Temperament testing in dogs

A most perfect match made when Elsa joined our family.  Thank you Vicki.

I want to talk about temperament testing today, yes again.  This is something that I am very passionate about and wish that all breeders, rescues and shelters did.  Very few that I speak to think that temperament testing is important.  But why?  Well, from what I can glean from the conversations that I have, it seems that the idea of temperament testing is something you do when you don't "know" your puppies.  The common response I hear from the breeders who don't do it is this; "I don't need to temperament test, I know my puppies."  Leaving me to think that they feel that it is only something you do when you don't know your puppies.  Hmmmmm...

So what exactly does temperament testing do?  Well, let's first say that there is temperament testing and then there is temperament testing.  I have seen many dogs who have been "tested" that have been done completely inaccurately.  So that must be the first understanding.  When a temperament test is done it must be done by someone who is very experienced in dog behavior.  There are so many things to factor in aside from the initial result.  

What am I looking for when I test?   I look to find out who this puppy is as an individual.  What makes them tick; what they like, what they don't like.  How will they deal with life as it unfolds before them.   

What type of family scenario is going to best suit each individual puppy?  Temperament testing is not about finding the good and bad.  It has nothing to do with the best puppy; it is all about finding the best puppy for each family waiting to add one of the bundles of fur to their family.  Who would thrive in each very different individual family life?

• Are they afraid of loud noise?
• Are they independent?
• Do they easily follow a human?
• What is their recovery time after being startled?  A biggy for me..
• Are they a soft or hard type dog?  
• Will they do well with small children?
• Are they forgiving?  
• etc etc

There is no reason not to temperament test but a plethora of reason to test.  When a breeder does not test and opts to allow the families to pick their own puppy; every puppy/guardian pairing can be wrong.  It can start with the first choice to the last.  Most people have no idea what they are looking for; they go on a visual choice and who comes to them first.  Nothing can be gleaned from a onetime visit in among a litter of puppies.  

Each puppy must be looked at alone and offered many different experiences to show who they are as an individual.  Why not give each a chance for the best life that they can live.  Much more coming on temperament testing, stay tuned.  

When Your Dog is Sick

  

Dealing with your emotions when your dog is sick, can be tough.  

When I woke up Wednesday I immediately checked in with Elsa.  The night before she had not been able to pick up her ball.  This of course was a huge red flag; something was not right with my girl.  She ate part of my Perfect Bar first thing; but caution took the place of her normal gusto. 

We head downstairs where I tried to offer Elsa a normal treat and she whimpered as she attempted to eat it.  That was it, we were headed to the ER.  Something was definitely not right.

The traffic was horrible; of course it was.  At 7:00am in the morning the traffic is horrendous in SoCal.  To be honest, it's almost always horrible.  I tried to calm myself; Elsa wasn't bleeding to death.  Anxiety started to rise as I got closer.  How many times had I pulled up to the exact Specialty Veterinarian building?  I tried to push away the angst that was brewing in my stomach.  

A flood of emotion came over me as I opened the door to the building once again.  I'd done this trip only a year and a half before; and it had been the last time with Luke.  We signed in and sat awaiting our turn.  Then a nice girl came and got Elsa and brought her to the back to check her vitals.  

After a bit of waiting alone; I was brought back to sit in a room to talk to a Vet.  It was not just any room; it was the very same room where I had sat with Luke on our last visit.  Out of all the rooms they had to bring me to that one?  I remember it clearly as the walls are covered with cat pictures.  Luke and I had had a conversation about the horror of sitting in a cat room.  

As I waited I monitored my emotions.  I was actually surprised that it was all flooding back; and doling out such weighted anxiety.  I realized then that being back in the same building was far more difficult that I had anticipated.  Perhaps if I'd brought Elsa somewhere else it might have been easier.  But if she had something seriously wrong, there was where I'd wanted her to be.  

I ended up having to leave her there at Vets; to wait her turn to be sedated and checked out.  I left and headed for home.  I worried beyond worrying and then some. The level of worry was caused by the fact that I had no idea what was wrong with Elsa.  My mind went from one thing to another and the day turned out to be a big housecleaning event.  I could not focus on anything mentally; so physical work was all I could do. 

This moment in my life, is the very first time since I was eighteen years old that I have only one dog.  Walking into my house that was now dogless was like stepping into the twilight zone.  No one came to sniff me; wondering where all the new smells had come from.  There was no one to care for; just an empty house to dwell in all day.

Finally I head back to the Vets where I was not really enlightened as far as what was going on.  We talked about Masticatory muscle myositis; which he did not think was the cause of Elsa's problem.  It could be a mass, like a tumor; an abscess or any other number of things.  Because it is not something that you can easily see other than visually checking the outside and in the mouth; she was given antibiotics in hopes that it is just an abscess.  

As of this morning there is no change; she remains painful but I have gotten some turkey bone broth into her with her meds and she is now sleeping.  We wait now.  It is all we can do.  

The Gang, Wordless (sort of) Wednesday.

Letting Elsa do all of the work, a common occurrence. 

What a face.

Just hanging on.

Nothing is more fun than playing with your BFF.

Leverage.

A good shot for size comparison.

Gusto.

Reckless abandon.

Watching the craziness.

Like I said, crazy.  

Heart.

Love of retrieving.

This was so cute, Luke came out to find me and this is the moment that he spotted me sitting on the ground.  Shooting the girls.  

                                                     So happy to have found me.  :)

Sun kissed.

The fun continues today; I can hear the girls at it downstairs.  

Happy Anniversary - Elsa.

 

This was taken just moments ago as I blog.  How lucky am I? 

It is Elsa and our 2nd Anniversary; the Anniversary of when we she joined our family that is. Two years ago today my husband and I gathered our things and headed to LAX for a very special delivery.  With a knot in my stomach, I checked my watch again.  We didn't want to be late for our package.  I have to admit I was a bit flustered; I was very nervous about the flight and could not wait until she was in my arms.  With my toe tapping, the drive seemed to be never ending.  Of course as things go, we got turned around; ending up somewhere that was not where we were to be.  My anxiety level grew as we turned around and found our way to our correct destination.   As we pulled into the parking lot of a huge building set away from the airport; I opened the door before we were in park.  I remember thinking "all will be good when she is in my arms." 

Walking (more like running) into the building I went straight to the front desk.  "I have a package" I blurted out, "a puppy."  The woman checked over my paper work, and got on her radio.  Our package was on it's way and she asked me to wait; she would call me when it arrived.  Again, my toe tapped out of control.  This was no regular puppy delivery; no, this was my puppy delivery.  A puppy that I had waited for, for a very long time.  One that had been specially chosen to join our family; the family that already had three much loved canine members.   Two who were well into their senior years at 14 and 15 years of age.  Luke was the baby at the time but things were about to change. 

The woman behind the desk called me to complete the paper work.  She smiled and said "she's adorable."   "What?" I said, "you've seen her?"  The woman nodded her head and said "she's letting everyone know what she thinks, quite the confident little thing."  The woman asked about her color; she'd never seen such a beautiful blonde.  Funny, I had always called Luke my blonde beach boy.  Within minutes of completing my final signature she motioned for us to head around to the side door. 

We walked into a gigantic warehouse and stepped up to the "do not pass this line," mark.   Our puppy was in this warehouse somewhere?  I was a little taken back; I'd never picked a puppy up from a flight so I had no idea that they were delivered here.  A moment later a skid loader rounded the corner with a tiny crate on top of a skid on the front.  "Is this a joke," I thought.  They put this tiny puppy on a skid that was hoisted to us by a loader?  Honestly.  No matter, there she was and as I stepped out to grab the small crate off; I could see her, there she was.  After all the time waiting, worrying and wondering; there she was. 

I was close to tears when she finally came off the skid.  So much anticipation had finally ended with her arrival.  Elsa came to us the day after our wedding anniversary; so we celebrate two anniversaries together now.  Yesterday marked 29 years married for my husband and I.  Today we have spent two years with our amazing girl.  I remember that first day like it was yesterday.  From the moment she entered our home, met her three new canine family members and all the human ones too she made herself quite at home.  She was a very confident little thing; there was no mistaking her body language.  She clearly stated as she ran out into our yard "stand back;  I, Elsa, have arrived."  From that very special day; our life changed drastically.  Elsa has seen much in her two years with us; she has had a great deal of adventure already.  What a beautiful and wonderful adult she has grown into and I cannot wait to experience our future together.  To our amazing girl, Elsa. 

Dirty dog?

Yesterday I uploaded this video of Elsa to several of my FB sites.  Most people loved it; they thought Elsa was a great baking assistant, and of course she is.   But a few folks commented that they hoped that the knife she was licking was just a dog knife; or that it was going in the garbage afterwards.  Of course this left me pondering on how different we all are.  I never gave Elsa's knife licking another thought after she had enjoyed the almond butter.  I did what I always do and rinsed the knife and placed it into the dishwasher with all the other dirty dishes. 

I am not one who spends hours and hours scrubbing an disinfecting, let's say a cleaning fanatic.  No I  prefer to spend time doing things that I love. I for one think that my home is pretty darned clean; not spotless but perfectly livable and I've had a lot to compare it to.  I've been inside a lot of dog houses and I could tell you some stories of what I've seen.

As far as those who feel the need to live in a perfectly disinfected world?  Well, I believe that those disinfecting spray and wipe things are actually bad for you.  Not only do they add a bucket load of chemicals to your life but they also take away good germs and bacteria.  Our contact with common germs on a daily basis is how we build a great immunity.    There are many studies being done on babies, immunity and animals.  Just being around dogs is good for your health in  more ways than one.  Dirt and germs from our dogs help to keep us healthy.  Of course I'm not talking about filth; just good old normal dirt that is life with dogs. 

Everyone is different, we all do in life what we see fit as correct for us.  I've been in dog owners yards which were filled with poop from fence to fence and yet they see  nothing wrong with this.  I for one am mortified that it is not picked up and clean but hey, it's their house right?  Other homes allow their dog or dogs to constantly counter surf; helping themselves to whatever they like.  Again, not in my house.  I have also seen people soak up a pee accident with a paper towel and then walk away.  That is their way of cleaning it, just soaking it up.  Not me, I'm down scrubbing.  But to each his own. 

I love gardening in the dirt; it makes me happy.  But I know lots of people who hate getting dirty; dirt on their hands if far from enjoyable.  Everyone's idea of clean is as different as each individual.  The fact that Elsa licked my knife was just fine with me.  I was licking it after her; it was going in the dishwasher where it would be thoroughly cleaned after I rinsed the remaining almond butter off.  I take a very common sense stand as far as life with dogs and cleanliness.  But of course this is my own opinion and there are as many differing opinions as there are dogs and people. 

But don't forget that there is good dirt and in the long run it could boost your immunity.  :) 

And Penny Makes 3

I am so happy that I captured this moment; these girls love their man.  

Does it get any cuter than this?  Luke learning to tolerate Penny.

Here you can see Elsa intervening.  She does not like when Penny bothers Luke so steps in to fix the problem constantly.  

Submissive girl.  

Being disciplined for bothering Luke.  You can see Elsa's upper and lower jaw completely engulfing Penny's neck.  Penny knows that this is coming when she bothers Luke.  

Girls just wanna have fun. 

Luke looking to Mom for some reassurance after interacting with Penny.

Another disciplining.

Elsa trying to get Penny to chase her with the ball.

Just beautiful. 

Young sunbather.

More fun with Luke as their pillow.

Hmmmmmm...a caterpillar which Penny ate moments after.  Disgusting. 

Another caterpillar in the bucket.