Wednesday I stopped by Cozmo’s (a Portuguese water dog) house to pick him up for the last group walk of the day and couldn’t find him. Normally Cozmo waits at the top of the steps, prancing.  Once the leash is on him, he sprints down the driveway at full tilt to the car, and then barks every time the car stops, he’s that excited for the walk. Today, I opened the door, called him, and … silence. Almost all the other dogs run to the door for their walks, but this is Cozmo’s day, so I take my shoes off, and walk up the stairs looking for him, pausing to listen for any sounds of the dog. Still nothing. So we head off for the walk. Looking forward to my lunch, I stop by Cozmo’s to leave a note, letting them know how to reach me should they change the schedule, when I hear a bark. Read the rest of this entry »

Monday

Well it certainly is good to be back in the woods of Chelsea. I always enjoy my time here, in the more relaxing Chelsea environment, as well as the beauty of the Gatineau Park.

Other than some rain storms (short, and seemed to invigorate the bugs). Monday I got to take my new white and cream trail runners for their first ever walk. Rather appropriately, they are Salomon brand, and their first walk was with the creamy white puppy Salomon. At the end of our walk, my shoes didn’t look new, but weren’t half as muddy as the romping-puddle-stomping puppy. If he doesn’t like getting washed off, why would he get so mucky? Oh what a show stealer that guy is… soo cute. Read the rest of this entry »

It has been an extraordinarily wet spring and summer here and it seems to rain almost every day.  I was running in the woods on the weekend with Kevin and he could not believe how wet it is in there.  It really looks  like a tropical rain forest with the lush greenery, very wet and humid conditions and lots of mosquitoes.  So I was walking along with a group of  6 dogs in this lush green forest when I heard Laika yelp and then she jumped far away.  I looked and there was a turkey platter sized snapping turtle sitting in the woods far from any pond.  I guess it is now so wet in there they feel comfortable migrating around.  The little dog Taylor who isn’t much bigger than the snapping turtle then  tried to investigate but I quickly put a stop to that.  We were close to the doggie school bus so we headed out of the woods.  As we walked I noticed that Laika was limping and once we got in the car she was holding one foot in the air.  I called her owner to explain what had happened and that a vet trip might be in order.  Her major concern was if the turtle was poisonous which it was not.  Once Laika got home she seemed much better and we couldn’t find an open bite wound so hopefully all is well.  I was afraid the turtle had broken her leg.  So now on top of watching out for bears, wolves, porcupines and 3 legged coyote’s I must now watch for giant snapping turtles in the woods.  Dangerous job.

I walk Coco and Tug every day. I arrive at the house and Coco is always waiting for me at the front door with his tail wagging and his head bobbing. He can hardly wait for me to park and open the door to let him out of the house. His companion Tug the Bulldog is not so keen to get going. I usually have to walk all the way upstairs where I find him asleep in the Master Bedroom on the top of the bed. He takes all the pillows and makes a nest and there he sleeps. Sometimes his friend Dumbledore the blue point Siamese cat is cuddled up with him which I think is oh so cute since Tug used to terrorize Dumbledore when he was a puppy. So as invasive as it feels to have to go into someone’s bedroom to get their dog for a walk I have to do this almost daily. I then put on Tug’s collar and leash and he is often still sleeping and snoring. I swear I need to find a doggie espresso and give him 3 shots to get him going. So still asleep I prop Tug upright and get him out of the bed. He is awake now as he starts walking.  When we go through the living room Tug will jump in his dog bed as we pass by to see if I might just leave him there.  No chance of that.

Tug was named after a famous baseball player but his name is so apropos as I literally have to tug Tug for the first half of our walk. I then let him off leash and he runs like the dickens and plays all the way home. When we get home he races around the yard playing with his doggie friends and it often takes me some time to calm every one down and get Tug back in the house. Everyday I tell him to remember how much fun he is having at the end of the walk so that he is more enthusiastic when I pick him up the next day but he never remembers. He is such a funny dog.

I thought I had sorted out the situation with Soloman the puppy by only walking him with sedate males and females, no full size puppies and no jealous males. We enjoyed a week of walks with no mishaps and he was really coming into his own. Running up ahead and initiating play with dogs, wading in the streams and just generally having a good time. So we were walking in the woods as I was thinking this to myself when disaster struck.

Ted was playing with a biggish piece of wood and Soloman decided he would help. Ted shook his head with the wood still in his mouth and managed to hit Soloman in the process. Well Soloman screamed or I should say shrieked to high heaven. All the dogs ran to him and I could barely see what was happening as he was circled by the big dogs. Ted dropped his stick immediately and was the most concerned of the bunch. I pushed the dogs aside and picked up poor Soloman who was now bleeding profusely from just below his eye. My immediate reaction was he needs to go to the vet. We were far into the woods and needed to walk out in order for this to happen. Soloman quickly stopped bleeding so I put him back on the ground and he proceeded to run and play again as if nothing was wrong. When we finished the walk he had some swelling and it was hard to see how big the cut was but he wasn’t bleeding and seemed fine. Well he looked like he had been in a boxing match but otherwise fine. I called his owner to explain what happened and took him home and cleaned him up and left him sleeping.

Well at 8pm I get a phone call that little Soloman is in surgery. He was in fact impaled by the stick and the wound was deep enough to warrant stitching, etc and a drainage tube to be inserted. So we made the prudent decision that Soloman should be walked on his own until further notice which won’t be until he is much bigger. I am still puzzled though as I have walked so many puppies in the past with bigger dogs and never an injury so I am hoping Soloman isn’t just an injury prone dog.

The next day I arrive to walk Soloman alone and he is in his cage with the requisite bucket/lamp shade/protective collar on his head and a double ended drainage tube sewn into his face and my heart just broke. He was as happy and energetic as always. We walked passed my car on leash and he pulled and pulled me towards the car as he really wanted to go on his daily adventure. Off we go on our alone walk when he stops to poo. Out comes the poo along with about 30 white worms that are just wriggling all over the place. One worm doesn’t quite make it out and 3 inches of this worm are hanging out of Soloman’s bum and waving at me all the way home. Soloman was quite disturbed by the worm so when we got back to his house I had to open a few kitchen cupboards until I found some plastic bags that I could use to remove the worm without actually touching it. So once again I am on the phone to the client to tell him about the worms. I also explained since he is a new client that I have dogs I walk and for months on end I actually have no verbal contact with the human client and that one day we will get to this point with Soloman.

I find it amazing how dogs react to each other when they meet.  On the most part it is a friendly wagging of the tails and sniffing.  Once in a while it is an immediate “I love you for life” and off they go to play.  I walk a dog named Vaughn who is a male 11 month old Weimaraneir and he has a best friend amongst all the dogs I walk.  Sirrus who is a 2 year old White Standard Poodle  was rescued from a puppy farm about 6 months ago.  These 2 dogs really like most of the dogs they walk with and usually spend their time with me running and playing in a group.  But when Sirrus and Vaughn are on the same walk they have eyes for no other. They start in the car after I pick them up and they play so hard the Element rocks and rolls.  I am sure pedestrians I pass on the street wonder what is going on in there.   When we get out of the car to start our walk they virtually somersault through the woods.  All surfaces of their body hits the ground and it is not often a foot.  Still being puppies they have no concept of space and they are always banging into me when the whole forest is their oyster but they still don’t realize it.  Puppies like to stay close to their person.  Sirrus ends the walk abosolutely black with mud.  By the time we get back into the car to go home Sirrus collapses on the ground and Vaughn stands over him.  They are very much in love.  I think it would be great if their owners met so the dogs could have play dates on weekends and even do dog sitting exchanges.  Although having them both in the same house could be dangerous once they start somersaulting around.

So what better place to begin than with an 8 week old Golden Retriever puppy named Soloman. I have walked lots of puppies in the past and the usual result is a strong life long bond where they often think I am their second mother. So hopefully this will happen with Soloman. As usual for a first walk Soloman was a bit nervous about where I was taking him. We arrived at our walk destination which was Coco and Tug’s house. Coco is a full grown Golden Retriever so Soloman is just a baby version of him. Tug is a 2 year old Bull Dog. Well I opened the front door and Coco and Tug came running out in full attack mode which is unusual for them considering all the different dogs that walk at their house every day. Both sides of the front steps had beautiful freshly planted flowers that were sent flying and poor little Soloman was screaming. I quickly stoppped the aggressive greating and then remembered that sometimes Fixed male dogs are jealous of in tact male puppies and react this way on their first greeting. So I got everyone sorted out and happy with each other and off we went to walk.

Everyone was enjoying themselves and we were almost finished our walk when Sirrus and Vaughn (who are both puppies themselves…full grown in size but still puppies in their heads and still unaware of where other people,dogs, objects are in relation to themselves..in other words still spazzy) ran over the puppy Soloman while playing.  Well Soloman cried to high heaven and I was very upset thinking the worst.  I picked him up and cuddled him and found he had a scratched nose as a  result of someone’s paw doing a pass over.  He was bleeding and I was very upset.  So I carried little Soloman the rest of the way back to the car.  In fact a few times on the walk I had to carry Soloman and was thinking I needed one of those slings mother’s use to carry their new born’s around.

I took Soloman home and left a note as to what happened on Soloman’s first day out with the big dogs.  My initial gut reaction was that maybe he should be walked on his own for a few weeks until he is bigger.  When Solomans’s owners got home and saw his nose they actually were not as traumatized as I was about his battle wound and we decided to keep him walking with the group.  So I am now walking Soloman with no jealous older males and no full grown puppies that run over smaller puppies.  I am walking him with mature females and sedate males and all is well in the dog walking world.