Buddy's surgery

Buddy is home recovering from what turned out to be more than a simple neuter.

In his exam Wednesday morning, Dr. Ken found one testicle, so during the regular neuter they had to do internal surgery to look for the other one. They found it, wrapped in a cord. I picked him up Thursday afternoon and he's doing well. He's walking funny, but he's leaving the stitches alone so far. I'm sure the pain meds are helping with that. We go back in two weeks for removal of the stitches. 

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The Pet Expo opens tomorrow. I'm going to drop KJ off for a few hours in the morning so he can help Terry with the iPad and card reader. Then taking Woodson for his rabies shot and giving him a bath on Saturday night because on Sunday we all go back to the Expo at 1 to closing. We always have a lot of fun at this. Buddy would be recovered enough to go, but he's really shy with strangers at first. Actually cowers if someone reaches to pet him, so I won't put him through that. He completely warms up to people, but I think being at the Expo would stress him out. Woodson can be shy, too, but he's getting better. He loves the attention, but doesn't like the standing around.

Quick update

Buddy is scheduled for the snip snip on Wednesday and will then be available for adoption by the weekend. I need to get his bio stuff done!

Re: being loose in the house?

He passed the morning shift.

He failed the evening shift.

He is crated now.

It wasn't that bad. I came home from Foss Tuesday night to two paper grocery bags shredded.

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He's a very shy eater. He needs quiet and no interruptions or he won't eat. I put some water on his food and he seems to eat more. I bring him up to my bedroom while getting ready for work and shut the door. The other day I forgot to shut the door and Brett came in and just started eating. Buddy backed away and let Brett eat. I think he's used to having food down all the time as he only eats some of it, which doesn't work at my house. If you don't eat your food, someone else will!

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Buddy loves to play with Woodson. They play really well together.

Yesterday Buddy and Brett got into a bit of a brawl. I'm sure Brett attacked Buddy. I didn't see what started it, but was able to stop it quickly. The three bones were on the floor, so I picked them up for now. I'm thinking Buddy wanted the one Brett had. Not a big thing, we have these squabbles every so often between Brett and Woodson. 

Takin' a chance on Buddy

It says in his profile from his owner that he can be left loose in the house, so I'm trying it this morning. Will know about 12:15 if it was a good choice. KJ is in Winona for a few days during his spring break. Woodson and Brett are kenneled up, so if any damage is done, I will know it's Buddy. I closed all doors upstairs, left the gate into the basement open so he won't feel alone and put all shoes into closets.

If all goes well, I'll let him stay loose until/if he does something.

Food

Buddy hadn't eaten much at all. I was feeding him in the garage, in order to give him some privacy. I often do this with fosters because I don't know how they will be around my dogs at feeding time. Last night I put some water in his food and brought it into my bedroom, shut the door and he ate. So this morning, I feed Brett and Woodson in their usual spot in the entryway, then fed Buddy in my room again and he gobbled it up.

Bathroom

No accidents in the house. And no pooping in two days. I've been putting him on the cable and sending him out with one of my dogs and he'll pee. I've been trying to walk him a bit but he hasn't wanted to pee on a snowbank and it's icy. He doesn't pull on the leash at all, in fact he kind of walks around me a lot, so we need more training with that. It's hard now because we have a lot of snow and it's really icy still. Late last night I put him on the cable and left him out there by himself while I watched from the window. He eventually went off the step and pooped. Yay!

 Trip to Petco
We went and got him a new collar. Brought all three dogs into Petco. KJ took Bett and Woodson and I dealt with Buddy, who is pretty shy in new situations. The collar Buddy had was as big as it could get and I felt was rather tight. Good for not slipping out of, but I didn't feel it could have been very comfortable. Got him a martingale which is a really good collar for a collie. I won't worry about him slipping it when he's on the tie-out. The collar is like a choke collar, but it only closes up so far and releases better.

Play

Buddy and Woodson are playing a lot. Brett is so rough when he plays. He's a charger and Woodson is used to it, but I really think he enjoys having another collie to play with. They don't seem to get as rough. A lot of it is laying down face to face and just grabbing at legs and ears, etc., huffing and gruffing.

Sunday night, KJ proclaimed that if we didn't have two dogs already, he would want to keep Buddy. This speaks to how sweet the dog is. KJ doesn't like it when the foster is a lot of work!

Buddy's in the house! (#18)

We were playing it by ear whether today would be transport day or not. It rained here all day. Buddy's trip started in Ironton where his owners brought him to meet Laure in Little Falls. Laure later reported the roads up there were so bad and all they saw was vehicles in the ditch and rollovers. Wow. Apparently it was sleeting and snowing most of the day. Yesterday we were thinking we could have waited, even, but the temps were above freezing so we figured it would just be wet. 

I met Laure and her husband in Monticello. Got Buddy in my car and we were off. Really nice of them to do the major part of the transport!

We know Buddy was born on June 7, 2012. We don't often get actual birth dates! He has registration papers, so I want to see if I can do a little research on his beginnings.

Everybody's getting along well. He's been a house dog so he's housebroken. Another perk I don't get too often!

I'm trying to get some quick pictures, but he's pretty busy checking things out.

He has the coolest tail. He is what is called a sable-headed white. Some brown freckles along his legs and a brown patch on his back, otherwise all white except for his head.

He was well loved by his family but they felt they had too many animals. That's about all I know.

Buddy

Offered to foster Buddy and was accepted. No details on when I'll get him or why he was surrendered.

Buddy an 8 month old, sable headed white,  rough, intact male collie. He is fully vetted (except for neutering), including having had his eyes checked (his eyes are perfect).  The vet said he is a healthy dog.  His coat is healthy too.

 

Buddy is very playful and great with dogs, cats, and kids,  including little kids who climb on him and pull his hair. He is very gentle with them all. He is leary of new people but warms up very quickly. He is champion sired and is AKC registered. He is good with cats. His owner is currently working on teaching him Stay, Come, and Down commands.

Heidi Heidi Ho!

This morning, 7 a.m., not wanting to get up this early. I was up late last night working and then wanting to read. It occurred to me last night that one reason I am behind in my reading is because I've been working on weekends. So, going to sleep after 2 a.m., I had every intention of sleeping in. Not so. Brett, who sleeps in KJ's room, was scratching at the door. Woodson doesn't really wake me up, but he hovers. When I roll over he is standing there looking at me. So I yelled a 'no' to Brett, hoping it might give me another 20 minutes, because the boy NEVER gets up. I got about 20 minutes before the next scratch, and instead of going back to sleep, I started thinking about the dogs in my past who let me sleep in, because I am a sleep whore and I never get enough. When I worked at the newspaper, I did, because I could sleep until noon, which was my natural body clock. 4 a.m. to noon was when my body has always wanted to sleep. Working second shift at the paper was perfect!

Kelly, my first collie, I was in 8th grade when I got her, was with me all the way. My mom would open my door to see if Kelly wanted to 'go outside'. Kelly slept on the bed, often battling me for space, but we worked it out every night. I wonder if that's why I'm a thrasher to this day? Okay, Mom at the door, Kelly lifting her head and looking at her, then dropping her head back down. Nope, she was good, snug in the bed.

Travis was also a dog who could sleep in. I had him in Idaho when I worked second shift at the front desk of the Sun Valley Inn, then moved with me to Minnesota.

Jazz, too, could sleep in, used to my hours.

Thor, same thing, still worked at the newspaper in his early years.

Then I left the paper and started working at Foss Swim School and morning hours at the church. OMG, I so don't want to get up in the morning. But I've been doing it now since 2008. And these dogs want to get up early on days I don't have to get up. Grrrrrrr.

Which brings me to Heidi. Although I don't remember if she was an early riser or not, Heidi is the first dog I remember having. I was in second grade when my dad brought her home from a family in Mankato. My dad was down there on business and they had puppies!

Heidi was a mutt. Some sort of Spaniel. Her coloring was that of a Brittany Spaniel, but she was cocker spaniel size. We were so excited to finally have a dog! I remember feeling so bad that she was sad to have left her siblings that I gave her my favorite stuffed animal (a black and white cow), to sleep with. The next morning I came down to find her shaking it violently, really just playing with it, but I was shocked!

We lived outside a small rural town, and Heidi was allowed to run loose. Heidi was a house dog, but during the day or while we were gone, we left the garage door open a bit where she could come and go. She'd wait at the top of the hill for the bus to drop us off. The retired neighbor said he always knew what time it was by seeing Heidi waiting for the bus.

I remember fighting with my sister, Connie, over who was going to have her at any given time, actually doing a little tug of war with that poor dog who never once told us not to do it. We literally pulled her back and forth, neither one of us wanting to let go.

I could go on and on with stories of Heidi, as we all could about our dogs.

Awhile ago when I first started this blog, I asked Connie to write her memories of Heidi. Even though we were twins, growing up in the same house, we often remember things differently or different things.

Here is what she wrote:

I have two stories that come immediately to mind.  The first being when Dad brought her home and the second being up at the Lake.

We were around 8 years old when Mom got a phone call from Dad.  Dad was a salesman and on the road about every other week for three or four days at a time.  He was on his way home from Mankato, Minn.,  when he called.  The only thing I remember Mom saying was:  “A puppy?”  All three of us clambered around her with excitement.  A puppy?  REALLY?

It got too late for us to stay up and wait for the little one to arrive but the morning, I don’t remember if it was just me or me and my sisters – I confuse it with the MANY times on Christmas morning when I was always the first one up and heading downstairs by myself to see what Santa had brought.  I went downstairs and remember navigating over the pile of books and an unused window shutter blocking the bottom of the stairs, to find a big empty box near the couch, my mother sleeping on the couch with this furry blondish neck muffler over her throat.  Heidi.

My mom’s sister’s family had a cabin in northern Minnesota on Lake Hickory which we got to visit.  It was situated right on the lake, down a long, two track dirt road that curved through a heavily wooded area.  They had a Dachshund – Brandy – and we had Heidi.  She was a Cocker/Brittany cross (back when they were called Brittany Spaniels).  Brandy LIVED in the water, Heidi – not so much.  We’d shove her off the dock every once in a while just to make her swim, poor girl.  One day, we were headed to town or someplace and all piled into the car and started to drive off when my Auntie Juline looks in her rear view mirror and spotted Heidi following us.  She stopped and we all hollered out at her to “Go Home!”.  She slunk off and we started off again, only to stop again.  Heidi was following, but this time she snuck off to hide in the grass/woods.  “Go HOME!”  Off we went again and out popped Heidi, only this time she was LIMPING!  What a faker!  I don’t even remember how we resolved it, just that she was smart enough to FAKE a limp – a trick she learned to use going forward when she was being left behind.  What comes to mind now was how we thought we could just leave the dogs outside loose at what was to her, a strange home, and expect her to stay there while we were gone – but stay she did.  I’ve never been able to do that with any of my dogs since.

What amazes me even more is that my Dad is the one who brought Heidi home.  He was not exactly what I would call – an animal person, at least not on the surface.  But I also remember him leaning over to touch noses with my cat, Chubasco.  Six-feet four of him saying “kitty kitty kitty”. (K, just had to throw that in). 
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As we always get to eventually with our dogs, each one turns out to be the best dog. Heidi was certainly the best dog. She taught me so much about how to care for her, that I still employ today.