[Dailydrool] Who knew

[Jane Hay]

Who would ever guess that a basset hound could be FUSSY about what they eat!
Our Shadow is the fussy one. Everyone else counter cruises and, if it's not
nailed down or too high for them to reach, it's every man for themselves. I
swear that Jersey levitates her whole body to the top of the table or
counter top to reach whatever item she's after. And I swear that Ginger
becomes six feet tall when she stands on her back legs and her tongue is at
least six feet long! Then there's Shadow....we've tried adding just about
everything to her food to get her to eat. Gravy, bullion, canned dog food
with gravy, different flavored yogurts. The thing that is working right now
is sharp shredded cheese and dotting her food with vanilla yogurt. At one
point I decided that she'll eat when she's hungry and was picking up her
food if she hadn't eaten by the time the rest of the hounds were done. Well,
she actually started losing weight! So we're back to adding the flavor of
the month that will get her to eat her meals.

We have totally given up trying to take Ginger to the dog park. Someone
suggested that, if a dog goes into any kind of attack mode when they're
surrounded by a bunch of friendly dogs, they probably are stressed and
really not having a good time. That really hit home with us and Ginger. It
had gotten to the point that she would snark if another dog even sniffed her
and we were spending more time outside of the park with her than inside with
the other dogs. There are enough other things that we can do with her that
she just doesn't need to go to the park. Maybe things might be different
with her if she had been socialized better when she was a buppy or
possibly something happened to her before she came to us that makes her so
upset when she's around strange dogs. We'll never know but it's very
apparent that she's too stressed and not having a good time at the dog park
so we just don't take her anymore. Actually, we've been shocked at how good
Ginger has been with Tybee since he's been with us. Maybe it's because he so
much younger than everyone here. Who knows but Ginger just loves this guy
and I'm afraid she's going to miss him a lot when he moves on.

Speaking of Tybee, he had the pin removed from his leg last week and is
doing really well. We have another week and a half of limiting his activity
but then he'll be able to do anything he wants. He keeps telling me he's
ready to go, go, go right now and really gives me a tough time about having
to go out on the leash all the time and being confined to the family room.
He actually broke out of the family room today and made his way upstairs. I
was getting dressed and all of a sudden heard him whining on the other side
of the door. Needless to say, he was quite pleased with himself! He's a
heavy little lump so he and I had to slide our way down the stairs when it
was time to go back down since I can't carry his hefty little butt. I'm
afraid the baby gate will be totally shredded by the time he's allowed to
use the stairs again. We really have to find a home for this guy soon! The
DH and I are getting WAY too attached to this sweet boy. Tybee has this
thing now where he'll torpedo himself into the DH's lap and put his front
paws on either side of his neck and actually hug him. It's just so darn
cute! I wish we lived on a farm and had more property but we're in the
middle of town and five hounds in this neighborhood are just too many.
Believe me, we've talked about it but we just can't take on another hound
right now. Plus, if we had five, I'd NEVER be able to foster again. It's
going to hurt our hearts a lot to let this sweet boy go though.

Thanks to all of you who continue to vote for BaRCSE in the Shelter
Challenge. We're not ahead by a lot but we're still in first place and it's
because of all of your support. Thanks so much for voting and please make
sure you click on that purple button to give a bowl of food to a shelter.
Every little bit helps!

Drool and prayers to all in need.

Jane & the Houndettes
Jersey, Shadow, Suzy & Ginger
with foster boy, Tybee
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