Posts Tagged ‘Delilah’
Itchy Dilemma
I’m grateful that I enjoyed 10 months here without this problem, but that time is over and now I face a new challenge that needs to be managed: Poison Ivy. I am sensitive to it. Cyndie says, “That’s an understatement.”
It has been a few years since I have had any serious reactions, so I was beginning to hope my sensitivity was waning. I would most often come in contact with the troublesome urushiol, the sap of the plant, up at our lake place in Hayward, WI. One of those exposures caused such a severe reaction that I had outbreaks of rash all over my body and required medical intervention to control it. I was told that I had likely breathed smoke from one of our outdoor fire pits, where wood with the oil on it was burning.
If I have a cut, or any break in my skin, and the oil gets in there, I will have a systemic reaction, and the rash can appear anywhere and everywhere. So far, with today’s infliction, the rash is limited to my arms and hands. From the location of the affected areas, and the timing of the reaction, we believe that I came in contact with the oil when touching our dog, Delilah, after we finally allowed her to run free on our property.
It is highly unlikely that we would be able to eradicate the poison ivy plant from our 20 acres of fields and woods, and will be impossible to keep Delilah from brushing up against it, so I am facing a new dilemma of how I can avoid exposure. It is dreadful to think that I won’t be able to touch our dog again. We had plans to let her roam inside our house. That seems risky to me now.
It’s really sad for me, because I was so enjoying seeing her run free. Now I have the perspective that the more she runs, the more threatening she becomes to me.
I have some time to think about this, and what I will do about it, because the rash tends to last about 1 – 3 weeks. It has me itching to find a solution for this dilemma.
Running Free
Our darling puppy, Delilah had quite a day yesterday. We extended her freedom to run unleashed on several different occasions. It was superb to watch her run full-tilt after the disc we throw for her, turning to sprint back toward us, passing right by to go the same distance away in the opposite direction, before returning again for attention and to drop the disc for the next throw.
Sometimes she comes to us when we call her. We figure that is better than never at all, and will work toward improving the percentage of proper response, so we are considering this phase a success, at least until we run into a major consequence failure.
We had a minor consequence back-slip yesterday, when she peed and pooped in the sunroom. We decided it was half our responsibility, since it had been a long day for her in the outdoor kennel, and she doesn’t appear to be interested in relieving herself in there yet. Unfortunately, that was one of the purposes of the outdoor kennel, so she wouldn’t suffer if we are late getting home.
Yesterday, there were several distractions that probably disrupted her from completely tending to her business before we came in for dinner. I have no idea why she didn’t try to get our attention to go out again, but won’t rule out the chance she actually did try, and we missed the signal.
By the end of the evening, when we were ready to come in, we discovered that she was a tangle of burrs acquired from her untethered explorations off-trail. I’ve been wishing all along for her to be free to roam. Another realization of needing to be careful about what I wish for.
Training Walk
It was just going to be a simple walk with our dog. I was barefoot, so I stepped into my clogs and off we went. Earlier in the day, Delilah had chewed two places on the web of her retractable leash, to within a few fibers of severing it entirely, so now we were using the straight leash that maintains constant contact. I think that inspired Cyndie to bring treats and a training clicker, to work on Delilah’s lessons for following commands.
Delilah is so strong, when she sets her sights on a goal, and is fixated on getting there, she can practically pull us off our feet. Most often, it is rabbits that command her strongest reaction, but she seems to also have a thing for flying creatures: moths, butterflies, and birds.
As soon as we got under way, I spotted a rabbit down the driveway, seated right on the edge of the pavement. I suggested to Cyndie that we choose the opposite direction. She reacted quickly to turn Delilah around and took the opportunity to engage her in some training exercises. When we got to the back yard, Lilah immediately spotted a bird hopping around on the ground, and Cyndie was put to work trying to hold on against the pull.
We picked a trail through the woods, and headed toward the paddocks, so I could show off the work I did earlier in the day, digging out the space where we will put one of our round pens for working with the horses. Cyndie had Lilah running some circles, as if she were a horse.
We made our way toward the end of the driveway, with Lilah chasing the occasional white moth, and decided to return on the freshly cut trail across from the hay-field. Delilah appeared to having a great time, maybe calming down a bit from all the exercise. After we turned the corner, I suggested we try getting her to respond to one of the commands. I got the clicker ready, and Cyndie was digging for a treat, when I glanced down the trail and spotted a skunk.
I hollered, “Skunk!”
Cyndie reported that Delilah was aware of it. I figured we’d have to fight her to get her to turn around with us. We turned to hustle back the way we had come. In the distance, I saw the white tail stand straight up.
All my momentum was headed south when Lilah, in her convenient effort to join us in retreat, stepped on the heel of my clog, giving me the equivalent of a “flat tire.” My body kept going, but my shoe stayed behind.
“Delilah stepped on my shoe!” I complained as I hopped around trying to reclaim it.
We burst into laughter over my predicament, Delilah’s hasty retreat, and the circus our simple walk had become.
I don’t know why, but for the remainder of the walk back to the house, Delilah wanted nothing to do with any command training.
So Good
So far, so good, for Delilah, who was brought home from an overnight appointment at the vet yesterday, where she had been through the procedure of being spayed. I was happy to see that she didn’t come home wearing “the cone of shame,” as Julian called it. She seems mostly oblivious to anything having happened to her, only rarely attempting to lick or scratch the area of the incision. Now, to simply keep her calm for a couple of weeks.
Cyndie has purchased some pre-built panels to create an outdoor kennel space, which we hope to get assembled this weekend. That would give Delilah a confined space to roam freely, yet limit her from doing any prolonged running.
Delilah seemed so happy to have arrived back at our place that we feel it must be a reflection of her adapting to us as her owners. We are also thrilled at how well-behaved she was for the staff at the vet. Cyndie said they offered rave reviews about Delilah’s mild mannered acceptance to the whole process and to the people who cared for her.
I think our excitement over having her home again reveals that we have adapted to having her as a part of our family, too. It seems as though our cats don’t share our excitement yet, though. They are displaying little interest in exposing themselves to this wild animal we have allowed into the house. I think they believe we must have gone nuts.
Of course, that’s not much of a stretch, as we are deemed pretty darn nutty from plenty of people’s perspectives, every day, …and might proud of it.
Some Snapshots
When you find yourself under a heat advisory, this is the kind of place you want to be. Location makes such a difference. At Wintervale, in the summer, the shade of tall trees is the best we can do for respite from the oppressive heat. Last night I had the pleasure of being a guest for dinner with friends at Gary Larson’s house on Christmas Lake.
It was a wonderful way to beat the heat.
I stayed in town for the night, sleeping at Cyndie’s parents’ house, to save me a trip between home and work. Cyndie was kind enough to send me some pictures she took, so I wouldn’t suffer too much for missing our place and our pets.
It had the opposite effect. I miss them all, even more.
Delilah has definitely won our hearts in the very short time since we brought her home. Here she is with her rubber pig toy that oinks when squeezed. Then there is Mozyr, lying upside down in the tube on the new cat playground Cyndie bought them as compensation for putting up with a dog now living in their midst. Finally, a shot of some of the raspberries that are in abundance all around the woods of our property.
Thanks, Cyndie!
Sweet Delilah
Every day we seem to get a step closer to acclimating Delilah to her new surroundings, to us, and to our routines. Well, I guess nothing is routine for us lately, but we are trying to discover something of a routine involving her.
I am feeling grateful that, of the options available to us, we ended up selecting the older dog. She already has been widely socialized, and is house trained and used to sleeping in a crate. She seems to have quickly accepted our night routine, and sleeps well for the hours that match our schedule. She has a cute cuddly cow and a squeaky lamb that she snuggles with in her crate, and last night, before we had headed for bed, Cyndie discovered Delilah had pulled her lamb and cow out of the crate and was wrapped up with them, falling asleep on the tile floor. Cyndie ushered her into bed in the crate.
I think the activities of the day had used up all her energy. That’s good to see, because otherwise, I worry that she will keep moving at her rapid puppy pace (for a 9-month-old Belgian Shepherd) long after we are out of gas.
We are keeping her on a leash, indoors and out, for the time being, allowing our indoor cats a chance to still have the bedroom as their protected sanctuary, and to develop a sense of the boundaries of our property outdoors. She almost pulled my arm out of the socket when a rabbit bolted out from under cover as we walked by. I get the feeling she won’t recognize any borders when it comes to pursuing bunnies or other potential prey.
Her demeanor is generally a pretty calm happiness. She rarely barks, which I am very happy about. Pretty much the only problem we are facing initially, is her desire to gnaw on anything and everything. She waited a full day, to allow us to grow complacent about the possibility, (which we did, leaving her way too many options of things on which she could sink her teeth) and then she surprised us by choosing to rip into the couch by the front door, the basket of slippers nearby, the dining room rug, a box outside by her doghouse, the corner of her new doghouse, and a couple of times, pulling things down off the counter in the kitchen.
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Sweet as she is, we’ll need to stay diligent about policing the things that she devilishly finds interest in testing to the crunch of her teeth.
Growing Family
Yesterday, we added a new member to our family. Her name is Delilah. She is a 10-month-old Belgian Shepherd dog, also known as a Belgian Tervuren. Ultimately, we expect her to be a perfect fit for us here, but it will take a while to get the cats and her adjusted to fully accepting each other. I now have even more adventures to write about here, and we haven’t even added horses yet!
Relative Something 