Crazy Dogs

 THANK YOU MARY, MOM, & KATIE!!!

The realization that we are leaving soon has finally started to really set in.  This weekend, Annabelle and Albert arrived at their luxurious accommodations for the next month or so, where they will be well taken care of by my mom and sister, Katie.  While I would like to say the trip was uneventful, it never is when it comes to the pups and me.   I will say that I am sure MANY of the behaviors on this trip were escalated because of their unfamiliarity with their surroundings, my nervousness about leaving them for so long, and a break from their normal routine, but there are several things that have shown me we need to work on some things.  I have definitely decided we are ready for a full-on intervention with a dog behaviorist when we return from our trip. But, let’s back up a second….

This weekend, Mary flew out to Tucson to join me in the car as we brought the two dogs back to Nashville to stay for the duration of our African adventure.  Mary is a true friend, and I am so thankful to have her around.  She is amazing, so patient and willing to help, and she is a great listener and talker.  We make a pretty good road trip pair: a pair of small bladders, laid back enough to cruise along without too much of a plan, but responsible enough to get where we are going in a timely fashion.  Again, I am so thankful to have her in my life, and even more grateful that she was willing to embark on this trip with me.

First let me begin by saying that both of our dogs are excellent car travelers.  They settle into the back seat and sit or lay down quietly as we cruise down the freeway.  You almost don’t know they are there.  This is certainly a wonderful thing when you are going to be spending 24 hours in the car with them.  Apart from a couple of attempts to come up front to sniff out whatever snacks were being eaten, Albert spread himself out across the seat and slept almost the entire time.  Annabelle generally sits and stares out the window for most of the drive, watching the other cars go by.  I don’t think she enjoys the car, but she certainly tolerates it well.

Also, the two of them get along really well 99.9% of the time.  Annabelle definitely lets Albert know who’s boss when he has released a bit too much of his puppy energy, but he usually listens and goes along his merry way.  They are both wonderful dogs, sweet, loving, and playful.  I love them so much.

BUT, they definitely have their issues.  First of all, while they are great car travelers, the same cannot be said for time out of the car, particularly in hotels.  Despite spending the first couple years of her life living in an apartment, Annabelle has forgotten that just because she hears people outside the door, it does not mean they are trying to come in and find us.  On our first night stop in Santa Rosa, NM, nobody slept a wink except for Albert.  Annabelle woke with a start and a bark EVERY time she heard a noise and we were staying in a Super 8 with paper walls, so heard lots of noises.  She just could not relax.  She even continued to whine and bark through her entire morning walk before we hit the road.  Mary and I were not happy in the morning.  

Albert was not without his faults either.  Albert is the only dog I have ever known who refuses to go to the bathroom on a leash.  You can take him for a 5-6 mile walk, and he will still wait til we get home and let him off the leash to relieve himself.  Luckily for us, he quickly got over his pee shy-ness, but the pooping is another story.  Albert is a routine 2 poops a day kind of guy, but he would not go for the first 24 hours.  Eventually, he got so desperate that he let it all out, but it did make for some stinky gassy moments before that happened.  Hopefully, he is now broken of his bathroom shyness.

During day 2 in the car, we kept the stops to a minimum and cruised across Texas and Oklahoma in good time.  Whenever the car began to dip below 40 mph as we pulled off on an exit though, Annabelle would begin whining which turned into screeching by the time we pulled in to whatever parking lot we were looking for.  Of course this screeching got Albert worked up as he started bouncing across the backseat.  All knowledge of the commands: sit, wait, quiet, and stay were out the window. 

Luckily for night 2, we were in a much quieter hotel with a room that seemed to be separated from most other guests.  Everyone settled in a little better, and Mary and I even had a chance to take the dogs on a long walk, and sit down for a drink and dinner at Chili’s.  Annabelle and Albert slept through the night, and we were all much less cranky the next morning.

We made good time across Arkansas and Tennessee and made it in to Nashville by mid afternoon.  As we pulled in to the driveway, Annabelle’s ears perked up, and as soon as she jumped out of the car and took a sniff around the backyard, she remembered exactly where she was and was in heaven with her nose to the ground and her tail up as she tracked squirrels and other creatures that we don’t really have in Tucson.  Also to see her rolling around on her back in the grass… I knew she was in heaven.  She saw Charlotte and they sniffed each other and talked it out, remembered each other and went on their merry way together.  Unfortunately Charlotte’s first meeting with Albert did not go as well.

Let me back up again for a second.  Drew and I adopted Albert when he was about 6 months old.  He had been found on the street, skin and bones and covered with fleas and ticks.  Who knows how long he had been there and what experiences he had.  When we first brought him home, he and Annabelle got along pretty easily from the beginning.  There were a couple back and forths for dominance, but Annabelle quickly won, and Albert seemed to understand he was at the bottom of the back, submitting to Annabelle when she had had enough.  We soon discovered though that Albert did not do so well with other dogs especially in controlled environments.  When we first started puppy class, he soon earned the nickname, “the bully.”  He was always making this awful sound in his throat at other dogs.  We stayed in puppy class for 24 weeks working on this behavior.  He excelled at the commands and leash walking, but still did not seem to get along well with the other dogs.  Eventually, he learned to ignore other dogs when walking on a leash or while he was sitting on the curb as other dogs went by…HUGE progress, but he still did not want to be social with other dogs.  We went to the dog park a lot in those beginning days, and he would do OK when we let him off leash and he could roam around to meet other dogs on his own, but if we were there or another person was nearby, the noise in his throat would start again.  The heat soon set in and trips to the dog park became few and very far between.  Albert still did well on the leash walking by other dogs when you gave him the simple command to leave it, but he wasn’t making any new friends.

So, needless to say, when we arrived at my mom’s and it was time to introduce Charlotte, I was a bit uneasy about how the whole situation was going to go (which certainly doesn’t help matters).  Albert and Charlotte got a glimpse of each other and Albert’s throat gurgle would start again. It is not a pleasant noise.  Also Annabelle soon became the middle child, remembering that she was in Charlotte’s domain, but also wanting to protect her little brother.  This did not make for a very good scenario.   

Charlotte is a strong, gentle dog (who is about 40 pounds larger than Albert) who doesn’t put up with a lot of shenanigans.  She is several years older and has a bum leg (from a squirrel chasing incident).  She gets along well with other dogs and quickly earns their respect as a “matron.”  Well other dogs except Albert.  He does not seem to want to get to know Charlotte at all. 

(SIGH)

I had to leave them this morning to come back to Tucson for final preparations for our departure on Friday morning.  I have high hopes that Albert will soon figure out that Charlotte is family and a dog he can trust.  He has my mom around as a strong pack leader, as well as my sister Katie who is great with animals. 

I also know though that once I get back, there are lots of things I want to work on with both of the pups – making myself a stronger pack leader, alleviating some of their anxiety about things, so that they are able to relax, listen, and respond, and we are all able enjoy the ride a little more.  Anyway, it has been an exhausting few days and I know I have a lot of anxiety about the dogs and also about our trip.  It definitely helps to share and make a goal for the dogs for our return.

More soon about our final preparations…