Kissing Toads

For those of you who follow us on Facebook, you may remember a little while ago I sent out a post to see if anyone had ever seen an enlarged nipple on their dog.  Just one nipple, not all of them.  Oh, and I should specify, on their boy dog – so this would be a non-baby-making-related issue. 

Our darling Oscar, the center of our universe, had what appeared to be an enlarged nipple.  Now, we’re no stranger to “weird things” on our boy.  Just a year ago, we had a lump removed from his toe, which turned to be nothing, but better safe than sorry. So when Nipplegate popped up, we took him right to the vet to have it checked out.

Turns out, it wasn’t the nipple itself that was enlarged after all.  The initial diagnosis was a skin tag right next to his nipple - a benign mass that, while gross, generally isn’t anything to worry about.  We were sent home with instructions to keep an eye on it, and if it changed color or size, or started to bother Oscar at all, that we should come back and lop that sucker right off.  Well without going into any gory details, about a week later is started to bother him. 

He came home from our return trip to the vet groggy and embarrassed in a dreaded Cone of Shame while we waited for the Mystery Growth to be sent off for analysis.  Oscar must have been finding some toads to get friendly with, because it turned out to be nothing but a big wrinkly wart.  Gross, but whew!

While we would have been happy to avoid a trip to the vet (and the bill that came along with it), we were glad that we got it checked out.  If we didn’t look into it, and later it turned to be something serious that we could have avoided, we never would have forgiven ourselves.  Admittedly, since Oscar is “Our First Dog” we err on the side of caution more often than not when dealing with the unknown.  Thankfully, our vet is fantastically patient, and is more than willing to talk us off our ledge when Oscar does something like eat a book of matches (“ohmigosh is that poison??”) or if we just can’t remember how long we should wait after we apply his flea/tick topical before we give him a bath (two days, if you’re curious).

The bottom line is that Oscar is our baby.  We love him with our whole hearts and we would do anything for him.  We might be a little overly protective and neurotic at times, but – well, no “but,” I don’t need to make excuses or rationalize it, he’s our kid and we love him.  we will gladly shell out the cash for an office visit if something is going on that we’re not sure about, if for nothing other than piece of mind.

And we can sleep easy now knowing that Oscar is happy and healthy….well, “healthy” anyway.  He’ll be happier once he’s out of that cone.

Problem Solving

Oooh, a new viewing portal to Outside has materialized.  I have never noticed this portal before…hmm, it is much higher off the ground than my current observation post.  How am I supposed to keep watch to make sure we’re not invaded by those pesky outside cats? Curse my stumpy little legs!

Fear not, because I am Molly Tamale and I am a problem solver.  I will keep us safe from those ferocious felines, come hell or high windows.

If you’re interested in adding Molly Tamale to your family, please fill out an applicaiton with Agape Animal Rescue.

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Calming Cooper’s Quirks: Separation Anxiety

Cooper taught us early on that he does not appreciate being left alone.  We’ve used a lot of trial and error in dealing with this issue, including varying the amount of time he is alone, leaving him in a crate or out of the crate, exercising before he is left alone, leaving him with a Veggie Kong – you name it, we’ve tried it. Time after time, no matter what we did, we’d come home to…well, this:

                   

We had about reached the end of our rope.  As much as we adored Coop, we felt that we were failing him in some way – what was causing his anxiety?  How could we help him? We sought the wise counsel of one of the Agape staff, Gayle.  Gayle has helped us out many times in the past dealing with different behavioral issues in our foster dogs, including learning how to bring a nervous Tucker out of his shell, and mediating some tension between Oscar and Kaylee.  She knows her stuff, and she’s always willing to help.  In short, she’s a lifesaver – and we trust her guidance.

After talking with Gayle about everything we had tried so far, she suggested we try a supplement called Quiet Moments.  She had used it with several of her nervous foster dogs in the past with great success.  These chewable tablets includes natural ingredients like passion flower, chamomile and ginger, with the aim of reducing stress and tension in your dog.  Plus, as I said – we had tried everything else, so what the heck?  Cooper gobbles them right down. 

***Important: We are not medical professionals.  Please consult your veterinarian before starting your pet on any medication or supplement.***

Along with the Quiet Moments, we’ve been leaving instrumental music on the radio when we’re gone.  We continue to leave Oscar, Cooper and Molly Tamale all out in the living room together, closed off from the rest of the house.  We’ve puppy proofed the stinkin’ heck out of that room, and we’ve decided that we’ll shed no tears over anything that may fall victim to any vicious puppy chompers – especially since Cooper apparently isn’t the only one we have to worry about!  

We also make sure that all the dogs go outside to conduct their business right before we leave the house, and we never make a never “big deal” out of our good-bye routine.  No big pets and hugs and drawn out good-bye’s with “I-love-you-I’ll-see-you-soon-you’re-such- a-good-dog-please-don’t-eat-the-house,” we simply look at the dogs, say cheerfully “We’ll be back!” and shut the door behind us.  When we first implemented this tactic over the course of a weekend, we used “We’ll be back!” for first a quick trip around the block, then a run to the store, and increasingly longer periods of time.  The idea is to build trust in Cooper that we will, in fact, return!

We’ve been following this routine now for several weeks, and we’ve been doing pretty well.  Destruction has gone way down, and we’ve all but alleviated the potty accidents.  It’s gotten to the point recently to where I can start closing doors to separate off the living room, and Cooper will hop up on the couch, ready for his daily snooze, instead of following me to the door bouncing around like a dog possessed.

It’s taken us three and a half months with Cooper to get to this point.  His growth has been exceptional, and I could not be more proud of him.  I do think that when he does get adopted, his furever family can expect a bit of backsliding – that’s only natural.  This is where that patience and love comes in, and willingness to stick with Cooper while he works through it…. 

…because eventually, he will!

If you’d like to add Cooper to your family, please contact Agape Animal Rescue.

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Spring Break

Since we started this blog back in September, we’ve never followed any hard and fast 5-days-a-week rule of blogging.  There have been weeks when we’ve posted five times, and weeks when we’ve posted twice.  We’ve posted on weekends and holidays.  We post when something funny happens, or when we have a story to tell.  Usually, in the world of dog fostering, that’s pretty dang often!

However today I realized it’s been almost a week since our last post.  And it had been a week before that since the previous one.  I think our unplanned hiatus started with technological frustration – I had an entire post written that mysteriously went missing before I could publish it, and instead of re-writing it right away, I sulked.   That instance on top of the fact that Foster Dad and I have both been So. Freakin’. Busy lately catapulted this blog firmly into the backseat of our priorities.

So, whether intentional or not, we’re taking a page out of Love and a Six-Foot Leash’s book and making some time for us.  And for the pooch’s, of course.  We’ll still be posting, but maybe a little less often. We have lots of stuff to talk about coming up, including a fun project Molly Tamale was involved in and updates on how Cooper’s progress with training and some of his other quirks. 

And of course, if anything happens on the adoption front, you know I’ll deliver the details with a quickness!  In the mean time, check us out on Facebook for quick updates, short stories and lots of pictures.  Thanks for hanging in with us, cyber-friends!

Molly Tamale and Cooper are both searching for their furever homes.  If you’re interested in adding either of these awesome pups to your family, please fill out an application with Agape Animal Rescue.

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An Unusual Suspect

Cooper isn’t the only resident of Foster House with a disposition for mayhem.  I came home at lunch yesterday to find this:

How do I know that Oscar was the culprit instead of his two partners in crime? Number one, Oscar has had a taste for this chair since he was a wee lad.  The chair was a hand-me-down from some friends and wasn’t in the best shape, so from the beginning we decided it would be ”The Dog Chair.”  We discouraged destruction, of course, but it was never the end of the world when it happened. 

And number two…

I love how Molly Tamale is sitting by, so sweet and innocent.  Cooper was outside during this video, but even after I let him in, he didn’t seem to have much interest in the carnage.   Oscar my friend – you are officially busted.

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Calming Cooper’s Quirks: Basic Obedience

As I’ve mentioned on several occasions, Cooper has turned out to be quite the little handful.  As much as we adore the stuffin’ out of him, we found ourselves at a loss when dealing with some of Cooper’s more complicated issues.  Rather than hang our heads in defeat, we sought help.  We enrolled Cooper in  “Basic Family Dog Manners” class with Dogs and Kat – run by the extraordinary Kat Martin, who also happens to own See Spot Eat, the doggie bakery where we bought the cake for Oscar’s birthday.

Kat has been training dogs for over a decade, and has a passion for animal rescue.  She works with Agape to offer canine education to foster dogs in their program at discounted rates.  She knows that sometimes the difference in a dog getting adopted quickly and spending months upon months in “the system” is as simple as getting the dog a sense of basic obedience.   

Kat’s classes based on clicker training.  Clicker training is just good old-fashioned operant conditioning – when a good thing (reward) gets associated with a cue (click) after performing a behavior (sit, down, stay, etc).  The idea is to get the dog to associate the click with a Very Good Thing, like a high value treat.  For Cooper, we use teeny tiny (think tic tac size) pieces of cheese or natural chicken treats.  There is a wealth of information out there on clicker training, so I’m not going to go into a lot specifics here, but I do want to highlight a few important points which we’ll be keeping in mind with Cooper:

1) The click creates a snapshot of the behavior.  Timing of the click is imperative, even more important that the timing of the treat delivery.  Think of the “click” as a snapshot of the behavior you want.  For example, when teaching “sit,” you click as soon as the tush hits the floor, and then deliver the treat. 

2) Click only to reinforce the behavior you want.  Don’t click to get your dog to do a behavior, wait until you he offers the behavior before you click.  If you are trying to get your dog’s attention when he is distracted by clicking, you are rewarding him not paying attention to you.  Wait until he turns his head in your direction on his own before the click and treat.  Eventually he will want to give you his attention, because he now knows that you are a magical treat factory!

3) Get the behavior first, then assign a name to it. Dogs do not speak English.  If you are teaching a behavior for the first time, your dog does not understand what “sit” means.  Kat teaches us hand signals for each behavior, which are designed to lure the dog into positions.  For example, the signal for “sit” is holding a treat in the your hand and chest level, palm flat facing upwards, and raising your hand up in front of your chin.  This simple raising of the treat naturally lures your dog into a seated position.  Once he is seated, click and treat.  Once he is consistently sitting for the hand signal, start adding the command “sit” as you do the hand signal.

4) Only say the command one time.  Repeating a command only shows your dog that he doesn’t have to listen to you the first time.  Say the command, and wait for the behavior. You may have to wait awhile at first, but eventually the time you have to wait will get shorter and shorter.

5) Keep it short, keep it positive, keep it consistent.  Training sessions should be 5 – 15 minutes, three times a day is ideal!  Always end with something your dog knows how to do well, so you end on a positive note.  And consistency is key – if you click, pay up!  The clicker will lose value if you do not deliver when promised.  Eventually the click itself will become the reward, but at first when your dog is learning behavior, make sure to deliver a treat every time you click.  Make sure you hand signals and voice commands are consistent as well, this is especially important if you’ve got more than one person that the dog will need to take commands from.

Cooper has attended two classes so far, and is responding well to the clicker.  So far, Kat has taught us People techniques for teaching Cooper “sit,” down,” “let’s go” (or loose leash walking), “touch,” and “come.” Coop is about as food motivated as they come, so getting him to demonstrate the behaviors and reinforcing them has been a snap click.  What we’ll need to focus on next is asking Cooper to relax, and keep his attention on us instead of on the other dogs in the class.  

If you’re interested in adopting Cooper, please fill out an application with Agape Animal Rescue.

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Vitamin D: good for what ails ya

Molly Tamale is recovering nicely from her unscheduled pedicure.  She’s putting weight on her foot again and, though gingerly, has resumed normal play activity with her brothers.  Even though she’s still not feeling 100%, Molly is well versed in the healing powers of the sun and has been taking full advantage of the morning rays.

If you’re interested in adopting our little sun goddess, please fill out an application with Agape Animal Rescue.

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