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Current blog look inspired by and dedicated to Chance, Blaze, Fiona and Zappa who all kicked ass against cancer and liver disease.

Brut Quote

Brut Quote

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Miracle on 24 Paw Lane

Brut and I had a miracle happen on our walk the other evening.  After eight years of being confronted by loose dogs on our walks with my dog aggressive Brut, a dog came barreling towards us and when Brut growled, the dog turned and ran away.  That my friends was a miracle.

Let me tell you why:


I can not tell you the countless times we have run into loose dogs that either would confront Brut or worse, would want to be friendly.  I have been lucky with theses confrontations never to have a dog fight on a walk, but the ones who were completely oblivious to Brut's warnings were the ones who scare me the most. They just insisted on getting closer and closer to Brut while Brut will lunge and growl at them.  I could never understand this behavior and it was pointed out to me that these dogs are under socialized in the comments of a post I wrote HERE.  Never once has Brut hurt or even come close to touching these dogs, but there is a lot of effort on my part to make sure that didn't happen.

But something different happened this time while Brut and I were out that night.  And I can't even begin to tell you the amount of awesome it was.

I took Brut through a part of the neighborhood that he's never been before ever and he was doing really good.  We were coming up on a house that I knew had a loose dog and just as we made it to the driveway, the dog come barreling at us with the owner yelling.  I was pulling Brut away from the dog before the dog actually reached us, when suddenly the dog stopped and crouched down. It was obvious this dog was of a submissive natural.  Brut was under complete control, he growled just once and the dog turned and ran back home.  It was that simple. Brut finally got someone to listen to him.  All he asked is that the dog go away and this one did.  It was awesome.  We wasn't being rude or mean, he just warned the dog to stay away and the dog did.  That has never happened before!  And just like that Brut and I carried on our way easy as pie!  I still can't believe it happened.  Simple dog language that they both spoke and it was wonderful.

If that wasn't enough awesome, we ran into a small group of teenagers after that and Brut didn't flinch an inch.  Which was completely incredible!  He had quite a night and I couldn't have been more proud of him!

 

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Who's Top Dog? Zappa's Revenge

Studying and observing dog behavior is fascinating.  I can never get enough of it.
For those of you who have felt bad for Zappa getting the brunt of Brut,
let me ease your mind.
Zappa rules the living room for the most part and when Brut walks in Zappa lets him know it!


Zappa tenses up, Brut is coming...

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Spaying Blaze- A Year Later

First day back from being spayed
I think the shirt says it all!

We are coming up on a year since Blaze was spayed.  How are things you ask, much, much calmer.  Steady.  Even Steven.  We are not having those jagged up and downs in mood swings and testosterone!  ☺  It is especially easier on Brut, who is still intact, but his day is coming.  His demeanor has leveled out dramatically, as you might imagine and there is a consistency in his mood, for the most part.

Blaze has done well after finally getting healed up, although there are a few negatives that we are found doing this procedure that are a bit of a let down.  Blaze used to get really clingy and cuddle very close at night when sleeping when she was in heat.  I miss that.  Now, at least with me, she barely gets on the bed anymore.  :(   She would cuddle so close and press right up against my body.   And I really, really miss that.

The second is that she has become a horrible foodie!  She gets into everything!  I can not tell you how many times something got left out that she got into it.  We have a lock on the garbage because she figured out how to open the pull out drawer where the garbage is!  She has just been crazy about food and eating as she has also become very grabby, which we are working on.  She used to not care about food one way or the other, but now she can't get enough.  It is one of side effects of spaying later in life.  The dogs are used to a high metabolism rate and may struggle when it suddenly slows down.  She has taught me this past year about putting everything away before I leave the room and how to keep a better kitchen.  lol  She has put on a few pounds as well and we are doing the green bean diet (substitute 1/4 of her food with green beans) with her to help get it off, plus more exercise.  We hope with spring and summer coming we will be able to ramp up those walks to help tone her down.

 But the best part is that it didn't change any of her personality, quirkiness, or the little bubble of silly energy that makes Blaze, Blaze and that was my biggest fear after the changes I went through when Silver was spayed.

All in all spaying Blaze was a good decision and it is heaven not having to think about whether or not to breed her.  I'm really happy with our decision and especially how Brut has been handling it as well.  Although if I had to do again and had a puppy, I would do it when they were young at four months old like I did with Zappa and Fiona, who worked out great.  Just some food for thought.  ☺

Monday, March 9, 2015

Sometimes it is Just a Pissing Contest.

You really think you can top me??

And really that is all it is.  Brut and I are prone to them, but it has been a long time since we challenged each other to a duel.

And all it took was a bath to bring it on.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Blaze and the kitty-kitty Update

Here kitty, kitty, kitty!

HERE I told you about my experiment with Blaze getting to know the cats.  Her high prey drive and previous owners have made it quite a challenge.

I've been sitting with Blaze in front of the cat's door, while she lies down and feeds on cheese pieces.  Then I will open the door and see if the cats are out and about.

This is really a good time to try, because the cats hibernate from the dogs during the winter months which makes for good practice to have the door open.  Although most of the time we just saw this:




An empty cat room, as the cats were snug in their bed.









Once Boxer was in front of the door with his back turned to us and stayed that way for a few minutes before leaving.

Come here, doggy, doggy, doggy!!

And the other time Boxer was on the desk looking down at Blaze who was doing a very good job of being calm and in control of herself.

I try to do it at least once a day, but I've been lacking these past couple of weeks.  No problem, we'll just try again.

I've been very impressed with my little girl.  She has stayed lying down, which is HUGE, and she's been staying calm and in control.  HUGE!!

So while it may not seem like much, Blaze is making great headway so far.

We will keep you up to date!


Monday, March 2, 2015