Dog Blog by Kat

Remembering Sullivan

7:34 PM, Friday, July 18, 2008 .. Posted in News .. 1 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

I know that I haven't said much about me being a pet sitter, but I stay in peoples homes with their pets while they are gone. I started pet sitting for friends more than 20 years ago because they could totally trust me and knew that I would spoil their pets at least as much as, or more, than they do!

A couple of months ago I was fortunate to spend 3 weeks with an elderly cat named Sullivan. He was in bad shape a couple of weeks before his mom was scheduled to leave the country. Sullivan's kidneys were failing. The vet started Sullivan on intravenous fluids every other day to assist the kidneys in filtering out toxins. Since Sullivan was hanging on, I received a call from his mom to babysit, while she was gone. I was referred to her by our good friend, Holly.

When I met with Sullivan's mom to discuss Sullivan's needs, she was not very confident that he would make it through her trip, so she made arrangements and had written all of the instructions down for me in case the worst happened. I was a little hesitant to take the job because I certainly did not want a pet to die on my watch. The truth is, the death of a pet, whether it is mine or not, hits me very hard.

I knew I had to take the job, knowing that I was the best person for the job. I could be dedicated to him, would spoon feed him and love him as much as he would allow. I made an Excel spreadsheet for each day I would be there, so I could track every medication, every feeding, and record his behavior throughout the day.

The first couple of days, Sullivan was pretty slow moving and a bit lethargic. I slept in the spare bedroom and Sullivan never came in there to see me. Each morning after I fed Sullivan, I would go to the spare room and meditate for an hour. The third day, Sullivan followed me into my room and sat on my lap during my whole meditation. That day, I decided to do a healing meditation for Sullivan hoping the healing energy would flow to him. I held my palms up and Sullivan placed his head in my left palm and sat motionless through that first meditation.

Sullivan spent every morning on my lap during my meditations. He soon was jumping up on furniture, was so much more energetic and was a very loving cat that loved to sit by me while I worked on the computer. He was also eating from his food dish and I no longer had to spoon feed him.

I fell in love with Sullivan. We became fast buddies. I knew the intravenous fluids wouldn't work for Sullivan, long term. I wasn't sure if I would be called upon to watch him ever again. I made every moment count with him.

I am currently babysitting about a mile from Sullivan's house and have been thinking about him and his mom. I thought it would be great to stop in to see Sullivan and go to lunch with his mom.

Tonight, I met with friends to have a belated celebration for my birthday. Holly, my friend that referred me to Sullivan's mom met me on the way into the restaurant. She told me she had some bad news. She told me that Sullivan's mom has been in the hospital for the past 3 weeks. She explained everything to me and then it dawned on me that no one had called me to take care of Sullivan. I asked who was taking care of him. She then told me that his health had deteriorated and he had to be put down two days before his mom went into the hospital. My emotions were all over the place. I was very concerned about Sullivan's mom, and I was also so sad that my sweet angel Sullivan was gone. It was a double whammy.

I am so honored that Sullivan's mom gave me the opportunity to care for her beloved cat. He touched a special place in my heart and will always be remembered. I must now see what I can do for his mom.

So please join me in saying goodbye to a beautiful wonderful cat, my sweet Sullivan, and say a prayer for his mom's speedy recovery.

Dog Park Diary - The Social Round of Goody Beagle

10:17 PM, Sunday, July 13, 2008 .. Posted in News .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

Dog Park Diary is a week in the life of Goody Beagle as told to his human, Kim Pearson. Goody Beagle shares his insight to the behaviors of his dog friends and acquaintances at his dog park and let's us in on Dog Park etiquette. If you have ever wondered, "Why do dogs do that?" , Goody has the answers.

We get to see great pictures of the dog park gang and you will laugh at Goody's great sense of humor. If you haven't ventured to the dog park yet, this is a must read for you and your pooch. If you and your pooch already are Dog Park regulars, you will enjoy this book and probably be shaking your head up and down, thinking, "I know what you mean, Goody".

Dog Deaths Due to Hot Weather

6:44 PM, Sunday, July 13, 2008 .. Posted in Dog Health .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

I had to write about something that I recently experienced. On my birthday, July 1, it was at least in the mid 90's all day. In the early evening I had to go to Costco to pick up a prescription. I had been in the house most of the day, and knew it was hot outside, but didn't realize how hot, until I got into my car.

By the time I got to Costco I was a sweaty mess. It was really hot in my car. Mind you, Costco is only a 5 minute drive from my house. Luckily, my parking karma was working. I found a parking spot right near the entrance, just across from the handicap parking. The outside eating area in front of the store was packed, lots of families and children enjoying some time together.

I got out of my car and started to walk towards the store. I was only a couple of parking spaces away from my car when I heard a terrible "screaming" coming from one of the cars in the handicap parking. The sound was really loud and shrill. I looked toward the car where the sound was coming from and I saw a little brown dog scratching at the window making the "screaming" sound. It was a horrible sound. The car had all of the windows cracked, but I knew it was much too hot to leave any living thing in a car.

Earlier that day, I had read several articles about police dogs that had recently died in their squad cars. Here are excerpts from one of the articles:

Associated Press, June 24, 2008:
“SAN DIEGO — A police dog was found dead in the back of his handler’s patrol car amid triple digit temperatures.

“The 5-year-old Belgian Malinois named Forest was found Friday in the vehicle parked outside the officer’s home in Alpine in eastern San Diego County, police spokeswoman Monica Munoz said Tuesday.

“Police were not releasing the officer’s name pending an investigation, Munoz said. She said she didn’t know how long Forest was inside the vehicle or whether heat contributed to the dog’s death.

“Temperatures in Alpine soared above 100 degrees F. on Friday when a high-pressure system brought record high temperatures across Southern California, the National Weather Service said.

“The county Department of Animal Services was conducting a necropsy to determine the cause of death, Munoz said.”

I was just sickened to read that news. So here I am, hearing a puppy "screaming" from inside, what I know must be a really hot car.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked at the people that were eating to see their reaction, because it was impossible to NOT hear the puppy. People looked back at me and I looked at the puppy. Crazy things were going through my mind as I stood there. Maybe I was on some show, where they would see who would help, when no one else was doing anything. But then, it would surely have to be a fake dog because no one would put a real dog in danger for the stunt. I started to walk towards the car and saw an elderly man walking towards the car also. I asked him if that was his dog. He said no. He said the car was there when he and his wife went in to do their shopping and that was about 15 minutes earlier.

As I kept walking toward the car, I said the dog will die if he stays in the car. The elderly man got to the car before me and reached his arm in the car window, unlocked the car. The puppy was tied to the seat by his leash. I grabbed the dog, while the elderly man untied the leash from the car seat. The puppy was very friendly and heartily drank the water that was offered to him. I petted him and I learned from his tag, that his name was, Snoopy.

I wondered what the person would think, walking back to his car and seeing myself and an old man with his dog outside of his car. As soon as Snoopy was freed from the baking oven he was in, others came over to see the dog. It is funny about crowds. No one wants to make the first move.

Fifteen more minutes passed and no owner showed up. We figured it had been at least a half an hour since the dog had been left in the car. Fifteen more minutes passed. I walked Snoopy around and let him go potty. We put more water on the pads of his feet and some on his back. Someone went in to talk to the manager of Costco to see if there was a paging system in the store. He said no, there was nothing he could do. You could tell he really did not want to have anything to do with the situation.

One lady decided to call the police. An officer arrived and questioned us. Luckily, no one got in trouble for 'breaking and entering'. He was pretty sympathetic and put Snoopy in the back of the squad car. I made sure the squad car was running and the air conditioner was on (didn't want another dog dead in a squad car incident!) I really didn't want to leave Snoopy, but I only had another 15 minutes to go in and get my prescription. The officer promised he would make sure Snoopy's leash would not get caught on anything and that the air conditioner would stay on.

When I came out. I saw Snoopy's dad's car still parked in the same place. I didn't see the police car or Snoopy. A guy eating with his wife and two small children saw me looking and told me Snoopy's dad came back (at least an hour after leaving Snoopy), and he thought the cop gave Snoopy's dad a piece of his mind and gave Snoopy back to him. I was still wondering where Snoopy was.

I ordered a slice of pizza and watched for Snoopy and his dad. About 20 minutes later I saw Snoopy perched in the front basket of a riding scooter or cart, his dad was driving. I was sure that Snoopy's dad loved him and thought that maybe he really didn't realize he could have killed his loved one. I hoped the cop really explained to him about the dangers of leaving your dog in a car during hot weather, even if you have the windows partially open. Snoopy is a small puppy, he looked like a wiener dog maybe with a little beagle in him. He didn't weigh more than I would say, 10-12 pounds. Eventually, Snoopy and his dad left Costco.

I told this story to a friend of mine and she said she would have been really angry to find someone had broken into her car and had her dog. I am sure she is not alone in feeling like this and I did consider what I would do if Snoopy's dad went crazy to see we had his dog. I would still have to protect the dog. A dog cannot talk for itself. Babies cannot talk for themselves. Do you know that 30-40 children die in a car from the heat, every year? Paw Rescue has some great information on hot weather tips.

I could feel my mother's presence that evening. She taught me to have the courage to take action when others were afraid to, that following the crowd is not always the 'right' thing to do. She said to follow my heart , my convictions and to stay in integrity.

So, what would you do if you had been in my situation? If you would have kept walking, would your answer be different if it had been a crying baby?

Rent-A-Dog or Shared Ownership, Whatever you call it, is it a good idea for the dog?

1:39 PM, Friday, January 18, 2008 .. Posted in News .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

Today, I want to talk about the companies that are popping up here in California and look as though owners of these companies, plan to spread throughout the world.

So, the concept is to let people 'rent' a dog for a day, an hour, a night or whatever they want. Pricing varies and can be very expensive. They are marketing to people that don't have the time to take care of a dog full time, are on the road most of the time, or live in an apartment or condo that doesn't allow dogs.

I really cringe at the idea of rent-a-dogs. I cringe at the number of people that abandon dogs, cats and babies. We have become such a disposable society. We want things only when we want them. Some of these rent-a-dogs are rescued, which is nice, but I wonder about the stress it causes the dogs as they are shuffled around from place to place.

I have owned cats and dogs, til death do us part. I love animals tremendously. That is why I babysit pets when owners are away. I stay at their home so it is less stress on the pet. I know my 'angels' love me and I love them, but I know how happy they are when their owners return. Nothing I can do in short periods of time can replace the love my owners give their pets on a day to day basis.

I would love to hear some feedback on what you think of this concept.

Removing Dog Urine Stains or Fido made a BooBoo

12:30 PM, Tuesday, January 8, 2008 .. Posted in Dog Training .. 0 comments .. Link

Ah those lovable dogs and their cute and clever antics! Don’t we love the way they play fetch and run and jump and roll around and lick us affectionately and pee all over the carpet and…

Pee all over the carpet? Well we don’t love that aspect of dog ownership, now do we? It is all a part of our dog training mishaps.

Dogs can be housebroken and trained to let their owners know when they need to go outside and make a little weedle or some other bigger job, but before that happens – and sometimes after as well – the interior of your home becomes Rover’s marked territory. The stains and smells of Fido’s little mishaps and dishonorable discharges can leave a lasting impression on rugs and carpets, furniture, and other items in your home if they’re not taken care of immediately.

If you’re fortunate enough to catch Duke in the act of relieving himself all over the Persian rug that was a gift from your mother-in-law, take the steps that have to do with the dog’s training and then attend to the poodle puddle right away. Use a rag or some paper towels to soak up as much of the mess as possible and then clean the area with a mixture of cold or lukewarm (never hot) water and some sort of cleaning agent. Peroxide works well at removing the chance of a stain as well as the odor, but it should not be used on certain fabrics or dyes. A dab of dishwashing liquid (the kind you use in the sink, not the dishwasher) mixed with water can do a good job on these fresh marks as well.

For stains that have been allowed to sit for a time you’ll need to take slightly more drastic measures. Organic cleansers like Spot Shot work best on stains like these and should be chosen over chemicals. If you do use chemicals, peroxide is your friend once again as it can act as a terrific stain remover. Again you’ll want to dilute with warm water and apply it to the area. Some scrubbing will be necessary, but it should be done as gently as possible, depending on the type of fabric. If we’re talking about carpet, some vigorous scrubbing will probably be okay as the fibers are designed to take a bit of a beating.

If the soiled items are washable fabrics like clothing, towels, or small throw rugs, the stains should come out in the wash. Put the item in the washer by itself with the regular laundry detergent that you would normally use and some color safe bleach (whites can and should be done with regular chlorine bleach).

The best way to deal with doggie urine stains is to avoid having them happen in the first place, which can be accomplished through careful and meticulous training. If the occasional whoopsie does happen, don’t lose your head. Deal with the dog in the appropriate manner and rest easy in the knowledge that, in most cases, pee washes out.

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