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The Dog Park


des

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I have just discovered a wonderful place here-- a new dog park. Torie and I have so far spent a LOT of time there. I have been to dog parks and this is just a wonderful one with such a great sense of community (and a little bit of peer pressure with the vicious dogs that show up now and then). There is actually grass ( I don't believe in grass too much out here-- needs lots of water, but there are exceptions I guess). (At least there is grass right now. I think the dogs are working on this.:-) The people are wonderful and Torie (and I) are having a blast.

 

--des

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You might look up "Poodle Rescue". I'm guessing that min. poodles are more available as rescues than Standards, as there are more of them. But you can keep your eyes open, get on a poodle list or two, and say what you want. It's how I got my Corgi.

(I did go out of state.)

 

 

BTW, 5 Standards have shown up at the park, 4 at once, which was quite confusing.

 

 

 

 

--des

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As for looking for dogs, Petco's website has a search engine that has access to pets in shelters all over the country.  Perhaps....  :P

We found ours on petfinder.com. It's a really good site as well. It's nice to see that Petco is doing that. Generally, pet store practices kind of irritate me.

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We've been using petfinder as well. The search on Saturday turned up a "Golden Doodle" - 1/2 standard poodle, 1/2 golden retriever. What an awesome dog! The dog had been trained as a companion dog, however, and so the shelter was looking to place him as such. 6 months old. Potty trained. Sigh. :)

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"We found ours on petfinder.com. It's a really good site as well. It's nice to see that Petco is doing that. Generally, pet store practices kind of irritate me. "

 

Agreed! Apparently the whole corporation was bought out a couple of years ago... they have a lot of admirable services - low cost vaccinations and veterinary care, the adoption website, and well-trained staff to help people choose appropriate pets. A bit of hope that the pendulum is starting the back-swing :>

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A Golden Doodle would be an awesome dog. I think poodles are good in mixes. Might be a natural as a service dog, but most service dog organizations (of which I am familar do not look in shelters-- too much risk, plus the training is pretty demanding roughly 70% *don't* make it). Unless they are looking for a sort of informal placement, you might look back again in a couple months. I'd be real surprised if they place him as a service dog, but there might be a situation of someone with a special needs kid or something, and the dog could be kind of pet/ companion.

 

Torie had obedience in a "service dog puppy" class. I really admire these folks taking on the training and care of a dog, only to place it. (And paying all the major expenses btw, in many cases). Anyway, Torie knows some interesting commands "under (the chair)", etc. She wouldn't learn those in a normal obedience class. :-)

 

BTW, Labradore poodle crosses (Labradoodles) are pretty popular and getting pretty big $$ in some cases. It sort of is a lab. with a poodle coat. A friend of mine has one who excels at counter surfing. :-) (To the unintiated that's going along the counter eating what it can.)

 

 

--des

Edited by des
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The doodle is not in the shelter proper, actually. It's being fostered.

 

I fell in love with Standards when I lived in Michigan. Our neighbor had one. Since then I've come across quite a few people who have them and all loudly sing their praises - very smart, don't shed, very gentle, easily trainable ....

 

My niece just adopted one (6months old) from a shelter in Idaho. Her and her partner took it out on their boat. The dog (Oz) was afraid of water ... Ironic considering standards are water hounds bred for bird hunting. They taught it to swim and now he goes water skiing with them. :)

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I'm sorry, I think "rescue" would be the proper term. But most "rescues" come from shelters. Rescue groups go in and pick out pups. They often pick out purebreds or clear mixes (like the Golden doodle), where the parents of each side are known. Some groups just pick out the cutest pups, ones with special needs (deaf dogs or epileptic dogs, for instance). There are also groups who will go to "dog auctions" which I hear are pretty horendous (puppy mill nasties). BTW, the shelters are happy for groups to take the dogs, in most cases.

 

So to my knowledge, most service dog organizations won't pick up "rescues" either. Many rescues have "issues", so the chances are better of getting a workign dog if they actually breed them, raise them from very young. I don't know how a trained puppy got into a rescue group. You can be sure it was a strange set of circumstances. Service dogs that flunk out of advanced training (the puppies are taught the more basic commands), the service dog training includes hundreds of commands. But anyway these dogs are in big demand. Many puppy raisers elect to keep them (maybe their 5th dog!), there are also very long waiting lists. These are still great dogs. All the ex-service puppies are just great but had a little flaw like has a very mild hip dysplasia and one I know is just to ball crazy.

If you really wanted a large dog (they don't do Corgis too much anymore, though they make good hearing dogs), it would be just a super place to get a dog, if you didn't mind a really really really long wait.

 

 

 

--des

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Until I get this dang "electrical vertigo" (sounds like a new dance eh?) under control, I'm afraid I'm going to have to remain a cat lady only.

 

Probably for the best. My cat Circe would most definitely boycott me if I brought home another addition to the family. :)

 

Someday though. Somewhere out there is a charcoal grey standard with my name on it!

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Electric vertigo! Yikes, sounds like as good a definition as there is though.

 

You know my cats and dog get along very well. On purpose, I did get a breed that tends to do well with cats (some do not, at whatever point you want to stay away from anything Terrier or hound, for instance). Some of the sporting dogs (retrievers) usually tolerate each other. I also did some training so they wouldn't be jealous of each other. I got them all in the kitchen and started just passing out treats to them in turn. At first they were far apart, then I had them closer and closer.

 

Houdini tolerates the dog but they aren't crazy about each other. Of course he is also 16, and prob. thinks Torie is nuts (which is a correct assessment btw). But Padfoot and Torie are best buddies.

 

--des

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My cats are all used to dogs and I would be sure to get a dog that likes cats (or a puppy I can raise with them). What I'm not up to doing right now is walking, training or "pooper-scooping". My cats are all indoor kitties. Other than the litter box, they are self sufficient. No "Let me out right now or I'll ..."

 

All that said, I did look at some free puppies today. They were Pomeranians though and I want a bigger dog than that. Each weekend it's a huge fight to stay away from the pound. :-(

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Probably should stay away, as eventually you will see just the dog that you want. :-}

Though I dislike the litter box more than any other pet related task. Padfoot puts out a lot of very strong pee. Sometimes it just bowls me over. I got a scooper with a spring attachment so I actually don't get so close to it. The dog park is so much fun we have been going there often. Torie gets great exercise there.

 

BTW, she is absolutely no respector of persons. There are some winos that hang around the park, and she is just as happy to greet them as anybody else. Some people were claiming today that their dogs feared them, which I have definitely not seen in Torie. I wonder if they were projecting a bit.

 

--des

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  • 1 month later...

As of 4 PM today - my household population doubled with the addition of

"Atticus" a 2 and a 1/2 year old Golden Retriever. He has taken to living here after a brief stay at the humane society. An appropriate addition to the household during the week we celebrate St. Francis' feast day!

 

Note - while the population has only doubled - the energy level has increased ten- fold!

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Energy level? I know what you mean. Some people have suggested I adopt another Corgi, as lots of Corgi people have more than one (like potato chips I guess), and I have actually looked on the web for rescue Corgis. OTOH, I think Torie is about active enough for 3, and just how many crittters can I have in bed with me anyways? Right now there is enough cat herding, thank you very much. :-)

 

--des

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Last night was our first night together.

He doesn't like me to be out of his sight. I think that will improve once he feels more secure here. Sleeping in his crate in the laundrey room was out of the question as he cries if he can't see me, and I don't like the idea much either.

 

So, I thought I will let him sleep on the bedroom floor. That worked OK until I laid down. When I laid in the bed - he couldn't see me from the floor and would stand up so he could see me. I dozed off - and an hour later when I woke up - he was still sitting next to the bed looking at me.

 

I realized we were never going to sleep that way - so I laid down on the floor where he could see me and still lay down. I was trying to make his adjustment to the new home as easy as possible. Yet, I didn't want him on the bed until he had a good bath since he just came from the humane society. I fell asleep that way- on the floor next to the dog.

 

I woke up this morning - on the floor. With the dog on the bed - looking down on me. Smart dog!

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A little up date - and a request for your prayers.

 

I took the dog to the vet today for the first time. His heartworm test came back positive. They did a second test which is more accurate but needs to be done at a lab in another town. I should get a firm Positive or Negative test result on Tuesday or Wednesday. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

 

Thanks,

Carl

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It is treatable - but the cure often kills the dog.

 

Basically, from what I understand, which is little -

 

They put a medicine into the dog that kills the worms off.

The trick is - if they kill too many worms too fast, the dog's heart goes into shock and he dies.

So, they have to get the balance just right - killing the right amount of worms over the right amount of time.

 

After the initial medicine (3 day stay at vet) then he has over a month with no physicial activity. He would need to be laying down resting except when he goes to the bathroom. He must not run or work his heart at all. During that time the adult worms are dying off.

 

Then he goes back for a second treatment like the first - this time to kill the baby worms. A shorter period of rest follows - then he can go back to a normal schedule.

 

The cost, I'm told is between 400-800 dollars depending on many factors.

I will learn more about this process if the next test result confirms that he is heartworm positive.

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Did you get your dog from an animal shelter or rescue group? If so I am shocked about this, as they are supposed to test for this and give the preventives.

 

It is treatable. I understand one possible treatment is to give Heartguard, one of the preventives. I asked Torie's foster mom about this and will reply when and if she responds.

 

--des

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BTW, I would personally call the Humane Society to complain about this. There is absolutely no excuse for you to have adopted a dog with a preventable disease like this. In this day and age there isn't any excuse for heartworm. There is a blood test that shows if the dog has this. OTOH, if the dog had had it then he would most likely have been euthanized, given the no. of available dogs. Rescue groups will treat it but it is expensive and the outcome isn't always good. Basically the treatment is a toxin. This is why I was wondering about the use of Heartguard. It is far less toxic, not sure re: effectiveness.

 

--des

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I got the dog from an "Animal Rescue League" that just collects the dogs, houses them in kennels and tries to find new homes for them. They do no medical care at all. I have sent them an e-mail to tell them about this.

 

The dog had no vaccines or medical tests done while in their care.

They had told me he had a distemper shot and gave me the records for that.

My vet looked at the paper they gave me and said that the shot had expired and he needed another one.

 

I asked the vet about the level of medical care at the shelter. He said that Indiana law doesn't require much from those sort of shelters and that each shelter sets their own standards. Some are quite high, others are very low.

 

Our state does have a private Golden Retriever Rescue Group (www.GRRACE.org). I have been talking with them for about 6 months. When I e-mailed them to tell them I got Atticus, they were very happy because they were about to send someone to get him for their rescue. They make sure that all their dogs are healthy and they are a very good group of people.

 

They also told me more about the heart worm situation. They said that the initial test the Dr. does often registers false positives so I shouldn't get worried until the more conclusive test comes in. Also, she said that they have successfully treated over 40 dogs for heart worm. That was reassuring.

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That answers some questions. There are no regulations on this. I was rather surprised, as the norm around here (NM, very poor state) is to have all the tests, etc. Some of the rescue groups really go out of the way with medical treatment. Torie's foster mom often spent her own money with sympathetic vets who lowered the rates. No doubt the Golden rescue would have done the tests. (Anyone looking for a dog, this is something to ask about.)

 

I did a little reading. There are MANY false positives.

 

Heartguard is used commonly but only during the second stage of treatment. Thousands of dogs are treated successfully. IF the dog showed few symptoms or was symptom free your odds are better. The newest treatment is much better with fewer toxic effects.

 

So I think that Atticus can expect a long happy life with you (even if ends up having heartworm, which may indeed turn out to be a false alarm).

 

--des

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