Four weeks at new place
Today marks the end of Eddies fourth week at his new home, and one week since my last blog entry. I have been getting back a more normal and noisy routine. He has been coming onto the deck at night and into the house sometimes even with the deck open. Other nights I must close the deck gate form the outside and then go around and open the front whereupon he immediately comes inside and up the loft. It has been an interesting week and I have been spending more time working at the computer and less time hanging out with him and Niko. Tonight started out well with a good dinner, short walk because of bone issues, and then both dogs settled nicely on the deck. It being relatively warm outside I decided to sit out on the deck to write this. That was the beginning, of some scary stuff.
I'd propped the shovel up against the gate to keep both dogs on the deck, and then assembled the necessary clothing and laptop power cord etc before settling into my camp chair on the deck to write this. A minute later Eddie came charging back from the end of the deck by the gate agitated apparently by the wind. I got up and realized the gate had blown open while Eddie was sitting by it knocking over the shovel. I left front door open and continued around to close the gate from the outside. Eddie darted out terrified. We all went for a short walk and then resumed writing this just before a huge sound of snow sliding off the roof broke the night silence. I wrote this paragraph and Niko and I went to look for Eddie.
Eddie met us at the end of the driveway. I gave Niko a treat and Eddie got within six inches of taking one from my hand but then back away whereupon I threw it to him which mad him back away farther, and then came back sniffing the ground until he found the treat, as Niko was munching on another one which seems to make Eddie more comfortable. I offered him another treat but he seemed to sense something unusual was up and went into the woods. Niko and I hung out in the driveway as I whistled and called but after ten minutes went inside to write this at 10pm.
He has not done this before so he must be really spooked. If I'd only latched the gate properly. Unknown noisy things happening like the snow falling off the roof and the gate opening unexpectedly tend to have a compound effect. The House and I now have two black marks in Eddies tally but because they seem to correlate somehow the effect is much stronger than if they had happened further apart in time. He seems to maintain a list phenomenon which all seem to start out as bad and then overtime become accepteded as tolerable or safe. Any new noise or behavior on my part is classified as bad and therefore he increases his distance from me and the change. Anything unusual seems to be bad and potentially dangerous. sorting out dangerous sounds from safe sounds seems to take time.
I check around for Eddie several times during the night. It started raining sometime in the early morning with a temperature of about 39 degrees F and All could do was hope that he was staying dry by the base of some big tree. He is still gone as I write this at 11 am the next morning. Niko and I walked all over in the rain calling but no Eddie. I imagine he is hanging out somewhere waiting for the rain to stop. Rainy conditions are much more dangerous even though it is warmer than freezing because at least it easy to keep fur dry in the snow. He has been eating well and I'm basically waiting until he decides to come back perhaps to get food. I'm struck by the fragility of Eddies progress and who one little mistake can really foul things up. I'm still very hopeful that he will return.
During the last week he was really settling in nicely, eating from his plate and sleeping with Niko on his bed during the night. It will be interesting to see whether four weeks of good food and a nice warm place to sleep has changed his brain enough to overcome the negative things that happened last night. I'm growing more concerned that he some sort of post traumatic stress from being captured at Gabbs and all he has been through since.
I'd propped the shovel up against the gate to keep both dogs on the deck, and then assembled the necessary clothing and laptop power cord etc before settling into my camp chair on the deck to write this. A minute later Eddie came charging back from the end of the deck by the gate agitated apparently by the wind. I got up and realized the gate had blown open while Eddie was sitting by it knocking over the shovel. I left front door open and continued around to close the gate from the outside. Eddie darted out terrified. We all went for a short walk and then resumed writing this just before a huge sound of snow sliding off the roof broke the night silence. I wrote this paragraph and Niko and I went to look for Eddie.
Eddie met us at the end of the driveway. I gave Niko a treat and Eddie got within six inches of taking one from my hand but then back away whereupon I threw it to him which mad him back away farther, and then came back sniffing the ground until he found the treat, as Niko was munching on another one which seems to make Eddie more comfortable. I offered him another treat but he seemed to sense something unusual was up and went into the woods. Niko and I hung out in the driveway as I whistled and called but after ten minutes went inside to write this at 10pm.
He has not done this before so he must be really spooked. If I'd only latched the gate properly. Unknown noisy things happening like the snow falling off the roof and the gate opening unexpectedly tend to have a compound effect. The House and I now have two black marks in Eddies tally but because they seem to correlate somehow the effect is much stronger than if they had happened further apart in time. He seems to maintain a list phenomenon which all seem to start out as bad and then overtime become accepteded as tolerable or safe. Any new noise or behavior on my part is classified as bad and therefore he increases his distance from me and the change. Anything unusual seems to be bad and potentially dangerous. sorting out dangerous sounds from safe sounds seems to take time.
I check around for Eddie several times during the night. It started raining sometime in the early morning with a temperature of about 39 degrees F and All could do was hope that he was staying dry by the base of some big tree. He is still gone as I write this at 11 am the next morning. Niko and I walked all over in the rain calling but no Eddie. I imagine he is hanging out somewhere waiting for the rain to stop. Rainy conditions are much more dangerous even though it is warmer than freezing because at least it easy to keep fur dry in the snow. He has been eating well and I'm basically waiting until he decides to come back perhaps to get food. I'm struck by the fragility of Eddies progress and who one little mistake can really foul things up. I'm still very hopeful that he will return.
During the last week he was really settling in nicely, eating from his plate and sleeping with Niko on his bed during the night. It will be interesting to see whether four weeks of good food and a nice warm place to sleep has changed his brain enough to overcome the negative things that happened last night. I'm growing more concerned that he some sort of post traumatic stress from being captured at Gabbs and all he has been through since.
posted by Nikopotomus at
2/21/2009 09:02:00 PM
3 Comments:
His capture was pretty gentle, but I'm sure leaving his home was hard. Most of the rest of the dogs were lassoed, which explains the difficulty in leash training. My Turtle still eats leashes. I tried leaving one on the ground to desensitize her. She pooped leash for several days.
Anyway, Eddie was trapped in a live trap on a quiet day. He missed the trauma of the big transport.Linda and Shane were with him. But I know being torn from the only life he had ever know rocked his world. Thank you for taking him on. My Nelda hooked up with my dogs within a few months and is now a confirmed couch potatoe. Turtle and Winnie love my dogs, but only want treats from me. They sleep outside in various places though I leave them treat trails to the house and through the dog door. They even have dug a nice burrow about 6 feet deep in my backyard.
Kris
PS: David has Gabbs up at Tahoe. Here is his story:
It's kind of weird getting these emails, Gabbs and I had a rough 24 hours. I am staying in Meeks Bay and working in South Lake and Hwy 89 is closed, so it's a 56 mile drive around the lake. On Tuesday, I stoppped in Incline Village to let the dogs out. Gabbs got spooked by a large tourist and his tri-pod, and vanished into thin air. I called and looked for over an hour. Nothing. It was dark out so I gave up. The next morning I left work to go look, still nothing, so I put food out where I lost him, and in the back of my truck in Meeks Bay. Well in the middle of the night last night he showed up in my truck. ( over 20 miles from where he got spooked). He is one smart dog, but when he gets scared, he is terrified.
He is great today, with me here at work.
I sent some photos to Nanette. Gabbs and Eddie were run mates at Gabbs.
Usually they freak during the full moon
Kris
Thanks so much for the very helpful comments. I worked with Eddie for several months on his his leash. early on, I had the feeling he always needed to be in control, and I had to really anticipate where he wanted to go next and always keep up with him including junping thru puddles and snow banks to avoid any feeling of pressure from the leash on his neck. I slowly started becoming more asertive and after about 2 months we would play mexican standoff some times for hours, Eddie wanting to go oneway while I usually wanted to go in get warm or make it inside for kennel closing at 5:00. I also let him see my dog Niko on the leash and how happy Niko seemed at walk prospects on being hitched up leash.
Interestingly Eddie was much more comfortable having his leash put in his inside kennel cell. So I would bring the leash into the run and he would indicate iinside and we go in and put his leash on ... and then back out for a walk. It was his littles safety ritual... I actually did put his leash several times outside but only when his comfort level and other conditions were just right. I could also pet him a touch him only while on the leash or in his kennel cell.
oops no spell checker... sorry
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