Brutus Apparently Has A Story To Tell

Now that it has finally cooled down a little, I've been spending more time walking Brutus. I don't know why I didn't notice this before, but he has a very definite "marking" pattern. We tend to walk on the same path every day, and I'm starting to think that the other dogs and their owners do too. I could almost walk it alone and tell you which shrub he's going to mark. The funniest part is when we've made it through the woods, and he doesn't have anything left in him to "mark" with. He still has about five spots left to lift his leg on, but nothing happens. He's such a "guy".

So anyone out there that has read prior posts on here knows that I am not an experienced dog owner. I had a stray dog as a young girl (Oscar, who was my best friend ever), and now Brutus. I read a lot of books on positive reinforcement training, and adopting an older dog, but I can guarantee that nothing prepares you for the actual process. Anyway, I digress. Does anyone out there know if dogs search out for each others smells? It seems gross, but I'm really seeing a pattern here.

I took Brutus to the dog park today, and it always brings a smile to my face. Whenever a new dog comes to the park, all of the dogs that are already there have to come running to the gate to say "hello" to the new dog. There's the mandatory butt sniffing, a little rough housing, and then off they go. I felt so bad for a young girl who came with a small dog. There were probably eight large labs there today, and all of them went running to the gate to say "hi" to her when she stepped in to the first entry gate where you take your dog off of their leash. Her dog maybe weighed five lbs., and I don't think that she was over 115. Most of the owners were half way across the field, so I finally walked over there and got in front of the dogs to help her get through the crowd. Honestly, if I were her I maybe would have turned around and come back another day, but I give her credit. She got in there and held her puppy out so everyone could smell her bottom, and then put her down to run. Everything went fine.

So, I guess in essence, this is my story about smells. Sorry about that. The whole thing just kind of fascinates me. Brutus can smell a mouse or chipmunk three blocks away, so I guess it doesn't surprise me if he's playing "mark where you've been" with the neighbor dogs.

That Mouse Didn't Have A Chance :(

If there's one thing Brutus is really really good at, it's catching rodents. Mice and chipmunks don't have a chance. They can be 100 yards away, and my boy can smell them. His nose will go up in the air and start to twitch, and no matter what you offer him, he is GONE! My dog training friend, Sandra, once told me that if I wanted Brutus to respond to the "come" command, it better be equal to filet mignon or forget it. When we were training him, we actually tried little pieces of steak to get him to come to us, but nothing equals the fun of chasing a rodent for Brutus. So, aside from chasing him, I just say forget it. Try to picture a running mouse, Brutus chasing the running mouse, and me chasing Brutus. Yeah, the only thing missing from that comic strip is a cat in the mix somewhere! Thankfully, they aren't allowed outside!

Much to Don's dismay, there are a lot of mice that hang out in "his" wood pile. I can't even tell you how many times he has restacked the wood pile this year, and for the sake of his happiness, I'm not going to include this particular wood pile in any of the pictures in this post!! Just don't think about it honey. I'm sure the wood pile fairies will come along and fix it.

So, today's antics started with me deciding it was such a nice, beautiful, cool day that Brutus and I should go down and sit by the lake for a while. He walked past the wood pile and had different ideas. Pretty soon he came walking past me with a log. Not just a little log, a BIG log!

Obviously, there was a critter of some sort in this log, and Brutus was going to get it.

He scratched and pawed.....

Rolled it around trying to throw whatever was inside, out....

Peeked and waited.........

Until, yes, he was successful. Somehow, that little booger knew that there was a tiny little mouse hiding for his life in that log. Poor thing! Now Brutus is going through the "sad face" pouts, because it won't play any more. I'm not feeling too bad for him.

Brutus Has Been Feeling Very Smart(ie) This Week

**Disclaimer....these pictures are horrible, but they needed to be taken quickly due to the content of this story.

So, Brutus has been getting in a little trouble this week for eating the Smarties candy. I keep a little candy dish on the kitchen counter, and I vary what is in it. I have never had a problem with him counter surfing and getting in to the candy dish before, so I was really surprised when he decided to go after the Smarties. Chocolate is usually his weakness!! A boy after my own heart.

I was busy editing some pictures today, and I heard the candy dish bounce on the counter. I went buzzing out to the kitchen to scold Brutus, and this is what I found.......................................

And.............nicely delivered on to the floor for Brutus. Who could possibly resist that!!

I think I owe Brutus an apology. That little Sophie is SO NAUGHTY!!!!!!!!

White Rice and Dead Daylilies

I'm guessing that you are wondering what one has to do with the other. Fair warning, it isn't a pretty story.

Let me start by saying that the best made plans never go unpunished. I know that that isn't technically the "real" saying, but it's my saying. Every time I think something is going to go really awesome, it usually has a glitch, and when something isn't planned, it usually goes awesome. I call it LIFE. So anyway, If you read the prior post, you know that Brutus went to the doctor on Thursday, had anesthesia and stayed home from the lake this weekend. My great plan was that he was going to be sleepy sleepy sleepy, and I was going to get a ton of work done on my website, and a LOT of sleep. The Vet assured me that Brutus would be sleepy for 24 hours from having anesthesia, and I was supposed to give him two Benadryl twice a day to help relieve the itching from the rash on his skin, and that would make him drowsy too. Even Better!! Well, it totally backfired, and I mean that literally and figuratively.

Brutus got terrible diarrhea. I hate even typing that word, because it isn't the greatest subject, but it was bad. I don't know if it was from the stress of going to the Vet, the anesthesia, the antibiotics or Dad leaving without him, but the poor guy was sick. Not only did he get up every three hours during the night, but he whined......constantly. I haven't gotten any work done on my website (for my big up and coming business...insert smiley face here) and I didn't get any sleep. I am beat. Now on to the white rice and dead flowers.

Every time Brutus needed to go to the bathroom, he ran to the front door. I wasn't about to waste time coaxing a dog with diarrhea to the downstairs door, so I just opened the front door to the house and let him go. For some reason, every time he went out, he chose to poop on my daylilies. I went out a little bit ago to check the damage, and they were massacred. Let's just say that it took many plastic grocery bags, and the gardening scissors to clean up the mess. Ugh!! And as for the white rice, it will be the diet Brutus will be on for the next 48 hours. White rice and browned hamburger. The good news is that he likes it better than his dog food.

I talked to Don a couple hours ago. He's had a great weekend having cocktails with the neighbors and fishing. Most of me is really happy for him, but there's that little part of me that wants to beat him up. It takes me back to being a new mom. The child care is never balanced!! I made him well aware that when he gets home, Brutus is Daddy's boy!! I will gather the plastic bags for him ahead of time. ;D

Ahhhhh.......Drugs



Totally Passed Out

Brutus did such a good job at his vet appointment today. He just melted my heart. He's gone from having to be pulled across the floor and lifted up on to the scale, to actually walking across the floor all by himself and sitting on the scale like a good boy. He was very sweet with the receptionist instead of growling at her, and he didn't get scared until they had to close the door to the exam room.

I had called ahead of time and talked to the receptionist about Brutus and his past experiences at the clinic, so she had everything ready. The paper work was ready to sign, and she let us stay out in the lobby area until the very last minute. The Vet Tech had the sedative ready to go when we got to the room so there was no time for Brutus to get upset. She said a friendly hello to Brutus and "pow", she got him. He didn't even have time to know what hit him. It took a good fifteen minutes for him to go "down", but he did. He didn't ever completely go to sleep, but he was definitely mellow. The funniest part was when the Vet Tech came in to put the IV in him, and I had muzzled him, but he tried so hard to growl at her. It almost sounded more like a purr. Mission accomplished. Honestly, I don't think that he will remember the experience.

His check up went great. At his last appointment, the Vet wanted Brutus to lose a few pounds, and he has done that. He is down six pounds, and the doctor today said if he loses five more he will be perfectly fine. He had his teeth cleaned up, but he chews bones so often that there was very little build up. I was afraid that he had fleas, but he actually has a bacterial infection on his skin from being in the lake and being wet so much. Plus, the Vet said to only rinse him off and not actually shampoo him each night. Yuck. That makes for a very stinky dog after being in our lake!! Nails were clipped, shots were given and he's good for another six months. Whew.

I had picked up the stuffed monkey that Brutus has in his mouth in the picture above at the PetSmart store while he was at the clinic. Brutus loves stuffed animals (so he can unstuff them), and I wanted to bring him something to make him happy when I picked him up. Truth be told, he's still pretty drugged up. It's in his mouth, but he's sound asleep!! The joy of drugs. Hopefully he will stay asleep for a little longer so he doesn't realize that dad is going to the lake without him this weekend. He needs to keep his skin dry for a few days to let the rash heal, and there is absolutely no way to keep that boy out of the water when he is at the lake.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I think Brutus is chasing chipmunks in his sleep. :)

Shaking In Our Paws

See that face? That is the face of a boy who seems to know that he has a vet appointment tomorrow. How he knows is beyond me! He's had this worried look on his face all day. Everytime I look at him he gives me this big sad face and moves his eyebrows up and down. It's that face that makes you want to give him the whole bag of string cheese.

Brutus loves everyone, and honestly, I would trust him with a brand new baby alone on the floor. With that said, there is a disclaimer. He does hate the vet, and I think he would probably kill him or her if he needed to in order to get away. I don't know what has happened in his past to instill that fear in to him, but he literally shakes in his boots/paws. As soon as we get in the front door, I have to drag him across the floor up to the desk to check him in, lift his butt up on to the scale (all 90 lbs. of it) and then push him across the floor in to the exam room. Once we're in the exam room, he tries to open the door with his paws. He fusses and starts to sweat and pant. If the Vet Tech or Veterinarian even come near him, he bares his teeth and starts to growl, which means that the muzzle has to come out. The last time I took him to the vet, even with him muzzled, he still tried to kill the vet, and she said that she would no longer see him unless he was sedated.

So, sedate him we did, or at least we tried. The Vet Tech came in and gave him the first shot. She said that within a few minutes he should start to stumble a little, and then get very sleepy. Well, after thirty minutes, he showed absolutely no signs of ANYTHING. So, they gave him a second shot. It literally took a good twenty minutes longer before he started stumbling even a little bit. By then, Don had gotten to the clinic to join me. Needless to say, I was pretty upset. Brutus never did go to sleep, but we were able to lift him up on to the exam table and complete his exam.

When I called to make the appointment for tomorrow, I warned them ahead of time that Brutus would need to be sedated. Hopefully we won't have to go through all of the waiting and trauma. Hopefully they will have the syringe ready and waiting for us. I would like to be sedated too.

I'll let you know how it goes. Keep your paws crossed!

Additional Charges Since My Earlier Post.....Um Yeah!

So, apparently, Riding While Intoxicated wasn't bad enough for Brutus today, he decided to get in to a fight with a raccoon tonight too. Thankfully, he walked away unscathed. He had a good bath, and is now locked in the house, away from the liquor and doors!!

Good night all.