Running Free in North Carolina

Finally posting these. I went to North Carolina with my family over the weekend. My father found us a series of trails through a forested area that was surrounded by fencing where we let the dogs go. This is the first time I've seen the greys have a chance to do this.

Happy dogs

It was a warm day after a lot of heavy rain and Ebon took a dip in every patch of water we came across. Willow was having an absolute blast. We don't trust her off lead very much yet, for good reason, so this was a treat for her. She saw the long stretch of sand that was the trail and decided it was a good day to run, probably recalling her track days. All three of them ran while we were there. Willow was by far the most entertaining. She was the first to run, and the other two would take off after her. Then, when they got too far away I was very happy to see how quickly she responded to a whistle. Her recall is surprisingly good, but I have no idea how that would change if there was something interesting to chase. Ebon was keeping up with the greyhounds rather well, but they weren't really even trying to run as fast as they can.

Willow also found a huge mud puddle that she decided was a fun thing to run through. The thing was pretty shallow for the most part and she was having a blast running through it until the water deepened and then she froze, not knowing what to do. I don't think she knows how to swim very well. The boys seemed like they rushed to her aid, though Siggy wasn't so sure about the deeper water either. Ebon happily joined her in the puddle and they both then made their way to dry ground.

Poor Willow doesn't know her limits, unfortunately. Her poorly healed back leg is a frequent issues since she just wants to go and go, but the more she runs the more likely it will hurt. She ran until she limped and my father carried her much of the way back to the car.

Dog Park Day

The always ball-obsessed Ebon with Ebon Look-a-Like, Momma and Daughter Shepherds, Pekinese Mix, The Catahoula Leopard Dog, and Ebon's Chuckit

Ebon and I went to the dog park today, along with Siggy, Willow, and my mom. This is the first time I've remembered to try to take pictures of dogs in general. I've failed miserably other times. I swear today was the Day of the Retrievers as there were, proportionately, about five times more retrievers and retriever mixes there than I've seen in the past. There's been a Day of the Pit Bulls too. I've also discovered I tend to give dogs descriptive names while I'm there, partly so I know who to keep my eyes on I think.

One of the watering stations. Siggy's the white blob to the right and Willow's drinking in the middle. Also included are Mini Ebon, Very Noisy Beagle, Chocolate Lab, and Blue Pit with Block Head

Also at the park today: Ball Thief Husky, Isabella Doberman with Alopecia, Very Dark Golden, Cattle Dog Mix the Owner Swears is a Catahoula, Basenji Mix, Intact Pit that Really Needs to be Neutered, Scaredy Cat Lab/Pit, Pointer with Blue Eye, Constantly Muddy Golden, Pug with a Death Wish, Black Norwegian Elkhound, Humpy Beagle, Collie with Frisbee, and many more.

Adventures in Petsitting

The closest thing I got to a clear picture of all four dogs

Simmie meeting Albus

This past weekend I was petsitting three dogs and two cats. So, all told, I was caring for six animals including Ebon. Most of those animals were owned by members of my family: Willow, Siggy, Albus, and Ginny. I also watched the neighbor's dog, Simmie, short for Seminole if I'm remembering right. Simmie is a golden retriever who's about two years old. He's quite the puppy still.

In many ways, Simmie reminds me of Ebon as a young fella. The major difference? Simmie is WAY calmer.  Ebon was far more energetic at the same age. The difference is rather remarkable. I suppose that's what you get, though, when you compare a dog that was bred to work and one that was bred to be either a pet or a show dog. This is honestly the first time I've spent enough time with a non-field-bred retriever to notice the difference. Ebon's energy level now at age eight is about equal to Simmie's, he just controls it a lot better.

The remains of my laptop cable

The weekend was interesting, complete with a few minor disasters. The first was someone chewing my laptop cable into dozens of pieces. In all likelihood, it was one of "the blonds": Willow or Simmie. I'm getting a new one, but it was a frustrating surprise.

Siggy being anxious

It also rained almost the entire weekend, which caused a lot of drama with the greyhounds. As I've mentioned several times before on the blog, Siggy has serious issues with thunder and heavy winds. When it's noisy outside there is no way to possibly get him to move from whatever corner he curls up in. He'll even refrain from eating, and in fact I couldn't get him to eat for an entire day. Then once the rain was gone he was understandably starving. Willow isn't bothered by the noise, but refuses to walk on wet grass. That combined with Siggy's want to walk as little as possible made walking the dogs quite...interesting. The retrievers, of course, were more than happy to walk as long as I wanted them to.

Simmie and his butt fluff. He happy dances just like Ebon: toy in mouth, wriggling on back

The retrievers

Then, there's Ebon. He's such an easy dog most of the time, partly because I know his quirks so well now, but that doesn't mean he's perfect by any means. I let him run around off lead a couple of times while I walked the others since his recall's pretty darn sound and he's not one to run across the street if I ask him not to. It also made dealing with four dogs easier. However, at some point when I didn't have my eyes on him he ate something. When he threw it up it looked like a plastic food wrapper of some sort. It wouldn't be the first time some sort of trash found its way into the yard for whatever reason. I also think whatever he ate is responsible for the diarrhea that he started having at the same time. He spent a day without food before I put him on a bland diet. He's not showing any signs that there's any more stuff bothering his gut, but I'm continuing to watch him just in case he's trying to pass any leftovers. Now, though, after several days, he should have expelled anything that may have been left. He's transitioning back to kibble now.

Willow roaching. Unlike Siggy, she sleeps on her back fairly regularly. You can see her bald belly from her spay

Of course, there was no drama with the cats. Cats are so easy. Ironically, one of the main reason I was petsitting is that Albus, the grumpy twelve-year-old tom, can't be left alone due to concerns regarding his urinary health. He's had two urinary blockages so far, which can result in dangerous spikes in blood toxicity and possible death if not quickly treated. Ginny, now eleven, is still healthy as can be. Being born feral, I think she has better genes than Mr. Bad Teeth and Bladder Issues. A feral cat with poor genetics would probably die fairly young.

The Dog Park!

I'm pretty sure it's obvious who's happy about this

Me giving Siggy love at the park

After my complete and utter failure to find the local dog park on my own, my mother and I went hunting and, amazingly, found it fairly easily. It's tucked away, so I'm really not that surprised that I would have missed it. There's some awkward turns on poorly aligned roads involved. It also happens to be behind the stadium that the local minor league baseball team uses. The enclosure is full of pine trees, and includes several picnic tables and raised gravel beds for the pools and water buckets.

We've been going at least once a week since.

Willow after numerous rounds of fetch

Unfortunately, I have noticed a few issues with Ebon now that we've been a handful of times. He's almost anti-social. If I have a ball with me, which I always do as I want to tire him out while we're there, he doesn't care about anything else. The other dogs could be puffs of smoke for all that dog cares. He follows me around, staring at me, growing more and more excited until I throw the ball. If I put the ball away in my bag he starts jumping on me as if putting the ball out of his line of sight is too much for him. If I sit down, he decides to climb onto the picnic bench.

Ebon jumping to catch a ball

Next time I go I might just leave the ball at home. Part of the reason I'm there is so that he'll get social interaction, after all. Sure, he'll sniff a dog or two every once in a while, but unless a dog approaches him he generally will ignore them. Amazingly, even if a dog is in his face sometimes he still ignores them. One day, a deaf double merle great Dane even decided to hump Ebon and all Ebon did was sit down and act like the Dane wasn't even there.

I think part of it is that Ebon is just an absurdly tolerant dog. He is pretty darn tolerant. He's also never been one to get snappy if another dog snaps at him. In fact, when growled at his first reaction is to back away and crouch down, ears back and tail down. When that Dane wouldn't leave him alone, he did eventually bark at him, though of course it doesn't do any good to bark at a deaf dog.

Ebon and a corgi who wanted to herd everything

I also suspect that Ebon might be growing less playful with age. When he was younger he regularly engaged other dogs in play when given the chance. When Charlie was still alive and fit enough for it, he would play almost daily with Ebon, who was just a puppy at the time. Ebon was always the instigator in the play, bouncing around the then ten-year-old Charlie like there were springs in his paws. He would literally run laps around the house while Charlie would stand there, panting, waiting for Ebon to come back so that they could wrestle.

Things have changed a lot since then, though. Eight years is pretty old for a dog Ebon's size. I find it quite possible that his choice to completely ignore behaviors that are impolite in canine society may be like an old man going, "Those rude young people. Best not even acknowledge their deplorable behavior!" Some dogs grow less tolerant with age, Ebon might be going in the other direction.

Then again, the truth of the matter is likely that Ebon just has an unhealthy obsession with tennis balls.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it.

Say Hello, Willow

Willow on her first day in Georgia

It was tough to decide what topic I wanted to cover on the blog after being gone for so long. After some thought, I thought I should go with something simple.

My parents did a lot of talking about the possibility of getting a second greyhound after Siggy. There was a fair amount of looking through adoptable dogs and back and forth about what sort of dog to get. In the end, Willow was the one who came home.

Siggy, Willow, and Ebon at the big part downtown. The bandage on Willow's leg was from one of the cats deciding he didn't particularly like her. A bit mean of him to come up behind her out of the blue like he did

Willow is only two years old and a tiny little grey, only about 50 pounds when she was pulled from the track. Like Siggy, she was injured some time during her career, but the injury was quite different. Her right rear hock was broken and healed crookedly, so now she doesn't like to bear all of her weight on that side. Also, unfortunately, if she spends too much time running around it starts to hurt and causes her to limp a little.

Ebon and Willow retrieving simultaneously

Despite all of that, Willow is an absolute joy! She's just the happiest little dog. She loves practically everything. Food? Awesome! People? Great! Playtime? The best! Other dogs? Well, only if they don't immediately get in her face when meeting the first time. Amazingly, she even loves playing fetch. Ebon, though at first a little unsure about the whole thing due to his instinctual need to return virtually anything that is thrown, has adapted pretty well to her greater speed. He's pretty okay with her getting to the ball before him. It is kinda of funny to see him pull up short when she goes sprinting away, though. It'as almost like he says, "Nope. Not worth it."

Unlike Siggy, Willow does have a rather high chase drive. It's probably why she loves fetch so much. She learned her name pretty quickly and will come when called within limits. She's the sort of grey I would absolutely love to have when I eventually get one. Not as difficult to tire out as Ebon, but far more energetic than Siggy, who would spend all day sleeping if we let him. He has his moments, especially if other dogs are running around, but golly is he lazy. Willow also doesn't have any of Siggy's quasi-PTSD, so that's always a plus.

I'm pet-sitting everyone this weekend: the two cats and all of the dogs. I might be watching one of the neighbor dogs as well. It should be fun!

Crazy Trip

I actually got back last night, but was really tired. In the end, I wasn't actually able to attend the funeral. Thanks to the hurricane, there was flooding that cut off the bridge to the chapel. The ground was also completely saturated, so we didn't even know when it would be possible to bury the poor man. Plus, there was a dam in the area that had suffered considerable damage and was at risk of breaking and causing serious flash floods. It was just a complete mess, but I was glad I was there, since we knew my grandparents were safe.

I took pictures, of course. Here's some of the damage we saw:

The sense of scale is skewed. These trees are huge, around one hundred feet high and were completely uprooted. The power line the one fell on feeds most of the town. Luckily, we were on a separate grid and, except for a few flickers, had power through the whole storm.

This pond is usually about a third the size seen her. This is the property of the man whose funeral we were there to attend. There's a dam somewhere under the water, but it didn't do much good. A field to the left of this dirt road was completely flooded.

The boys right by the flooding. Ebon wanted to wade in the water, so I had to leash him so he wouldn't be an idiot and get himself hurt.

A casualty of the pond overflow, close to where Ebon is in the first picture

A five foot wide chunk washed out of another dirt road

Minor damage. These little leafy twigs were everywhere.

A mailbox nailed by a falling limb

The worst we saw at my grandparent's house: a minor roof leak.

Some delicate creatures survived the storm unscathed

 And here's some of the other pictures I took. Click for larger views.

An American white ibis shortly before we left	King Ebon during a food stop	A convoy of cherry pickers we were following most of the trip in
Sunset through some outer bands of Isaac	The boys after a walk in the rain from Isaac's outer bands	Siggy's spots really show through his coat when wet
Ebon's paw prints in the mud after Isaac	Ebon loved our romp around the property	We didn't get a lot of thunder, but when we did, this happened: a very stressed Siggy

On the way home we were treated to a double rainbow over Florida. Beautiful sight

Good to be Back!

The boys after a little time running around in the heat.

Indeed, it feels good to be back! I'm doing better and have been feeling the urge to write for the past three days. However, I made myself stick to my plan to take two weeks off.

What happened while I was gone? Not too much, really. My parents came home, so Siggy left about a week or so ago. I went bowling, did some cleaning, did some shopping for pet things. Taught Ebon a new trick. Broke a terrarium. Cooked and ate some good food. Learned the downsides of having a dog in the front seat of my car (may tell a story about that later). Now for some pictures from the past two weeks, some more interesting than others.

Splitting some canned food (Great Life Essentials Irish Lamb Stew) between the boys. Good stuff! Ebon's kibble is Go! Natural Grain Free Endurance (formula is being discontinued, review to come). Siggy's kibble is Iams Healthy Naturals Chicken (average quality food, but fits Siggy's need for lower protein content, may review later).

Siggy is his muzzle during a pedicure. He's paw shy, but a combination of the muzzle and lots of treats made it easy

This guy is too cute

And I'll miss his derp face

It's been raining a ton, so some beautiful mushrooms are popping up!

The broken terrarium. I've been keeping them up high since I lost the roaches. Had to move things and they fell. The big one was fine, but the small one shattered!

My rather large collection of pet supplies. I'm set for quite a while! Mostly for Ebon, but the Pup-Peroni was Siggy's and the little cans and some other things are for my brother's very old, very picky cat. The knife is for hacking dog chews into smaller pieces

Human food! A favorite family recipe for runzas (a "peasant food" originating in Russia that is common in many parts of Europe, including Poland and Germany). Our recipe involves ground beef, cole slaw mix (green and red cabbage with carrots), onion, garlic, salt, and pepper wrapped in pizza dough; but many other recipes involve such things as sauerkraut. When we're feeling lazy, we serve the filling over rice.

Ebon missing Siggy. He's over it now, lol.

I'll be posting something else soon! I'll also be going through my comment backlog.

Storms

We had a tornado warning today and for the first time since I've moved to the condo the tornado sirens went off, as well as other alerts saying "take cover now." So, the significant other and I piled into my closet with Ebon, Siggy, and the two cats. Nothing hit us, but I couldn't help but be amused by what it was like to have all of us in such a small space. The last time I got a "take cover now" alert it was me, Ebon, and my mom's two cats in a bathroom. A bathroom larger than the closet at that, and I was dealing with the semi-feral Ginny not wanting anything at all to do with Ebon. Ah, thunderstorms.

Everyone all huddled together in the closet. Of course, Ebon's just a massive shadow