Author Archive: Helen

Last night I called Cat Chat on Sirus radio, and after waiting 32 minutes, got to talk to Ann Marie Sawicki.  She is very popular!

My question revolved around Oliver.

About six or seven weeks ago, he came inside with a nickel-sized gash in his left side.  Eeek!  The next day or two, he had one on his outter right thigh!  I put a t-shirt on him, and went looking around the back yard for that chunk of fur that was missing.  Didn’t find it.  Meanwhile, Ollie worked hard to shake the shirt.

When I got on the air, Ann Marie asked about fencing, and I told her we have wooden around the yard and metal around the plants.  Tracie thought that was a clue, but Ann Marie asked if there are cats and if Ollie would have jumped at a cat.  We have two cat neighbors, but only one has the nerve to walk along the fence and that’s only at night.  Also, Ollie’s not a jumper. 

Ollie’s background – he was boarded in a vet’s office from his 3rd month birthday to his 1st year birthday.  He had a buddy in there, a GSD, but not in the same containment, and when the vet office got a call from the owners who decided to stay in Canada, it wasn’t a good call.  “We don’t want our dogs.  Do whatever you need to.”  This was after these people paid a $6,000 bill along the way for boarding and care.  Lucky for Ollie, he landed in rescue and I was looking for a handsome Doberboy to be a playmate for the Queen Mother, an only child back then. 

While in boarding, Ollie had to entertain himself for hours, and when I got him, realized he must have spun in little circles when he got excited about something or out of boredom.  He knocked himself in the head a lot at first because he moved around in a sudden swoop and didn’t realize in the real world, such things as furniture exists.  He learned.  Now when he gets excited, as in there is a squirrel running by the FD campus, he runs in big circles on his paved track.  But Ollie doesn’t jump up on anything except the furniture.  He’s a spinner, not a jumper.

After I said no to the cat/jumping answer, Tracie asked me a few questions about Ollie while Ann Marie tried to connect to my $6,000 dog on the psychic level.  Tracie applauded that Oliver has natural ears, and I told her I was pro-tail, too.  I told her that I’d put a t-shirt on Oliver when he had his boo-boo’s because let’s face it, you cannot keep an Ace bandage around the middle of your dog.  I know.  I’ve tried. 

Then Ann Marie came back in and said she’d connected to Oliver and he didn’t want to talk about it.  Great.  I’d waited for 32 minutes, and the Divo didn’t want to talk about it?

Ann Marie said that Oliver said he did something stupid when he got gashed, and didn’t think I would see it.  Ann Marie told him, “Yes, but you did it twice.”  Ollie returned with, “Yes, I know.  I was strutting my stuff and did something stupid, and won’t do it again.”

Well, so far he hasn’t done it again, but dagnabbit, I wanted to find the place in the yard that bit him, so I could fix it.  I suppose it will remain a mystery at this point, and any fur that had been hanging from the spot is gone.  I’d wondered, though, with the way these kids play fetch games, if Ollie’s fur wasn’t in between someone’s teeth.

Na.