THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH

Karen London and I are working on our edits to the new booklet on adopting adolescent and older dogs, and something hit me as I was writing that I thought was worth talking about. After considering my own experiences bringing “non-puppies” into my home, talking with folks in rescues and shelters, and working with clients for so many years, it strikes me that one of the biggest problems people have when they adopt an “older” dog (not old, but not puppy either) relate to unrealistic expectations.

I don’t mean that in the usual sense, say, for example, expecting a dog to behave perfectly on day one, but more in the sense that we have certain expectations of adults that we don’t have with puppies. Take house training, for example. Everyone expects puppies to have “accidents” in the house for a few weeks or so, but people are often shocked and angered when an adult dog urinates on the rug just hours after arriving. But of course, most dogs aren’t “house trained” in the sense that we define it (always go outside, never inside) but are trained not to go in a particular place. That doesn’t mean that they can generalize what “house” means, given that they don’t have access to our brains and can’t download the way we see the world.

In my experience people don’t realize how important basic house training is for the first few days when an adopted dogs enters the home. This is especially important for dogs who haven’t had much experience in a variety of houses. If they were taught to potty in one specific backyard and not in a specific living room, why would they generalize that to another location? The fact is, some do and some don’t, so it’s job one to pay attention when you first bring a new home dog. This doesn’t seem like rocket science, but I think it’s not intuitive, and I suspect that our reactions to an adult dog urinating in our houses are more like those we’d have if an adult human peed on our living room carpet. (Yuck, what an image, sorry!).

Staying close by and coming when called seem to present a similar disconnect between “puppy versus non-puppy.” Young puppies have an inherent follow response, and we don’t need to do much when we bring them home to keep them close by. Of course, we’re wise to start recall training right away, but it’s seductive to forget that and imagine your pup will follow you everywhere forever. All this relates to one of the biggest problems that I see owners, shelters and rescue group deal with: dogs who are either let outside off leash intentionally, or escape out the front door or through a hole in the fence and can’t be called back. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this causes no end of grief for the dogs, the fosters and the new families. Yet, it seems ever so common to expect an adopted dog to behave like a puppy and follow you everywhere, leashes be damned.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this: What did you find surprising, or important to remember if and when you brought home an adopted dog who was well beyond puppy hood? I’m sure your stories will be helpful to us all.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Brrrr. Snow, sleet, hail, thunder and a ridiculous amount of stuff in between fell yesterday, but at least we escaped the damaging storms that plagued so much of the country. I hope you and yours are all safe and sound. Anyone out there need some sympathy?

This weekend some dear friends came to help with the sheep chores, and then we all got reinforced by being able to let the lambs out of the barn and go up the hill for the first time in their little lives. The day was warm and sunny (very rare this spring!), and we soaked up the breeze, the sun and the green grass like sponges. As you can see, the lambs seemed to like it too.

xx

As many of you know, Karen London and I are writing a booklet for people who have adopted an adolescent or adult dog. We’re hoping it will be useful not just for individuals, but also for shelters and rescue groups, and ultimately for the dogs themselves. Right now our first draft is out to readers, looking for feedback about how to make it as good as it can be, and we’re working on the cover.

That’s where you come in. We’ve been looking at commercial photographs, trying to find just the right one, and so far nothing has struck us as THE picture. And then I thought of you  . . .I know that many of the blog’s readers have dogs they’ve adopted as adolescents or adults, and how cool would it be if we could put one of YOUR dogs on the cover? So here’s the deal:

If you think you have a cover-worthy photo of a dog you adopted, send it to photos@patriciamcconnell.com, paying careful attention to the following criteria: Because the photo is for print, it needs to be higher quality than something that you can send over the internet or your cell phone. The photos need to be at least 300 dpi (dots per inch).  (I first typed ‘dogs per inch,’ apparently if my fingers start with ‘d-o-’ they can’t stop adding a ‘g’). The size should be no smaller than 1500 by 2100 pixels (that’s a 5″ x 7″ equivalent in print photos). The images should be in .jpg or .tif files.  Please, absolutely only 3 photos from any one person of any one dog. Of course, if we select your photo, you’ll have to sign a release for us to be able to use it and please, don’t send any photos that you do not have the rights to (basically, best if you’ve taken them yourself or a good friend took). Please send any photos by Sunday, March 20th.

What are we looking for? Well, our first vision was of a dog’s head, looking straight at the camera. I suspect that might be the best photo for the booklet cover, but if you have a photo that is different, maybe a full shot of your dog, or something special with you and your dog, go ahead and send it. Warning: Any formal kind of picture of a person posing with a dog–the kind in which person and dog sit shoulder to shoulder looking at the camera is NOT what we are looking for, so don’t bother sending one like that.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Well, I’m not there, I’m in New York City, talking to literary agents and editors about a new book. I thought I’d be thrilled to leave, and to get a break from all the restrictions on Willie, but it turned out to be ridiculously hard to go. Willie, Jim and I have all adapted (the 3 week rule strikes again) and although Willie’s life is boring and ours is stressful trying to keep him from using his shoulder, we’ve all gotten used to our new life. He does his exercises 3 x a day, and of course that is now part of his fun (although standing on 3 legs, one of his exercises, clearly bothers him so we only do 7 reps instead of 10). He’s given up trying to play with his toys (breaks my heart to write that) and we’ve all adapted to a new routine. But oh, it was hard to go; I’ve been micro-managing his life now for a month, and it’s hard to let go. Must be like having kids! But my house sitter is amazing, she’ll be fantastic I  know and Katie from the office is also being a huge help, going over every day and letting him out to potty during the day. So he’s in great hands, I know. But, still. You know . . .

We are enjoying New York though, and it’ll get even better soon. Meeting with my literary agent for lunch, going to Peter Luger’s for dinner with some great friends we met on the last African safari, going to a Broadway play tomorrow (only been once, and never with Jim,  can’t wait) and getting to visit with Leslie Meredith, the amazing editor of The Other End of the Leash. She taught me so much about writing, is a total dog lover (she has Corgis) and an all around delightful person. It’ll be great fun to catch up with her.  We ate the best pizza I’ve ever had last night (sorry Chicago, you totally lose the pizza wars!). All this is damped down by the heartbreaking news from Japan; I am holding everyone there in my heart and don’t go a minute without hoping for some good news. (And of course, that’s not enough, we’ll donate what we can, as we did for the NZ earthquake.)

Here are some photos of mine, just some images that might get you thinking about the photo you’d like to send in!

Thanks for the great comments on what’s needed in a booklet for people bringing home adult dogs from shelters or rescues.  Keep ‘em coming, either on this post or the previous one. A lot of you will be gratified to know that the points at the top of my own list are similar to many of yours:  1) patience patience patience, 2) do not expect the dog you bring home to be the dog you end up with in 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months and 3) don’t try to make up for past neglect or abuse (or the perception of it, which common but often not accurate) by coddling a dog such that she becomes emotionally overloaded by you and finally, for now,  4) no, love is not enough… love doesn’t mean much if you are totally confused about what is expected of you. You simply have to teach your dog what you want, rather than waiting for him or her to do wrong.

I could go on, but I’m about to officially play hookey. It’s only a little before 4 pm on a Friday, and I am way behind in lots of work, but it’s gorgeous outside and soon it’ll be dark and pouring rain or drifting snow and life is short. Me and Willie boy are going outside! But I thought you’d enjoy a few pics I took recently of fall colors. Wow, I love fall… on days like today it looks like someone photo-shopped the out of doors and boosted up the saturation way past normal. I’ll miss color soooo much by the end of winter, so out I go to soak it up. (Too bad Willie can’t enjoy colors like I do, at least I don’t think he does. But boy does he love the cool, fresh, dry air. He is absolutely full of himself right now. Time to go put that energy to work!)

Karen London and I are planning on writing a booklet for people who adopt dogs from shelters or rescue groups. We’re both aware that often it can be intimidating to sit in your living room with a new family member, whose background you may not even know. Over the many years that we’ve worked with people who have adopted dogs, and with our own dogs that we have taken in from difficult circumstances (5 between us), we know that these dogs can present challenges, and generate questions that are not often answered by standard training books.

We have our own ideas about what to include in the booklet, we’ve already written an outline, but we’d love to hear from you too. If you have a dog that you obtained from a shelter or rescue group, or adopted an adult dog who might have had a difficult past, what did you want to know when you brought the dog home? What do you think are the most important things for adopters to know? Keep in mind that we are envisioning a relatively concise booklet, not a full-length book. Pat Miller has written a good full-length book on the topic, Do Over Dogs, and it’s a great resource. We’d like to create an affordable booklet for rescues and shelters to hand out to adopters that hits the highlights and emphasizes what is most important. We both know already that the challenge is going to be keeping it short, but we’d still love to hear what you think should be included. The readers of this blog have a vast amount of knowledge, and what a great thing it would be to share it . . .

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Willie and I just got back from a long walk, working our way up to the Milford Trek in New Zealand. I still can’t imagine walking 13 miles with a full pack yet, but I’m getting a tad closer anyway. We walked for about an hour, as fast as I could, with a pack about half full. That was fine, but then when I came home we trucked up the steep hill behind the house and I was, uh, tuckered. Willie worked the sheep, which involved some good, fast runs, brought the sheep down to the grass in the front yard and worked with me to keep them there, safely out of the road, and then came inside, picked up his current favorite toy and begged to play fetch. Maybe he should go to NZ and do the hiking?

Here’s one of my favorite and easiest fall recipes; I got it from some dear friends who love good food as much as I do: Cut Roma tomatoes in half, drizzle with Olive Oil and sprinkle with Basil, put in oven on 300 til soft and condensed. They should shrink to at least half their original size. It can take up to 2 hours. Use right away or freeze, they last all winter in the freezer.  I use them in pasta, (Linguini with homemade Pesto–made that too last weekend–with braised greens & melted tomatoes, yummmmm) or as a side dish, etc etc. They are like concentrated tomato-ness; I think of them as Tomato Haiku. (The green on the side is basil I added after cooking just to make the photo pretty.)

And here’s one of my favorite prairie grasses, Little Bluestem, shining in the sun in the park where Willie and I walked.