Jack

Jack is a 4-year old Flat-Coated Retriever mix. He was relinquished to the Champaign County Humane Society (CCHS) because the children in his previous family did not get along with him. I mentioned in a previous post that the Shelter got slammed with incoming animals the two weeks before Christmas, so Jack is staying with us while we check out his temperament.

Jack’s got a lot of good things going for him:

• He’s housebroken.
• He knows some basic commands, like “Sit”.
• He comes when he’s called.
• He’s crate trained and goes in willingly and sleeps quietly through the night.
• He gets along great with other dogs.
• He sits in the treat line with the other dogs and takes treats politely.
• He waits his turn while we put the food bowls down at feeding times.
• He doesn’t try to steal food.
• He craves attention and contact with people.
• He’s very playful. He likes to roll and frolic in the snow.

Jack is suffering from the worst ear infection we have ever dealt with. It’s so painful that for the first four days he peed a little from fright if he thought you were going to do anything to his ears. Although Harriett only wiped the outer part of his ear with a cotton ball, it came out bloody and full of dark gunk. He’s on antibiotics and steroid-based ear drops.

Five days into the treatment we’re getting to the point that the cotton ball is staying cleaner and he’s not as afraid of the cleaning and medicating routine. We’re hopeful that we can start getting the deeper infection cleared up as the pain is reduced and he gets used to us handling his ears.

Jack is a good example of why it’s important to check for medical causes when there’s a behavior change in a family pet. Many times changes such as urinating in the house or growling or snapping when touched in a certain way are due to an underlying medical problem. A dog or cat that starts to act “strange” should always be taken to the vet for an exam.

In Jack’s case, his ear infection was causing so much pain that he would not tolerate handling his ears. Think about it…where do you touch a dog that approaches you? Many people pet the dog and scratch its ears. Since he can’t say, “Hey, man, my ears really hurt. Would you mind not doing that and scratch my back instead?” he would pull away and his intention could be misinterpreted.

If you’re interested in Jack you can get more information by calling CCHS (217/344-7297). Ask to speak with Michelle.

Weekly Headshots

Here’s this week’s installment of the periodic headshots. If you look closely you can see that Puppy #1’s eyes are opening (click the picture for a larger view). I think it’s interesting to watch the color changes in each pup and to see their ears change shape.

The first two pictures in each set were taken when the pups were three days old. The second set were taken at ten days.

Pup 1
Pup 2
Pup 3
Pup 4
Pup 5
Pup 6
Pup 7

Continued Progress

The pups are doing very well. Everyone’s gaining weight and looking good. From now on we’ll be charting the puppies’ weight in the chart at the top of the column on the left side of the page. The pups will soon outgrow our gram scale and we’ll switch over to a baby scale that weights in pounds and ounces, so the chart will show the weights in pounds from now on.

One of the interesting things about puppies is that all breeds start out pretty much the same size and shape. Of course there are exceptions for very large or small breeds, but generally speaking this is true. Breed characteristics such as ear and muzzle shape begin to show up as the puppies grow. A good example of this are the ears.

Puppies are born blind and deaf. At birth the tiny ear flaps are flat against the head and the ear canal is sealed shut. Over the first three weeks the ear flaps drop down. If the pup will have erect ears as an adult, they will often go up and down until the pup is about 6 months old. The ear canal starts to open when the pups are about 10 days old and will be fully open by the end of the third week. Daisy’s pups are now 10 days old and you’ll be able to see in their pictures that the flaps are either sticking straight out or have already dropped into position. Daisy is a Labrador Retriever mix, so we’ll expect these pups to have drop ears—the flaps will hang down, covering the ear canal. The noise in the puppy room will increase dramatically after the pups can hear and they start to bark at each other and their mother to communicate.