Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

That's a really lovely photo of you both. Carbon DOES look quite petite now we have a 5'4" lady for scale.

 

That's a really lovely photo of you Emily. I'm really enjoying reading about Carbon

 

What a great photo!

 

Great pic. He is so cute!! I just love his face...it's so crazy that he was in a shelter for so long. He would be snapped up here immediately!

 

Your mini lab is gorgeous isn't he? It's a lovely photo.

 

Mini update: just got back from a walk on the beach with Carbon and Paul and Carbon did about 75% of it off lead. He also WALKED FOR 45 MINUTES WITHOUT WANTING A REST. Wooo hoooo!!!!

He still walked very slowly, with the exception of a couple zoomies and wrestling sessions with Paul, plodding along at a nice steady pace. The only time I really had to use the cheerleader approach was when we passed a German family having a picnic and he just lay down, batted his eyes at them and wagged his tail furiously. And of course that had nothing to do with fatigue and everything to with, "Aren't I so adorable that you'd like to give me part of your deleeeeeecious sandwich?"

I'm very proud of him, yet I have no idea which difference caused the improvement - off lead, Paul being there, less distractions, using verbal praise and pats instead of treats, a simple fluke? Regardless, I'm really glad to see some incremental progress.

 

That's great news!

 

Good news

 

Maybe he's just beginning to learn that you can sniff and think and see and look and hear and sniff and absorb all this wonderful new world out here and AT THE SAME TIME move your legs....

 

Emily, these posts are so wonderful. Thanks for giving us this window into Carbon’s new life. He is such a gorgeous boy.

 

Meanwhile....what is the latest on Senor Garfield? Has he moved on to new pastures or is he still sulking in his corner?

 

You know, you could be on to something there.

Thanks, @Lisa - it's so nice to get so much support here, it's really the bright spot in my day (along with Carbon zoomies of course).

Oh goodness. Seriously, poor Garfield. Week before last I thought we were making a bit of headway. He seemed really interested in Carbon and would stay on his cat 'castle' that Miry brought for him while I came in the room. I could even get my hand to within a foot or so of him. But last week it all went to pieces, despite no discernible change that I know of, and now I very rarely see him when I go into his room. I have to bend down to look under the bed to check if he's even still breathing. Well, I guess the eaten food is also a clue, but still...

I go in his room, I talk to him, clean the room and his littler box, bring him fresh food and water, but otherwise, no interaction at all. He's even on all these homopathic thingamagigs that the animal communicator told Miry that Garfield told her that he needed (apparently Garfield is an expert in expensive homeopathic cures). But his grumpiness remains intact. And who can really blame him...he's in a really nice solitary confinement prison cell.

He does get the run of the house at night and makes so much noise that I simply can't imagine what he gets up to. But he doesn't damage anything, apparently he just careens off the walls for hours on end.

Miry is trying to get him into a new foster home where he will be with other cats (and a couple dogs to boot), so hopefully that happens soon. Not because he's a bother to me (he's very easy to care for) but just so he will be happier. Fingers crossed!

 

Have been avidly following this thread Emily , and love it ! As another serial rescuer and adopter , I think its wonderful and rewarding to see these dogs having a blast, being dogs and living life just as a dog should do ! If I was able , I would be seriously thinking along these lines myself , sadly it isn't to be , but honestly , it lifts my spirits to read this and see the brilliant photos xxx

 

Thank you, Kate, that is so nice to hear. As to the "it isn't to be"...that's a temporary situation as you are making strides every day and already have Nelly as your little rescue champion.

And I think you know more than most that Carbon is doing a lot more for me than I'm doing for him. I kind of feel like I got blasted into little bits in the past couple months and he's helping me pull all those little bits back into something resembling the person I used to be. Maybe even better...albeit with a few more scars where the pieces are starting to be glued back together.

 

Rescue dogs have a habit of doing that. And Labradogs.

Love is sticky stuff, it binds all the bits together, with a bit of obligatory dog hair attached.

 

and for this one. Very true.

 

Evening trip to the beach and the boys are finally sacked out in bed. A sleeping Bodeguero is a beautiful thing.

Tonight I let them both off lead. It was a bit of a gamble with Paul, but he actually stuck closer to me than Carbon. Carbon's off lead 'achilles heel' is when he thinks someone may have food. He's a pretty easy read, however, and is learning to stop and mosey back to me when I turn and head in the other direction to distract him from his perceived food source. I think it's time for me to review recall training and start something formal instead of just getting him to want to stick next to me. Then we'll really be in business with these off lead beach walks!

Sorry for the claustrophobic filming - when they play like this, Paul is constantly trying to get behind my legs so this is me walking backwards to get far enough away so you can see something. They are such a riot when they play and I figure it's good non-repetitive muscle development for Carbon.

 

Beautiful Emily

 

The quiet before the storm on a lazy Saturday morning.

(Sorry for the potato photography from my laptop's camera - my usual camera's battery is dead and the charger is somewhere in Garfield's room. For obvious reasons, I'm letting sleeping feral kitties lie this morning )



Carbon has been out of his crate for sleeping for quite a while now and as of last night, so is Paul.

Paul is still not a 'permanent' foster, by the way. I was sort of guilted into taking him on Wednesday and not really sure what the right thing to do with him is. Or rather I do know, but I can't bring myself to do it.

I have such a soft spot for him - a lot to do with my addiction to Bodegueros which started last year with Alf/Toby - but on the other hand, he's so high energy that he ends up getting the lion's share of attention in the house which takes away from my commitment to Carbon. Don't get me wrong, Carbon gets plenty of loves and cuddles, but properly working on leash walking, recall and basic obedience in any formal way gets chucked out the window when Paul shows up. Also Paul is really pushy - he immediately gets the 'closest to foster lady' spot in the bed and on the sofa which normally is wholly occupied by my cuddly mini-Lab boy.

Carbon's focus also goes from me (human) to Paul (dog) when Paul is here. Part of me feels that this is a negative - not because I must be the centre of Carbon's universe, but because as a shelter dog, he needs to learn to focus on humans instead of just dogs. He already loves humans (it's just part of his temperament) but I think for his training to click, we need to make a real emotional connection instead of "a creature with two legs equals FOOD." Part of my feeling around this is my experience with Brogan - we didn't properly bond and go leaps and bounds in our training together until my other dog (Brogan's Mama Jodhi) had passed and his attention moved from her to me.

Not sure if that makes sense, or if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. Would be interested in opinions of those of you with multiple dog households.

On the other hand, Paul is finally showing signs of progress himself. He now goes into his crate in the car without me having to knock him out with a brick to the head first (yes, just kidding) and he no longer howls like a banshee during car trips. He also is doing much better with his house training during this stay (no accidents at all yet, knock on wood). And of course the first time off leash and coming when called yesterday at the beach was a huge deal.

None of this changes the fact that I don't have a plan yet for Paul and will be leaving Spain with Carbon in just a month's time. Paul has a much better chance of getting adopted from the shelter (he is small, not black and Leish negative/no health issues) so the smart thing to do would be just to keep getting his photo and info out on the interwebs to help along his adoption prospects, but not keep bringing him home with me for sleepovers. Ugh. I know what the right thing to do is here, let's just see if I can actually toughen up and do it...

 

The best outcome would be a speedy new home for Paul. Fingers and paws crossed. I tried to persuade my brother but his partner, lovely ‘tho she is, wouldn’t cope with a chewer.

Training and two dogs ...

I think it will be very different for rescues than it is when the both dogs are not. But I find that, so long as I take them out separately and do the ‘formal’ training sessions mostly separately all is fine. Of course, life is training too and that happens with them together. But I doubt if leaving one while you take the other will be feasible in your set up and with dogs which have so much to catch up on?