielded completly by a piece of corrugated tin, because he is the canine equivilent of a human bar brawler. He causes trouble just because he can.  Jed could see the rest of his family and I was confident their support would see him through.  I never heard a peep out of him either when I was leaving or when I returned. Well, that went well.

So well, in fact, that I decided to leave him out for most of the night. As I said before, I maintain my dogs with fairly consistent routines. They know when I feed them each evening, that they are in for the night with only one quick walk right before I turn in. Jed certainly didn't know the routine yet, but there was no time like the present to teach him. I made up his dinner, kibble, flax seed softened overnight in water, and a little wet food, put him and it in his kennel, turned my back and walked away. It was strangely quiet. I expected some racket, but got nothing but blissful silence from little Jedi. He had his dinner, he had his toys, he had his big-dog house with his favorite blanket stuffed inside, and apparently he had contentment, because I never heard from him again. I woke up around 3 in the morning, and put him inside with a bit of kibble in his crate. Just like crating him initially for short periods, I thought it best to treat his kennel the same way.

Tolerance is a virtue, Mirk

The older dogs know when it is not their turn. They know that while I am working another dog, it is only a matter of time before I come for them, and the big dogs I have now know to remain quiet in the interim. Once again, Price can be the exception, but only to the extent that he chews and twists on his tie out chain, and I must kennel him at dog trials when I am running another. What can I say? He is an exceptional dog, so I make exceptions... It is a small price to pay, (no pun intended.) This week little Jedi experienced waiting his turn when I left him in the dog yard while working Star and Mirk just across the street in the practice field. He studied us from inside the fence for a while, then toddled off to find a diversion. That was all there was to that. Now, had he been been noisy about it, I simply would have crated him in the house, because he is way too young to be corrected for desire.

Jed is not a good eater. Nor, I am told, is he growing at the same rate as his brother, who is quite a bit bigger. I like thin, athletic adult dogs, but I like rolly-polly puppies, and Jed is thin and leggy. I feed him 3 or 4 times a day, and pretty much around the clock. For the most part, he cleans up his meals, but it takes him a while. Some handlers subscribe to the regimen of placing food in front of a dog then picking up anything uneaten after 20 minutes. I do not see anything wrong with the technique, but in Jed's case, I am leaving food in front of him for longer periods to make sure he gets enough nourishment. He is not underfed. His eliminations are frequent and in sufficient quantity, I would just like to see him with a big fat puppy belly. Not going to happen. At least not yet.

By the end of the week, Jed was spending every night, all night in his kennel without protest. Once again, it was just me and Dexter sharing the roof over our heads at night, and I think Dexie was glad of it. Ok, Ok,  I was too, and got my best sleep in weeks.