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Vive la compagnie!, originally uploaded by Sarah Kramer Photography.com.

Day 152 …

A friend on your left, and a friend on your right, Vive la compagnie!
In love and good fellowship, let us unite, Vive la compagnie!

“someone” likes kale …

Fergus is still not sure …, originally uploaded by Sarah Kramer Photography.com.

Day 151 … Fergus and Dexter are aware of each other but they don’t really interact, play or do stuff together but I think they are slowly on the way to being buds.

Fergus has taken on the “older cousin” role. He’s punched Dexter in the head a few times when Dexter crossed Fergus’ personal-space boundary so now Dexter keeps a respectful distance. 🙂

It’s so great to have a mellow, balanced dog like Fergus around for Dexter to model his behaviour after. 🙂

I decided to work on Dexters car anxiety today. When he’s in the car there is a lot of panting, whining, teeth chattering (so cute but sad) and he shrieks when I turn the car off and get out. It’s heartbreaking to see a dog that stressed from a car ride so after a nice snuggly nap in his new Thundershirt I decided to take the mellowed out Dexter to the car and try and help him to enjoy sitting in the car.

We sat in the car for about 15 minutes and did nothing. We just chilled. He was vibrating with stress and by doing nothing I was hoping he would learn to be calm in the car and that it’s a nice place to hang out. So we sat. And sat. And sat and eventually he started to mellow and when he finally lay down and let out a deep breath; that’s when I gave him some praise and snuggles.

Now that he was chilled I decided to start playing with the buttons in the car. Each sound stressed him out in a different way; in particular the turn signals. For some reason that sound really aggravated him so I sat quietly in the car occasionally pushing buttons or flipping the turn signals until he didn’t react to them anymore. It took about another 15 minutes. I was surprised at how quickly he mellowed … maybe it’s the new shirt. 🙂

Once he was calm again I turned the car on and off and on and off and on and off (my carbon footprint is not great today) until Dexter stopped reacting to it. Once calm I placed him in Fergus’ Outward Hound Booster Chair and then drove back and forth in the parking lot.

The chair is ridiculous looking I know … but I’ve found it’s the best way to travel with Fergus. He can look at everything while we’re driving and he’s not tempted to jump around the car to see things because he’s strapped in. Fergus never liked being in the crate in the car and I wanted to see if Dexter was the same.

Dexter seemed to “get it” right away. There was a few times he tried to jump out but I would tell him to SIT and he would sit back down and relax.

We took a drive around the block and he was stressed but he did a lot better then I thought he would.

Then I parked the car and all hell broke loose. Shrieking, yelping, teeth chattering and a very upset Dexter fell apart emotionally. It was sad.  🙁

So I did nothing. I put the car in park. Sat quietly until he calmed down and once he lay still and relaxed … I gave him some praise and then tried to open the door slightly. The same ruckus started again. Oh god. The shrieking is ear shattering but I’m not one to give up so we sat quietly with the door open for about 10 minutes (till he calmed down) then I closed it. Opened it and closed it again. Waiting each time for him to relax before I did it again.

Poor Dexter was so wiped out … that I decided we had spent enough time working on this anxiety issue for today but I couldn’t have him leave the car in a stressed state so I had him SIT in the car while I stood with the car door open and had him wait until he was calm before he was allowed to jump out. That actually took the longest out of all the things we did today … about 20 minutes. Thank goodness for Words With Friends on my iphone to help pass the time.  😉

Once he was out of the car, we found a bush to pee on, went inside and now Dexter is sleeping like he ran a marathon. I think it was a tough exhausting afternoon … but I’m hoping we made some headway.

I guess the true test will be how he acts in the car tomorrow. I’ll let you know.  😉

Thanks to everyone who donated to The Dexter Rehabilitation Fund.

I went and bought him a Thundershirt today and as soon as I put it on he crashed hard on the dog bed.

It was almost like he was saying “thank dog I can relax now“. 😉

Thanks again to everyone who donated! You rock!

I went and had a small spot on my “bug” arm zapped with a laser to see if laser removal is a possibility for me. I’ve never really been happy with the tattoos on my left arm and with laser I can erase what I don’t like and start again.  🙂 My goal is to “lighten” the area (not completely remove) and then cover up my arm with something MUCHO more awesome.

It’s not as painful as it looks in the photo … Click on the photo if you want to see high-res.  🙂

It looks like the bugs are going to disappear quite easily. They were done single-needle and are already really fine/light. The stars on the other hand have thick out-lines but I just want to fade them out so I can cover them up.

I had the procedure done without any numbing cream (I’m so bad-ass) and it felt like someone was snapping a rubber band on my arm. It hurt but it wasn’t any worse then getting the tattoo. And it was FAST! I was in and out of the laser chair in less than 5 minutes. So now we’ll see how it heals up (and hopefully disappears) … and if it works well I’m going to do the rest of my arm! Wahoooo!

Can I write this off as a business expense?? 🙂

I know it sounds crazy that a hard-core vegan like me would feed her companion animal the BARF diet but I don’t believe that dogs do well LONG TERM on a vegan diet.

I’ve done LOTS of research and it’s my personal opinion that a long-term vegan diet for dogs is not the way to go. Sure they can maintain moderate health on a vegan diet (for a while) but I am looking for optimal long-term health for Fergus!! 🙂

So I do my best to make as little impact as possible. I buy local. I buy organic and for me the proof is in the pudding. Fergus was vegan for many years and had moderate health. Once we switched him to BARF he became a super-dog. Healthy, happy and without any health issues.

If you would still like to donate to help Dexter but don’t want your $$ to go towards his food – just let me know.  Thanks again for your help.  🙂

I have received a few letters from readers who want to help Dexter…

Here’s a list of what he needs:

• He needs a check-up (it’s been over a year) and possible medication if it turns out his peeing in the house is a bladder infection
• He needs a couple of beds (one for the office, one for the kitchen)
• He needs a Thundershirt (to help with anxiety)
• He needs a harness & leash (right now he’s using all of Fergus’s gear)
• He needs a City of Victoria license (his license is due for renewal Jan 1st)
• I need Nature’s Miracle (to help clean up the pee and make the smell redundant)
• Lastly and more importantly he needs good quality food. I currently feed Fergus a BARF diet and I’d like to switch Dexter to it as well – but it can get pricey.

What I’ve done is set up a PAYPAL button so if you’d like to donate some $$ to Dexters rehabilitation you may. In exchange you will receive a photo of Dexter (and maybe Fergus if I can get them to pose together)  🙂

Once Dexter is rehabilitated I will be working with BC Poodle and Small Dog Rescue to re-home him. Any $$ that’s left over from your donation will be re-gifted to them.

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I know it’s a tough time of year to part with $$ so any amount you can swing will be appreciated and of course I will keep you updated on his progress via the blog.

Thanks guys! You rock! 🙂

Fergus love napping!, originally uploaded by Sarah Kramer Photography.com.

Day 150 … Shall we wager how many days till they start cuddling?? 🙂

We have a friend (I’ll call him Bob) who has just gone through a horrible divorce and when his wife moved on and left town; he was left with the burden of selling/closing up the house, dealing with his business, etc etc and found himself with not a lot of time for his dog.

I feel terrible for both Bob and his wife and for what they have been dealing with (breaking up is never easy) but unfortunately their dog Dexter is feeling the brunt of it. 🙁

When we heard that their dog was on his way to the SPCA (with anxiety, insecurity and peeing in the house issues) Gerry and I decided to intervene. We all know that dogs with issues like that are not adopted and the last thing we wanted was for little Dexter to be in a cold cement pen over the holidays (when everyone has x-mas trees on the brain). Dexter has already been in 2 different homes … we want to make sure his next home is his fur-ever home!!

I don’t want “Bob” to feel bad … but Dexter was quite neglected. He hadn’t had any real exercise in 6 months. His ears, tail and backside were matted and when we went over to his house (without Fergus); Dexter was full of CRAZY psycho energy. But after spending some time with him I could see that he was a good dog. He sat when I asked. Dropped the ball when I asked. I knew instinctively that he was sweet and just needs some rehabilitation.

So Gerry and I loaded Dexter up into the car and drove him directly to a hockey rink. Why a hockey rink? Because I was not about to bring that kind of crazy energy into my house. We took Dexter to the rink, shut all the doors (so he couldn’t flee) and proceeded to throw a tennis ball back and forth until he lay down from exhaustion. I’ve never seen a happier grin on a dog. 🙂

As soon as we got home; Gerry waited outside with Dexter and I went and grabbed Fergus so he could meet Dexter outside. Instead of letting them sniff each other … I immediately started walking with them. I learned this from Caesar (the dog whisperer). I know a lot of people don’t dig how he deals with dogs but some of what he says makes sense to me and I’ve found that when I introduce Fergus to new dogs by walking first (and sniffing later) that they bond a lot faster and there is a lot less “marking” and fights over boundaries. This was no exception … the boys walked around the block together and we got back into the house and they were immediate buds. Yay.  🙂

I think it also helped that we had drained Dexter of all his energy before meeting Fergus. If he had met Fergus in the state he was in when we first met him … I think it would have been chaos.

We got home, got settled and I decided to let Dexter run around the house without the diapers that our friend had been using. I wanted to see if Dexter was peeing in the house because Bob was never home or if the peeing was out of stress. Well he pee’d in the house. Damn.  🙁

So I put the belly band on and decided to not focus on stopping the peeing just yet … but rather to focus on getting to know Dexter a little better.

• He’s neutered. Yay.
• He’s quiet. Yay. He only seems to bark if someone knocks on the door or slams a car door outside.
• He’s good around dogs. He and Fergus are politely ignoring each other. They hang out but in a “I respect your boundaries” kind of way. Yay.
• He’s crate trained. Yay. That means he can sleep in the crate at night (I don’t want him on the bed with me. That’s a habit that not everyone who is adopting is interested in).
• He’s a fantastic fetcher. Wow. Throw the ball and he’ll bring it right back. Ask him to drop it and he does. Fergus could learn a thing or two about fetch from Dex.  🙂
• So far I’ve figured out he knows the words: SIT, NO, OFF, DOWN, COME, STAY, WAIT, GO OUTSIDE?, CRATE TIME and he comes to his name. Yay!
• He’s a super snugger and has a really sweet nature about him.
• Best of all? EAGER TO PLEASE!! He really wants to make me happy and do my bidding *laugh* and that’s a good thing … that means he’ll learn the Kramer Dog Etiquette rules fast. 🙂
• He’s good at being handled. I molested him like crazy and really pushed his physical boundaries to see how far I could touch him. He let me look/examine his teeth, ears, paws. And when I needed to cut out his dreadlocks he sat perfectly still for me. This is a good sign.  🙂
• Rescue Remedy. A little dose will do ya!! And anytime Dexter exhibited “manic” energy (by pacing, panting, etc) I would give him a small dose of Rescue Remedy and he would settle right down. Yesterday I gave him a dose in am, pm and the evening. Today I haven’t had to dose him yet because he’s been pretty mellow. YAY!!

But for all his good qualities … he has some bad ones too.

• He is toy obsessed and not in a good way. I noticed he would get “manic” when the toys are out (balls, stuffies, etc). At Bob’s house he had free reign of the toys and I think the toys trigger separation anxiety. So for now I’ve put all the toys away and only use them for “outside” play. I want to get him to be as chill as possible when we’re in the house and then expel all that energy outside the house when we’re at the park.
• Walking. UGH. He’s terrible on a leash. Pulling, lunging, crossing over in front of me, etc. So I got out my trusty GENTLE LEADER that I used on Fergus when he was a puppy and he is doing MUCHO better on the walks now. The Gentle Leader is DA BOMB!! 🙂
• He’s a jumper. Jumps on legs, chairs, furniture, jump, jump, jump. But he knows the word “DOWN” and “OFF” so I’ve been vigilant about not allowing him to jump and he’s learned pretty quickly.
• He’s woefully insecure and that manifests in acting out (peeing, etc) … I would be insecure too if I was bounced around from house to house but we’ll work on that.  🙂
• Separation anxiety. Oh lord … I think this is going to be a tougher to break then the peeing in the house. He travels in the car by crate (so he doesn’t jump around) and he’s fine while we’re driving but as soon as the car is in park he starts shrieking!! I’m going to limit his time in the car for now … and focus on the other stuff. Then we’ll work on the car.

In conclusion your Honor *laugh* I think Dexter is a fine dog with massive potential.  🙂 The flaws in his personality can be fixed with exercise, discipline (by discipline I mean training) and a lot of love.  With his eagerness to learn I truly believe that he will be a wonderful companion… but first? We gotta break these nasty habits and I need to stock up on some Nature’s Miracle.

If you would like to donate to the rehabilitation of Dexter you may do so by clicking the button below: