Dog update

Well, I've gotten a few emails over the past month asking about how the dogs are doing, so I figured to give y'all an update.

Legal Lucy:

Not much change from little girl dog, at least nothing unexpected. It was 2 years and 3 months ago that Doc told me she only had a couple months to live due to organ failure, specifically her kidneys.

She's been on a special diet of Kidney Care and I'm giving her fluids from an IV bag into her neck just under the skin about every 4-5 days, 150ml at a shot. 

Her only real change is age. She's about 12-13 years old now and showing it. She doesn't run and play at all in the house anymore, other than when it's time for me to feed her. Outside, she does run and do her daily exploring just like she always has, and with the same amount of energy. Inside, she just naps.

It's funny but her inside play time is feeding time. I have to chase her down as she runs through the house - she'll run from one side of the living room to another until I almost catch her, then she hauls ass to the other side of the house - lather, rinse, repeat until she's had enough, then she flops over and lets me pick her up to carry her to her bowl. Sometimes that goes on for 5 minutes at a time. We've been doing that twice a day for 2 years now.

Yeah, she's spoiled rotten, but I don't care. She's earned it.

That asshole dog Jack:

I think that fucker's calmed down as much as he's going to. Don't get me wrong, he's come a long, long way since he first showed up here almost 3 years ago, beat to shit by that evil UPS truck and half starved.

For the first year and a half, I couldn't even reach towards him without him jumping away, nor would he come to me when I called him. Now, he'll come up and nose me when he wants a pet, and when I'm sitting in my chair, he'll walk up and bury his nose in my crotch so I can give him a deep scratch behind the ears. He loves that shit.

He's finally come to trust me, especially when it comes to his food or treats. He's never really tripped much about his food, though. His bowl sets on the brick foundation near the wood stove and when he's nosing it towards the edge, I've pretty much always been able to pick it up and move it away without him getting huffy. His treats, though? Different story. It used to be if I gave him a treat and then reached for him, he'd jump on top of it and stiffen up, snarling all the time. Now I can give him one and then grab him by his cheeks and shove my face down into his and he pays me no mind and keeps on munching down.

My biggest fear has always been him biting somebody - not out of meanness, but just being territorial. There's an acre with a barn on it right next to our place and the youngster that owns it has been doing improvements on the barn a little at a time since he's owned it, about a year and a half now. It used to be that when Tyler showed up, Jack would raise hell and make false charges, pulling up just short of the property line. I always figured that one day he was either going to not pull up in time or flat out charge Tyler, and if he did he was going to get shot and I wouldn't be able to blame Tyler one bit. Lately though, he's gotten to where he doesn't pay him any mind at all, not even barking when he shows up.

With company though, I still have to restrain him until they're in the house. Once they come in, they're cool - until they come over again.

I'm still not sure I'd trust him around kids - not that he's mean, he's just overly enthusiastic. He just doesn't know how to play gently. Hell, he's knocked me over more than a few times just playing. One thing I've noticed the past couple months is that if he hurts me somehow by nipping playfully or pawing at me and I holler, he immediately stops and lays his head against me, and you can tell he's sorry as hell.

He even plays rough with Legal Lucy at times, but she doesn't take his shit - if he gets too rough or she's not in the mood, she'll jam him up snapping at his neck and yipping, and he backs right down. That's a far cry from when he first showed up here and she was so afraid of him that she'd cower when he even looked at her. She's the main dog and he knows it.

His usual spot when we're in the house is either next to or directly behind my chair. I bought him a pad and put it in the living room about 4-5 feet from my chair, but he dragged his pad over to my chair so many times that I just leave it there now.  At first, if I reached down to pet or scratch him, he'd startle and jump. Now he just grunts and repositions himself so I can rub him where he wants.

Any time I get up and go into another room, he's dead off on my heels, closer than my shadow. It's almost a pain in the ass, having to check my six any time I step back.

Last year we started leaving him in the house while we were gone. At first it was 10 minutes at a time, then a half hour, then an hour or so. Now we can leave him in for 4-5 hours without him pissing in the house or tearing shit up. That's about as long as I feel comfortable leaving both dogs in without a bathroom break anyways. I can't go more than 4-5 hours without pissing and I don't expect the dogs to.

He's definitely my dog but he adores Lisa. I take comfort in knowing that if I was gone and somebody tried to get into the house, he's going to deal with 75 pounds of pissed off pit bull before he gets to Lisa.

Funny story - I've always told Lisa not to hand feed the damned dog. People food is not good for dogs and it turns them into beggars. As usual, she ignored me, so I gave her a handful of doggie treats to give him. Problem solved - I thought. A couple weeks ago I walked into her room and caught her holding her coffee cup while letting Jack lick the liquid out of the bottom of it. I got pissed and told her that caffeine will kill a dog, and she retorted that it was just a taste and besides, it was mostly creamer anyway. That was probably true, her morning cup is basically a cup of half and half with a little coffee poured in. I just looked at her and said, "Hell, if I'd known you've been doing that, I'd have been scrubbing your cup out every morning with soap and hot water instead of just rinsing it." That took care of that real quick - she doesn't let Jack lick her cup any more.

I suspect he'll continue to calm down even more with age, but it'll be inches now instead of leaps and bounds. One day I'll realize that he turned out to be a pretty good dog.