Bath Day

I wanted to wait a couple of days before I introduced brushing and bathing into the equation, as in my experience at least, neither Dief nor Sid enjoyed the process. I usually just call one of those companies that pull a van in front of the home and take care of it there when they really need it, but I have to keep up on it in between. Especially with the brushing. Let's face it, these dogs can shed. I have puffs of white fur everywhere. It makes me glad I have hard flooring, with a rug in the middle of the living room to give them traction for playing. It feels like just last month that I was dealing with undercoat blowing, but the weather just does not want to pick a direction, so it is happening again.

Rayzr putting up with being brushed.

I decided to do a quick pass with the furminator on both dogs, then take a brush to them. With a vacuum near by and hose at hand, I was hoping to keep the mess down to a minimum. First up was Sid. And as usual, he fought and fought. I was expecting the same from Rayzr. It didn't seem to be his favorite thing, but he did tolerate it. I didn't want to stress him too much, so I did a quick pass to try to get the worst of it. I figure over the next few days, I can add time to the brushing sessions until he gest to where he needs to be, with furminator passes every now and again to help out.

There has been debate over whether or not the furminator is a good thing to use or not. Some claim that it can damage the undercoat, just as shaving the dog can. Most people seem to be in the school of thought if you only do one or two passes in the same spot per session and don't over use it, that it is fine. I have found that I am comfortable with one pass and adding a second brush afterwards. Sure, it takes a bit longer, but I'd rather be safe then sorry. Most who know me, know that I can be a bit of an over protective mother with my furbabies. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Next up was taking him into the bathroom for his bath. I have one of my showers equipped with a shower head attached to a hose to make bathing the dogs a bit easier. Dief would tolerate baths. Sid hates them. It can be sometimes a 3 person job to give him a bath if he really feels like showing his strength. I wasn't sure what to expect from Rayzr.

Rayzr getting a bath

Once the water temperature was set, we put Rayzr into the tub and I turned on the shower. The first thing to get wet was his front paws. He immediately tried to jump out of the shower. After a minute or two of coaxing, we got him back in the tub. After that, he didn't try to escape anymore. I don't think he loves having a bath, but he will tolerate it. That seems to be a good description for him with just about everything he doesn't like, that he will tolerate it. This again just shows what kind of temperament that this dog has.

Once the bath was over, I towel dried him and used a hair dryer on low. He does not seem to be bothered by most noises such as hair dryers and vacuums. In fact, so far, I've only noticed him bothered by one of the vacuums in the house. And when that one comes on, he just moves away from it.

I figured it'd be about 3 to 7 days before he started coming out of his shell some, and he has started showing more of his personality. This includes the two bad habits that we have found. Neither are horrible, and I think with a little bit of work, both can be corrected.

The first is the way that he begs. He is not aggressive about it, but when we sit down to eat dinner, he likes to pick a person to sit next to and hit their knee with his paw periodically. When told no, he will walk away for a bit, but he usually comes back. He has not tried to steal food off of the table though. I think in time, he may pick up on the way Sid deals with dinner time, which is just lay at our feet. I usually give them a treat after dinner if they are good. Sid quickly learned that begging was pointless because of this. I am hoping that Rayzr does as well. Dief was a master beggar. She would bark and carry on and I don't care what we did, breaking her of the habit was not going to happen. Over time we learned to ignore her and if there were guests over for dinner, we would put her out back. While we find the paw to the knee cute, it is something that we are working to correct. I do not doubt that if food was left eye level and unattended he would swipe it. Sid does. But counter surfing does not appear to be a hobby of his, at least that he has shown us.

The hole after it was filled and restarted

The other bad habit I have found is that he is a digger. I know I said he didn't appear to be, but where he was digging, it was hard to see the quite impressive hole. I have kayaks racked up out back and he went under them to dig. Him and Sid have been taking turns on the hole. We are now working to correct this as well. Personally, I don't mind if my yard is dug up as long as it isn't near the fence, deck, or in a path that we walk, but I do understand not everyone is tolerant of this. I plan on building a sand area in one of the back corners for Sid to have an acceptable area to dig over the summer. If these two keep teaming up on holes, I may have to do the sand box a bit sooner then planned.

I do not think that the picture does the hole justice. But they were watched for a couple minutes on the camera taking turns. As soon as the hole was filled, they started working on it again. Tomorrow I will spray down the area with No Dig. We will have to keep an eye on him and correct him when he starts digging again.

Sid with his chew bone

I have found that Rayzr isn't a huge fan of toys. There are a couple he has found he likes, but he prefers chew bones, pig ears and stuff like that. Sid has always been hit and miss with them. I may give him one one day and he goes right through it, the next day, he will leave it sit for weeks.

Rayzr with his chew bone

After a long day of grooming and digging, I gave them a chew bone to settle down with for a bit and relax. Both dogs sat quietly for awhile, and when they were finished, they started making their rounds for attention. It doesn't matter what I am doing, when one shows up next to me wanting to be pet, I have to drop what I'm doing. Who can deny those eyes?

The weather change isn't only taking it's toll on their fur, it is also giving everyone in the house a bit of a cold. Fortunately, both Sid and Rayzr have been perfect angels when inside. They go out every few hours for a little bit of running and come back in to get attention and sleep. They are both slowly learning that sharing bones and food is not a bad thing, as there will always be more there if they need it. Even with separate bowls, they do tend to switch off here and there. It is almost as if they want to make sure that the other one isn't getting something better. Sid's jealousy of attention is still there, but also slowly getting better a little at a time. I would expect within the next week or so for most of it to be gone completely.

Rayzr making use of the dog bed

Tonight, the only thing Sid pouted about was when Rayzr decided to curl up on the dog bed. Sid hasn't used the bed in a few days. If both decide they want to start using the bed on a regular basis, I will bring another one into the living room, but for now, usually one is laying in one of the other favorite spots. 

The new crate for Sid also came today, as Sid didn't like the one we moved him to. I didn't like it much either. The new crate is nice. It's a black wire crate surrounded by a coffee table. This way we won't lose too much room in the house to crates and it won't look like a kennel in here. Rayzr has taken to the other crate quite well. We chose to give him the one that is more for travel, in case it was ever needed to transport him for whatever reason. The cat food is kept on top of the crate to keep it out of the dog's immediate line of sight. Sid never minded the cats coming and going while he was in the crate, and we were wondering how Rayzr would adapt to this. It is like he doesn't even notice. I know it is only three days in, but I think it's safe to say that he can coexist with cats, or at the very least, cats that will leave him alone. They ignore him, he ignores them. It's a nice arrangement.

If I started fostering as a way to find a permanent addition to my family, I would stop right here. Rayzr is so well behaved. He loves everyone. He doesn't get into much, other then the holes he digs. He's been great with Sid and the cats. 

This week, to get him out of the house, I may take him over to my parents. I try to get Sid out a couple of times a week for a change of scenery, and my parents only live a half of a mile from me. On nice days, it's an easy walk. My sister has her birds staying at my mom's right now, so if we do go over, I will be able to report on how he reacts to caged animals. The dogs stay leashed and are never allowed close to the cages, so the birds will be fine. Both birds shared a home with a dog at one time as well. I know it can often be tough to deal with caged animals with a husky from personal experience, but if Rayzr is going to go on the walks for visits with me, it will be nice to see if he ignores the birds the way he ignores the cats. Usually, once we get there, we sit out on the back porch and let the dogs run in the yard and come and go from the back porch. They don't have free access to go into the living room where the birds are located.

Friday, we will also see how Rayzr does in the home without Sid, as Sid will be at the vets having tests done on his leg from an injury at a dog park. Sid can be a bit hyper and likes to jump over other dogs. He didn't quite clear a great dane and hurt his leg. It acts up from time to time and we need to check it out before I can do some activities that I would like to do with both dogs.

Tomorrow should be a quiet day, but if we are all over this cold on Saturday or Sunday, we will be taking both dogs to Enterprise Dog Park and hopefully, we will get some great pictures of Rayzr to share. I hope Rayzr enjoys that dog park as much as Sid does.