What the hell is it about old dogs

Almost every big old dog we have had come into our home refuses to walk in the rain. All of them do it. Stop at the door and refuse to walk outside. Today was by far the worst. Clyde is learning to walk with a halti. I am insisting that he do it cause he has almost pulled me into the street a couple of times. Clyde hates the halti. He is sure it is a devil device that is killing him. So this morning not only do I have to drag 110 lbs of dog out the door, he is also on the end of the leash doing the crocodile roll. To the idiot that thought he should honk his horn and shake his finger at me this morning, BUGGER OFF. I was not killing him, I am not abusing the poor old thing, we are simply out for our morning walk.

It amazes me how quickly our dogs become spoiled. Less then 2 months ago, Clyde was a homeless dog tied to a post. Now, I not only can't get the old fart to walk in the rain, but he is getting really spoiled with food.

I made the mistake of feeling sorry for him. I don't know when I will learn that this is never a good idea. I get sucked in all the time. Clyde wasn't feeling well when he came into care and in an effort to get him to eat enough for us to give him pain meds, I started supplementing his food with really yummy stuff. Stuff like canned pheasant, rabbit and salmon. Not only was I giving him this, I was warming it up for him. Like I said, I get sucked in.

One morning I am running late for work (and I need to work to pay for the freaking dog food) and I didn't add the warm water to the pheasant before I poured it on his kibble. How simple awful of me. Cause this old homeless stray dog ran to his food dish, took a big bite out of it, whipped his head around, looked directly at me, and spit his food out. The horrified look on his face spoke volumes How dare I feed him cold pheasant for breakfast. I knew in that moment that I had lost all chance of maintaining any illusion on my part that I am the leader in my house.

I'm sure Cesar Milan and Brad Patterson would be so disappointed in me. LOL

I'm Back

Well I never really left but I needed a break from the responsibility of updating the blog. Sometimes it is quite difficult to keep my personal opinions to myself. I originally started this blog as a way of venting and letting others see how simply childish rescue can get sometimes. It evolved to keep people updated on the dogs of West Coast Rottweiler Rescue and I find it hard to keep things upbeat and positive when I just want to scream some of the time. So, I may scream and yell and even curse. LOL this is not a family site. If you are going to be offended by the odd bad language don't read this blog But if you do read it feel free to comment cause otherwise I think I am simply talking to myself again.

Now for the updates

Carson has passed away. Waverly gave him a wonderful last few weeks. Homemade food, lots of love, short walk, and medications to keep him comfortable. That is all we can do for dogs like Carson. He was dying when he came to us. We have no magical thing that we can do other then keep them pain free until it is time to let them go. Then we hold them softly in our arms so that their last moments are gentle and loving. Palliative care is not for the faint of heart. It can be messy, it is always expensive, and most of all it is hard on your heart. Old dogs are easy only in that they don't want much. What they need can be costly.

All the pups have been adopted. This wasn't final until they had all be spayed and done obedience classes. Finding homes for pups is easy. Finding good homes for pups is harder. Finding great homes for pups is really hard but that's what I seem to have done this time. All the girls have been placed in homes where I have no doubt that they are loved and cared for and trained so that they will be great examples of what well behaved Rottweilers should be.

Sadie and Belle are also adopted. Both of them were adopted by their foster homes. Belle wasn't officially adopted until we knew exactly what was going on with her health wise. We found (after a series of tests) that she had tumors on her spleen and on her adrenal gland. While it is fairly routine to remove a spleen, the adrenal gland was a whole different story. I know I have said it before but it needs to be said again. Without our very kind and generous vet we would not be able to do what we do. With the help and guidance from Kevin, the surgery was done successfully and at a great discount to us. Testing showed cancerous cells but the margins were clear and no further vet care was recommended. Belle is now living with a Golden Retriever brother Jackson whom she loves to boss around.

Sadie is now Mera. She lives with Cricket and her pack. Mera will never be a show dog and she will most likely always have some sort of issue going on, but Cricket works very hard at keeping her comfortable, and she know that WCRR will always be there to help if needed.

And now on to new stuff

In May we got a call from the Vancouver Animal Shelter. They had a young male there that would benefit from some one on one training. We pulled him and quickly took him to Canine Harmony http://www.canineharmony.com/index.php Our friend and long time supporter (and past adopter) Chanone taught Mack what he needed to be a part of a family. Simple things like not grabbing people with your mouth and not jumping on people or humping them Things that a good owner would teach a puppy. Mack was around 2 and at an age that if something wasn't done pretty quickly he would have become a problem dog. But we managed to avoid that and found Mack a home quite quickly. Lots of folks wanted Mack. He is a very good looking boy, but Mack needed someone that was strong enough to handle him and yet had enough sense not to think he had to use force on him. There is a fine line sometimes when dealing with large dogs with big personalities and not everyone gets what is needed.

In June Gus came to stay with us. God I loved that boy. And no he was not a rottweiler. Gus was Lab. but, he was a big black old dog that needed a home. Gus was goofy and loving. He was sweet and gentle. When Gus came to us he showed no real signs of any illness. He was a little lame from arthritis and could get a little cranky sometimes but he was wonderful. After about a month of living with us Gus had a seizure. And a couple of days later he had another one. Even with medication there were signs of small ones happening. I came home one day to find he had passed away. It is heartbreaking to lose a dog. It is even more heartbreaking to find a dog has died alone. I have always been there for all the passings and I felt (and still feel) awful that I failed Gus. I am so very very sorry my man.

there is no rest in rescue. No time that you think ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I can stop for a moment. Jake was next in line. Jake came via Gladwin Kennels. They are just outside of Lytton, B.C. He was picked up by the bylaw officer. In Lytton, all strays are taken there. They are held for 72 hrs and if no one claims them the owner of the kennel can dispose of them as she sees fit. Lots of times she finds homes for them herself. But Genny didn't want Jake to go to just any home. So she called us and we went out to pick him up. As is usual, Sashka hated him. But Jake was very dog social and very submissive. We got him neutered and up to date on his shots and found him a wonderful home in West Vancouver. From being a stray that no one wanted to living in the lap of luxury. LOL Not bad for a stray from the humble little town of Lytton.

And then came Clyde. This is why the human race so often disgusts me. Clyde is a very old 9 years. What I mean is that he is in rough shape for a dog of 9 yrs old. We think that he has had a hard life. And it shouldn't have been. But Clyde is one of those dogs people let down. Clyde was found in July, in the middle of a heat wave, tied to a post here is Surrey. Clyde had no collar, no micro chip and an old tattoo that could not be traced. He was dirty and smelly and his coat was a mess. His nails were long and his teeth yellow. An angel found Clyde tied to that post with nothing more than a short piece of yellow rope. When I say an angel found Clyde that's exactly what I mean. Most people would have just "called someone" rather then put their hands on this old dirty dog. But this angel took him to her home. She took him into her house with her own dogs and made sure he had food and water. The angel tried to take him to the local shelter but she was told that if no one claimed him his outlook wasn't good. You dear reader can take that anyway you want. I know how I took it. Clyde's angel wouldn't leave him there knowing that he might not make it out of the shelter. She took him back to her home and started searching for someone to help Clyde. She contacted us and I went and picked him up. I will always be grateful to that angel. Because Clyde is a sweetheart. Clyde is most likely a shepherd/rottie cross. It doesn't really matter at this stage of the game. Clyde is in our home and will stay there. As we always with any dogs coming into our care, we took Clyde to the vet for a checkup. My old boy has many many lumps. After some discussion we decided to x-ray to make sure what we were thinking was a fact. Clyde has hip displacia. He has a torn criciate and of course he has arthritis. But worst of all the x-rays showed tumors on his bowels. Another x-ray was taken of his chest and there are tumors on his chest. Clyde has advanced cancer.
Was this the reason Clyde was left tied to that post all alone. Did someone know and just didn't want or couldn't afford to care for him any longer. Whatever the reason, shame on them. To leave a family member to strangers to care for is horrible. We know Clyde belonged to someone. He has wonderful house manners. We know he was neutered and was part of another rescue. We know someone should have cared enough for Clyde to stand by him for his entire life, not just the easy parts. WCRR will care for Clyde the same way we care for all our palliative dogs. We will manage his pain. Right now Clyde has wonderful days and them some very quiet days. Some days he runs and jumps and rolls around. Other days he walks very slowly. I doubt it will be long. And Jim and I will be heartbroken once again. Because none of us can bring a dog home and not love it.

Now I want to talk about rescue. Rescue is becoming quite fashionable these days. There are rescues popping up all over the place. Please check them out carefully. Not all of them run the rescues ethically. So please be aware when adopting. Check them out. Are the dogs actually living in foster homes right now, or are they in shelters in other countries just waiting for an order. One of the problems with rescues is being able to stand for the dog you adopt. Do they stay in touch with the adopters. Not all of them do apparently. Clyde was from a long established rescue in the fraser valley. They have left the area and there is no one from that rescue willing to take Clyde or even help with the cost of medicine. So for the newer rescues, make sure you have a plan in place for when a dog needs you again. Because sooner or later a dog you adopt out will need to come back to you. Don't leave it for strangers to figure out.