Prairie Dogs: Glimpses of Decibel’s puppyhood: August continued.

The pretty Decibel

Decibel went on another outing, this time it was just me and her, but she did fine, so it wasn't my driving after all. After having a buddy along, and going with Harold and me, she went without puking, and we even got stuck in traffic (in Kansas, are you kidding me? It was construction, and we had to wait for the 'pilot car'). She did fart urgently but before we got into town, so I stopped at a park and walked her there. It is a motorcross/ATV place, and usually deserted, but this time there was a family there getting ready to ride, and Decibel had to visit with them before going to the bathroom, but at least we were at a new place and met strangers, so all was well.

Then we went to campus and Decibel seemed to remember the place, and I let her 'find Daddy'. The Plant Sciences building is four floors of identical blandness, but once near Harold's office and seeing his door open, I let the girl 'track' and she went straight to him and climbed on his lap. Well, she was sooo happy, I didn't correct her. Harold can take care of himself.

Good thing nobody else was in his office.

Then we went upstairs to meet all the secretaries. This time the office manager/department chair's head honcho Anita was there. Anita helped me with Barley's socialization, and she has a soft spot for Decibel (she calls her Jezebel). This woman is a bit of a germophobe, but when Decibel visits, there she is rolling around the floor with the dog, and doesn't mind kisses or giving belly rubs. At no point did her hand itch toward the can of Lysol. Seriously, I once pretended to cough, and Anita just about sprayed me into the ground; getting maced can't be much worse. But with Decibel... well dogs are good for you.

Decibel did settle down and snooze on the floor. There was a steady parade of admirers, and 'she's so pretty' was the chant. I am not exaggerating. Everyone agrees. The thing is of course, she is so pretty. I mean, they are right.

She let Anita handle her paws and feel her dewclaws. I was glad that people are fascinated by those big paws, because it is good for Decibel to have people touch them and examine them. (Earlier that day I managed to trim them without a straightjacket on Decibel, so we are getting really good at such grooming standards.)

Decibel gave kisses, did not jump on anyone, and was a pleasure to show off. We went back downstairs, found Daddy again, then I visited with a former colleague, Dehlia, who is in dog classes with us, (she handles two Heelers, who put our gang to shame, they are so good), and she is also the person who teaches Sweetpea the horse and me how to get along together. We had a bit of horse talk, because I had a good ride on Sweetpea, and Decibel just stretched out and slept for a bit. You could not ask for a better dog.

Going home we were stuck again in traffic, but I think Decibel knew we were headed back home, so she didn't even drool.

In class we are still seeing glimpses of Decibel as a teenager. I will have to think about scheduling her spay, as well as the operation to stabilize her stomach and prevent torsion. Our vet recommends it and has done so on other large breed dogs with bloat trouble. It freaks me out to think about these things, even though I trust Dr. Ann, and know they are for the best. Also during that time I want her micro-chipped, as Decibel is a bit 'sensitive' when it comes to handling shots. I will let you know when it gets closer. I want to have her registration and your contact information on the ready by then, to make sure that the girl will never be 'lost'.

What do you think is the best time to do a spay? Any words of advice or wisdom?

Keeping her quiet and letting her heal up will be a challenge. She is so extremely active, agile and busy when she is out there. Naturally, she sleeps in between to keep her energy at peak levels when we do chores or go swimming. She is something to see when she runs at full tilt. You can see how useful that tail is for balance. Mostly she prefers to travel in that nice trot, except when she has to chase Skeeter or run after Maggie or mimic Ralph.

Well, that is all from Kansas. Decibel is getting hungry now. We are working on 'speak' since she likes to bark to make me hurry up during that time. Might as well use it.

Love,

She’s so pretty

Thank you for the information. I will talk to our vet (Dr. Ann just had a human baby, but since this is no emergency, it can wait until she is back in business) about the proper time to spay.

About Decibel's vaccination issues: DO NOT WORRY

The girl cried!

I mean she acted like the needle really, really hurt, each time, each visit. Honestly it was just being wimpy.

She didn't like Dr. Ann anymore. (Not normal for Decibel. She really loves people, and has no bias. And Dr Ann gave her treats and it was still a subdued Decibel. You know that she loves food. That has not changed).

It wasn't just a little yodel or yelp. It wasn't just once. I know that every vet can have a 'heavy hand' once in a while with the needle, but none of my other dogs have ever reacted to any injections, so I believe that Dr. Ann is rather good at her craft. Even the chipping did not bother our other dogs. Dr. Ann does not put them on the table, unless necessary. She plays with them. She gave Decibel the shots with me holding her and we were playing on the floor. I have worked for and assisted a number of vets before and can hold a dog without getting them scared or wiggles so the vet can pick their spot. Dr. Ann is quick.

When Ann comes for their annual vaccines, our dogs all line up to get their shots, as if she were handing out cookies. When Barley got his knees injected with steroids at her office and marched in joyfully each time to get jabbed with six shots, of which the sedative kept him off kilter for three days. It did hurt him one time, but he never made a fuss and we continued without him acting fearful or anything. I had a previous vet say that Barley had rather 'thin' skin, and bruised easily and such, which seemed true, but he never felt that the vet (any of them) was a bad experience for him.

Otherwise Decibel was completely fine. She slept it off once home, but not unusually long; she always is tired after a trip in the car - so are they all. She had no reaction at the injection site, and no other adverse effects. No sensitivity, no pain when petted, no swelling; right as rain and back to roughhousing with Skeeter as soon as she could.

But as you might have gathered, Dr. Ann is our friend, neighbor, as well as our vet. She takes care of our critters when the need arises and is our dog sitter as well. She likes our dogs to like her. Since the microchip needle is such a large gauge, she suggested we wait until Decibel is out under anesthesia before jabbing her with that. Since the chip is not medical necessity but rather peace of mind for us, it was easy to agree to that.

When combing Decibel she does not seem unusually sensitive, and I have not noticed any problems with her such as bruises or the like. She plays rough with Skeeter, and has no complaints. When she gets grouched at by any one else, she will pull the same thing, bawl, and come to me for support. She has never been physically hurt by the dogs in the sense that skin was scraped, much less punctured. Even Ralph, who wasn't thrilled with her, has never done more than scare her.

(We are working on this with him, and he is getting much better. His stupid humans had to remember about the pack they were building, and that Ralph needs his position in the hierarchy acknowledged. Now we make less fuss over Decibel - after all the 'baby' is almost his size now - and make sure that we don't undermine him. Ralph seems very intent on keeping his position. Decibel is very submissive, but then she does push the 'I am the submissive pup' until it annoys the other dogs. Maggie deals with her rather quickly, and Decibel does no longer bawl or anything, but I think it is because we trust Maggie to do the right thing, that we stayed out of it and we have always been a bit less sure of Ralph, who we adopted as a two-year old.

Now I have to admit that this was wrong. Ralph might never be comfortable with random other dogs, but he is a decent dog in our group. He only told Decibel that he was above her when he grouched. It looked unprovoked to us, because we were not really watching. (Sometimes I feel like this is 'Wild Kingdom' at our house. I need slow motion and instant replay...) I let him have his status, and he must (MUST) obey my NO FIGHT NO BITE rule, along with all our other rules. He has never challenged a human about that.)

Here I have to admit we had to sharpen up a bit.

With good dogs, well, it is easy to get sloppy, and let them shove their way out of the door ahead of you and such. But we got a handle on that again, mostly because Decibel is becoming an adolescent, and we know we will have our hands full. Anything she knows now, she will challenge, that is predictable. The better our other dogs are, the better she will turn out. It is just awful hard not to spoil the girl. She is so very pretty, can be sweet, clever, CUTE, absolutely adorable.

Well, this was a boring email, so let me sweeten it a bit: