Sneak peek

So the dog that my sister thinks is a good fit for me at the shelter where she volunteers has been named Teak... because the brown of his coat is that of rich teak wood. (Named by my sister, no less!)

I've met with him three times in the past week, and each one is better than the last. He does have some issues and is going to the vet's on Wednesday to get neutered and have xrays of his hind end to figure out why he's a bit gimpy.

Teak was found near a small town in the southeast part of the province wandering loose. No one has come forward to claim him, so he is available for adoption. Age is somewhere between 2 - 5 years, at my best guess from the condition of his teeth. The vet will have a more accurate idea. He has a bit of training as he has on occasion sat on command but given that he's uncomfortable in the right hind, they have not been pushing for more than he is willing to give. He trots around okay in the outdoor exercise area and will lift either leg to pee, but when standing often only just lightly rests his paw on the ground. It might be hip dysplasia, or it may be an injury from getting clipped by a car, or wiping out while running loose.

He doesn't like the barky puppy that's there and will grumble a bit when walked past BooBoo's kennel so he may have had a bad experience with puppies (perhaps disciplined by a human for trying to discipline an unruly pup?). He doesn't care about the other barking (adult) dogs at all.

Because his health status is unknown, Teak will get a very thorough exam on Wed., which will include blood tests for heartworm and Lyme disease, a good going over, nail trim and deciding what, if any, treatment is required for the gimpyness. The nice thing about this rescue shelter is he will get treated for all things that are discovered and it doesn't affect what I pay for his adoption. They have a set fee for that. Now, I have donated things that they need like bleach and canned cat food (they have a sponsor for dog food so that doesn't seem to be an issue) so I do try and help out in ways that I can. They post on facebook when they are running short on things.

It is very common for dogs in kennel situations to bark like fiends. Teak has not. In fact, he has rarely barked (yay!), according to the staff there. He seems to be very calm and laid back, friendly with people and barely showed interest at the one cat he's met there so far. (That will get tested more once they get him more comfortable.)

I don't yet know how long he will be there, but I have put a "reserved" sign on him!

I have a plan...

After the breakup with Maart, I fell into a brief binge of feeling sorry for myself and consumed way too much in the way of sugar and fat. Now, I wasn't slender before all that, but when I stepped on the scale mid-June, I was horrified! I was at the heaviest I have ever been in my life and I knew I needed to seriously do something about it!!

I actually didn't get motivated to do anything until mid-July when I bought a pedometer that will track not just steps taken, but distance, calories burned, stride length, etc. This was right before little Sorley came into my life (however briefly) and I started a daily walking regime.

I am bound and determined to get rid of all this excess flab and fat and get to a healthy weight. I know what a healthy weight is because when I was in my early 40s, I was in the best shape of my life. I went to the gym almost every day, I ran, cycled, rollerbladed, swam and rode my horse. I was fit and trim, with strength and stamina to boot.

Not now.

Now, I look like a frumpy middle aged Mrs. Potato Head. Very round in the middle with normal arms and legs. Not a good look, I can attest. It also makes looking fashionable impossible.

And I hate it!

So I walk. In the past 4 weeks, I have logged 145+ kms. Even without a dog now, I continue to walk and attempt to do a minimum of 5 km for each daily jaunt. So far, I have been mostly successful. So far, I have dropped 11 lbs from that horrific high of mid-June.

I have a long, long ways to go.

But this time, I am determined. I know that as I get older, this excess weight will have hugely negative effects on my health. It will affect my heart function. It impacts my (already compromised) joints. And I flat out refuse to buy bigger clothes! I've kept many of the smaller sizes in the (hopefully not deluded) chance that I will get into them again at some point.

I also plan on finding another dog. I have leads on a couple but need more info on how they are with cats and whether they have any major health issues. One I've met but his health and cat status are still unknown. The other I've not met and am going to try and find out more today.

I have two more weeks before heading back to work, so now would be the optimum time to bring home a dog, to get it settled and into a routine before I start back in the salt mines.

Short-lived romance

Well, it lasted 19 days and every one of those days was fraught with frustration.

Today I returned Sorley to the terrier rescue group from which I had adopted him. No, he didn't try to mangle one of the cats. But because he'd had pretty much no training for his first full year of life... and he is a terrier (mix), he was too much of an intensive project for me.

Terriers are noted for being very smart dogs, and that Sorley definitely was. But he also didn't give two hoots about anything I was trying to teach him unless he got instant benefit from it. Which meant food or play or both NOW.

You can't keep training with food because if that's all you do, the dog will eventually do absolutely nothing unless you are stuffing treats down its gullet. I've trained plenty of dogs over the past 35 years to know that.

What I had was a dog who barked incessantly at every little noise and movement. The dog down the street yapped ~ the alarm went off. The woman in the house across the street and down on door walked past her front room window ~ the alarm went off. The car across the back lane fired up or drove out ~ the alarm went off. Some noise was emitted from the tv ~ the alarm went off. If someone walked down the sidewalk in front of the house, you'd think we were being attacked by giant aliens! I tried the water squirt bottle. He didn't like it but kept barking. I tried the rocks in a plastic bottle trick, he's jump and cringe ~ but kept barking. I resorted to an ultrasonic anti-bark collar, which would limit things a bit if he just started with a grumble but if he started right into the alarm bark, it had no effect whatsoever. Using a clicker when he was quiet only worked if the food kept flowing... constantly. Me yelling when he barked and praising when he was quiet made no difference at all.

Then there was his on-leash behaviour. He had no idea how to walk on a leash without constant pulling. Didn't matter that he was wheezing and coughing ~ he kept pulling. Didn't matter that we spent many short sessions (he's a terrier ~ gets bored quickly) weaving in and out of the posts along the edge of a local museum's parking lot. Or that we practised changing directions frequently while walking down the sidewalk. He got the hang of sitting each time I stopped at an intersection, even to the point where he did it without any prompting from me about 75% of the time. Why that and nothing else is beyond me. But then a controlled walk forward was impossible. It was a full out launch as far as he could get (which wasn't far, because the leash was short when sitting but not applying pressure at all to his collar). One time, in trying to get across the street without this rocket launch thing, I actually stopped and had him sit and start again at least 10 times!

And then there was his reaction to any dog that we walked past, whether it was loose, tied up or behind a fence. Whether it was barking, growling or silent. Mostly they were not quiet at all. He went absolutely ballistic!!! Right up on his hind legs and willing to rip out the throat of the other dog out if I'd only let him close enough. Didn't matter if it was the tiny cockapoo who was tied to the front deck so it could just reach the sidewalk, or the three big behemoths behind the chain link fence a block over, each of which was at least three times his weight.

He peed in the basement once, and pooped three times, despite two good walks a day (the morning one was usually at least 3.5 kms) and several trips to the back yard. He managed to pop through the cat door I installed on the utility room to keep the cats' litter box safe. The third time, I actually caught him IN the box, digging for treasure. I hauled him out by the scruff of the neck and was ~this~ close to killing the damn thing!!!!

I tried. I really did. He was a very cute dog, and a nice size (30 lbs), and was affectionate and playful. But... he exhausted me, both mentally and physically. I began to hate going for walks but knew he needed the exercise (as did I) and the training. But it was a battle every time. A dog should be a pleasant companion, not a nightmare on four legs 80% of the time. So back he went. The rescue group has a 21 day trial period so I got my adoption fee refunded.

So I am keeping my eyes open for someone else. Someone much more laid back... and quieter. My sister volunteers at a no-kill shelter and took me to meet a new dog there. They think he's got german shepherd in him  from his markings (black on his back and the rest of him brown, but not tan; more the colour of rich teak) but is smaller (60 lbs maybe?) and not the same shape as a shepherd at all. But he's not been there long, needs to be neutered and will have his back end checked out because he seems to be a bit sore (hopefully not hip dysplasia). All the other dogs were barking like crazy (as shelter dogs are wont to do) except this one. He was friendly without being pushy and when we took him to their outdoor area, he came over to each of us when coaxed quite easily. He gets along really well with a couple of the dogs, doesn't like one of the pups who is super excitable, and has yet to be evaluated with cats. So him, I will keep and eye on, and my sister will keep me informed of what is going on with him.

My new man

As you know, I have ventured into the world of online dating again after the demise of my year long relationship with Maart. I was not a willing participant in that demise, but have nonetheless come to accept it for what it is. Which is over.

It takes two to tango, as they say.

So I have registered with a couple of dating sites and have been trolling the depths in search of someone to become my companion, my friend, my partner in adventure, my inamorato. So far, I've had no luck although I will admit to not really searching very hard. The websites fling potential matches in my face but so few even meet my 'requirements' that it is frustrating beyond measure. I am 5'9". Please do not direct me to men who are 5'4". I am not comfortable with towering over my date, thanks. And nix the smokers too, buddy. Absolutely a deal killer right there!!! And how is one a 'social smoker'? Does that mean you have the occasional cigar or one or two joints a day??? Does only smoking when you are outside your house count as social smoking??? Smoking is smoking... you either do or you don't. Period. Doing is a Very Bad Thing in my books. It's what killed both my parents, and I see its devastating effects in my work as a nurse all the time. So forget those guys.

The thing that ticks me off is these sites don't seem to pay much attention to the parameters I've entered for searches of potential dates. I won't say mates, because you have to have a number of dates before the mates part might become apparent. I don't really care about your level of income, or education, religion or even if you have kids living at home. I want to see pictures and I want a nonsmoker who is at least as tall as myself. I don't think that's unreasonable, but they seem to think I am too picky.

So, since this online searching for a man seemed to be so futile, I switched my sights to dogs. Yes, it's been a few years since I had to rehome Zoë the drool monster after I tore up my shoulder and sold my house. She has since passed away from cancer, at the age of 10 1/2, but her second home was an excellent one and she got tons of love and topnotch medical care (one of her new owners was a vet).

I hunted high and low for a dog from the local rescues that would be not too old, not too damaged psychologically and not aggressive with cats. I finally found one. He has pretty much no training whatsoever, but he's a smart cookie and is catching on fast. He's keeping me busy and I have been logging lots of mileage in our daily walks. Which is good. Gets me out of the house. Gives me something to do, and he is a bit more interactive than the cats.

Meet Sorley. He is a terrier mix, approximately one year old and had been in foster care since the age of about 3 months. He comes from one of the northern communities and was rescued last fall after being found as a stray (at 3 months! can you imagine! he would have starved to death). I named him Sorley because it is an old Scottish name meaning 'summer traveller' in reference to the Vikings who used to raid only in the summertime, as opposed to the raiders who came to pillage year round. (He came to me in the summer, and I am a Viking... makes sense, right?!?)

He's a bit of a barker, so we are working on that (his foster home did no training whatsoever but he lived with cats and dogs there so that's a good thing). He also, in typical terrier fashion, is a jumper, a climber and a digger. I've not left him in my yard to find out what trouble he could get into on his own. Lila lived in the basement for a few days before deciding that was just a little too cloistered even for her. Sorley is not much taller than the cats (but he does weigh in at 30 lbs ~ he's vertically challenged) and has been fine with them. He has tried to play a couple of time but so far, they are having none of it. I think Lila may come around to that in the future, but not Pips. She doesn't play with dogs. She likes them and will snuggle with them, but playing.... no. She was mauled (in play) as a youngster and didn't do well with that ~ which is how I came to have her.

So now Sorley is the man in my life. We have twice daily walk dates, and snuggle on the couch watching tv. He's met his cousins at my sister's and they all played really well together. He was not at all perturbed by their larger size and exuberance. He is, after all, a terrier. Exuberance is their first name!!!

If a hu-man comes into my life in the future, you'll be the first to hear.

Okay, so I lied

...when I said I wouldn't do the online dating thing again. But in all reality, barring someone setting me up with a brother or friend, I'm not really going places to meet someone new. So online it is.

I've only been on two sites for a few days and lo and behold, yesterday, on both sites, guess who came up as a match in their list of automated potential mates? Yes... Maart. Talk about a feeling of deja vu, as just over a year ago, we'd run across each other on one of these same sites. Oh well. Good luck fishing, buddy. It's a murky pond out there, filled with sharks, bottom feeders, a bunch of hapless guppies and the occasional fantastic sailfish.

I met with one of those guppies this morning. We had messaged back and forth yesterday a number of times, and although I didn't get a good 'feel' of what he's like (some people just aren't good at typing and computer stuff) and his one photo was in winter and kind of far away to really see what he looked like, I agreed to meet him at a local eatery for a 10:00 breakfast.

There were a few people milling about in front when I was walking up, with only one just standing there. Already I knew this probably wouldn't go anywhere. Change the socks to grey (and push them down to scrunched at the ankles), the shoes to beat up runners and the shirt to a light blue checked button down, but he was dressed pretty much like this.

With a very large round belly. Now I am not slim. But at least I dress to camouflage my size when I can. And seeing as how you probably want to make a good first impression, dressing nicely is high on the list of things I do for a meet and greet. Casual but nice.

But whatever. We introduced ourselves and went inside. Chit chatted over a mediocre meal ( tasteless but huge 'wild' blueberry pancakes and partially burned, partially undercooked bacon [I asked for extra crispy... not extra carbon]) and as the hour went on, the conversation petered out. He wanted to spend the rest of the day with me, but no... I have a family thing tonight and another tomorrow, and I have to concoct some rocky road (gluten free) to take for the bbq tomorrow. Plus I have some shopping to do and no, you can't drive me wherever I need to go!!! GAH!!!

I get it. He's lonely. Don't think for an instant that I'm not. But I can deal with it. I spent more time alone over the past 7 years than with someone. You get used to it. This guy is bordering on desperate! No, not bordering. He's there.

Well, I am not. The hunt goes on, halfheartedly, but it goes on. Anyone got a brother or a friend who's available? With some fashion sense...