We
are way out of synch in updating you all but - better late than never.
Scooter believe it or not is now (as of January 2004) 19 months
old - and in her full prime puppy-teen time. Old enough to know better
and also old enough to make choices - not always the ones you hope for!
You can sit there and watch the wheels going round.... but
overall just a wonderful package of fun and love. Puffin and Scooter
have pretty well found their way together.... Puffin has very much
established her dominance which I encourged (although thankfully most
of the time behind closed doors - female dogs can still be very
interesting!) - although neither do I let Scooter be bullied.
Scoots is
now full grown at 15 pounds, strong healthy and sturdy, with a
gorgeous thick,
wavy blonde-buff coat. Her eyes are still so huge and telling - liquid
dark brown pools that just melt everyone. She has become quite
vocal.... will very much gain your attention when she wants it. We have
continued to reinforce her obedience school lessons, and she is also
learning other things like giving kisses and giving her paw. I
began to think she was made of Flubber (of Fred MacMurray and the
Absent Minded Professor fame, the Walt Disney movie from the 1960's,
one of my favorites - when he invents Flubber and it does everything
from powering his Model T to giving the boys' basketball team the
winning edge; Flubber takes on the shape of whatever container it's in,
bends and stretches in any direction, and bounces off anything it hits
with more energy than it started out with). We routinely have evening
runs around the house, both of them but one in particular tends to
ricochet off anything she can manage to put in her path. And then the
take off to that is her now-nickname of FlubberButt, since we are
trying to learn how to sit up, but tend to just roll off one side or
the other. Overall we are indeed a pack of three, snuggled into bed
each night, or on the floor of the living room during the day when it's
not chore time. Nice weather always includes a daily walk and Scoots
and Puff have both learned well how to walk nicely on the double leash;
the neighborhood has gotten quite used to us and even the three of us
as we usually alwasy pick up Zoe from next door to go with us.
Strolling aroung the cirlce with three poos - well, life doesn't get
too much nicer than that.
Scooter finished teething early in the
year, and we have a rather impressive
collection
of puppy teeth - most
unusual in that she tended to spit them out when we were playing each
night and I was able to see them on the floor. Even the vet could not
believe how many were found, since most of the time the majority will
be swallowed or get lost in toys etc. Her permanents came in strong and
healthy and she has continued to "exercise" them into place and
alignment with dedciated chewing of rawhides and our nightly
home-roasted marrow bones.
We did have one whomper of a scare
though... and it served up the lesson that you can never be too
careful, no matter what. I've always considered myself a conscientious
dog owner, dedicated to my girls and doing the right things. Well - the
evening of January 24 last year proved that no one is out of reach. I
was in the chair in the living room, working on the computer, the
girls and I had been playing and everyone was tuckered out or so I
thought, snoozing away. Wrong. I heard this strange noise and realized
it was coming from right next to me, on the floor - Scooter had
chewed
through the power cord to the computer and was convulsing with the
electric shock. I've been certified in CPR since I was 13, but never
did I dream I'd use it the first time on a 7 month old puppy.
Thankfully I remembered to pull the cord from the socket first, but
then was sure I'd picked up a dead dog off the floor. Artificial
respirations and chest compressions thankfully had her conscious within
a minute, and a dear neighbor climbed out of bed at 9:30pm
to run us to the local emergency vet clinic. Scooter was awake and
alert if not a little rocky by the time we got there (they knew we were
on our way and took us right in) - and even though she had survived the
initial hit, you have to monitor them very closely for about 72 hours
to be sure they don't develop cardiac and lung problems so - she spent
that weekend in the klink. I called our regular vet the next day and
she began coordinated care with the clinic, and we brought Scooter home
on Sunday thankfully fit as a fiddle, albeit on antibiotics since she
had managed to get copper wires into her gums (they took care of that
at the clinic). Our regular vet then checked her in a week to be sure
that the bits of copper wire she had swallowed had all come out ok
(yes, I had to look) - all clear, and the day I took her in they
actually cheered us when we walked in - not many live to tell a tale
like this. Thankfully a friend from email gave me the suggestion of
using garden hose as covering for electric cords - slit it open, put it
around the cord, tape it back up with duct tape, and if you want tie a
bell to it too. Won't totally prevent the chewing but will most likely
buy you enough time to intercede.... and the moral of the story
is ou can't be too careful. This little escapade served notice to
everyone on the cockapoos1 email list that puppies are just that -
puppies, babies. Scooter was 7 months, through teething - and whammo.
It made everyone sit up and take notice again and think twice about not
trusting a pup too soon in life. Thankfully Scooter is fine - the only
fallout was we apparently fried the circuit that is supposed to say
"poop outside".... she was fully trained prior to her experience but
then we lost that it seemed. With some intensive repatterning over the
summer we've made a lot of progress again (and thankfully it's poop and
not pee, which is solidly outside) - and as the vet said, if this the
only "complication" in aftermath, we are indeed very lucky.
Lessons learned by all:
learn animal CPR;
know your vet's emergency procedures (such as do you call them or is
there a local emergency group clinic and if so where. Many vets are NOT
24 hour coverage and you need to go to a different animal hospital that
provides off hours care. Have this number as well as your vet's within
reach); protect or remove dangerous items and keep close eyes on
things, longer than you think.
Despite it all Scooter celebrated
her first
birthday on June 14, with a pool party next door at Zoe's. We always go
over there to run and play in Zoe's fenced yard - and Scooter also
always had a grand time running over the pool cover (it's a looplock so
that was ok) - but we knew that we'd need to keep an eagle eye on her
when Uncle Ray took the cover off - she loves the splish splash and it
also took nothing for her to develop Puffin's love of water guns and
such. Now, falling in the pool in and of itself would not be an
immediate disaster except for the fact that Uncle Ray keeps a solar
cover on it - and we were prepared for the fact that Scooter would not
know the difference between the looplock walkonit cover and the solar
don'twalkonit cover. She didn't. Ray had not changed it within 24 hours
and plop - in she went. Uncle Ray fished her right out (although she
was swimming fine, with her her head up and was at the edge, not under
the cover).
Her birthday present was a
doggie life jacket... and Scooter needed no urging about what
to do with it. In she went. Later in the summer we were in swimming and
she finally got her courage up to take a running flying leap in to join
us.... and needless to say we were never in the pool yard without our
lifejacket on.
During the summer we again hosted
Zoe
from next door to
Puffin's Bed and Bone
while her family went on
vacation, and for close to three weeks we were a pack of four. This was
Scooter's first time playing hostess and she did just fine. Everyone
piled onto the bed at night - we all went for a walk each evening, and
each got a frozen Kong filled with yogurt after supper. Life could have
been worse! Then mid-summer they both went for the first trip to
the doggy spa - we were very lucky to have a well established groomer
in the area move her shop right to the end of the road. We do this now
when we can, and oh how soft and fluffy they are when we get back home.
Both had a trip right before Santa came too - and they hit the jackpot
with new bandanas, a cookie from the Christmas tree and a new toy.
Needless to say Santa found them also....
So, Scooter continues to be a happy go
lucky loveable poo, never missing a trick. She proudly announces to the
world any time a leaf falls from a tree outside or any other important
matter like that, let alone someone visiting the house. Generally
though once you are inside and she realizes she's stuck with you, it's
snuggle time. Mr.Froggy goes to bed every night with us, and gets up
and gets moved to the living room every morning with us. Scooter too
has been trouper in adjusting to the other major change this year -
Puffin was diagnosed diabetic early in October ( she is doing fine,
thank you) - but we did have to adjust to two scheduled feedings a day
from free feeding, as well as a high fiber low carb diet. Needless to
say feeding them different things would have been kind of tough and
Puffin's new diet is just fine for Scooter healthwise. Scooter adjusted
to the changes without looking back. Now that she is coming up on two
year old you can see her confidence and reliability continuing to grow
and develop, and she learns more and more each week. I found myself the
other week trying to describe the two of them - and I guess the best
way is Puffin would be the pert, prim teacher's pet and Scooter the
class clown, in every lovable sense of the word. We'll continue to keep
you posted....