Baby has a mass on her left hind leg. It started as a pea-shaped hard lump, about a week ago. We thought it was a small cyst and tried to aspirate it, to no avail. Maybe it would go away, we thought. Wrong. In one week, it grew to the sized of a quarter, and Baby started licking and chewing on it. Not good.
I took her to the vet today. He took one look at it and said, “It’s some kind of tumor, benign or malignant. We can take a sample and send it to the lab, but in the meanwhile Baby will mess with it. It needs to come off.” So, she went to surgery (local anesthetic) later in the day. We will see what it was when the lab results come in.
Better to be safe than sorry, as the saying goes.
I have been increasingly worried about Vinnie’s progress when on leash. There hasn’t been much: he still pulls and still goes semi-berserk when coming upon another dog on leash, feeling it necessary to get to that dog and socialize. This kind of behavior is not acceptable, and I worry that Vinnie will offend the wrong dog and get his ass handed to him.
Today I visited a neighbor named Gini who has 40 years of experience in dog training. Gini is “old school”, and uses the Koehler Method, which is a no-nonsense series of lessons to quickly get the attention of, and obedience from, the subject dog. It’s “my way or the highway” training, kind of like the way my Dad brought me up: do the right thing or there will be repercussions.
Gini and I took Vinnie for a walk, using a 15’ rope lead and a 16” chrome choke collar. Vinnie, who likes to do his own thing while on leash, quickly learned that he would have to adjust his attitude. Within about ten minutes, Gini had Vinnie walking calmly next to her without saying one word. Simply amazing it was.
The experience was much different from the obedience training that Vinnie got when we first adopted him. We used a local trainer who uses treats to reward correct behavior. It worked up to a point, but then plateaued. And, besides, I don’t always keep a quantity of doggie treats in my pocket. The original trainer (“Linda”) didn’t really have much luck overcoming Vinnie’s stubbornness.
After our session together, Gini took Vinnie and three other dogs for a walk… together… through the community. She told me later that Vinnie did very well, walking alongside her calmly and “respecting” the pack leader, a dog named “Harold”, by letting him set the pace. Great news!
Gini is a friend and did not charge me for her knowledge and time. She told me that I will be doing the training and she gave me a one-sheet lesson plan (“Novice Obedience Class”) from the Koehler book. She also loaned me the choke chain and a crate for Vinnie to be kept in for one hour prior to his daily lesson… so he will be anxious to leave captivity and go for his training walk. After training, he returns to the Manning “fun zone” with his buddies to do whatever they wish.
What the heck, I’m retired and Vinnie has lots of free time so we are going to do this thing. The little guy loves me and wants to please me.
I’m excited.
In the meanwhile, the electric/invisible fence is working its magic. Vinnie has shown little interest in challenging his artificial confines and seems to understand that the fence is not to be breached… or there will be Hell to pay. We will continue this training until the end of April. He’s no dummy, and I’m sure he will learn what we expect just like the others did.
Going back to the Koehler Method training, once Vinnie begins to toe the line, I may do some remedial work on Baby and BonBon to make sure that they all understand how things are going to proceed from now on. I don’t want Vinnie to observe one set of rules and commands and the other two living under a different regime. It wouldn’t be fair and it would be confusing, as well. They are good sports and good dogs, all three of them, and I think they will be happier when they are all marching to the same tune.
This will be particularly important when we are traveling in the RV. We expect/demand that our dogs stay with us in the patio area while off-leash. Baby and BonBon are already good about this, so we need Vinnie to get the hint and conform. (Maybe I will have Gini give me some specialized instruction in this area?)
My goal is to have one obedient pack by the time I set loose the Three Stooges on the beach in Coos Bay.
