April, 2009

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One month and waiting…

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

Champ has been here for a month now and he is still waiting.  He is slow about giving up his extra pounds.  He has dropped close to 4# which is a lot but he has more to give up.  He has taken one good road trip to Ft. Bragg at Easter and survived that.  He did come back with fleas which created a separate problem.  He is apparently very sensitive to them and before I realized what was going on, he had removed hair from both sides of his waist.

We made the trip to the vet the next day because it never crossed my mind that he might have fleas.  My guys had a prior dose of Frontline Plus.  We are generally flea free around here and I thought I had treated him but apparently I did not.  The vet had given him a shot to alleviate itching 9 days prior so he was immediately suspicious and he flipped Champ over and found the first hitchhiker.  It could happened at Ft. Bragg, there are dogs there, we visited a dog park, plus my wife takes in bottle baby kitties and the fleas may have come in with the first litter of the year, who knows?   Still,I felt embarrassed that I had missed the cause but the solution was easy.  He got one more shot just to be sure he didn’t scratch too much and then I went home and broke out the Frontline.  I didn’t want to take a chance so everyone got dosed.

Champ at 24# and a bald spot

His pink bald spot is now black but the new hair is coming in.

The itching has stopped but the hairless patches are still evident.  It will take a couple of months before enough hair comes back in to cover them up.  But, it will happen, it is just hair.

We tried one sleepover with a potential adopter.  This should have been an ideal home but…  Champ is a very loving dog, willing to get along if the pack leader takes charge, unless there is a food issue.  I guess anyone who is being held on a very restricted diet might have an issue with food.  Anyway, this time, it was not the food so much as he went to the empty dish of the alpha bitch,who rightfully insisted it was her dish, and a tussle ensued.  Not a good thing because in that household, no one is allowed to challenge her.  Those are house rules and all dogs need to understand that house rules come before pack rules.  It may have worked out anyway but the  alpha  bitch was just too upset with his presence.  As a result, he came back before the first night.  We tried, but he is happy being back with his pack.

He has been part of another adventure, also.  The dogs can’t get access to underneath the house but the platform used to raise the heater off the garage floor does connect to the flooring so that there is an air flow from under the house into the garage.  It isn’t big but it does make visitors to the underhouse aromatically visible to terriers.  Anyway, the dogs have been raising hell with that area off and on.  There is no doubt that some creature has set up camp under the house.  I have no reason to go under there, it is just not easily accessible.  The only access is through a closet floor and it is a rather cramped place.  In the Spring, it could still be quite damp from the winter rains.  I only go there if necessary.  I do try to keep the side vents in place but some creature, probably a terrier, has systematically removed those that are on the side away for the garage.  I try to replace them on occasion but recently, the underhouse monster has literally thrown one aside and has stripped out some insulation I had put under the kitchen area years ago.  I found clumps of insulation tossed outside that vent,next to some rose bushes, and the dogs couldn’t done that.  I have suspicions but you never know for sure.

Looking for the underhouse beast.

The wallboard has be reduced by terriers seeking the underhouse beast.

Anyway, in the past week, my guys have killed 4 separate baby possums, on different nights, and brought them into the garage to show me.  Now, Riley, the old man is surely the hunter in chief but late  yesterday afternoon, my laid back pretty boy, Declan, kept going on for a long time but I looked but I never saw anything until I went into the garage in the early evening, before dinner and the prize was laid out on the floor and everyone was ignoring it.

I do have to tell you that I did have a major concern the other night.  I have a HavaHart live trap and I set it outside the vents on the other side of the house, protected from the dogs.  I was hoping for a possum mother in it come morning.  Over the years, I have caught 7 or 8 of them and released them in the wild, across the freeway so the traffic would protect us from further invasion.  About 9:30PM, the strong odor of skunk came wafting through the screen door.  I didn’t look that night, nothing I could do at night and I really didn’t want to know what might be in the trap.  In the morning, thankfully, the trap was empty and the skunk was just a wandering aroma, not a visitor.  Today, after 4 nights, the trap is still empty, the dog biscuit is still there but the peanut butter seems to be gone.  I may try a different bait the next time.

Where does Champ fit into this, well, aside from going in the bark and growl fest at the underhouse beast, his need for protein kicked in the other day.  Riley was in the garage strutting around with this possum child hanging from his mouth, he wouldn’t give it to me, that is a Riles trait.  At one point, he decided that I might have something else he liked so he dropped it in his crate to set aside for later crowing.  Champ was ever vigilant and immediately snagged it.  There was a small chase as Riles insisted it was his, it wasn’t a big scene, just one tug of war which Champ won.  As I approached Champ, his need for protein kicked in, damn the diet, he wanted to eat it.  He settled down and started to chomp down. I didn’t want him to add those calories so I went after him.  I told him to stop, he did.  I told him to Give, to my amazement, for a dog who doesn’t seem to understand Sit, he simply dropped it, right on command.  I disposed of it, thanked Champ for his diligence but no treat.  Extra loving doesn’t come with calories.

So, for those who have the problem, if they are looking for a dog who will be willing to help reduce the rodent problem, Champ is still here and waiting for you to call.  And, just so I don’t forget, he loves to kill the water coming out of a hose or a sprinkler.

Champ after the attack of the killer hose.

Champ after the attack of the killer hose.

Earlier, I sent out e-mails to 15 different people who expressed recent interest in getting a Cairn.  I got a single response asking where he was in residence but nothing else,o follow up.  A later inquiry didn’t work out, for good reason, the couple is older and a they need a calmer dog.  Another inquiry was put off by his size, their current Cairn is a petite female and they had issues with mega Cairn, all more the reason to get his weight down.

So, our mega earthdog in training is still here and waiting…

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“there’s a dog at…”

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

It is hard to explain to some people what and why we do what we do.  Everyone has their own notion of what Rescue is.  To some it is “there’s a dog at.. on the Internet at …, go and get it.”  To some, it is “save them all”.  To some it is “take care of the poor dog”.  To some it is “take care of my problem”.  We are some of those, we are none of those.  We certainly are not the people to collect and try to place each and every dog that shows up on some web site, which might be a Cairn or a close relative.

In our small rescue world, we deal with Cairn terriers only.  There is a whole world of rescue groups to deal with other dogs and other sizes. In fact, the size of dog we deal are part of what is frequently called the Under 25 list, that is a list of dogs that are under 25 pounds.  Dogs in that size range are frequently easier to place.  Many rescue groups will gladly take in dogs in this size range.  There are a few Rescue groups that use placing dogs as a source of personal profit, in that case, a small purebred dog is like free money.  We will never hear from them. Sometimes Cairns are referred to us by other groups or agencies but just as often they aren’t.  Sometimes agencies recognize that we will take special care with a Cairn that they are struggling with and they will call.  Sometimes we will just let them know we are out there and willing to help. Some times it is just a “come and get him”, sometimes we end up paying the same fees that an adopter will.  But, if called, we will go and get the dog. Finally, there are a few shelters which only hold dogs for a short period of time, we depend largely on local people to advise us of those situations.  If we hear about that kind of situation, we move quickly to get the dog.

Back to my subject, what it is that we do.  We will rescue or take in a Cairn terrier when there is an overriding need, or if we are that single available contact. We do not go out looking for them, in person or via the Internet.  Once we have taken a dog in, then the next part of our job starts because we want to be sure that Cairn terriers get placed in homes where they will be loved and not returned.

To some extent, that means we are not the Be All, End All for Cairn terrier rescue.  We will not take in every Cairn terrier identified at every possible source.  If an identified  Cairn terrier  is being held by an agency which is very capable of placing the dog with a good home, we simply don’t become involved.  What we will do in that case is to figure out if we have had a request from someone who might have an interest in that dog and we will notify them of the situation but that certainly doesn’t mean that we are the only ones capable of doing that task.  There are plenty of agencies which are very capable of doing that.  We do have some specialized insight into the behavior of terriers, especially Cairns but someone else can figure that out, too.

Yesterday, I got a note from a club member who frequently works with us in Rescue in her area.  “Hi, I thought I would let you know in case you have had inquires that there is cairn at the __ SPCA.  Dogs are pretty safe there but I will keep an eye on him.” That is the kind of note I really appreciate. 1) she gave me a link so I could see a picture and read about the dog, 2) she has enough confidence in the agency to feel that they will do a good job in making a placement, 3) she will keep an eye on him and let me know if things change.
Jocko (4-7-09)

Jocko (4-7-09)

The first thing I did after looking at the link was to contact someone locally who was looking for a Cairn terrier.  This is someone who has  told us they are interested in adopting  a Cairn and they have filled our our Request form and they look like a good match.  The link says he is a mix but his picture belies that. With luck, our potential Rescuer will make a contact with the agency and end up with a fine looking dog.  It is encouraging that the agency does a temperament test and they have evaluated this dog so he will be placed with caveats.  We will not have handled the dog but we may very well may have facilitated and adoption.  If it all works out, we have helped a fine looking Cairn terrier get placed in a home where he will be loved and not returned and some person has had their Cairn terrier itch scratched.

So, Rescue doesn’t always mean we have to have the dog in hand. In some cases, our  job is only to sort through a list of potential adopters and try to find that right name, the right match to put the right dog in the right place.  Sometimes it means that we made a guess and didn’t guess right. Sometimes it means we get lucky and a dog gets placed just because we were around.  But almost always, it starts with “there’s a dog at…”.

Addendum:

I sent a note to 3-4 people in the area looking for a Cairn and told them about the dog in the picture.  One replied immediately. She went in, decided that Jocko is a mix, but still liked him.  She was seriously thinking of taking him home. While she was dithering about starting the adoption process, she walked down the aisle and spotted a wheaten Cairn male in another cage. He has been waiting for a permanent friend for 3 weeks. Bottom line, a 9 year old male is in the adopting process and will soon share a home with a little female who is pining for a departed kennel mate.  Jocko is a nice looking and much younger dog, the SPCA will see that he gets a good home.  This older boy has been waiting and the right person just showed up. A good day for Rescue.

Sometimes it means that we made a guess and didn’t guess right. Sometimes it means we get lucky and a dog gets placed just because we were around.  But almost always, it starts with “there’s a dog at…”.

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