Journal Looking at your lifestyle, when are the times your dog is most likely to get bored? How will you keep your dog from being bored and why is that important?
McLean had no poop today. Ugh! He has gone from diarrhea to constipation. When is his stomach going to go back to normal?
After journal readings, we learned about bathing, cleaning ears, emptying anal glands and cleaning teeth. We brushed the dogs’ teeth before lunch, which was not too bad for McLean and me. A discussion about anal glands turned my stomach a little, especially before lunch. What timing!
I volunteered to bathe McLean right after lunch in the first group. We had to go to a Pet Supply store, because there is still kennel cough in the kennel, where all CPL’s bathing equipment is stored. I bathed the large dog, but it was difficult to reach some of him due to his large size. He needed to turn around and get tied to the other side of the tub, for rinsing, too! Some body parts had too much shampoo, and the rinsing process took a very long time!
When he was finally rinsed thoroughly,I had to dry him with the pet blow dryer. Actually, this process took even longer than rinsing, because he has a lot of hair to dry! He looks fantastic now, but he looked like a drowned, skinny little dog when he was wet. J Before I dried him, I had the joy of squeezing his anal glands to be sure they were empty. I did wear gloves for this nasty task! Fortunately, they were mostly empty, and I only got a little on one glove, which was a little stinky. Sorry, McLean, but it hurt me more than it hurt you!
McLean now had clean teeth, empty anal glands and was bathed, but now I had to clean his ears. He hesitantly allowed me to put ear cleaning drops in an ear, which he did not like, and then I used a cloth swab to wipe the inside of the ear. Lucky for McLean, he has two ears, and I had to clean his other ear. Yea! I did the same thing as the first ear, but the second ear was a little dirtier. The inside of his ear was about the same cleanliness as the other, but there was dirt externally. No problem! One of the trainers helped to see, and clean, it.
After a long time at the pet store, we returned to CPL, an hour and a half later.
Back at CPL, McLean and I had to perform several skills from a list, and 1 thing was to do 2 hard retrievals. He easily picked up the broom, but he had much difficulty taking a bucket. I should say :he had no interest in taking a bucket! McLean finally took the bucket, held it and gave it to me. It took him over an hour to do this service skill, and he got a lot of click and treats! Unfortunately, this was the day when trainees and their dogs got to leave and go home as soon as they finished the service skills and the bath. So not fair, because McLean and I sat through multiple issues with other teams. Ideas, encouragement and cheers would have been great. Anyway, McLean performed the other service skills great, but he is a slow tugger. He had to tug a laundry basket for a distance, but he decided to tug about 6″ at a time. This skill seemed to take forever, too! We were the last team still there. Not right!
Believe it or not, our dogs do get bored.:) I can think of 2 instances right now when McLean would be bored. Actually, 3. Times on my computer, watching Phillies games, i.e TV, and when I am playing in Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments. A good number of things could entertain our dogs. Chew toys, AKA nyla bones, frequent attention/pets, treat toys and even giving them little jobs to do. I do not know how bored McLean might get during some things, though, as I constantly use him to take me to the bathroom. J
Well, McLean and I need to get some rest for our trip tomorrow. Good night!