The Dog Blog

Do you have a multi-dog household? If so, you will especially relate to meeting the needs of each dog, and challenges that arise from your dogs having behavioral issues. Talley is anxious and deals poorly with changes in her environment. Doobie was afraid of everything when rescued from a puppy mill and training is ongoing.  Bridget is, well, determined to do what Bridget wants, a true escape artist, has pancreatitis, and throw in some separation distress for good measure. And yeah, neurotic. While there are many adventures and stories to share, it seemed timely, given recent events, to discuss medications and problems encountered in the dispensing. 

Doobie: free spirit, a dog on the move, a dog on a mission, a dog in perpetual motion. Who said that dogs cannot experience emotions? Certainly Doobie is unable to verbally communicate his sheer joy to be running, but it is shouted out in the gleam of his eyes and in the lithe fluid movements of his Labrador body virtually airborne over the ground. My boyfriend often says he is nearly flying.  Do you recall car commercials talking about going from zero to sixty in seconds? Yup, this is Doobie. Full stop to flat out racing in a heart beat, launching into action when called from across a field.  This dog goes nowhere slowly. Can you imagine this dog living in a cage?

I recently wrote a blog on my own site about my oldest dog's journey Into The Twilight.  While he has several aging issues going on, I am most impressed with how little effect his loss of sight has had on him.  I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it really drives home one of the big differences between humans and canines.

We humans so often say, "Seeing is believing!"  This just doesn't seem to be true for dogs.  In the canine world, smelling is believing.  A dog doesn't have to see a bowl of food to know that it is in the room.  Russell (my old blind dog) proves this to me every day.  In fact, all I have to do is sit down at the opposite end of the couch with a cup of yogurt and he makes it quite obvious that he is completely aware of what he can't see.

Meet Friday, my nine-year-old shepherd mix. I adopted her when she was eight weeks old. She was my very first dog. In hindsight, I realize I should have gotten an older dog, but my family's thinking was that with a puppy, we could shape her behavior into whatever we wanted. Ha! What they don't tell you is that it's hard to shape a puppy's behavior when you don't really know what you're doing.

Hi. I'm new at Dog Star Daily, and I am honored to be here. For my first post, I figured I'd introduce you to The Dog That Started It All – and how I sort of failed at raising her.