by Menelvir » Fri Sep 02, 2011 10:54 pm
Speaking of pets and their oft-neglectful owners...
About 11 weeks ago, I rescued six puppies (one female, five males) from an area adjacent to our property. The female that whelped them is a stray, mixed-breed, and wanders the neighborhood; we think it likely that she hooked up with a male basset hound that lives in the area, because the pups have some basset-like features (and voices).
The heat and extreme drought conditions (I live in S. Central Texas) were making it less and less likely that the mother would be able to adequately care for even two of them, much less all of them. I'm not sure where she was finding food and water to produce milk for them.
When I first discovered the den and the pups, I let them be. I checked on them again after a weeks time, and they seemed to be worse off.
I had at one point considered euthanizing them both because at one point it seemed it would be a mercy, and also because if they managed to somehow survive, I didn't want six more stray dogs in the area. I decided not to do so. So instead, my wife and I took all of them in. Despite being at least somewhat dehydrated they thrived under our care (we started by feeding them scrambled eggs mixed with plain yogurt ).
We managed to adopt two of the males out to other families, but we've still got the four (the female and three males), they're about 15 weeks old now.
We've taken them all to the vet for parvo, hookworm, etc., and the vet neutered one of the males (he had surgery to remove an eye "tag" in the fold of his eyelid [a Shar Pei-ish trait, I'm told]), so they did the neutering at the same time).
I've bought a yard of cedar shavings and shoveled it into the pen where we keep them, both to fight the dust (help hold in moisture) and to mitigate the smell from waste.
When they're loose and out of the smaller penned area, they have to be watched, because we have ranch-style fencing which they have learned they can squeeze through. Eventually, they'll be 50 - 60 lb. dogs and unable to squeeze through, but not for a while yet.
I'm trying to routinely but slowly train them, starting out with very simple response training, and they seem to be taking well to it so far. But I feel it's difficult to give each of them the individual attention that each deserves. It's time-consuming (and occasionally frustrating - they can be quite unruly, not to mention downright destructive).
And for me, someone who is extremely selfish, especially when it comes to my leisure time, the whole experience has been a bit rough.
But I don't think that I can give any of them up now. They've all grown on me. And I'm almost certain my blood pressure goes down when I spend quality time with them. So I guess in the end, if we can get over the initial difficult humps, I think it will be worth it.
The last thing I want is to have four large dogs that jump at guests or worse, bite someone, so I'm going to keep trying to work with them - a puppy training class is probably also in my future.
"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost." - The Dalai Lama
. Some days they decide they are going to bark and howl all day long and its a real pain in the ass to get them to stop. Its hard to be mad at them though cuz when they know dads angry they put their heads on the ground sideways and give me the face.
