June 10 & July 3 2011
Of Toads and Jolly Balls
Recently Elf swallowed a fluttering baby bird without a single chomp, and was sufficiently pleased with herself -- albeit puzzled at the dismay of her human observer -- to attempt a repeat this week with a toad. Human was indoors and is thus not sure about the fate of the amphibian, though certain that it was not a seriously poisonous one. The fate of Elf briefly looked a bit puzzling. Resting in her crate, she startled the human by raising herself slowly on the front end, chin sagging and drizzling slime. Following an inspection of her mouth and vital signs, off to the great outdoors went the dog, into the wash went the bedding... Later on human, from another room, heard the pup start on the dreaded: “Gurgle! Gurgle! Glump, glump, glump” event... Off to the great out doors went the dog AND the bedding, for a hose down, then into the washer with the fleecy bedding. Beginning to look tattered, it was.
Overnight the slender pooch proboscis commenced a slow, gradual puffing which did not affect the area around the eyes, giving Elf a distinctly morning after appearance. Due to numerous stinging insect encounters, this is a symptom we are familiar with. As usual with medicine, she neatly extracted the benadryl clone capsule from the cheese wrapping the clever human had attempted to hide it in, gobbled the cheese, and went dancing about, a pink and white capsule bouncing beneath her paws. She does this every time, but holds no false pride about having outsmarted That Woman again. In fact, she comes obediently to put her front paws on the human’s wheelchair footrests, permitting the person to shove the undesirable medicine into the back of her throat, then hold her chops closed until a couple of good swallows have occurred. Then she insists on a good back rub.
Things you learn from a dog: Toads in the garden? Great idea so long as they are not in the same garden as a dog. Elf was lucky to have only a mild reaction to a poisonous toad, likely a Woodhouse’s (Bufo woodhousi). NOW the human knows that when a dog takes a toad in its mouth one should immediately rinse the dog’s mouth with a slow running garden hose and call the vet for advice.
Loafing around with Elf thoughts insist on running through my head in a random way... Around here dogs have more to fear ... or maybe it’s their humans who do the fearing in their behalf -- from cacti than toads. So I was being super careful with three new small cacti a couple of days ago as I repotted them in the back yard. Between getting this job done with all due respect to Elf’s nose and my own fingers, and wiping my runny eyes -- too much smoke from the Wallow wildfire in Arizona -- I missed that Elf was cheerfully herding her big purple Jolly Ball into a wedge shaped crevice between a wall and a large hollow tree trunk section where nobody but a monkey could ever get it out again. Well, certainly not a wheelchair gimp who walks with leg braces and long crutches.
Discovering that she could not with her prodding schnozz and mighty barks liberate the Jolly from its prison, over to the human she trotted. Pretty soon her laser beams were felt, boring into the human head and causing her to look up from the cactus project. Yipping excitedly, Elf ran back and forth from the trunk/fence spot to the human. Upon seeing what she had done, the expectant Elf received a stern lecture on the many times she'd been warned not to put the ball into that corner, and how impossible it would be for her particular human to do a thing to restore it to her. She listened carefully, then demonstrated with clarity her point of view. She rammed the Jolly even further into the corner.
What we do for our dogs! Eventually the human sighed, levered and used the wheelchair to roll a shorter log out of the way, then rigged up a system of rakes, each supporting the one before it, by which the ball got pushed closer to the one spot where she could go around behind to shove it back out into the yard. Would she do it? Ha. Ha again! Hours elapsed while Elf moped -- her side of the standoff. Eventually the weaker character -- human, of course -- groaned, hauled herself to her feet, tottered and clambered through composting leaves and several obstacles, cussed, fussed and shoved the Jolly out with one of the rakes and a crutch. Muttering who knows what to herself, the human spent five minutes getting leaf and twig bits out of sandals and toes. Move over, Rube Goldberg.
Ah, but there’s more. Today Elf energetically began driving Jolly back into that trap. “NO!” hollered the human just in the knick of time, causing the dog to abandon the ball and trot jauntily off in some other direction.
“Betcha you never get it out of there,” the human suggested. She cocked her head, trotted back to the corner, neatly leapt around the Jolly on those short corgi legs, and swept triumphantly out from behind it, yipping and shoving it to the far end of the yard.
And here, on July 2, is a short video of Elf chasing the Jolly around the back yard. Sorry my hands are none too steady holding the iPhone, but you'll get the idea that she's gaining pretty good control over the ball. She also has a big human exercise ball for inside use, which she is learning to maneuver around the house. She always "talks" to the ball as she moves it around, for some reason.
And here, below, is
Elf politely greeting
the garden wombat ... statue ...
Reading Recommendations:
Patricia McConnell is good at explaining behavior from the dog's point of view, how to change the way your dog interprets what you are trying convey to him/her. She's an animal behaviorist, not a trainer per se. Rather like taking your pooch to the psychologist rather than another round of obedience school -- either for fine tuning your relationship or because something has gotten way out of kilter. If you love herding dogs you'll feel especially comfortable, not that she isn't equally informative with Maltese and Pit Bulls. She has published numerous books. This one's my favorite.
Likely to become a classic before it's ten years old, this 2008 book is all about outdoor writer Ted Kerasote's relationship with the independent canine he named Merle after rescuing him (while the dog tried to run down a calf on an Indian Reservation) during a river trip. He has strong ideas about developing a cooperative attitude with an intelligent dog, a thing so often not taught in obedience classes. You may end up wanting to live in a national park as the writer does, so you can hunt, ski, kayak, hang out in the local establishments where all the people and all the dogs know everybody else's business, and arise each day with views such as what's on the book's cover.
Disclaimer: I have not read this one yet. Just published, May 2011. A respected British anthrozoologist, author John Bradshaw shares the view (supported by research I've seen in the last few years) that dogs don't need a pack leader so much as a family. Move over, Cesar! Check out a review at Dog Files. Another review is at salon.com.
There are way too many great dog books out there to mention here. Sorry! But do read "A Dog's Purpose" by W. Bruce Cameron, available at the library or your favorite eBook store.
