Hi All,
I want to apologize in advance for a
very long winded post, especially for being such a new poster/forum member.
My girlfriend and I drove to Los Angeles this past weekend (Saturday) to meet with a Doberman that was being rehomed. We have another rescue dog, Nora, who is a Boxer/American Bulldog female, who is the sweetest dog you could ever meet. She is very submissive and very dog firendly. She only wants to kiss and play with any dog she meets. Ideally we were looking for a younger male Dobie, medium energy, more dominant.
Nora came along for the trip so that she could meet this dog.
Upon the first meeting Nora and the Doberman (Loki) got along famously! But it was immediately obvious that he was of extremly high energy (we knew that he would be to some extent). We spent in total almost 2 hours at the dog park and met with Loki's previous owner and observed the interactions of the two dogs. They were great! Loki, tends to be pretty dog submissive but loves to play, Nora is very much the same.
Our primary concern was that his energy level might be too high for us to provide the "perfect" home for him. This was clearly communicated to his owners, but they insisted that we were the best candidate home that they had met so far (a very major concern for them, rightfully so, he is an amazing dog) and that due to their own circumstances they had not had ample time to give him enough excersize and that this was contributing to his energy level. Alternatively they were afraid that they may need to turn him to a shelter if another good family for him did not come along
A little background: Loki, is a beautiful 4 y.o. purebred male, who has had lots of training in the past (obedience, some shutzhound, agility and carting) but due to a major financial downturn (can no longer provide a permanet home), not only was his training dropped, his shots fell out of date, etc. (by almost 2 years).
What was decided is that we would take him back to SF and spend a week with him to get better acquainted. This would allow us to take him to our vet who took care of Onyx, to give him a full check up and also to get his shots up to date. We would also do our level best to exhaust some of that excess energy and seem how we was under "normal" operating conditions. If we found that we would not be able to provide an ideal environment for him, I would return him to Los Angeles. In the interim, they would continue their search for other candidate homes. We would absorb the costs of transportation and medical. Obviously the main goal is to ensure that the dog has the healthiest and happeist life possible.
I also agreed to maintain communication with them and keep them informed of his status throughout the week. I opted to send email updates (copied below) but unfortunately have not recieved a response to them yet.
Also, while at vet she said he was very healthy (great heart) but had a small case of pink eye we gave him some eye drops) and our Dr. noticed some odd clotting after his shots. She ran additional tests for vwd, we will hear back in 10 days.
The bottom line: I really hope that we are doing the right thing. This animal is really growing on me, but I want to make sure that I can give him the best home possible. He reminds me in so many ways of Onyx (who passed a little while ago to DCM). Although I do plan to re-begin his professional training soon, I have concerns that he may be too much dog for me but I would hate to see him end up in a shelter or worse still end up in a lesser home than the one that I can provide.
Thanks in advance for tolerating my long post and any inexperience expressed on my part in this post. But I'd like to hear your thoughts/advice.
Thanks!
Email Log:
XXX,
Per our conversation, wanted to give you an update on how Loki is doing.
The car ride:
He did great! He spent a good amount of time sleeping for the 1st half of the trip. About half way up he sat just behind me to my right and rested his head on my shoulder. I gave him rubs for awhile and then stopped. That was my first mistake. He then leaned forward pressing his head into my face and started pushing my head over making it difficult to see the road. I nudged him back and everything was fine provided I kept him supplied with rubs. He really is a sucker for attention
Getting home:
We got home at about 2 am and the two of them were bouncing off of the walls. We showed Loki the back yard and he immediately went to the bath room and seemed perfectly fine. We put their beds in our bedroom and he immediately went to Nora's bed, but she wasn't having it and plopped down on top of him. He then moved over to his own and everyone seemed happy.
One thing to note is that he was extremely thirsty. We gave him water but regulated how much he got at a time, waited 5 minutes, gave him a little more until he stopped drinking. I checked his side each time he drank and he seemed to be fine. He has not shown that much thirst since.
Sunday morning:
We got up around 7.30 and the dogs were running around and playing like mad. I put Loki's pronged collar on, and let me tell you, that thing transforms him. Easy to walk, no pulling, follows commands far better than without. It seems like he shifts into a different mode when wearing it. I certainly did not use much tension at all. He just acts differently with it.
We went to the park and he met about 15 new dogs and their owners (he got a lot of attention). We let them play hard for almost 2 hours straight. The funniest part is that it is all of the little dogs that seem to scare him the most because they just want to run at him and jump and play. He got used to it after time though.
After that, we went back to the house for about 90 minutes and the dogs chilled out. We fed him half of his normal daily food portion (mix of your food and our high protein) and he ate it happily. We fed him on the porch and Nora in the kitchen, clearing both bowls before they saw each other again.
Sunday Afternoon:
We took them both to the beach and let them play on-leash. Loki seemed to like looking at the ocean but ran away when the waves rolled in.
After that we took them back to the dog park and let them play for another 90 minutes or so. At this point, Nora although still running around was starting to look tired as was Loki to some extent. He was now less inclined to chase the frisbee or the ball. Only if I called him to chase or play with me did he rise up to the call and with a lot less energy than in the morning. It was at that point that we decided to take them home.
Sunday evening:
Getting home form the park we fed both of the dogs (the same portions as earlier). Being exhausted ourselves, Rachel and I headed into the bedroom and turned on the TV. The dogs followed us in and we told them to lie down, which they did promptly. In less than 3 minutes, they were both passed out, snoring as loud as they could. They only woke up when the Pizza guy came to the door and Loki didn't even leave his bed. If the goal had been to exhaust them, I think we pulled it off.
Monday morning:
We took Loki tot he vet. In general he seemed much more calm. He was jumping around a lot when following me, but when I denied him attention and asked him to sit, he did so immediately. Only after sitting did I give him affection and from that point forward he seemed much more inclined to walk to me and sit or lie down for attention.
In general I would say that he is becoming much more affectionate with me. If there was a downside to this is that Nora is definitely noticing this and I suspect she is feeling a bit overpowered by him. We are going out of our way to make sure that she doesn't feel neglected, but Loki is quick to charge in on the attention. This was certainly expected, but we need to make sure that both feel like the center of attention without pitting them against each other.
Update Monday Evening:
Rachel spent all day with the dogs while I was at work. Rachel did take a break to go to the gym and the store (2 1/2 hours).
I got home before Rachel did and the dogs were obviously super excited. On a side but related note, Nora was briefly attacked by a JRT the night before who managed to cut her ear up pretty badly. The cool thing is that Loki has taken her under his care and has been licking the wound any time she is near.
Once Rachel got home, we took both dogs to the park where they played for a little more than an hour before it started getting cold and dark (daylight savings has taken its toll on playtime).
Loki, really likes to focus his attention on me. If I run around the park he will closely follow. Furthermore, if I grab a tennis ball and run with it he wants to play catch but would rather that I throw the ball a short distance while I maintain my run. He will sprint ahead get the ball and circle back to me, giving me back the ball. Once I have the ball again, he would rather I run with it and toss it further than just throwing it in a typical game of fetch. Ultimately I feel that this sets a stronger initial bond if us interacting together and it gives me ample opportunity to ask him to do things and respond to my requests, before I continue play.
Observation: Although Nora seems to really like Loki, she is having to compete with him for our affections. This is not to say that she is not getting affection, but due to Loki's energy level and attention needs, he usually jumps in and crowds her out. This happens almost every time we try to get close to Nora. The downside is that she is now having to compete for her place in the pack. This also seems to have had a direct impact on her interactions with other dogs at the park. She is now playing much more aggressively than she has in the past. She is seemingly not playing to play as much as playing for dominance with other dogs. This is very out of character as she is generally very submissive.
When we got back from the park, Rachel and I had to go out for a few hours (she teaches a class in Game Design at the SF Art & Design center) and I was a guest speaker. When we got home, I decided to separate the dogs for about an hour to ensure that Nora was getting enough love. I took her into the spare bedroom and hung out with her on the bed while she snuggled. She seemed to enjoy it a great deal. Her tail is wagging the same way that it always was
Tuesday Morning:
Back to the park! Loki and I played more fetch while we practiced very basic commands trying to familiarize him with my tone and voice. He is getting better at sitting and waiting than he was in previous days, but he is just barely able to overcome his energy.
On a side note, Loki did become jealous and of the other dogs playing with Nora. It was enough to completely distract him away from me and become aggressive with the other dogs. This happened 3-4 times before we decided to end the park session and bring the dogs home.
Side note "the ideal home": When thinking about what would be the "ideal" home for Loki (Please don't take this statement as any indication of our intent to keep him or not), I suspect that due to both his energy level and need for attention (the latter being very typical of all Dobies but escalated by his energy), he may in fact be "best" as an only dog or would need to be around an older/settled down, dominant female (preferably a Doberman) who could provide guidance that Nora cannot.
In closing, I hope that you find these emails helpful, but I never received a response to my first email. Please let me know.
Kindest regards,
-Gabriel
Note: These are not pics that I took.
Oh yeah...here's a bad pic of Nora (65lbs of luv). I'll take some pics of them together in the next day or so.
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