Monday, May 28, 2012

A long week with no computer....

Several weeks ago my laptop screen began to flicker. The laptop is two years old and has seen a pretty huge amount of travel, use and a little abuse (including a certain incident involving a german shepherd and a large glass of diet orange soda). The good news is that I bought a two year service plan (from Staples) which expires in about two days. The bad news is that there are no Staples stores in MS so I had to ship it off for repairs. It didn't take me long to see the obvious - even with a smartphone I can't function without a computer. So now I have a shiny new little travel laptop and I will leave the large unwieldy one home as a permanent computer. Cracks me up though to think  that the "big" laptop, probably weighing 5 pounds, is too big and unwieldy to travel with. Then again I threw floppy disks away when I moved so I guess I am officially getting old.

Over the past week I have had some adventures and am getting ready for some others as well. I traveled to Missouri simultaneously delivering the stray pitbull puppies to their foster home and attending the American Rottweiler Club National Specialty, showing both Steel and Jill. More on the National tomorrow, however here is a clip of the babies before they left. The brindle boy was still suspicious but the blond girl, while shy and skittish, was warming up to me and still hopeful that people could be good.  After a few days of eating hotdog pieces from my hands I was able to reach out and touch her. I will never forget the look on her face when I reached out one day and scratched her behind the ears. It is as if she was stunned by how good it felt, she looked at me as if to say "how did you know to do that?" I think in the right home and with some patience she could be a sweet and loyal dog. I am not sure how well the boy can recover from his awful start and handling however at least now they both are with someone who can work with them full time. With my travel schedule for the next few months I just wouldn't be able to give them the rehab socialization that they are going to need.

The Babies:


Saturday, May 12, 2012

What Steel and I found while tracking this morning....

I went out around 7am to lay a track for Steel. I wanted to work near some larger buildings so went to the nearby middle school. As I rounded the back corner of the school I was greeted by a chorus of yipping dogs. Someone had dumped a trio of pitbull puppies in the area and they were clustered under a small tree soaking wet and trying to stay warm. Upon seeing me they all did their best to act tough and warn me off with yippee little barks, while at the same time beating a hasty retreat at my approach. I finished laying the track and weighed my options. I determined that if they were still there when I returned later to run the track (well armed with food for bait) then I would get the to a shelter.

At 9am Steel and I attempted to run our track. It went okay except I had to walk him past the cluster of puppies who were STILL THERE. He did a good job approaching them and tracking away from them but had some difficulty overcoming his curiosity when very close to their "territory". So after I put him up I assessed the situation and, armed with a pound of hotdogs, attempted to make friends and determine how to catch the little buggers.  During this process I was approached by the building custodian, wondering what the heck I was doing. He called me "dedicated" but I am sure the word he was thinking in his head was "nuts". Then the heavens opened up. Just when I thought the little pups couldn't look anymore pathetic...


Two of the pups were willing to gobble up pieces of hotdogs and the boldest occasionally worked up the courage to tiptoe up to me and take a piece out of my hand. They weren't having anything to do with being touched or approached though. The tri colored one above, clearly the weakest, of the three was the most wary but also the slowest. I was able to loop a leash onto her and pull her towards the car. The other two followed and although she was not happy about it, people being clearly NOT to be trusted, I got her into a carrier in the van. The other two came almost the whole way (following a trail of hotdog pieces) but were too spooky to catch. Time for plan B....



I went back to the center and collected a smaller plastic kennel and lugged that out into the field where the puppies had returned to. By this time it was a deluge and the poor things had crammed themselves into a corner of the building, getting drenched. It had to be the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. One ran off but the braver lingered long enough for me to block her in the corner with the carrier and an umbrella (not like it was keeping me dry or anything....). I scooped her through the umbrella into the carrier. She was delivered to the van and I returned to the field with the carrier for the third. Did I mention that it was still POURING? Unfortunately the third pup, finding herself alone, kept herself far far away from me and I didn't have any luck catching her. The weather turned more violent and I determined that maybe standing in the middle of a big field holding an umbrella during a thunderstorm was not my wisest move (although I did get a giggle about how fitting it would be to meet my demise in such a manner....).  I left the carrier with some food in it and although the food was gone later, I still could not get close to the pup.

Following a shower and complete change of clothes I then attempted to find someone to take the two rescued pups. One local shelter said that they would take the pups but that they do not adopt out pitbulls - meaning the munchkins would be euthanized. The other shelter, which would theoretically take them, was completely full. I have left some messages with a few pitbull rescue groups and am hoping to hear back from someone. In the meantime the girls are setup in one of the outdoor kennels, they have an igloo doghouse full of blankets and have devoured two meals since they arrived. They were a tiny bit braver by the second meal but the wary one still retreated to her bed once she finished inhaling her dinner.



Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The view from the "office"

Yes I quit my job, moved halfway across the country and took a pay cut. However.....here is the view from my "office" today. Fun students, training dogs all day and this view. I am not complaining....