Teri the Wire-Haired Terrier

In a recent post Canine Brotherhood, I mentioned that there were three dogs which were always together. However, during this mating season, the terrier was nowhere to be seen. I thought this could be due to her being on heat. During my next visit, I spotted her roaming around at one of the roads. She was pregnant. That explains her disappearance.

I had always wanted to rescue these three dogs, but only after they fully get used to my  presence. Besides, I will be holding a leash and a collar, and they will definitely freak out upon seeing it. But the terrier's pregnancy accelerated the need to take her off the streets. A few days later, the intent of my visit was clear. Get the terrier. After work, I went over at 6pm to look for her. She was not around. I took my chance to  just wait for her at an area of 50 meter radius. It was 45 minutes later that I saw her rummaging for food at a garbage disposal bin. I attracted her attention and waved a bag of kibbles. I made sure that when she came over, we will be near my car. She did come over and I let her eat. Since she had an old collar on her, it was easy for me to attach the leash. She was not surprised and did not struggle to free herself when she realised that she had been leashed. Nevertheless, she refused to budge when I pulled the leash. She just remained seated. Not sure if she will bite me if I carried her to my car, I patiently nudged her seated rump toward the car. Every nudge moved her for about 6 inches. When she was about 1 foot from the car, I decided to carry  her. I was ready to risk getting bitten. I would have waited longer if she had been larger. She did not resist and I thanked her for her cooperation.

I drove to the vet and asked if he could take care of the dog and her soon-to-be-delivered pups. The vet measured her weight (10kg), and did some blood tests. He said she could be around 2-3 years old, and that she is a Wire-Haired Terrier. She could be due to deliver in about 2 weeks.

I had decided to name this dog Teri. I have put her up for adoption on http://www.petfinder.com.my/, and will do the same for her puppies. In the meantime, I feed her eggs and chicken wings whenever I visit her. I hope her delivery turns out well, and shall see what is the next course of action. In the meantime, I plan to get the other two remaining dogs.

Be Vigilant During Mating Season

When I walk my dogs, I don't bring along a long object to protect against stray dogs. The strays in the neighbourhood may be afraid of humans, but seeing an outsider dog is another matter. With the ongoing mating season, their hostile response to other dogs is now more intense. During other periods of the year, we have been barked and chased by stray dogs, but they always stop when they see me stamping my feet and pretending to take something (on one occasion I actually took a stone and hurled at them when they didn't retreat) to throw at them.

This morning I decided to bring a metal rod because I wanted to let Max run off-leash. When a dog attack happens, Jon will know whether to face them or run away. He has been on the streets before he was adopted. As for Max, I am sure he will not be able to avoid being harmed. This is based on two facts: First, he is much smaller in size. Second, he is too inclined to be friendly. I am sure he will actually approach these dogs, and they will perceive it as a challenge. Initially - when he was younger - I thought he was naive, inquisitive, and not able to differentiate between friend and foe; and between what is safe and dangerous. For example, he learnt that Jon is not friendly after getting pounced upon with bite marks. Until now, I still don't know what is behind Max's gung ho behaviour. I think he likes to face challenges presented by humans, dogs and inanimate objects. And this morning's incident somehow affirmed my conclusion.

We were taking a different route to a playground so that I could release Max to run. Just before reaching the place, two dogs appeared very quickly toward us. One of them seemed to have an owner because he had a collar on him. The other larger one - which was an alpha - appeared to be a stray. I stood my ground and shouted at them, but the alpha did not retreat. I then waved the metal rod and moved forward by two steps. He still walked on, albeit slower. I then frantically waved the rod, and this made him stop. We quickly walked away, leaving the two of them trailing us. It was not so much as to shoo us away, but more of sniffing on the ground for any scents left behind by my two dogs.

As I regained my senses, I recalled the incident and realised how differently Max and Jon dealt with the situation. Upon seeing the dogs, Jon quickly ran off. Max didn't move but looked at them. When I faced-off with them, Jon got back his courage and came to my side (not in front) and growled. Max lunged forward, but did not make any sound. I am sure if the leash was off, Max would not fight the dogs, but will actually enthusiastically greet them. Both of them respond to their own kind in opposite ways. Jon being hostile and fearful, while Max is too friendly.

All said, I will always be bringing the rod during our walks until this mating season is over. The hostility displayed by the males are too intense.

Vomiting in Dogs. Is he actually vomiting?

This is the title of a post from the blog Dawg Business. This post caught my interest as Jon occasionally vomits. One part of this post that - "Respiratory symptoms and vomiting" - closely described what Jon is experiencing. His output has always been "white and frothy".

I posed a question if this is the result of him pulling on the leash during his walk. I will have to observe at which point in time that he vomits. Health-wise, Jon does not wheeze or cough. I have not been concerned with him vomiting because it only happens about once a week; and thinking it was merely due to indigestion.

A Crocked Toad.

While I was walking two dogs yesterday evening, we came across a toad. I wondered what it was doing out there at 6pm. Despite one of the dogs very near it, and wanting to check it out, it did not hop away. I used my foot to nudge it. It did not move. Obviously knowing it was dead, I wanted to know for how long already. I put some pressure on it with my toes. Still soft. If it was scorching hot yesterday, it would have been rock hard. I wonder what caused its passing, because of the still-upright position and original physical form. At least it died happy.

Teaching Chance to walk on-leash

Chance has pulled through from the parvovirus. She is back to her playful, submissive behaviour. She is still waiting to be adopted. Anyhow, I shall wait until after this upcoming long holidays for enquiries about her before putting her into an animal shelter. In the meantime, for the past three visits, I have been conditioning her to accept the leash and collar; and ultimately to obediently walk on-leash. This will give the potential adopter a head start in getting her to walk on-leash.

In my first post about Chance, I mentioned that she likes to go into submissive belly-up posture. Well, on the first training day, she did exactly that when I pulled her with the leash. So I deferred this step, and just let the leash twist around her body, with the intention of letting her feel the presence of it. Initially, she was eager to follow me, and didn't mind the leash being around her. 

 



After awhile, Chance began to roll over when I looked back at her. I ignored her and continued to walk. Being the kind who is sticky to me, she had no choice but to follow me. I worked on this first phase of the process for remaining of the walk for the day.

 

On our next meeting, I repeated the previous step for a while before proceeding to hold the leash. She again rolled over. I dropped the leash and walked on. She followed. I picked up the leash again. I repeated this step whenever she rolled over, until she was willing to walk while I held the leash.

It was natural for her now to call the shots. This time she stood her ground - sometimes she sat down - and resisted from moving. I pulled her, but realised it was not effective and correct to do so, so I dropped the leash and walked away. This time she did not follow me until I was quite far ahead. On ocassions when I see cars approaching, I have to squat down and call her over. I will again hold the leash and proceed to walk. She will again resist. This process repeated several times for the remaining of our walk.

On the third visit, she was more obliging to walk beside me, though occasionally - but not as frequent - she resisted from moving. I was confident she would fully cooperate in future. One of her favorite place - and mine - for us to relax is at a gazebo at a nearby park. This was the first place I brought her to while waiting for the vet to open. For ten minutes, she gets a to enjoy a belly rub.

Canine Brotherhood

I came across these three dogs in the same area I found Chance.  Subsequent visits confirmed that the three of them go about in a team. Two of them - a male Retriever-mix, and a  female Terrier-mix - had a worn-out collar attached to them. The third one was a female mongrel. All three were cautious with my presence and stayed within arms length from me. But they were friendly, hoping that I have food for them. I had some kibbles in the car, and they ate it half-heartedly. Guess they were used to human food to fully appreciate the kibbles.

The mongrel was the most friendly. On that first meeting, I managed to touch her wet nose with my stretched arms. The other two were less enthusiastic, especially the Retriever. I later realised that this mongrel is the alpha. Her closest follower is the terrier. Whenever I want to get close to the terrier, this mongrel will intervene between us, while placing her foot on her body. There was an instance of affection demonstrated by this alpha. It could be the terrier was not well, because the alpha was licking the area beneath her right eye. The Retriever was, and is still always by himself.

I had given these three dogs simple, unimaginative nicknames: The mongrel is called Alpha Girl; terrier is Terrier Girl; and Retriever is called GR. The first two videos below are ones which shows the first and third meeting with them. All three were apprehensive during the first meet. Alpha Girl was the friendliest, with her licking my fingers and always offering her "hand" to me.  Though this is a sign - I later learnt - of dominance, it would be easy to train her to give "hand".  On the third meet up, I could pet her, while Terrier Girl started licking my hands. GR still stayed away. However on the sixth meet up, as shown in the last picture, GR began to sniff my hand, and I managed to pet him gently.

Being in a commercial area with many restaurants, these dogs will not have a problem getting food. In fact, these pack of three are among 4 or 5 packs who have staked a claim at different spots within a one-kilometer radius- with at least a restaurant nearby. I have not seen such a profound example of "territorial settlement" in a canine world. In spite of this, Alpha and Terrier Girl still eats the kibbles that I give them. GR doesn't eat it at all.

Thoughts of rescuing them have come across my mind. But who is going to take them in? Besides, no one is to be left behind because I reckon the one left behind will be lonely and depressed. On the other hand, these dogs here seem safe from the dog catchers. That's the benefit of living in areas where the humans are a majority non-Malays, where
the presence of dogs are not only tolerated, but accepted in the community.

There is one area I would like to share, where canine senses are concerned. There were times when they were not around their favourite spot when I stop by in the car.  But before I can even switch off the car engine, these dogs are seen running happily toward the car. Canine senses always intrigue me.

                                                         

Fear of Thunder

A majority of dogs are afraid of the sound of thunder. Jon is of no exception. However, in his case, I am not surprised because he has been on the streets before he was adopted, and was exposed to various forms of man-made and natural stimulation. When there is a thunderstorm, Jon will lie down at a corner and look up in the air, or go under the car and wait for this period of anxiety to pass.

As for Max, he has never been afraid of thunder. At least until last week. More on that later. In fact, Max is not afraid of anything or anyone except Jon. Max is gung ho and inquisitive in nature. This is a disadvantage to him because he does not anticipate danger. Any stimuli affecting the 4 organs on his head is worth inspecting. In effect, he is flexible and willing to learn. However, training him would be much easier if only he is more focused and have a longer attention span. Anyway, during a thunderstorm on a weekend recently, I noticed that he was very nervous. I was surprised by his reaction to this continuous thunder. In fact, the behaviour was much more intense than what Jon displays. The pictures below shows Max sitting in a hunched position and looking up at the sky; and one shows him huddling. Jon is seen cowering in fear, where his favourite refuge spot is under the car. In the video - it may not be clear to you - he is seen panting very heavily. It was as if he had just come back from a run.

I am unsure when this behaviour developed, because I only get to observe my dogs the most during weekends. I will never get to see how they behave when it rains during a weekday.

In a recent post, Scratch and Mark, where I questioned whether scratching the ground after eliminating is a learnt or instinctive behaviour, I would be interested to know if this change of behaviour - from being unafraid of thunder to being terrified of it - is a learnt behaviour. Was Max observing and learning from Jon's fearful behaviour towards the sound of thunder? Have any of you experienced behaviours like this, where your dogs pick up behaviours which they have previously not exhibited before?