Nightmare's stay at the vet

I am back with another installment of the Nightmare tale...

If you remember, we had left the black dog at the vet's and left to Brasov.

We were supposed to only stay for 5 days, as promised. But we had a call with the clinic and they were asking us to try to pick her up faster.

It seems she didn't take well to having to stay in the cage and was making a lot of noise at night. She was crying very loudly and the vet and his family couldn't rest properly. The clinic is actually a part of their house.

We considered asking a friend to go get her, but it was not feasible. The big black dog had a problem with walking too far on foot. So we went home a little earlier and picked her up.

Other than the noise at night, she had felt right at home. She enjoyed sitting on the scale, got used to asking to go out and in and was very friendly with everyone.

We took her back home, along with more antibiotics... It seemed the infection on her forehead was not going to go away so fast. We had to bring in the heavy artillery...

Red pawprints, tears and a broken door

We got home one night after having been away for about 8 hours to find wide blood stains on the inside of the kitchen door glass, where we had left poochie, as usual. We panicked and quickly opened the door to find lots of red pawprints covering the floor.

Don't worry, this scary story has a happy ending. This photo was taken today.

But let me tell you how this all began...

A couple of days ago, poochie was left alone in the kitchen, like we have done for about a year now.

That was the room we could close properly and also without things she could distroy very handy. Since we both work, she has to be alone several hours a day. So far, no incidents, beyond making confetti out of plastic bags...

That evening though, she must have had an indigestion or something else upsetting her, that she scratched at the door until she opened it. We found her sitting happily in the living room. She had scratched a bit of the paint off the door, but nothing that couldn't have been repainted.

The second day, she must have become a bit bold, since we found more scratches in the wood and the door open again.

We thought we should try to keep her from opening the door. If we bolted it with a chair, she wouldn't be able to open it and should get discouraged after a few attempts. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.

She probably really needed to go outside, although I take her for walks right before leaving her alone, because she scratched and scratched until she reached the glass edge in the door and hurt her paw.

When we got home that night, a very meek poochie greeted us from the kitchen, with a bloody paw and muzzle from trying to lick the paw. We all had a group hug on the hallway floor and I inspected the paw closely.

I must say we were lucky.

Poochie only had two split nails, to the quick (hence the blood), but otherwise she was fine. Phew!

I took her for a walk, we got back in, she had some water and I washed her paws and disinfected the nails with some camomile tea.

I'm glad to say she is back to her old happy self now and we will not be closing the kitchen door anymore.

Dear pooch

Dear pooch,

We've been together for one year now and you're just over a year older yourself. We've taught you many tricks, including sitting and not sticking your nose in our plates at lunch. You still pull on the leash, but I know you get tired quickly and after that you're a nice girl, walking by me.

You don't respect me much, but I can't really blame you. I do most of the work around here and I also wash your dirty paws for you. I really mind it when you bite when I try to work. I know you have a huge crush on my fiance, but really, we can share, can't we?

If I send you to the balcony to take a little time out, it's for sparing my hands a few bites and maybe teaching you some manners. Don't worry, Scorp is only out to classes, he will be back afterwards. I always let you back in when you get lonely out there, if you behave yourself.

This is what I call Pasha pooch. Always on top of the pillow pile.

Look, you're nicely sleeping now, dreaming your poochie dreams. Such a good girl! Sleep tight!

Lavi

PS: if you're a really good girl, we will share a pepper later.

Bad doggie!

The past week, doggie has become uncontrollable towards me. I know everyone will jump with an explanation, but I really have none.

Spoiled? PMS-ing? Jealous? I don't know...
 

Evil doggie sample.

It seems that, when the three of us are in one room, she's an angel. She plays nicely, eats, sleeps, occasionally steals a slipper or sock. Some people would argue Aschiuta can't even bark. She's the friendliest doggie in the world and wouldn't bite anyone.

Except for me, of course. As soon as Scorp goes out of the house (which he has done every evening for the past week trying to get a business deal), the little angel turns into a little devil with sharp teeth and loud barks.

I'm sorry to say I can't really do anything about it and I've tried a lot of good advice.

I'm sure it's probably all my fault, and she's always been a bit insensible towards me but how could I fix things?

Hapy Easter! Peter's story

Aschiuta got into the photo to complete the Easter-y feeling.

 
With just a day until Easter, everyone is talking about eggs, bunnies, spring and wishing one another happy Easter.

We haven't caught the rabbit craze too much here as we got the chocolate one. One spring though, about ten years ago...

Bunny for sale!

I was walking around the market place with my dad, buying vegetables and fruits for home, when my eye caught something different on one of the tables. A box with a little rabbit inside.

The rabbit was white with brown on its back and face and brown ears.

We stopped to look at the little fellow and admire it and dad asked me if I would like to have a rabbit. Thoughts of responsibility raced through my mind.

Even if I hadn't had a pet before, dad taught me to take care of grandmother's dogs and also, there was the story of my best friend's rabbit. She also got one, a cute little albino. It was however too small and had been taken away from the mother too soon. Even if she tried her best to take care of it, the poor thing died in a couple of days.

My dad assured me that he would help me out and, since the rabbit looked old enough, we decided to try our chances.

Of course, mom was surprised, to say the least. She doesn't like pets, except maybe for cats, but not even those in our own house. Deaf to her protests of "it will smell" "it will chew", we started making the little one at home. Needless to say, the first thing it did was wet the bed.

Accommodations

My dad came up with the perfect name, Petrică, which we often turned to Peter. He kind of got used to both.

Since we had a big flat with two hallways, we decided to keep the rabbit in one of the hallways, where there were few hazards for him. We got him a small sand box and he apparently taught himself how to use it instead of the floor or carpets, so we were very impressed.

He ate a lot of vegetables and we always asked the salespeople in the marketplace not to rip the leaves of carrots or radishes, since we had a chewer back at home. One of our favourite treats was sharing a pepper. The little thing was also licking my feet a lot and we heard that he needed salt, so we gave it a big chunk.

I spent a lot of time with Peter and we used to play chase on the hallway. The fridge was also conveniently in the same room and, whenever we would open the door, Peter would dash with the speed of light and try to steal some carrots or cabbage.

Of course, greens weren't the only thing he'd chew. He chewed my shoelaces until I couldn't use them anymore and also took a bite of the tv cable. From this point of view, he was a lot like Aschiuta.

We would go out to the forest for picnics and we also took Peter with us every time we went. Rabbit leashes were unheard of at that time, so we just let him run off around. He dashed through the grass like a bullet, but always came back when we called him.

No more time for bunny?

This all happened over the summer holiday and our rabbit grew up. We realised then that we had a female rabbit, but the name remained Peter.

Unfortunately for all summer holidays, it was soon coming to an end and my parents were starting to talk about what would happen to the rabbit when I started school again. They seem very strict about school and that nothing should stand in my way to knowledge.

All in all, they decided that Peter had to move out. My aunt used to have a lot of cats and dogs at her house and also a big yard with a lot of other farm animals. They decided we should leave Peter in her care and ask her not to make a stew out of her.

We went and visited after a while. Peter was in a cage and had grown very fat from the lack of exercise. I was very sad and made the decision to never ask about Peter again. I'm half sure she ended up as stew... I'm just sorry I wasn't able to keep her for longer.

My little story has a sad ending and I'm sorry about that. I know a lot of people out there might make the same mistake we did, taking a pet only for a summer. I hope they think about it seriously, because pets are not toys.

Hope everyone has a happy Easter!

Waiting

She's lying at my feet, napping lightly, legs twitching in her sleep from time to time. I'm watching Star Trek again, letting her calm down and then maybe get back to work.

The front door opens, then swings shut with the usual dull bang. The sound instantly makes her lift her head off the blanket. Her ears fold back and her tail swings vigorously up and down. It's taking all her willpower to stop from lunging towards the door and scratching at it. I can see her almost smiling.

The door to our room doesn't open though. The light stays on in the kitchen and we can hear the door to the bathroom closing noisily. So it's not him yet.

I get halfway up and rub her back. She stops wagging her tail and looks back at me. She then turns back towards the door and puts her head back down.

She growls in annoyance, stretches and heaves a sigh. Mother never comes to say hello to her and Scorp will be home late from the darts game.
 

I guess we'll keep on waiting...

Waiting...

"The dog ate my homework"

The oldest excuse in the book, right? "The dog ate my homework" is a classic excuse for a missing homework the next day at school. The interesting part is that it's entirely plausible.

The manual paper shredder

Aschiuta loves to shred paper. Tissues, toilet paper, random pieces of paper lying around are doomed to be torn to pieces by this little paper shredder. One day, when we came home from an evening out, we saw that she had also torn pages off a book in the bookcase. The book was about Mathematics, so I totally agree with her choice.

"This is my paper. Get your own!"

 

The terminator doggie

Recently, I have been wondering what to do about her chewing habits, especially when she's home alone. She has chewed parts of the bed and couch and also the table legs. If there are any objects that look interesting, especially made of plastic or rubber, she would chew them. Even the cables have felt the sting of her fangs, as you can read in my post Spaghetti? Yes, please, with meatballs!

We have several chew toys for her, including a nice new one from Scorp's mom, but she barely looks at them. Instead of letting her chew on the furniture and other things, I had to give her a more interesting alternative. And, cheap, since we're both kind of out of jobs.

I actually had the idea of making her stuffed toys out of old rags and cotton, but Scorp argued I shouldn't use cotton, so I was still wondering what else to do.

Confetti is the way to go!

Somehow, she gave us the answer herself. While we were out one day, she found a couple of old notepads and tore the papers out. We were happy to know she didn't even bother destroying anything else.

Working on that confetti.

 

Since then, we've been out three times and every time, I would leave some pieces of paper at the edge of the table, in a handy position. When we came home, the papers would be shredded and the doggie happy.

I'm glad we have a safer alternative for her chewing madness, at least for a while.

Leaving the scene of the crime.

Pooch away on holiday

We sent Aschiuta off to a dog hotel today. It was just on the spur of the moment, since we didn't think we'd have the money to go to a big darts competition. However, a couple of good friends offered to help us out, so here we are, about to go away for a couple of days... without Aschiuta.

Aschiuta... home alone

We have never been away from home for an entire day since we got Aschiuta and even a few hours alone would make her sad, anxious and bored. And what does Aschiuta do when she's bored? She chews on things. Lately, her newest obsession has been the headboard, which is made of wood and her teeth almost wouldn't want to part with it. Unfortunately, she also chews on wires sometimes and after she got a small shock from the TV cable, we were hoping she'd learned her lesson about not biting thin long plastic things. Yesterday though, she chewed on other, more dangerous cables connecting Scorp's monster sound system. We don't want to take any chances.
 

Even with the great new toy, wood is still yummier for Aschiuta. Hence her name.

 
Doggiesitting mom

I originally asked mom to doggiesit, but she was going out of town for the weekend too. After finally agreeing to take care of the crazy pooch, we had second thoughts. Yes, we can't trust mom with taking care of Aschiuta. She lives with us, but stays far away from her and has never walked her. She even insists on giving the doggie away to my grandpa, which we vehemently refuse.

Five star hotel? Does it have a jacuzzi?

We searched around on the internet and found a few dog hotels that offered nice accommodations, with a small indoor space for each dog that had heating through the floor. Which is in my opinion perfect for a dog (I'll tell you more about this later). They offered to walk her 2 or 3 times a day and I'm pretty sure Aschiuta will be comfortable there. We sent her the blanket on the bed, food, treats, her toys, even "how to" instructions in her medical dossier. She also loves meeting new people and dogs, so if the caretaker will become friends with her, I hope she won't miss us... too much.

Maybe the blankie will make her feel more like home.

Missing silly pooch already

However, waiting to hop in the car and leave, we can't help missing her already. Nobody to greet us at the door. Nobody to jump and run around my legs and sniff everything in sight. We can leave the door open without the blonde hurricane darting out.

Hope she'll be ok there. Take care Aschiuta!

When the cat's away...

... the mice get separation anxiety.

This post doesn't deal with cats and mice, but with people and their pet dogs. In a past article, To chew or not to chew..., I discussed some of the chewing habits of dogs. One cause that I failed to mention then was owners leaving their dogs home alone. It is a real emotional problem for the dog, who feels abandoned and forgotten. You know how little kids cry on their first day of kindergarten "I want my mommy!"? Your dog would say the same thing when you leave it all alone.

I would also like to link to an article in the Dog Training Classroom, where you can find more details about this issue.

Why is the dog anxious?

Like I've said before, all dogs have different personalities and some might simply be prone to anxiety and insecurity. We can also mention trauma... A dog that has been abandoned once by its pack will be afraid you will do the same, even if you're only leaving to get groceries.

How does this anxiety manifest?

In short, the dog will cling to you when you leave or come back. While you're away, don't be surprised if your dog starts stealing and destroying your things. Most "potty accidents" happen when the dog is left on its own.

Scorp and I also have this problem with Aschiuta. He goes to work almost every day and I stay at home most of the time. When he leaves, she is upset, but not too much, because I'm still around. But when I leave too, it's the end of the world for doggie. We often find things chewed and spread all over the floor and the bed. She chews anything that she can reach: some toys in a shelf, my jewelery, newspapers and lately even a book.

We usually leave her on the balcony, because there are less things to chew on and it's easy to clean if she makes a mess. But one evening, when it was colder, I asked my mom to open the door for her and let her inside. When we came back, disaster... and she hadn't soiled the room's floor for a long while. It seems that the poor dog had a double shock. First we leave the house, then my mom lets her in, only to leave her alone as well.

I still often worry when I leave her alone in the room... This separation anxiety seems to work both ways.

What can be done?

The site I linked to gives a number of ideas and tricks to make it easier for your dog to cope with separation. Mainly, your dog needs to know that you will come back every time.

"Where are you going?"

Don't make a big fuss about leaving and coming back. Aschiuta is all over us when we come home and it's really hard to ignore her, but it has to be done. Also, to get the dog used to the idea of coming and going, do it often and for short periods of time as a training session.

"She is such a good doggie when she's sleeping!" we often say. A tired dog has less energy to destroy things and is likely to nap while you are gone. Playing or walking will help get your dog tired and also in a better mood.

All in all, I hope this little article will help you have a happier dog. I will also try and see how Aschiuta will fare. And remember, patience is the way to go.