Buddy the Dog is a nice dog, but he has some ... I hesitate to call them character defects, because they are unrelated to character, I think.For instance, he is a bundle of hair and likes to deposit clumps of hair all over the house. I do not mean the occasional individual hair. I mean clumps. And he doesn't seem to paw them out. He just sits down, gets up and walks away from a pile of hair.
No sooner had Tom brought the newly cleaned and shampooed rugs back in than Buddy the Dog began lying on them to leave little wads of fine black hair. That's what he is doing in the photo. I got a pet comb at Wal-Mart, and Tom combed out enough hair to stuff a small mattress, but it is basically a never-ending process. I remember Helen combing him once and the pile of hair she got was almost as big as Buddy the Dog himself.
We try to pick up the larger clumps because Tom says they burned out a vacuum cleaner once when all the hair got tangled up in its mechanisms.
He also pads around the house, but he doesn't pad so much as click. His nails on our wood floors go click clack click clack click clack into the wee hours of the night as he roams from one room to another.
He also seems to think that any activity in the kitchen is somehow related to him. The cats will come running at the sound of a can opener, but Buddy the Dog trots over as soon as he notices anyone has gone into the kitchen. He is used to getting some human food to supplement his dog food, and I notice that the bag Jay brought us is for weight control. We don't give people food to the animals, but that doesn't stop Buddy the Dog from looking expectant.
He is, on the other hand, a quiet dog and very friendly without being all over you. He and the cats know one another from of old, and after a couple of exploratory sniffs, they settle down to share the domain. I realize, of course, that this means the cats have deigned to let him remain in their domain, probably remembering that he doesn't stay around all that long when he visits.
The trick now is for us to figure out who gets to come home in the middle of the day to let Buddy the Dog out to answer the call of nature. He could probably last all day, but why risk it? And Tom doesn't want to leave him outside all day with no one here.
1 comment:
A few thoughts from a Licensed Pet Care Technician (yes, I really am licensed now and have a plaque on the wall from our accrediting agency!):
1) excessive hair loss (and lets face it: even a little is usually excessive) can be controlled with special types of shampoo and even certain dietary supplements -- which most people prefer, since putting some gunk on your dog's food is easier than giving him a bath every two days. From my experience, all the products tend to work with varying degrees of success, although your mileage may vary. Your quaint Small-Town Wisconsin Vet is probably stuffed to the gills with products and free samples to help with shedding.
2) Food begging can't really be helped without several weeks and a few thousand dollars worth of training, usually. "Food instinct" in dogs, like humans, is among the strongest that exists. He'll probably just have to be a nuisance in that regard. It probably also explains why he's on "weight control". Human food is notoriously unhealthy (especially in terms of fat content) for dogs.
Well, for humans too.
I can't say much about the potty breaks, since I know you guys don't really have an enclosed back yard. I wouldn't leave him outside either. Best of luck sorting that one out.
PS -- your vet also might be able to clip his nails. That should help with the tap dancing.
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