We start with a couple of pictures.
Echo and Gimli, together, to start.
Amy shot a few videos of Echo. She thought Echo was "frenzied", like she was "overstimulated", or need to go out. To me, these shots look a puppy playing with her toys.
If you don't hear any sound, the problem is not your computer. Amy muted the sound on the camera for these clips.
"Chase" is going particularly well.
First, we have closed off a portion of the yard on the west side of the house, for a "run". Amy leaved the lead on her, when she takes her there. I'm afraid that the lead will catch on something and choke her. So, when Echo and I go there, I take the lead off.
If our relationship had not progressed to it's current point, I would leave the lead on. But, she stays focused on me, when we are there. Whether we play chase, or not.
So, we played "chase" in her "run", today. It went well. After we played for a while, she became so focused on me that I moved the game into the larger back yard. The quick turns, and the lack of even ground in the run, were killing my knees, and ankles.
We ran the width of my backyard. She stayed completely focused on me. It was, ALWAYS, her chasing me, not the other way around. I'm not sure she realized that we had moved out of the "run". That is how focused she was on me.
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Amy did an unofficial weighing of Echo. (You know. Step on the bathroom scale without the dog, and, then, step back on it with her.) According to that, Echo, now, weighs over 20 pounds. We will get an official weighing at the vet tomorrow. My guess is that Echo weighs about 21 pounds, now.
When we first took her to see Doc Jo, she weighed in at 16.350 pounds, and she was being fed 3 cups of food a day. That seemed to work well, for a while.
Tonight, after finishing off her third cup of the day, she acted just as hungry as she was when she was first fed.
I want to make sure we are feeding her enough, but I know dogs.
Put on a regular feeding schedule, they will eat everything put in front of them, no matter how full they are, or not. On the other hand, I've been a dachshund "guy" since 1970. I know that over feeding a dog can create ALL KINDS of problems. (The only thing that makes the geometry of a dachshunds back work is the muscle structure of the dog. They need to be fit enough to make that work (combination of food and exercise). If they get too heavy for the core muscles of their body, then back problems in the dog are inevitable.
But, she is a puppy going through a pretty serious growth stage. She is going to burn through more food than an adult dog of her weight would.
So, I did the feeding of a portion of the food through the side of the kennel. I let her eat and find all of that. Then, I gave her the rest of the final feeding. I watched her for a while. After some time, (enough time that her stomach should have "registered" that she had eaten a full meal), she was still acting "hungry". It was, then, I made the decision to give her another cup.
That seemed to fix her problem, at the time.
My next concern is bloat. I know she is being fed some really great dry food, but, it is still dry food. she has started drinking a lot of water after eating. More so than before. When we went out for the "hurry" after her last meal, her stomach felt almost hard. While we were out, all she did was pee.
I'm probably being a bit paranoid, but I'd rather stop the problem before it happens, as opposed to dealing with it later.
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I don't know if anyone from AAD has a copy of "Legionnaire" for the month of September. There is a great write up on Casey, Liberty, and Freedom ... and their appearance at this year's state convention for the American Legion. There is a nice full-color photo of Chris, Jean, Liberty, Casey, and Freedom ... I assume the other person in the photo is Stephanie. There is no caption.
I didn't find a copy of the photo online, and our scanner is not working. So, I can't post the photo.
However, I plan on giving my copy of the paper to Jean, tomorrow.
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I'm kind of excited about the possibility of moving Echo to Nutro dog food.
I am sure there is nothing wrong with the Taste of the Wild food Echo has been on, since we got her.
However, while her flatulence has diminished in regularity, the stench of her gas and poo can only remind one of a toxic waste site. In my opinion, nothing living that produces that kind of smell can be "right". I, still, have to fight back the urge to retch when picking up Echo's poo.
Gimli has been eating Nutro's Lamb and Rice formula for about 5 years, now. He seems to do better on it than the IAMS and Science Diet products he was eating before. While he still has "dog farts" occasionally, they are nothing compared to the "weapons of mass destruction" that Echo emits.
One other thing, before Gimli went on Nutro, his shoulders and hips, in particular, creaked and popped a lot. Nutro has Glucosamine, and Chondroitin in it. (One of the reasons we switched to this food.) Since being on this food, those pops and creaks have all but disappeared. Another reason we switched is that, at the time, Radar and Tas were beginning to have some joint issues. Moving them to a food with Glucosamine and Chondroitin in it seemed to help them.
Echo has no regular "pops", or "creaks", but I'd rather her not develop any, either.
It's easy to find, relatively. (Petsmart, the PX and Commissary carry it) And, it's fairly close in price to IAMS or Science Diet.
... My main issue is still the God-awful smell of her gas and poo.
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To elaborate on that point, Echo came to live with us on a Monday.
Trash is picked up, at our house, on Tuesday morning. We keep a trashcan on the deck. That is where all her poo goes. So, on her first full day in my house, she started with a clean trashcan. The trashcan gets emptied when it is full, or the night before the next trash day.
By that Thursday night, we had to move the normal location of the trashcan because the overwhelming stench of the can was invading the part of the "great room" that Jesus and Andrew use most use. They were beginning to get nauseous from the smell. ... It was as if some vermin/rodent had died of ingesting toxic waste, and was decomposing in the trash can.
I am sure if that smell was present anywhere near the prison at Guantanamo Bay, it would be considered a violation of the Geneva Convention.
Part of me is trying to be funny, but, REALLY, I'm trying to explain in terms that truly express the magnitude of the smell, what is going on here.
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Last thing, I think.
We have "crate" issues.
Don't get me wrong, in general, she like her crate.
In the beginning, the one that was brought here for her was great. She loved it, kind of. She loved it as long as it was "her spot", and not "her prison". She didn't mind the door being shut. She didn't want it shut for too long, though.
Then, she grew too large for that crate.
I've posted pictures of the green crate that we have been using in the living room. She is fine with that one. It's not as large as the "wire crate" that we were provided with, but it is large enough for her, now.
The "wire crate" that we were provided with, on the other hand, while of an adequate size, she hates it.
I think the problem is that the wire crate is too "open". The other two crates have solid roofs, and mostly solid walls. Kind of like a primal dog's "den". The wire crate, no matter how you cover it, does not provide that kind of "den" feeling. It's too open, and instead of being "her spot", she acts as if she is caged.
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Echo is SMART.
And opposed to picking up a lot of bad habits, as I feared, she has REALLY learned some things.
Not too long after taking the above picture, she woke up, kind of. Not really awake, but enough to get a drink of water, and some other minor movement.
I opened the door to her crate. She stretched, and came out. Just to the right of the above camera shot is a bowl of water. She took a good long drink. When she finished (I was standing over her), she looked me in the eye, and, without breaking eye contact, put her chin on "my spot" on the couch, and didn't move.
I, then, sat down in "my spot", picked her up, and put her in the place that so many pictures have shown her next to me. Within a few seconds, she settled, and became a "boneless collie" in my lap. She stayed that way for about 3-5 minutes. (I know because it was about the length of one song on Comcast's "Soundscapes" music channel.) Then, she got up, got a drink of water, and got back in her crate.
I shut the door.
Without moving, she "eyed" me as I went out for a smoke.
When I came back, she was asleep.
I opened the door of the crate. She stuck her head out of the door, and looked up at me. She wasn't comfortable. I took an old shoe of mine, and laid it under her head. She used it as a pillow, and went right back to sleep.
Here is what I saw:
It's like the "lead" issue that we had some time ago.
I don't think she has an issue with crates, or being crated.
I think she doesn't like THAT kind of crate.
By the way, I used THAT lead with her again, today. She still hates it, and doesn't mind the other.
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In my experience, Echo is very smart, sweet, and lovable.
She wants to be trained, and do the right things.
However, like a dachshund, she has her idea of how things should work.
Thin, flimsy leads are things she will pull against, badly, and chew on.
A lead with some "heft", and not too thin, she will accept.
A "wire" crate that is basically see-through, makes her kind of crazy.
A crate that has a roof and some kind of walls, where she can feel like it is, for lack of better terms, her "bedroom", she loves.
Like almost every other dog I have had, when you pay attention to what she is telling you, no matter how "bad" she might behaving, she is trying to tell you something.
The key is paying attention to the "clues" you have been given.
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