Odie, my 14 yr. old Labradoodle. Finally got him to be comfortable outside after the 4th of July.. neighbors liked to light off firecrackers at random odd times of the day..scared the crap out of him. That's stopped, thank god.
Odie has a colorful past. A friend of mine (actually a high school girlfriends sister, we turned into better friends than the relationship turned out, lol), had meningitis bad when she was young. Lost all hearing in one ear, and most in the other. Later in life, it affected her balance. Odie was her service dog, for the first 7 years of his life. He's not only deaf-trained, he was trained to lean on her if she was tippy, or fall on the ground where she was going to go over, so she had a soft spot to land on.
I hadn't seen my friend in years.. then I heard she had terminal cancer. I went to see her. In the course of my visit, she remarked she was worried about what would happen to Odie.. her and her husband were renting. After she was gone, the landlord could (and would) force the dog out of the house.
I told her I would take him. She knew me, and knew I would give him the best life I could. She told me "You know, when he doesn't have that vest (service vest) on, he's a 75 pound goofy puppy, right?" I told her no problem, I got a rambunctious 7 yr. old boy at home that would love him. I also told her he would never wear that vest again, and he hasn't.
She was right though.. he is a goofy assed 75 pound puppy. Even to this day... his hips don't work so good anymore, but on a good day, he still chases the cats around
Just got done grinding his nails down with a dremel (much better than using a cutter, trick I learned when I worked at an animal shelter when I was 16-20). If any of you want details on that let me know.
Time to get him in the kiddie pool for a bath.. he likes that, and it's hot as hell out right now.
Odie has a colorful past. A friend of mine (actually a high school girlfriends sister, we turned into better friends than the relationship turned out, lol), had meningitis bad when she was young. Lost all hearing in one ear, and most in the other. Later in life, it affected her balance. Odie was her service dog, for the first 7 years of his life. He's not only deaf-trained, he was trained to lean on her if she was tippy, or fall on the ground where she was going to go over, so she had a soft spot to land on.
I hadn't seen my friend in years.. then I heard she had terminal cancer. I went to see her. In the course of my visit, she remarked she was worried about what would happen to Odie.. her and her husband were renting. After she was gone, the landlord could (and would) force the dog out of the house.
I told her I would take him. She knew me, and knew I would give him the best life I could. She told me "You know, when he doesn't have that vest (service vest) on, he's a 75 pound goofy puppy, right?" I told her no problem, I got a rambunctious 7 yr. old boy at home that would love him. I also told her he would never wear that vest again, and he hasn't.
She was right though.. he is a goofy assed 75 pound puppy. Even to this day... his hips don't work so good anymore, but on a good day, he still chases the cats around
Just got done grinding his nails down with a dremel (much better than using a cutter, trick I learned when I worked at an animal shelter when I was 16-20). If any of you want details on that let me know.
Time to get him in the kiddie pool for a bath.. he likes that, and it's hot as hell out right now.