The One With Day Four at Peck Park

Picture this -- I know you all can if you've seen the adorable picture I have in my house -- a 18-month old Muggsy with a two-month old Chubbs lying up against him, almost as if they're spooning. Flash forward three years -- and several bloody battles later -- and picture Muggsy lying next to Chubbs, both unreactive and ignoring the other. It was such a nice sight to see. It's been a good night, although Muggsy has started whining a lot lately, which I don't like.

I took Muggsy back to Peck Park tonight and despite a couple of early outbursts, he was pretty good. He calmed down in three minutes and I took him home after five minutes. I am a little worried because he gets anxious once I start driving again, and I don't want to ruin the session. The behaviorist didn't seem to worried about that, but I'd like it if he could remain calm while I'm driving. I was able to calm him a little tonight, which made me feel a little better about the situation.

I also got more good news. Several behaviorists lately have been posting their latest genetics related to aggression-type studies to all the dog training lists I belong to, and I have been trying to participate in some. One that I applied to wrote me back today to say that my dog is not aggressive enough to be included!!! Yea!! Not aggressive enough. Never thought I'd hear that. But the questions were about how often he aggressed against the people who live in the household. Me? Never. Ross? Maybe once every 2-3 months or so. Two years ago, those answers would have been a lot different, but we've come a long way. When I told my boss, she again reminded me that Muggsy isn't so bad. It just seems bad because behaviorists and people like that have been making me feel bad about it. She let me read a paragraph of her book about her aggressive dog that she had to put to sleep and it basically said that when she told people she was putting him down, no one questioned it. No one said, are you sure? Have you tried ... ? They just didn't say anything. She said that when it really needs to happen, everyone knows and no one will talk to you about fixing it anymore.

When I was testing Muggsy for thyroids and getting ready to go to the behaviorist, I broke down crying in the parking lot at the second location and confessed to my boss something I hadn't said to anyone. She now refers to it as "that thing you said to me in the parking lot" because she knows that it's something I keep inside and won't talk about. But I told her that I was afraid he would never get better and continue to get worse, like her dog had, and I'd have to put him down. I don't think I need to get into how devastating this thought is for me. It can literally depress me for days if I let it, which is why I never think or talk about it. When things like this happen, though, it gives me hope that I will never have to face that decision. She was very, very reassuring then, pointing out to me all of the wonderful things about Muggsy and explaining to me how badly her dog had spiraled. From time to time, she does little things like letting me see that paragraph from her book, which she says I can read once I am much farther down the road with Muggsy, to remind me that I'm not in a place where I have to worry about that thing I said to her in the parking lot.

Anyway, that's about all. My private lesson for tomorrow canceled, which sucks because I love hanging out with the 10-week-old Golden and her really awesome dog family, but it will save me some gas. I'm going to get caricatures of Fenway and Chubbs done after my morning class. I also have to go to the dentist. Yuck!

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but the store I train at is donating its corporate location to 200 pets from Louisiana who still haven't found their owners. Since it's in my area, I volunteered to help whenever possible, walking dogs and just giving them general companionship. I'm on call to help with the airlift whenever the dogs are brought in, but I haven't been contacted yet. I'm going to run by there tomorrow if I can to see if they have been dropped off and I just haven't been contacted yet. I think it will be really hard to see all these malnutritioned dogs coming through, but I'm really excited about the chance to help. I wanted to go to Louisiana when it happened, but it just wasn't feasible for me. Now I can help. I'll let you know what the setup is like once I get over there. I really hope we can do right by those dogs.

If no one else has done it, I'm going to suggest setting up a web site where people can come look for their pets. I read the saddest story on the Internet today about these families that were going around to all the shelters looking for their pets because the rescue people wouldn't let them take their pets with them when they came around in the rescue boats. I think that's awful. I hope as many owners as possible can be reunited with their pets.

I know you all are going to think this is ridiculous, but I wouldn't leave my flooding house if my dogs couldn't come with me. I'd stay with them. I think the rest of you would do that for your children, and that's the way I feel about my dogs. I wouldn't be able to think about anything but what was happening to them.

Anyway, I'm glad I don't have to worry about that, and I certainly want to help as many people as I can. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.