Rescue Journal

Martin, Isaac, Charley and I go for a walk.

Jean · Sept 24, 2006

I was out much of the day today, and want to go to the picnic at Saints tonight, so I wanted to spend the little time I have at home giving some attention to Charley and Isaac (one of my dogs and my Saints foster dog). I decided to take them both for an on-leash walk down my back four acres as I haven't had the opportunity yet to check the fence line for breaks.

Martin the alpaca was about one third of the way down the property and came running up to meet us (there is nothing as comical as a short-legged alpaca running towards you!). He stopped when he saw I had no treats, and watched us pass by. But a few yards further on, I got a funny feeling of something behind me...and turned around to find Martin had decided to join us and was following just a few feet behind. He walked with us the whole perimeter of the property, and said goodbye only when we got back to his "home" - a dirt hole under the trees - on the return trip. I felt like quite the pied piper with my little entourage of dogs and an alpaca!

Lots of evidence of coyotes and bear back there, no obvious breaks in the fence unless it is in the bush on the east side, but wide spaced barbed wire on one stretch that would permit dogs to belly crawl under quite easily so no off leash for dogs without excellent recall. And there are TONS of flies on the rise at the back - UGH!

But I think everyone enjoyed the outing, and I'm hoping Isaac is tired enough to cease his incessant night time pacing so I can get some sleep tonight. Old wobble-legs held up really well with only one little stumble, and was really keen to check out everything in his path. Way to go, Isaac!

Comments

Rae

Freds like that, we feed him before we go to bed and then he wakes us up early around 4:30 or so to eat again(I feed him on my lunch break as well, his portions through out the day are definately smaller but more frequent). I don't know if he's hungry or he just forgets when he ate last. The only downfall is he is getting a tad bit pudgy around the middle.

Jean

Believe me, even fluffy slippers wouldn't help - I've never known a dog who walks so heavily. It's like living with an elephant.

Actually, we may have found the solution. I had noticed that he always pesters me for his breakfast when I finally give up trying to sleep at 4 AM and get up, and after he eats he will sleep while I get ready for the day. Carol suggested I try giving him a bedtime snack and leaving some food out for him. So last night he had some kibble right before bed and only paced for a couple of minutes before crashing.

At 3 AM, I heard him pacing, so I let him out for a pee then gave him more kibble - he ate some and went right back to bed. When I got up at 5:30 the rest of the kibble was gone and he was sound asleep.
The poor guy was hungry!

Of course, then he didn't eat his breakfast in which I hide his liquid meds - I'll have to get something more tempting than canned duck and potato I guess.

Rae

Maybe you need to make Isaac some fluffy slippers so you can;t hear the plodding!!!!

Jean

Rae, at Carol's suggestion I tried leaving the light on last night - and the radio, though that was probably pointless since I'm pretty sure he's deaf!. He still paced all night long. I know Charley, who likely has early stage Canine Cognitive Disorder, does this from time to time - but thankfully not every night (and Charley doesn't PLOD!).
I meant to bring home some Rescue Remedy from Carol's this evening but I forgot. I'll pick some up tomorrow - some for Isaac and some for me, I think!

I've also tried giving him his second dose of codeine later at night, for the pain, but it didn't make any difference. And he doesn't plod around during the day so it probably isn't the pain.

I also think he might be getting hungry in the night, because after he wakes me up at 4 AM he will woof and woof until I feed him - then he settles down again (well, he always settles down when I get up, so maybe it's not the food....). I'm going to try leaving him some kibble tonight so he can fix himself a little midnight snack if he wants.

Maybe in his former life he was a night watch dog and is doing his patrol of the premises!!! (If he was a watch dog, he sure wouldn't have tackled any intruders - he's just a big mush!).

Maybe I'll just go sleep with the rats in the barn and let him pace the house to his hearts content - NOT!

Rae

Jean we never got to finish our conversation yesterday about Isaasc's sleeping habits. I went through the same night time rituals with Fred for the first few months. The Vet and Carol to I think compared it to SunDowners syndrome which is something people with Dementia experince in the evening. The night is a dark and lonely place and seems to last forever for someone or animal that is uncertain of what happens next. It was suggested that I leave a light on for Fred, and the T.V on low or a radio so he could hear something(he's mostly deaf so that didn't work) I was giving Fred Rescue Remedy right before bed, and recently bought something called Pet Calm from the U.S to try.(Pet calm is pretty good stuff it has Valerian in it a natural sedative, and it seemed to work) All of the above didn't seem to make much of a difference but once we got his pain under control he started sleeping through the night up on our bed no less. With him I think it was all about being in pain constantly. His back and his hips cause him alot of grief. He actually looks like he has sway back like a horse, poor old guy. He wakes up really early now to eat but as long as I get to sleep I can handle that.(We still leave the light on at night for Fred so he can find his way to the doggie door if he needs too)You might want to look into the Sundowners thing maybe that's what Isaac has?