Drama-free Dremelling and ‘spoiled’ dogs

Tags

dremel, grooming, nail trimming, quirks

Bowpi is an angel about getting her nails filed by Dremel. She’s easy to physically manipulate, and will just flop into my lap like a sack of sand during the process.

Yes, note the pouch of Fruitables treats nearby. I spent several weeks warming up both Bows to the Dremel after I first got it, conditioning them to associate the sound of the motor with treats, then working them up to the whirring file making contact with their toes. I don’t consider the food a bribe; it’s a mood enhancer, putting them in an agreeable state so I can do things that would otherwise irritate or freak them out.

Bowdu is a different matter. Even though he comes running for handouts at the sound of the Dremel, he does not like to be held, nor does he typically like his paws to be handled, especially with purpose. A groomer back in Taiwan traumatized him on this one. She did nail trimmings for about $3, and routinely cut into the quick, calling it “normal” part of the process. Well, after seeing his face streaked with blood because he was frantically trying to paw off the grooming loop with his damaged nails, we put an end to that.

After that, he got downright violent about any attempts to trim his nails, even at home. I basically gave up… until I got the Dremel.

I found that he is relaxed and non-reactive when sitting in one of his favorite places — the car. So that’s where I do his nails, and it works out beautifully for both of us. I just pack up the Dremel for our regular outings, and take care of it after he’s been thoroughly chilled by a nice long walk.

Once, a passerby commented on my “spoiled dog” getting manicured in the parking lot. He said it lightheartedly, probably a joke because it seemed an odd place for the occasion, and I must have looked a little ridiculous, crouched in the leg area of the passenger-side front seat while Bowdu perched like a champ above, patient paw in my hand.

But I was annoyed by the assumption that I was doing something excessive for Bowdu, and therefore “spoiling” him. (My parents, who don’t understand my relationship to the dogs, frequently use that term too.) How is this radical notion that working with our animals, in full consideration of their history and their feelings, an act of “spoiling”? Knowing his trauma, I meet him on his terms. That’s just basic consideration out of my sense of responsibility to him, acknowledging his capacity to express fear, personal preferences, and trust.

From that day on, I’ve been making a conscious effort to excise that term from my vocabulary, because I don’t see my pets in terms of wasted resources. I’d rather have our “spoiled” relationship where we can relish our mutual excesses, instead of a “normative” relationship, contained and impoverished.

Ready to eat

Tags

dog food, food aggression, quirks, vocalizations

This is how the Bows wait for breakfast.

Mornings are usually pretty mellow, especially during the summer. It’s dinner that comes with a song and dance.

Video taken 29 November 2011

Some of you might remember the solo version of Bowdu’s “Gimme my dinner!” song. Back then, I’d lock Bowpi in her room as I prepared their meals in order to control the Shiba’s food aggression. The Bows are always fed in separate rooms, not in crates. Bowdu gets front row seats to dinner prep. Before, Bowdu would attack Bowpi when she came to check out the kitchen. After they figured out each others’ thresholds in the presence of food (this took about a year), we started letting Bowpi linger during dinner assembly time.

Bowdu has an amazing falsetto. He will flash his fangs at Bowpi to remind her not to get pushy (the hypocrite). I let him make all the ugly faces he wants as long as he keeps his butt planted and I don’t see him leaning.

Bowpi paces and circles and sometimes grunts, but neither Bowdu or I let her get underfoot.

This happens pretty much every night. Somehow, without my explicit encouragement, Bowdu’s song just became more embellished, to the point that this has become some kind of strange household ritual.

And yes, I’m afraid the Shiba’s still a tubby hypothyroid chunklet, holding steady at 30 pounds on approximately 10 ounces of food a day!

The sneak thief

Tags

quirks

In yet another episode of Bowdu’s bad habits, I present — the Sneak Thief.

Indeed, there’s nothing like a kleptomaniac dog to teach you to put away your precious belongings. Like many a novice dog owner, RJ and I have lost hundreds of dollars of material possessions to our wiley Shiba’s thieving jaws. Books, records, hairbrushes, a cell phone (his), brand new eyeglasses (mine), a hands-free headset (Aunt Maggie’s), and lots more. It took us a while to learn how to put our most important things out of reach, and to trade up when he challenged us for trying to reclaim our belongings.

Yes, he’s done this for a long time.

Unfortunately, he learned fairly quick that stealing = more attention. So even now, when he feels neglected, he’ll resort to stealing random items like empty plastic bottles, cardboard tubes, and boxes that were tossed in the recycling bin.

And he’ll hold onto his pilfered prize, challenging us to take it away from him.

We used to take a hardline approach and remove anything that wasn’t “rightfully” his. But this wasn’t teaching him to not steal, and it certainly didn’t get us far in learning to just put stuff out of reach. So now we take a different approach with sometimes comical results. If the item is of no importance, we will calmly acknowledge that he got it, and then walk away while telling him that he can have it. We put on a big show of not caring.

This makes Bowdu pick up his stolen goods and follow us around, like he’s begging us to care. Sometimes he’ll even lay the item out in our path, and lunge to guard it as we walk by. But we continue to ignore him completely.

If anyone cares, maybe it’s Bowpi. She merely seems confused why anyone would give a shit about such a stupid object.

Then Bowdu might throw a little tantrum by ripping up his purloined piece of trash, as if to show us that we can’t just ignore him, hmph! But instead of guarding something for hours like he used to do, he’ll quickly lose interest in his “prize” once he has thoroughly rendered it as worthless as everyone else thinks it is.

These incidents of theft are much fewer and far between nowadays. Since the humans are both too messy to put everything away, it’s just a matter of what he decides to claim next… I suppose it’s his way of keeping us guessing.

Can’t stand the rain

Tags

quirks

We got caught in the rain for about two minutes at the dog park last week.

It wasn’t that cold — temps were in the low 60’s — but the drops got fairly heavy for a bit. Bowdu was unfazed, but Bowpi whimpered and rushed into the brush…

11 November 2011

I watched from underneath my umbrella as she tried to dig herself a little shelter.

Her half-assed effort didn’t provide the coverage she wanted, so Bowpi stared daggers at me in reproach for dragging her out in this awful weather.

It’s rare to see the Sweet ‘Pi looking so angry!

Fortunately, the sudden downpour soon subsided to a thin drizzle. By the time we were leaving the park, the rain had stopped altogether. Windshield wipers were still necessary on the drive home, but inside the car, the Bows were impervious to foul weather.

Click shy

Tags

dog photography, quirks

Photo taken 16 April 2011

My primary challenge so far with the DSLR is acclimating the Bows to its bulk and its noise. I thought they were so used to being photographed that it would not make such a difference, but their reactions to this machine are markedly different. When I’m shooting at home, they often stare back with apprehensive bug eyes because the zoom lens is such an alien invasion of their domestic space. The fact that I’m actually looking through the viewfinder instead of an LED screen to compose my shots must seem strange too, since my face is almost entirely obscured and replaced instead by a big black facehugger.

… It’s a THING.

And it CLICKS. Sometimes it CLICKCLICKCLICKs. And Bowpi just about exploded like popcorn the first time she saw the flash. I did not expect the flash to automatically flip up, myself. I had not considered that I should have slowly introduced the skittish basenji to the DSLR.

Bowpi loathes the DSLR, and is maybe even a little afraid of it. Remember, she has a quirk — she’s extremely sensitive to certain sounds, like clicks and rapping and hitting sounds. We don’t know where this came from, we just know she refuses to be in the same room as anyone clipping their toenails, clapping their hands, swatting flies, tenderizing meat, massage-pummeling body parts, etc. She doesn’t exactly flee the room in terror, but she’s out of there fast, and will not return until long after the coast is clear.

So for now, the sound of the camera is still too much for her unless we’re outside in the open, which is a pity. This is exactly the tool that’s needed to capture her delicate movements! In the above portrait, one of the first indoor practice shots I managed to capture of her, what you don’t see is that she is already starting to push herself up off the futon.

She was gone before I could focus another shot.

We’ll have to work on this.

Slowly, with treats.

Shutting out the world with a dip of the head

Tags

quirks, sleep

Photo taken 26 January 2011

If only it were always so easy…

Primal song

Tags

primal raw, quirks

Video from 15 December 2010

When we started feeding Primal Raw, Bowdu started singing for his supper. And boy can he carry a tune… This one is actually fairly laid back, more of an adagio con espressione instead of molto agitato.

I shut Bowpi in my study room (where she is fed separately) while I prepare their meals. Otherwise, she has a tendency to prance all over the kitchen which agitates Bowdu even more, especially since I seem to take sooooo –HURRY!!UP!!– long adding their various supplements. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to make him less anxious other than to just behave as calmly as I can, myself. Besides, can I really blame him for loving food?

In your face

Tags

canine body language, malamutes, quirks

Bowdu, as I mentioned, is more of a face dog — as in, IN YOUR FACE upon first greeting. At least, that’s how it used to be. I’ll be the first to admit that he wasn’t the most well-socialized Shiba pup growing up in Taiwan, and so to this day, he’s still lacking in some canine social graces.

At the dog park the other day, Bowdu was not looking where he was going, and ran head-first into the side of a muscly boxer-pit mix. Because the other dog was on leash, he couldn’t really clear the way for Bowdu. This, of course, pissed Bowdu off to no end and he held his ground, staring daggers into the dog’s eyes and blocking the way for both dog and human.

Even though Bowdu was the one to run into the other dog, he acted all offended, like his Shiba soup can had been violated by that clumsy oaf. What I did in that situation was I kept walking as I called his name in a happy voice. Within seconds, the tension eased up, and he let it go.

The Bowdu of before, particularly before thyroid medication, would surely have started a ruckus right there. He’s had his outbursts over even slighter transgressions, and it’s been a long, slow process working with him to make up for what he should have had in puppyhood. He is so much better around strange dogs now, but there are still a few types that test his tolerance.

Bowdu’s Angry Face List:

• Hyperactive puppies
• Huskies and Malamutes
• Boxers
• Energetic, brachycephalic dogs like Boston Terriers
• Pretty much any bouncy, long-legged breed that outweighs him.

… The exception to that last group seems to be long-legged breeds that are so tall, he can walk right under them. So he’s fine with Great Danes and Greyhounds. But if their stature allows him to meet them anywhere near eye level, then dammit, he’s going to at least try and give them the staredown.

Photo taken 11 February 2010. Malamute gang vs. the Shiba upstart.

The language of revolt

Tags

quirks

Photo taken 24 October 2010

It rained all weekend. For the first time since joining the House of Two Bows 7 months ago, Bowpi has actually been refusing to go on a walk. Strained back in her collar and resisted all leash tugs, she did.

Is it her Basenji nature? Or did she pick up that trick from Bowdu?

Photo taken 15 June 2010. Bowdu refuses to lift his head so we can put his collar on properly and take him outside.

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Bowpi nibbles the bedsheets

Tags

de-fleaing, grooming, quirks

Since dogs don’t come with instruction manuals, I asked the experts over at the Basenji Forums to enlighten me as to what Bowpi is doing in the above video. She has a habit of nibbling on soft things like towels, blankets, bedsheets. She never causes any damage, so I have no reason to make her stop. Only once or twice has she done it to my clothing (that is, the clothes that I was wearing), so I could feel that she wasn’t actually biting despite the audible click of her teeth.

My guess was that was she was massaging her gums.

Experts’ response: Nope! She is “de-fleaing” the sheets, not necessarily because there are fleas on it, but as a grooming impulse or common nesting behavior. Oooooh…

Photo taken 9 August 2010

Little miss doesn’t like looking straight at the camera. Here’s the princess holding her head up high.