Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Here's a Wendell photo from Friday:



We took him to the vet on Monday. The vet confirmed that he's actually a bit underweight (weighs 63, should weigh more like 70) so we've increased his rations.

He's much more confident climbing the stairs now, but still has a problem going down. Usually he stands at the top with his front feet one or two steps down and whines. The stairs are somewhat steeep and bare wood, and when his back legs get too far behind him, his claws skid out from under him and he kind of crashes down. Rather than carry him all the way down (63 pounds, remember?) I've begun setting him down about 4 or 5 steps from the bottom so he can try walking down from there.

The best news is that he walks well on a leash now (although he doesn't appear to really enjoy it yet). He heels well and doesn't pull. Before Monday he would hardly walk at all with a leash but when we got home from the vet instead of taking him inside I took him for a walk around the block. I imagine he figured "What's the worst that can happen now?" and he did well right off the bat.

He's a lot of fun right now. I'm afraid we're not keeping him worn out enough, though... That's when Weims become more destructive...

What a beautie.....glad you are enjoying him.
ilene

He is really a beautiful dog. If you want to keep him busy get him one of those balls that you put treats in and he has to work to get them out. It is a good thing when you have to leave him. I am sure Wendell is going to get you both into fighting shape real soon.

Mary

Gorgeous! Agree with the treat-stuffed toy. Just curious....why couldn't you take Wendall to the shore? Because of the accomodations? I believe he would have loved the water and sand......

Another vote for a Kong...keeps Clara amused for about 10 minutes...which in dog time is hours.

Amy

P.S. You may want to check out dogfriendly.com. It was indispensable when we drove to Chicago. Found hotels en route that accepted dogs without extra charge...an all too common practice. I was actually fairly surprised how wonderful our hotel in Chicago was for the price...when's the last time you paid $89/night for a brand new, brand name hotel in a major market?

Edited to add: Based on this thread I got one of Clara's kongs (yes, she has two) out of "her" toy crock and put a treat in it. She's been chewing on it for about 20 minutes or so, even though she dug the treat out long ago.

Thanks Amy, we will ck this out next time we travel.

K
Several reasons. the friend we usually stay with doesn't even let her kids bring their dogs to their shore home. The other couple has 2 Westies & if Wendell wanted to he could have them for lunch. We also were unsure about what vacs he had. Although his previous owner said he was up to date, he failed to bring the records to our house when he said he would do so. Every thing has turned out well, but we also didn't want to change his environment so soon after he moved in with us. That said, we are going to board him this weekend because we want him to get used to us traveling.
Kathy

Oooh, I wish I lived by you so I could doggie-sit. He's gorgeous.

Kathy says I've created a monster: Wendell's asked to go for a walk two days in a row now. I was outside snowblowing the driveway and when I came in he stood by the back door whining and waited calmly while I attached the leash.

Thats great (maybe not so much for you, but....) Dog trainer friend says that "re-homed" dogs need a routine to feel comfortable. There's some sort of goo you can get at Pet Depot or one of those places, that you can put on his paws to keep him from getting salt and ash in them (which he would lick off - not good.)

It's snowing here, too.