Saturday, June 13, 2009

Buddy - for sure a trail dog

Short post for a big week. Yesterday, we closed on our house, got the keys, moved over a few boxes, a bed, and all stuff Buddy. After signing our "Pawsability" paperwork at the Humane Society, we took Buddy on a looooong hike before introducing him to his (our) new home. The vet had warned us that he's got a little arthritis in his left hip due to an injury. Not sure what kind of injury; that's the mystery of adopting dogs. But, he did GREAT!

We spent last night trying to figure out what kind of dog he might be. Crate? Pillow? Blanket? We tried the crate until about 2am. I took him outside again where he finally went to the bathroom. Good stress is still stress and he was feeling it. Once inside, he went straight to the bedroom, sprawled out in front of the fan and slept until 6:30. I guess he's a I'm gonna sleep on the floor dog next to mom dog.

This morning, I took him out on the trails in order to let Steve sleep before his long shift. We hiked for 15 minutes pretty much uphill, and then I decided to try a bit of a jog. My broken toe is still achy, but we went for it. 30 minutes of running later, we strolled back to the car, proud of our good run. Buddy responds well on the leash to directions and he never pulls which I love.

Question for the running people with dogs - what do you do for water? I bought one of those portable bowls but it's too big and bulky for a run. Did you trail your dog to drink from a bottle? Any other suggestions would be welcomed!

I'll be posting pictures once we've got internet at the new house. I'm currently packing at the old place, giving Buddy a brief hour of "practice alone time."

4 comments:

Danni said...

If you can teach him to drink from the bottle without slobbering on it, that's ideal. Sonja's ok at this. You can always take the lid off and drink yourself from the bottle.

TooeleTwins said...

Liz and I share the same water bottle. I try to just hold it above her a bit so that she doesn't actually lick it. Works out great.

Iris said...

Tried the bottle today, but accidentally squirted him in the face. Now, he is VERY anti-bottle. We'll keep trying things to see what works. Thanks for the suggestions.

Leanne said...

Hey Iris! So happy to hear that Buddy is fitting in nicely with the family. He is such a cutie! Another thing you can try - now that he may have an aversion to the bottle after a face squirt - is a little ziploc baggie to pool water for him. If you fold the "lock" portion of the bag over to give it more structure and use your hands to help cup the baggie, this works pretty well and isn't as bulky as the collapsible bowls. I'll also take ice cubes for my pups and feed them these periodically. It isn't great for space saving, but a nice cool down for them on really hot days. And when the cubes melt, you have icy cold water for them already in a ziploc. Good luck and keep enjoying that pup! They're the best companions we could ask for.