SHELTER: fear is no crime

I pulled a shift at the Burbank Animal Shelter today- something I haven't had much time to do over the past few months. It was great to finally get some puppy play time in , and get some pictures of some of the current residents. I like taking pictures of our dogs (and cats sometimes) that will hopefully be used to market those who need a little extra push in the PR department. The head shots taken of each animal as they come in are usually of them at their worst- terrified, being manhandled by a stranger, and in terrible lighting. Every once in a while me, and one of the other volunteers- who is a MUCH better photographer then I- go over and try to just take as many pictures as we can. Today I only got to 4 animals, but I may have helped 2 others find a home- so it all breaks even.

One thing to keep in mind as you walk the halls of the shelter- any shelter- is that these dogs are in a form of jail. At our shelter we try to keep it white collar style- you know, tennis and keds as opposed to solitary and body searches. No matter what though, being in jail will heighten your personality- if you tend to be kind of quiet, you'll get quieter. If you tend to panic, you'll totally freak out. If you're mean, you'll get meaner. If you're sheepish, you'll get beat up. For people looking for dogs, this means, keep in mind that they are a more dramatic version of what they will be in your house in 3 months. It also means that if they are barking at you, it may not mean they will drive you insane with barking all the time at home- they might just be freaked out and not know what else to do.

One of the dogs we worked with today was given the name Darla. She is a little chihuahua mix who was BEYOND flipped out by her enviornment. She was uncertain, AND cold, AND wet (thank you mother nature for snowing in LA for the first time in years) AND in heat, so feeling kinda out of sorts in that regard as well. Poor little girl was just in sensory overload.

She did fairly well considering all of these factors could have easily made her want to kill

everyone- just out of self preservation. Instead, she sat there and shook a little and let us love on her and remind her that everything would be ok. She also posed for pictures like a friggin pro. I think part of her knew that I was doing something helpful when I made the flash go off.

I have no doubt someone will come in and find her fear "simply adorable, and we HAVE to take her home today" pretty soon. The little ones who look super pathetic tend to get homes pretty fast.

Another kid we worked with today was Romeo. Now he's another story altogether. He's a cattle dog mix- 10 yrs old- turned in by an owner who had health issues and could no longer care for him. This guy looked timid and fearful, but as it turned out, he's just older and choosey about what he lets bother him. When we got in his kennel, he was cautious but not totally freaked out. After some treats and finding his scratch-me-please sweet spot, he decided we were a-ok by him and we could stay as long as we wanted.

His lack of fear was equally touching, as he clearly has never been mistreated in any way, and yet he still ended up in the shelter. He's a confident guy who picks and chooses what he wants to get riled up about. A family came in and met him- considering him fas a 2nd dog for their family, and he did great with everyone. He loped around the play yard and made nice with everyone, while still staying on his own program. He's underweight, so he's clearly stressed and has every reason to be fearful, but instead he has just become quiet and reserved. I hope this doesn't make it harder for people to appreciate this older fella, 'cause he seems unflappable.

All told, shelter dogs, like people, all have their own individual ways of dealing with a less then ideal situation. They all have fear to some degree or another, but it's pretty rare that the fear leads them to actually commit a crime (biting, lunging, totally going mental every time someone walks past) Which just proves- they all deserve to be pardoned.

With dogs like these serving time, and just waiting to be let out, why would you go anywhere else to find a new pet?

Projectile/ endangerment of others safety

We have 2 dogs- a little one who tends to be very measured in his actions, especially when he's on the hunt.

The other- a medium one who tends to get into everything, eat anything, plow into anything with the joy and enthusiasm of someone who doesn't know any better.

If either one was going to get into something and end up ill as a result, which one would you put your money on?

Wrong.

It was the little one.

He was the one who ended up nearly single handedly destroying everything we own in our living room.

With Vomit.

Right, so here's what happened as it was reported to me, since blessedly I was not home when this all went down. I was running a 5k, so I was paying my own price. I'll gladly trade a 5k for dog barf any day, just as an FYI.

So the night before, someone had barfed a little bit, but we never saw who it was, so we just cleaned it up and went on about our business of getting ready for bed. Dogs will sometimes just sorta spit stuff up- like babies. So, you clean it, and you move on.

The next morning, I snuck out pre-dawn, and left the Hubby to hopefully sleep and deal with the dogs. The worst I was expecting was they'd wake him up and I'd hear about how early he got woken up and how it was all my fault.

Instead of this, when I turned my phone on post run, there was a text with a photo attached- a photo of dog barf all over the couch. The text " please come home soon".

Yipe!

Apparently what happened was this- Odie threw up in his crate/ bed at some point over night. When the Hubby went to go clean that up, he barfed again on the floor. In usual form, Odie retreated to the couch- his safe haven since his sister can't get up there. At this point, he proceeded to barf 3 or 4 more times, not only just on the couch, but on the rug (as he tried to get down, and was barfing along the way).

In my imagination the sound track to this was The Hubby going " god damn-it Odie! on the floor! get outside! Something!"

Poor kid had gotten a chunk of plastic toy in his system and his system fought back. He was sick on and off for the better part of the day, and the cleaning continued much beyond that. See, the added benefits to this are: 1- we can't take the cover off our couch and wash it, so if anything seeps in, we're screwed and 2- we have no washer / dryer right now, so the washable rug can't actually be washed.

The chunk of toy finally drained the poor kid of anything he had left in his system, most likely working it's own way out in the process. The next day (when we had decided we'd go to the vet if he was still acting ill) he was fine- perky and hungry and fighting with his sister like nothing had ever happened. We, on the other hand, now have a couch that smells better, but not awesome, and a rug that has a weird discolored spot in the center of it which may or may not ever come out.

Yet again, the criminals strike, and we pay the price... damned animals, if they weren't so cute.... especially when their sick (Odie was in my lap and just a sad sack all day, it was adorable)... it's a good thing they are I suppose.

Public Indecency

Have I mentioned that we just bought a house and moved into it? Right, yes, I did.

Did I also mention that on the 10th day of us living there, we began a process of remodeling the kitchen that has us living in a dusty, cluttered section of house with appliances in rooms they weren't meant for?

No? I didn't? well, yeah thats what we did.

Go ahead and question the sanity- I have been, endlessly.

So, in the midst of all of this, the dogs have been in their crates a bit more then ideal. We try to make up for it by giving them as much quality time with us, and in the yard/ world as we can. I don't know if it's a great solution, but its the best we can work out right now. It's been hard on all of us, to say the least.

So, with all this going on, plus the prior commitments the humans in our house already made before all this insanity began- we've had little to no free time the past couple of weeks.

In fact, this past sunday morning, I was off running my first 5k of the month (don't ask how many I'm doing- it's sorta stupid) and my husband was stuck with the dogs. Apparently everyone woke up around 8:00am. Odie had apparently vomited within the first 5 minutes, leaving my husband to start his day cleaning up puke. Always a fun way to start the day.

While he was cleaning that mess up, Odie went into the living room to roost on a couch, as he normally does. While he was up there, whatever it was that was bothering him came back.

By 9:00am, he had barfed multiple times ON the couch, on the (woven) rug, on blankets that were on the couch and the floor.

When I got back to my car and turned my phone back on, I had received a text picture of a mound of dog puke with the caption "Come Home Soon".

Ok, first of all, did I need that picture?

gross.

and second of all, Come On Little Dog- stop puking ON things!!

Poor Hubby had to scrub as best he could to try and get barf out of the woven rug fibers, and off the couch before it soaked in. Because, of course, we have couches that the fabric can't be taken off and washed. We also have no washer or dryer that can function in our house right now thanks to the kitchen remodel. The barfy blankets got bagged up, and later that day, some very sweet friends let us bring it over to wash them.

We figured out what was causing all this, but only after maybe 4 more moments of dog barf magically appearing on sections of floor. He'd been chewing on a particular toy, and we're pretty sure he swallowed little chunks of it without us noticing, thus an entire day of feeling crappy AND making the house stink something fierce.

Before bed, We had done several versions of cleaning and gotten about 98.5% of everything handled. The dogs had both gotten baths to clean whatever we couldn't see off of them. We had survived yet another moment of "why the hell are these animals in our house?" By the next morning, we were all feeling much better. Odie was back to his usual self, pouncing on his sister the moment they were let out.

Disgusting creatures though they may be at times, they're also very cute when they don't feel good and slowly climb into your lap with the eyes of "please take care of me". They're also very sweet when they check on their ailing 'sibling' who keeps getting crated to contain the barf. (Piper would go check on Odie if she hadn't seen him in a while- it was very charming)

All told, this crime was a misdemeanor at worst.

It was also really, really nasty.