Home Zookeeper

I read on another blog, I think it was That Mutt but I could be wrong, that you shouldn’t try to avoid situations that your dog has issues with but should try to confront those situations and work through them. I’m paraphrasing obviously.

I sometimes don’t like walking Trooper because when we encounter other dogs he gets rowdy. Timber is the same way. But I realize that the more I walk Trooper and encounter dogs in various states of excitement the better he gets in his reactions.

If a dog is lunging (excited or aggressive) Trooper still wants to react toward that dog but with the choke chain and the sharp command “leave it” or “No” he isn’t trying to pull me off my feet anymore. Of course, an aggressive dog makes him get protective but he’s getting better at that too.

Timber, meanwhile, is also making gains in walking properly with his mama. I took him to daycare on Friday and for about 20 minutes went back and forth from my car to the door trying to get him to not pull on me. Finally the owner took pity on me and in 2 minutes had that dog healing and looking up at her in total submission.

I was very jealous. What was I doing wrong? I was being too nice!!! =) Which is funny since I’m the “mean” one of the family (mean as in strict). But I wasn’t being mean enough.

So more practice is necessary. My goal is to be able to someday walk both boys together. Without being pulled over. In the meantime I’ll be happy walking them separately without having a shoulder dislocated.

Or is Trooper depressed?

Or am I transferring my own emotions onto him? It’s been a couple of weeks and you’d think I’d be over the emotional devastation of losing an activity like agility.

Lately when I look at him he just seems sad. He hasn’t gotten as much activity because we’re no longer doing agility, and my nausea is so bad that I haven’t even walked him for a week. He does get to go to daycare once a week and went last Friday.

Maybe it is just me. I look at pictures I have of him around my desk at work … they’re of him working agility equipment from when we had just started. Every time I look at them I start to tear up. I think I need to take them down. He looks so happy with a big goofy doggy grin on his face.

I want him to be a happy and healthy dog. I want to keep that bond with him that we built up over the last year. I’ve asked his trainer how we could start training to mush. Can’t you just see him pulling me on roller skates? hahahaha But really, I think he’d be good at it and enjoy it. He loves to pull and I of course force him to constrain that natural instinct. So maybe training him to pull things would be a really healthy way to exercise him and bond at the same time.

Malamutes were built to pull loads, not to race. I think it would be really fun to train him to pull a wagon (carefully and on a leash) with our two legged baby (when the kid is older…don’t worry I’m not completely insane) or to pull stuff around the yard when papa is working. Or to carry “heavy” (not bad heavy) loads when we eventually go camping.

He’s still my baby boy.

Time heals all wounds, or so they say. I’m feeling a bit better today. Working at home sometimes makes me feel more isolated and sad, but today I’m enjoying the quiet with my dogs. Timber went to daycare yesterday so today he is super mellow and I love it.

He’s been walking around everywhere with his tennis ball in his mouth. It’s so cute. We’re not used to having a dog who likes to play fetch, but Timber has really caught on and seems to enjoy it. We’re still working on him bringing the ball back directly to us and dropping it. But the command “drop it” does seem to get him to loosen his jaws and allow us to take the ball. And when he really wants to play he’ll come drop the ball at our feet.

The last few nights he’s started sleeping with his ball. Which I find hilarious. He’s not supremely obsessed with it or anything. He doesn’t have to have it at all moments and he doesn’t attack the other dogs if they pick it up and play with it. But he sure does love that ball.

Having a dog that will fetch is really nice because there’s a built in way to exercise. Hubby doesn’t always feel like going for a walk, but Timber always needs to get his excess energy out. So they can go in the back yard and play for 30 minutes before Timber says enough.

Trooper on the other hand needs a walk for his exercise. Playing is just never enough for him.

I’ve decided that I want him to be able to walk by a house with a dog in someone’s yard and ignore that dog. There is a dog on the corner who attacks his fence, barking and growling. Trooper tends to want to “attack” back (not literally, but he will bark, growl, and pull on his leash to try to get to the fence”. So for two days now we’ve walked by and I’ve used his choke collar and said “leave it” … I’m not sure if this is the right way to do this though.

Yesterday I took some treats with me and made him sit in front of the fence (it’s a solid fence so you can’t actually see the other dog) while the dog was going bonkers. He sat very nicely facing me and I gave him a treat and told him he was a good boy.

I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do either.

All I know is that I need to be able to walk him without worrying about him going nuts when another dog is aggressive towards us. It’s going to be my new project with him. I’m open to suggestions too.

It’s been a very rough couple of weeks and last night was just one more nail in my coffin.

Trooper did a very bad thing, something that I am well aware of. I did everything I could to make the situation right with the owner of Kilo, short of bringing him back to life. The entire experience was very expensive for us but that was okay. It truly was the least we could do. Diane now has a new Pom, named Panda, who is 14 months old. I hear they are bonding well.

I was looking forward to going back to agility this week, and sent the trainer an e-mail to make sure it was okay.

The phone rang last night and shattered my dreams. Trooper is no longer allowed in class. Nor am I advised to enter him in shows.

Expressing my devastation here is not possible. I could not stop crying last night. Hubby finally got annoyed with my tears and started getting all logical, which was not what I needed.

I know in my logical head that it is perfectly acceptable and makes sense. Trooper is now a liability and as a business they can’t afford to have a dog who has killed another dog. I know that. What if he did something bad again? As hubby pointed out, they could take him away from us and even put him down. Even though I know that he didn’t do anything out of aggression or to TRY to kill something. It was an accident fueled by natural drive.

But in my heart I am just so depressed and sad. I’m grieving. I’ve now lost an activity, a bonding experience with my dog, that made my world brighter. There are very few activities out there that get me out of the house and interacting with others. Agility allowed me to socialize and work with my boy. I got exercise, he got exercise. We learned new things together. It was extremely good for me mentally.

I feel like crying even now, though I’m at work and that wouldn’t be the best idea. I have pictures up all around me of Trooper performing various agility exercises. He enjoyed it so much.

This whole thing has been a tragedy on so many levels. My heart aches. I’m severely depressed right now and that’s not healthy for me or my baby. I know that Trooper will be fine. He doesn’t realize any of the things going on and won’t “miss” agility in the way I will.

I don’t know what I will do now but I want to continue working with Trooper - even if it is just going for walks and learning to walk properly in new places. My ultimate goal will be getting Timber and Trooper to walk calmly together with me.

Everything happens for a reason. Perhaps I was not meant to do agility in the long term, especially with a baby on the way. It doesn’t make me less depressed right now and I hope that something will help pull me out of this horrible funk. I do trust that God has a plan, even though this seems like a particularly cruel step in my journey.

Thank you all for your support and kind words. I’ve not quite recovered but am starting to pay more attention to Trooper. We aren’t going to agility class this week. The idea of going right now turns my stomach. I am fearful … afraid to see the look in people’s eyes. Afraid to see them look at Trooper. *sigh*

I know it will get better someday. But right now I’m still unsure and haven’t talked to Diane (Kilo’s mama). We sent money for the vet bill…that is what emergency funds are for. And we will pull more money out to help her get a new puppy or dog and to help with other costs like new leashes, toys, food, etc. Not to mention if she still wants to do agility.

Trooper’s daycare called and offered to serve as a character reference for him. Is that not the sweetest?

Anyone who knows him knows that he is not a mean dog. He would never bite a person on purpose (my bite was completely accidental), nor would he hurt another animal just to HURT it. He can get testy when it comes to food but he’s never put a scratch on any of his brothers or his sister. He’s so big and can look really mean and scary, but that works in my favor when taking him for a walk by myself. I consider him stealth security from bad people. Although a gun would be more effective I suppose.

In general, Trooper is the sweetest, most affection and loving dog we’ve ever had. He loves people especially.

I caught him and Timber playing today in the back yard. They chased each other like wild boys and finally settled down in the snow for some tandem chewing.

My grief for what happened will never go away. I pray that someday I will be able to look at Trooper and not think about what happened last Sunday.

I cannot tell you how much fun I had this weekend. Of course, I also had a completely exhausting weekend.

Trooper and I left in the truck early Saturday morning … I wasn’t sure where the event was and I get nervous driving new places. It’s a very good thing I left so early because we did end up lost! I copied the instructions down wrong - I missed a line of direction and missed a turn.

Thankfully I had my trainer’s and another participant’s phone number and was able to turn around and make it to the Ranch.

Unfortunately I’d forgotten my registration information, but it was okay because they had our details at check in. Thank goodness!

Things got started off a little later than normal - the judges had to be woken up! hahaha Silly judges. It wasn’t until after 9 a.m. when the runs started and our first run wasn’t until around 10:30 or 11 a.m. I wasn’t all that nervous for our first run. It was a Standard run and I had plenty of time to walk it and memorize the course.

I didn’t explain to my helper how to use my camera so he only got about half of the run but at least you can see Trooper pretty well. We ended up Qualifying and getting SECOND place in our very first trial run!!! I was ecstatic!!!

Trooper did SO good … he did growl at one dog when we first got there - the ONLY dog bigger than him. hee hee hee

But otherwise the entire weekend was wonderful. Our second run was Gamblers - I had to send him on to a tunnel and then he was supposed to take a jump that was a ways away from me. It didn’t work out so well but except for that and a tire issue he did wonderful. We didn’t qualify because you have to complete the gamble successfully in order to Q. I think the tunnel angle was a little unfair for us noobies but who am I to complain?

I run like a girl.

The last run of our first day was called Snookers. *grin* It was fun and we ended up qualifying.

That was probably our best run in terms of clean and put together, except I did notice my baby shaking his head a bit. That usually means he has an ear issue. But he did awesome.

I think we tied for third in Snookers, with another student from the same class which is neat. There were a ton of Fido Farm’s students and instructors there. It was incredible to have such support and camaraderie.

The first day lasted FOREVER! They were so far behind and there were so many dogs to run on Saturday that my level didn’t go until after 9 p.m. and we didn’t get home until after 10 p.m. I barely got six hours of sleep before I had to get up and go back up to the Trial.

Trooper was so tired! On our way back he slept the whole way and did not move a muscle. He will normally sit up and get interested when we turn into our development, but he did not wake up until I put the truck in park. He had this look on his face like “are we there yet?” with a dopey expression and his fur all matted on one side. Doggy bed head. LOL

Day two started and I didn’t get lost this time. Trooper was excited to get going even though we hardly had any sleep. Our first run of the day was another Standard one and he did alright. I never realized how slow he goes … although I swear in class he moves faster than he did at the Trial.

He has an amazing sit and stay. We had to wait for almost 30 seconds before we got the green light to go.

Doesn’t he look handsome from behind? *grin* You can hear one of my trainers saying to reward him but I couldn’t hear her. Not only that, if I had moved back toward him he would have broken his sit stay since I couldn’t give him a cookie. He got LOTS of cookies this weekend.

When he went over the A-Frame he actually went quicker than normal. It was quite a coordinated descent too. lol I was quite proud. Normally he slides down kind of sloppily but always cute. I got in his way for the next two jumps and then he didn’t really want to go into the weave poles but he did.

We qualified in this run too so now we have two standard qualifications. We need one more before we can move up. ALREADY!!! It’s a little too frightening to think about.

The next event was Pairs. I paired up with the wonderful Gracie and her ‘momma’ who are in the same class as me and Trooper. I was SO excited for how good they did. Trooper and I didn’t do nearly so well in this one. He did not want to work the weave poles, but he just gets tired of them after only doing them two or three times. He’d already done them once that day.

We took too long and did not qualify but it was hella fun!

Our last run of the tournament was Jumpers. I think we could have done better. I asked my instructor what I did wrong or could have done better but she said I did okay. Trooper was tired. He just didn’t get all the jumps in fast enough so we didn’t qualify. But I also think I could have run it a little differently to help him.

All in all it was an entirely amazing weekend and I can’t wait to do it again!!! We got three Qs, two 2nd places, 1 third place, and 1 fourth place. I’m already looking forward to class on Thursday.

It’s almost time. Tomorrow morning I won’t be sleeping in as usual. I’ll be up bright eyed and bushy tailed at oh five hundred. Get three dogs in their kennel with blankets and towels and water and get Trooper and I in the truck and on the road.

We had our last Agility practice before the trial last night. He did amazing. I was a little concerned because we took all four dogs into the field beforehand to play and he played hard. But he was focused and ran really well. And it was hellishly difficult course. The instructor assured me that none of the set ups at the trial will be nearly so difficult.

My goal is to have fun and not let Trooper run off the course. If it goes really amazingly well we will get something called a “Q” … which I really don’t yet understand. Some of the terminology of this agility stuff is still new to me. Apparently if you do things the “right” way you get a Qualifying score. Get enough “Q”s and I think you move up … to what I don’t know. lol

Something that I do worry about is my nerves. I’m not super nervous yet but I will be tomorrow morning. And when I’m nervous or worried, Trooper does not respond as well to me as normal. When I am confident and alert, he is too. Isn’t that weird? He’s very in tune with me.

I’m hoping to have videos and photos to share next week, if I remember to charge my camera and can find someone to take them while we run. Even if we do horribly I’ll still like watching them … watching Trooper run is such a joy.

hahahahahaha This is so cute. Learn about the real reason for different dog breeds.

Sorry I haven’t posted lately. Lots of things going on. Still working on getting Timber on a loose leash. *sigh* We had an exhausting session on Sunday morning where he very nearly pulled me over, but thankfully my agility trainer was nearby and she took pity on me. She showed me a few different techniques, and although he threw several tantrums and was still shaking to run forward he did settle down a bit.

He was anxious to get forward because in front of him was a big field with other dogs and balls. Oh the joy! When we finally made it to the field we spend 30 or so minutes … I threw the ball (God bless the chuck it tool) and Timber, Trooper, and several other dogs would run run run run to get it. Timber did not get it one time while the other dogs were there. Poor guy. He just couldn’t keep up with the border collies.

He keeps up better than the slow lumbering Trooper. I used to think he was fast but when you watch him with these other dogs he looks like a big ol’ slow giant. Poor sweet guy. He was SO tired (after all, he’d just had an hour of agility) and it was pretty obvious he wanted to leave. But I kept them both there until they were good and worn out. When we finally got home they were both muddy, absolutely filthy, but super sleepy.

A tired dog is a heavenly dog in my view. =)

What a joy this weather is when you have snow dogs! They are having so much fun, even my little old lady is enjoying herself. But Timber and Trooper are having the most fun. Chasing each other around, throwing their balls in the air, digging in the snow. It cracks me up.

Trooper especially is in heaven with the snow. His coat is so thick he could sleep outside all night and be comfortable.

Of course we are cruel parents and “force” him to sleep inside at night. LOL The poor guy. Of course we do tend to open the window to get fresh air moving, even when it’s 10 degrees outside. The things we do for our babies.

Timber thinks this weather is the best thing since dog food. He wants to be out there ALL the time. All day and night. It’s so cute. I don’t know that he’s ever seen snow. Although I’m sure with his old owner he would have seen plenty and not have been taken inside.

I would have thought that he’d get cold but he seems just fine. Maybe he’s got a super secret undercoat that we can’t see. =) Because his coat is ten times as thin as Trooper’s.

It was 11 degrees this morning and, as usual, I had the door open while the dogs were outside. We don’t ‘lock’ them out … we like to be able to hear what they’re doing and let them come in when they want (when we don’t call them in ourselves). And for *some* odd reason I felt like it was colder than normal. hahahahaha I can’t imagine why that was! =) 32 degrees is one thing, but 11! We’re definitely not used to that kind of thing here.

I hope everyone is staying warm and dry wherever you are! I’m praying the electricity stays on during the wind storm they’re predicting.

I must ask that you go visit Comedy Plus today for her post about Adam and Eve’s Pets. It is hilarious!

And an update at the Casto Zoo. Timber and Trooper are getting along better and just this morning were giving each other kisses as they played.

Trooper’s Conjunctivitis is cleared up. Putting eye drops in his eyes was oh so fun for those seven days.

I went to my first Agility Trial last weekend…just to watch. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It looked like so much fun and I had a blast just watching. It was crazy though. People and dogs everywhere. I want to take Trooper with me just to get him used to the noise though. I’ll bring lots of treats. *grin*

Kodiak has started getting massage. The first time we went he cried the whole time like he was being tortured. I giggled a lot. But the last time apparently he did much better and hubby actually agreed to let him get massages every week. I was surprised but happy about it. I want Kodiak to be more comfortable and the massage gal said he’s very very tight in his back legs.

Quinn is still up to her usual barking and policing the other dogs. Silly girl. She’s been very spunky lately and I’m not really sure why. Maybe she’s lost some weight because we’ve been feeding her less.

So life is as crazy as ever here. We really need to get Timber into some obedience classes though. I cannot control him when we encounter other dogs on walks. He goes nuts and barks like he’s insane. Not to mention he still pulls like a Mac truck.

*sigh*

So, Thursday night the T’s (that’s my new shortened term for Timber and Trooper) got in a massive brawl right on top of daddy and he got bit. Pretty badly. Threw a blanket over them and they stopped.

Then apparently on Friday while at daycare Trooper instigated some stuff with dogs and was riling them up and got in a scuffle. I called and got this update and then he got sent home with a note. I was so sad … and embarrassed. My kid came home with a note!

Daycare said that Trooper has been acting like this more and more since Timber joined our pack. They said that he’s acting jealous. *sigh*

So how do we fix jealousy? I have no clue.

On Sunday I was in the shower and hubby came in to tell me that the T’s got into it again while he was fixing some sausages. Well, that makes a little more sense because Trooper is more food aggressive. Unfortunately this time Timber got an owie on his eye…I’m just thankful the eye itself wasn’t too badly injured, just the eye lid.

I talked to one of the trainers at Agility on Sunday and her advice was to not give Trooper extra attention at all. He’s being a spoiled brat and we should pay attention to Timber just as we want to do and if Trooper tries to be “doggy rude” (cut in between Timber and me/hubby) or growls we should discipline him immediately. It’s not about what Trooper wants…it’s about our rules and what we want to do as pack leaders.

Trooper’s breeder mentioned that being a young male malamute…who was the baby until Timber showed up…is just one factor in his aggression. And he has been incredibly spoiled … and still is although he doesn’t get all the attention now. He was never aggressive with Kodiak or Quinn but they were in the pack before he was and he grew up with them from the time he was 8 weeks old.

The only other thing I can think to do is to watch them carefully and look for any signs of aggression. Hubby and I brought home four toys and four bones yesterday from the pet store. Each dog got a toy…which of course they promptly abandoned because they all wanted someone else’s toy. Sheesh. Timber wanted Trooper’s toy. Kodiak wanted Timber’s toy.

Thankfully there were no fights … I watched them all very carefully.

All dogs are home with hubby today since he has today off. I hope that they all behave and that he watches them closely. I’m a little concerned that he gets easily distracted and doesn’t catch those subtle first signs.

Like Trooper’s ears going back this morning when I was giving Timber lovin’. I immediately told him NO and back up they popped. The little spoiled stinker.

All I want is a happy and healthy pack.

Last night I was making copies of some rebate forms in the office (it’s not like an “office” … more of a spare room with a desk) and all of a sudden I hear screaming and the sound of dogs trying to maul each other.

I dropped everything and ran out to the living room (our house isn’t big…it wasn’t much of a trip) to find my husband in the middle of a violent dog fight between Trooper and Timber.

I head toward the couch and grab a blanket and throw it over the dogs. This stops the fight immediately.

It probably didn’t last more than 30 seconds, and the dogs had no injuries, but unfortunately hubby was a casualty. He has three large puncture wounds on his arm and they bled pretty good. He was still complaining this morning about the pain.

Could this have been avoided? I’m sure. I have no doubt that it started because of a toy. They’re both young males and I think Trooper has felt less secure since we got our foster dog in September and now have our new member Timber. Since September he’s been quicker to lash out and growls much more than I’d ever seen him before.

Trooper and Timber get along really well normally. They play together roughly and chase each other around the yard. They even play tug of war in a playful manner. But twice now they’ve had these major blow ups with each other.

It just reminds me that we can’t let our guard down, even for a minute. Hubby was playing a video game and surely not paying attention to the two monsters who were right next to him on the floor. Should he have gotten in between them? Probably not but that is our first instinct…to break it up.

Thankfully, I remembered the advice we received when we adopted Quinn. She was our second dog and we asked the lady at the rescue what to do if there was a fight. We had no idea how Kodiak would respond and Quinn was a complete stranger to us so we were concerned.

The woman at the shelter said that the best thing to do in a dog fight situation is to throw something over the dogs - a towel, blanket, coat, something. This will generally break it up. Thankfully it worked this time.

Both dogs were taken down … I laid across Timber and hubby held down Trooper until they both relaxed and submitted fully. This is also an important part of calming things down…getting both dogs to submit and realize that they are not in control.

Trooper and Timber are both at daycare today…together. Both have no doubt forgotten all about their little scuffle last night. But hubby and I won’t soon forget.

The zoo is finding a routine, for the most part. Timber and Trooper have really started to bond and play and enjoy each other. There have been some fairly large … we’ll call them “broo ha has” over toys and such but otherwise lots of rough housing and hanging out together.

Which is nice for Kodiak who is not much of a rough-houser. He prefers to watch … or he’ll act like he’s going to play and then run away and hide behind mommy or daddy. hahahaha He’s so cute.

So while Kodiak and Quinn are at the groomers today, Trooper and Timber stay home with mommy and daddy. It’s so great to have a younger dog for Trooper to play with…though Timber really does have more energy. I expect he’ll calm down a bit as he gets older. He is, after all, still a puppy.

Walking on a leash is still a challenge. Hubby is such a softy that he tends to let Timber walk ahead and pull, when he needs to keep him right close to his hip and keep the leash tight … it’s one of those special leashes that when he stops pulling it loosens up but when he pulls it gets really really tight. I hate it but it’s the same kind that Caesar of Dog Whisperer fame uses.

Even Trooper isn’t an angel on the leash. I had to take him DOWN on our Monday evening walk. I mean, full wrestle to the ground in the dirt take down. One of the neighbor dogs is unfriendly and his owner/walker person (a high school boy) was not keeping him under control. I had Trooper in a sit stay but he was still focused on Bear (the other dog) and he finally lunged (not a happy, let’s play lunge) so I had to take him down and get him on his back. He did NOT want to concede, but he did. Because he knows that I am his alpha mommy. Of course we both were covered in beauty bark. Oy.

Trooper has gotten more and more … I don’t want to say aggressive … but assertive maybe. He didn’t used to be so willing to fight another dog but has started to be “protective” when around me. It started before we got Bullet as a foster so it was around that same time. I’m not sure if it’s just him getting older or what.

Thankfully he is realizing that Timber is here to stay and that it is okay if mommy and daddy give Timber love too.

It’s so fun to watch them together. I love having 4 dogs. They all have SUCH amazingly different personalities. Each one is such a blessing to our lives. I’m just thankful that Timber is such a wonderful dog.

Trooper and Timber seem to be getting along better, though not perfectly. Sunday morning before Agility they were outside together … and a little too quiet. I was trying to get ready (breakfast and all that) and by the time I went outside to check on them I knew I was too late.

Apparently the two boys thought it was a good idea to try their best to dig to China!!!

I am not lying when I say that one of their holes was a good two feet deep. I swear I could hire them out as excavators! The little twits.

The good news is that it seemed to be a tandem thing - their two holes are side by side. Isn’t that sweet? *insert eye roll here*

Timber is doing really good, destruction aside (did I mention the digital camera cable torn to shreds? and the poor defenseless Kleenex box?). I took him outside last night and worked on some basic commands. I think we need more tempting treats for him though because the little nuggets I was using weren’t really inspiring him. He can sit on command very well but going down is another story. He would just look at me or try to lick my hand when I tried to coax him down.

“Leave it” though he learned super quick. With practice I’m guessing he’ll be as good as the other dogs in no time. I held out my palm with treats, said “leave it” and when he tried to take them closed my fist. After only one or two times of this he stopped trying to take the treats and the third or forth time was actually looking AT me which is exactly what I want. He’s such a good boy!

Feeding times are becoming less chaotic too. He isn’t like Bullet who tried to steal Trooper’s food at every chance. He actually just sits there calmly watching…while the other three monsters jump and dance like clowns. We’re at a point where I can *almost* walk away from his dish - at least he’s not diving for it the second I put it on the floor now.

As I sat at my laptop last night, all four dogs were soundly snoozing on the floor around me. A good dog is a sleepy dog!