Loving my Oldies

That’s for sure Beatrice is getting rather vocal in her displeasure !!

This statement made me scratch my head as well.

A long time ago, I used to be a morning runner and I was always very careful when I saw dogs (long before I had any in my life). One day when I was out, I saw a Golden Retriever lying on the footpath and so I stopped running and walked by at a casual pace. To my surprise, just as I passed him, he jumped up and bit my leg behind my knee. I think he got a bit of a surprise too because he obviously didn't mean business. However, my leg in that area was all colours of the rainbow for weeks afterwards. I can't even begin to think what these people who have been "seriously injured" look and feel like. The pain must be horrific and the fear when it is happening would be unimaginable.

They are doing well, thank you. Beatrice has been fine from the start and, after her re-stitching episode, Bunches is fine as well. Poor things are going stir crazy though. They are not interested in going for walks, so I generally have them out the front with me so they can watch the world go by. Their discharge sheets said no running or jumping and when they are out the front they race up and down and through the garden. I am sure they would be fine with the running now, but they push in through the bushes so they can stand on the low brick fence (against which I have high plastic mesh). I can just see them being stabbed in their faces by the bushes !!! It is so hard for them and, I confess, I nearly weakened today when they were at the front door looking back at me with pleading eyes. Commonsense prevailed. Their check up is on Monday, so still a while to go. I have to be strong for them LOL. It is getting cool now, so I might try a short walk or to to give them some interest. They have finished all their tablets, just the eyedrops now and they have three several times a day. They are still in the Velfast collars which I take off for them to eat, but they are able to drink with them on -- and get up and down the stairs which surprised me. So that makes life a bit easier.

Yes, I've heard this too. Also "Oodle" bought from breeder.

We are home, Bunches seems okay and quite bright. Obviously anaesthetic wasn’t nearly as strong as last time. Surgeon still didn’t have the courtesy of coming out to see me.

OMG DRAMA !!! I went looking for Bunches to give eye meds and she was downstairs, sunbaking in a patch of sun on the pathway. When I walked towards her she turned her head to look at me and I nearly fainted. The whole wound had opened, all the stitches had given way. Mad dash to the Eye Clinic where, although he was there, the surgeon didn't even deign to see me. While I was reception prior to leaving, someone came out and went into another room, but stopped in the doorway to chat to the receptionists. I couldn't see who it was and, because my hearing is so bad, I did not hear what was being said. After this person went into the other room, I made some comment to the receptionist and it turned out the person had been the surgeon. So there he was, about six feet away from me and could not even pay me the courtesy of speaking with me. I am so angry. I comment to the receptionist that he could have at least said hello, and she said how busy he was, etc etc. The specialist I did see said that he would put a larger cone on her and I commented that I had been wondering if the seam of the cone had been rubbing against her eye. Poor little Bunches, she is so tiny and defenceless, I hate that she has had to go through this. At this rate, I will need more than a bit of valium. I've just had a call from the Clinic and she will be ready to be picked up by 4pm. I am so sick and tired of arrogant, compassionless people.

@Little Gifts, I’ve been scoffing the girls’ Trazodone !!!! LOL - not really, but when sorting through all the old medications I came across some codeine tablets and was very tempted. I stayed up very late last night and so was able to witness Bunches bringing up all her dinner (about 3am) . She seemed okay afterwards and we had cuddles in bed. This morning, She took herself downstairs and then claimed a patch of sunshine on the deck. Small breakfast. I am supposed to give them a hot compress before their ointments, but I am worried that will start Bunches bleeding again, so to be extra cautious, I think I will take her to the vet who should be able to ascertain whether or not one of the stitches has popped. As for Beatrice …. if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know .

Well I am very happy there are Chook Influencers on this forum Meals have never been done and dusted so quickly. We have had a bit of drama tonight. I have to take their VelFast cones off so they can eat, then I left them off for a little while so they could drink if they wanted to. Went looking for them to put the cones back on and I couldn't find Bunches. When I found her, she had obviously knocked her wound and it was bleeding. I rang a friend who lives a couple of streets away and then started gently compressing the wound. I was so worried that she'd broken a stitch, but after a while the bleeding stopped and I am pretty sure the stitches haven't been compromised. She seems okay, just me who is a wreck. Vet first thing in the morning, if it is still oozing. My friend was great support and has just left.

I am feeling pretty low at what my girls have had to go through. Beatrice has sailed through, recovered well and you wouldn't know she'd been through anything except for the Elizabethan collar. Bunches isn't doing as well . I have been in touch with the Eye Clinic this morning as she is very low and I am pretty sure she is in pain. She has had her first meds, but they are supposed to given with food, but she won't eat, even though I tried her by hand. I am off to Woolworths to get some BBQ chicken. I should have thought ahead and had it on hand, of course. One advance that helps enormously is that the E-collars are those that fasten with velcro and don't have to be threaded through their usual collars. Because of their flat little faces, they can't eat with them on and the old sort used to be a nightmare for this fumble fingers to get on and off. Thank you for your best wishes everyone.

Bunches today. I couldn't get Beatrice to look at me, she was too interested in passers by. I love them so much.

The Dirt Girls go in for their surgery tomorrow and I confess to being very nervous for them. I know the surgeons are very very experienced, but the last time I took a little dog in for eye surgery (different specialist) it did not end well

You could say this about just about any policy passed by any level of government. The only policy that is enforced with alacrity is locking up children. I became involved in the dog world in 1999 when I became a volunteer at a pound and around the time The Companion Animals Act was being legislated. Silly me, I thought the numbers of dogs in pound would fall away to just about nothing. 24 years later and the situation is worse than ever, absolutely catastrophic. There is more than the one factor that laws aren't being enforced, of course, but that is the one where countless hours spent on paperwork, red tape, wording of legislation, etc etc and then what happens? Nothing. Thousands of policies put in place across the country without the proper back up of support or trained people who actually take a pride in their work. How many times have people just on this forum alone tried to call rangers only to be told they don't work on weekends, there is no one available and any other excuse under the sun so they don't have to do their jobs?

Confession - I haven't read the whole thing, just this paragraph. Sorry to be such a Casssandra, but none of this is going to happen in any area of our lives, in the world today. People want, people demand, people going to get by whatever means possible and bugger anyone or any morality that gets in the way. Aren't I cheerful, but when we can't even look after babies and children known to be in danger, how do you expect people to care about morality in breeding, training or owning dogs and other animals?

Wonderful

Apart from the fact that my question was simply rhetoric, I think you missed my point, @tdierikx. You were saying that dogs don't reflect on past experiences. I am saying that I am sure they don't, but they are influenced by past experiences and this affects their day to day behaviours. I am living with one who is severely traumatised by past experiences. All she knows is that she is frightened and reacts accordingly, despite never had anything but love and kindness since coming here. And I wasn't referring to other animals, just dogs and humans. That is another conversation and millions of words entirely.

That is a strange comment, @tdierikx. Dogs might not sit around thinking, "OMG a man was dreadful to me in the past, this is a man, ergo, he will be dreadful to me." But they are influenced, why else would some dogs be afraid and some not of the same situation? Same as intergenerational trauma. And PTSD. ' And I am one who firmly believes that dogs are like humans (we are animals too) in that we are all born with different personalities, characters, prone to fears, love all things dangerous, etc etc.

That's true. I have actually counted the days.

She has a sixth sense because only if I creep very very slowly and silently down the hallway in the dark will I actually see her in the bed.

The terrified look in her eyes is so damned sad. And the place she came from is still operating.

Getting much deserved cuddles

She still runs away . This was just a few days ago. I admit the voice would scare anyone, I guess LOL.

We are now over 5 months into Operation Strawby. Not a lot of progress, sadly, just the little things I wrote about before. HOWEVER, the other day we did have a tailwag. I wasn't feeling well, so went back to bed, but took Strawby with me. She was as stiff as a post, shook most of the time, kept looking at the door, but I was firm LOL. We probably just lay there cuddling for nearly an hour when I simply had to close my eyes. So I popped her onto the floor and she strutted off with tail held high as if to say, "Yep, got you trained LMO." The rescuer visited the other day and announced that she didn't think we would be ever able to rehome her and that she was with me for good!!! So looks like I have me a "Unicorn" dog. Strawby is spending quite a bit of the night inside now, once I've gone to bed. A few weeks ago, I had to get out of bed and go into the kitchen for something and she was racing out the door to the deck. I set up the Furbo camera again and found that as soon as I had turned the lights out and gone to bed, she was coming in and getting into one of the beds in the lounge. She is always gone by morning, so I don't know how much time she is spending there. The camera doesn't record. I have some photos, but have to put them onto Flikr first.

Well the bookings have been made and Bunches and Beatrice will have their operations on Tuesday 18 April. I will not be having the prosthetic inserted for Bunches; I don't want her to be put through more than necessary. So that should be pretty straight forward. Beatrice's op will be a little more intensive because, as well as having the scar tissue frozen, she will have a slow release implant inserted in her eyes. Specialist says we have to "hit her hard" with medications to stave off deterioration as much as possible. He says there is the likelihood she will go blind over time. So a scary time coming up for me; the dogs will probably sail through with not a care in the world. They sleep through it all and wake up feeling better. I will probably be scoffing Strawby's anxiety medications.

I don't have any specialised advice, I'm sorry, just wishing you all the best. There will be others more qualified than I to advise you. Little guy is just a puppy, so hopefully with the right treatment, he will become a happy little soul. The breeder may not have deliberately lied to you and the puppy might have been traumatised by the plane trip. It depends a lot on the breeder's facility, whether they knew how to prepare a puppy for a life outside his litter, whether he was given all the appropriate experiences, etc etc. Breeders don't necessarily do the right thing by their puppies, more interested in a quick sale. And they can be at the other end of the scale where puppies are wonderfully prepared for life and grow up to be happy, healthy, totally adjusted dogs. Good luck.