The Dog House

Our poor little dog girl has aged so much this summer. She has really slowed down, and her cataracts have gotten so bad she's almost blind. I think she is getting very hard of hearing and losing her sense of smell, too.

Yesterday was truly disturbing. She was mopey in the morning, but both dogs act like that some time. She brightened up, though, and began killing some of The Girl's shoes--always a good sign. Then in the afternoon, things got really strange. I looked around at one point, and didn't see her anywhere. A few mintues later, i heard her barking, and it sounded as though she were upstairs, under the bed. The barking was trepidatious, too--as though she were frightened of someone or something. So i went upstairs, and as i did so, her barking became more frantic. Eventually, though, she realized it was me, and came running out from under the bed. I sat with her for a while, and gave her some lovin' and she seemed to perk up. A little while later, i looked around, and she was gone again. Then the barking started again, upstairs, from under the bed, and sounding very frightened.

Of course, you have to accept that the little dogs will get old and die some day, but this is a little harder. I can't know what's going through her mind, and it tears me up to think that she fears some demons i can't identify and dispell for her. She's always been a basically cheerful dog--i don't know how much longer she's got (as a small dog, it could easily be years), but i want it to be a good time for her.

Oh.....

no advice, just wondering, if getting rid of the cataracts is doable or inappropriate - assuming the later, but not sure.

Losing sight and hearing, scary in itself.

I had a small dog that went blind. It was very hard living with her. She remained sweet all the way up to the end, but there are five steps down from the porch. In order to do her business, she headed out on her own, like always. I helped her as much as I could, but I have seen her walk straight ahead, until she tumbled down the steps. It got to where she could not find the way to get back up, so I had to bring her in. Baby loved her groceries. She ate like a trooper all the way to the end.

Well, if that's what it will take i'll do. It's a minor thing, i know, in the Grand Scheme of Things, but it's heartbreaking.

It’s after 11PM and we finally found our dog Mac. He dug a hole under the fence and got out, one of my neighbors had him in his backyard, I was so scared something horrible had happened I was sick. He's home safe and sound now, I can finally get to bed.

Glad the dog is safe.

Thanks! me too, I was so scared but glad we found her. All I thought was she might have been hit by a car, I was beside myself.

Not sure what happened last night but something spooked both dogs. This morning I discovered they had been chewing on the back gate trying to get out. My dogs stay in at night and sleep in their crates. This morning neither of them wants to go outside.

Do you have alligators around your area? The dogs definitely can sense
when there is danger for them.

We live up on a canyon and have coyotes wandering around at night and I
can tell by the demeanor of the dog, when one is nearby at the house at night.

That did cross my mind. They have been found close to where I live so you never know. They don’t want to stay out today, very cautious about going in their yard. When I first let them out they sat on the back deck I actually had to walk in the back first and only then would they follow me. But they don’t want to stay out today, now they're back on their crates.

That's because they probably can smell the danger. You're probably should
put a fence around your entire property to be on the safe side. You don't
want to worry about Antonio playing outside either...

Jcboy, thinking about the fence and gate.

Does the gate have concrete under it?

There are fence solutions, given you have one already.

A) there are underground invisible fencing ads all over the place on the internet and I've not experienced those myself. Did read something about that dog has to be trained for it, or it will dig past it and then not want to come back. (no link, I was just skimming.

B) I'm a believer in strong fencing. (California, ya'know). If I already had a strong fence, and it was my own yard, I'd consider pouring a curb wall, that is concrete, 4" wide, 12" or 16" deep, probably with one set of horizontal rebar or fibers through the length of it, the whole thing not projecting far above the surface. Or, a 2 x 12 board to do the same thing, probably set in place with long rebar every so many feet. The curb wall would go close to the fence, probably just behind the post concrete.

Or - concrete blocks with filled cells..

This is just off the top of my head, don't take it as gospel.

C) Consider heavy stone pavers under the fence lengths, facing into the yard.. I do mean heavy, thinking 1 1/2 to 2" x whatever.

D) Concrete path by the fence. This would probably mean moving plants.

Done musing for now.

Oh there is concrete under the gate but today I found out what might have happened last night. I went to my neighbor’s house that put Mac in his backyard and thanked him. He told me there were teenagers walking down the alley last night with a BB gun and shooting at people’s dogs through the fences. He called the police on them but of course by the time they showed up the little hoodlums were gone.

We didn’t hear a thing; we were getting Antonio ready for bed and then watching some TV. The dogs were not barking at all.

I was so angry after hearing that, my pets are part of my family and now that little Antonio lives here I better not catch any of them walking down the alley with a BB gun anytime soon.

Ai, chihuahua.

You may need a guard duck..
Kidding, mostly. Our neighbor had a duck, Foxy, who protected us all from people in the alley. Kelly our setter protected us from people, dogs, random noise, everything on earth. The duck was more perspicacious.

Omg, did they hit your dog with the BB gun? That would be awful...

My bitch got cancer. She died about a month ago. I need a new bitch.

We didn’t find any marks on either dog thank God. I was shocked when we found out about the kids with the bb gun. Morgan’s dog Frankie is huge! He couldn’t fit under the fence and that’s probably a good thing. Had he gotten out he would have scared the pants off the little hellions!

Cat loving dog house residents are cordially invited to a meeting of the minds
http://able2know.org/topic/177083-1

Here are the two goofballs, this photo was taken a year ago this month. Frankie is the one trying to eat my mouse, he's much larger now.

The brown one reminds me of a big ol hound dog.