dobermannpinscher.org

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

“Congratulations! You and your dog have been chosen for the obedience class scene … for the movie being filmed in Miami; Marley and Me.”

It’s true. This was a small part of a big and exciting e-mail Fort Doberdale received late Wednesday afternoon while the bread winner (also the blog writer) was at work.

Did I mention EXCITING? I almost yelped, but the fact is, I want to keep this a secret, and yes, I consider this outlet still keeping a secret as I’m not telling anyone, really. Whoever happens to read this, though, that’s fate.

Back at work, I stood up and held both fists against my lips and took a couple laps around the small area by my desk, to let off some energy immediately upon reading the subject heading of the e-mail. That one of my coworkers could see me was a risk, but this was one time I was happy he is a Mr. Spock clone. Had he asked me, “Is something on your mind?” I know I would have spilled the beans. But once I got over that initial thrill, I found an inner happy peace, and maintained myself.

That is until my boss came back from a meeting he’d been in the whole time I was getting riled up. I had to think about how to approach the subject of time off. Mostly, I’ll need to take some days off next week. The rehearsal is not a problem as it’s on the weekend. So I had to tell him the truth because that would make the day-by-day way I’ll be going about taking time off next week fair for him and me.

They say the filming is on one day, a 12-hour day that starts way before the crack of dawn, and should be done that day. However, if it’s not, we will need to go back the next day. Either way, I will need the day after to recuperate, so it’s going to be a day-by-day exciting adventure in both the movies and in scheduling days off.

You might be wondering how the FDSP got to this point. Fate. I think that was it. An e-mail came to me from someone I really don’t know. Really. Mine was in the “to” line with just a few other e-mail addresses I didn’t recognize, and I had to let that e-mail sink in. And when it did, I got together with Luigi and we took pictures as the e-mail instructed and sent them off.

Then we considered many things after we hit the send button. We were too late. It was a hoax e-mail. This was a really good gig, and well, South Florida is rather incestuous when it comes to good gigs, so did we even have a chance? But this patter of pessimistic thinking proved to be a grand waste of fretting energy.

After we got the “you and your dog were selected” e-mail, I called the contact number to find out who they wanted as the dog portion of the team of “you and your dog.” I was sure it would be Luigi, the handsomest of handsome, but much to my surprise, the answer was, “A female. He wants a female. Any female, natural or cropped, but a female.”

That pretty much left out the Hercules of my Doberworld out. Luigi could never pass as a female. I considered the reason why, and it didn’t take me long to figure out that there are going to be a herd of Marleys, and I am going to assume they are males. I figure the star calls the shots, and he wants to be surrounded by gorgeous doggy babes where possible.

My next consideration was who among the girls should go? The DoberDiva was first to enter my mind. Shortly thereafter, the DoberDiva shot out of my mind as a BAD IDEA. You may gather why. She IS the DoberDiva. What Diva have you ever met wants to be second fiddle?

Baby, the Queen Mother, made a spectacle of herself on Monday night when she chopped so hard to get treats, that her teeth nearly flew out of her snout. To top off this theatrical Baby drama, when I fed her the treats, Liver Biscotti, she made sure she crunched each little piece as loudly as possible. Why? This is so the other dogs – not only the dogs in our drill class but all those in the rodeo arena and its outskirts plus the ones living in the mobile home park behind the arena – would hear her. It’s true. Stacy, the drill class leader even mentioned, with laughter, at how she had never met a dog that cruched a treat THAT LOUD. Have you ever seen Liver Biscotti? It is the size of a short pinky fingernail.

So this is why I came to the heart-breaking conclusion that Baby Puss DoberDiva would not be the one to go.

OK, and the fact that she is almost 11 years old and has arthritis in her back and may not have the stamina for a 12+ hour day (heck, will I?) also convinced me. I even took a stab at calling a doggy acupuncturist which I happened to get the name of from Stacy on that very Monday night class, to see if we could get into see her. The voice mail today was, “The vet has an opening on Monday.” Well, I’m not sure if the acupuncture will work that fast and all the Diva stuff is still quite prevalent in my mind. The bottom line is, Baby is my baby, and I would dearly love her to be part of this. But Baby is a social butterfly and a scene stealer, and I would more dearly love to see this project through.

So that’s why I had to choose Leissl.

Not that Pippin was out of the running that fast, but Pippin has a bum front elbow that doesn’t keep going all day – except if she’s hunting lizards – and she is the Pippinator.

Pippin is very rugged, as feisty as they come, but very obedient. She is a gem. So when I figured that Leissl is the second Dobergirl in order of adoption, well my conscience felt most comfortable with Leissl as a choice.

Now that Leissl has been picked, she has a lick spot on her hind quarters, which I fretted about all night. I thought there was black chalk or black skin paint or something to cover it up. I just couldn’t find a consoling advertisement that would say, “Yes! If you spend your money and the inordinant amount of dollars for the overnight shipping costs, this product will do what you need it to do.” So I e-mailed a friend who is a breeder, about this dilemma. She said to use magic marker. Er…probably I won’t.

So to be up front about the hot spot, I called the contact for a second time and explained Leissl’s dilemma. She told me black chalk for the un-dry hot spot and (get this) head spray paint for bald men if the hot spot is dry. She also told me to get something for athlete’s foot and put that on the hot spot. It will dry the spot up fast!

Ewwkay. So at lunch, I mosied out to Walgreens. Have you ever heard of paint for bald heads? Frankly, I hadn’t, so asking for it was a thrill. Luckily, in this day and age, most clerks have heard much more absurd requests than that. So the clerk took me over to the hair dye section, and as we looked, and discussed this, a co-worker of mine came down the aisle. Might I add that there are a few people in life that have the skills to spread information around as fast as this co-worker? That I was thrilled about this encounter was an understatement.

You see, I am a person who doesn’t dye my hair, but am willing to spray paint my dog with bald men head spray for a part as an extra in a movie, and I don’t wear make-up. I used to do all that stuff, but my dogs said, “Why you do that? It’s not good to put chemicals on your face and head, and we love you the way you are.” And Raven added, “Plus, with the money you save, you can buy me more toys.”

Eww kay.

Back to the aisle and the fact that the co-worker was listening, and heard the clerk telling me of the two beauty supply stores to pay a visit to to find “this product.” I walked away wondering what rumour I will be hearing about myself down the line.

I decided to make a quick stop at CVS because there was no Absorbine Jr. there at Wallgreens either. Guess what? CVS had no bald man head paint spray either, and no Absorbine Jr. So I bought some athlete foot cream which happens to have the same ingredient as over-the-counter yeast cream for women. So being I’m a value hound, I had to go into the feminine hygience section of the store to see who was paying more, athletes or women, for this product. Thankfully, it looked like a pretty even keel sort of exchange, so I walked out of the store with the tube made for the feet.

I wonder what the people who tossed sweet Leissl into a shelter would think of her now. They would never get a dog from my rescue.

Onto the rest of the adventure!

Helen & Leissl

My PITA BOY is named Luigi.

He is a high-maintenance Doberboy. He’s prone to hurting himself, or getting strange maladies that take a lot of testing and money to diagnose and treat. But he is also a brilliant character, and my best buddy, besides my other best buddies.

I took him to his first obedience class, on Monday, March 17. This was because I need motivation to be on schedule with him, and a class will make me get done what needs to get done. Meanwhile, Monday night was cold and windy. We had to sit in bleachers while the instructor talked about fundamental things regarding showing in AKC shows. Being we’ve been there/done that, we had to busy our minds and selves with something else to keep us warm and stimulated. Luigi is good at helping me with that.

Luigi is a bean. A jumping bean. He couldn’t sit still while the instructor was talking. I had to pet him the whole time and whisper to him how great he is. But he squirmed enough that I feared his falling from the bleachers, so we had to walk down the aisle, back down those stairs, come around the class, and sit on the stairs where the group was. This prevented another big vet bill, I’m sure. Then he had to go up and down the steps, which was another exciting time. I think the boy has ADHS!

Luigi’s been to a vet (a high-priced surgeon) who burned his toenails so short when he was having $2K sugery to remove a bladder stone and what was probably scar tissue near his salivary gland, that even 1-1/2 years later, Luigi’s toenails are still recovering from that botched up job. Yes, I have written a formal complaint to the vet board about that. Over a year ago, and still have not had word on that. Such is justice, or that lack thereof.

I trimmed the toenails that were safe to trim at my lunch break on class day. Even with the small amount I clipped off, he still bled. (I generally Dremel my dog’s toenails, but because of the malformed mess that so-called veterinary surgeon left Luigi’s nails in, I can’t use the Dremel due to Luigi’s nails’ sensitivity.) Because two nails bled, that leaves his nails open to infection. After the surgery, Luigi had such bad infection in his nails that pus oozed from them, so we are very careful to keep them as free from infection as possible.

Because of the possibility of infection, (the rodeo arena is full of interesting particulate on the grounds), after class, I soaked PITA boy’s toenails in Listerine and water. Though I could have chosen eiher iodine and water or a chlorhexadine flush as well. Luigi has a whole medicine chest full of his stuff for all parts of him.

Most recently, I found a lovely rash on his belly. We are working on clearing that up, as well as more fun stuff such as heeling without crabbing, sitting straight, the recall, and the ever-challenging sit/down/stand stays. Luigi’s best exercise is the fetch, which he is master of being he has always loved playing fetch.

And he is learning to jump over hurdles and such.

Luigi’ll do anything, mostly, for a click-and-treat. And he expects to play ball after his training sessions. I do my best to oblige. He is my best PITA son, and I love him dearly.

Helen, Luigi’s mom

Tonight, later than earlier, I took Baby out to practice. Our back light has been working regularly since the latest Mercury Retrograde has passed. She did very well on all the moving exercises, so after the recall, she got a big reward. I pan fried nine chicken tenderloins Wednesday night, cut them off, mixed them with some Kong Tots, and I fed her a nice handful of those pieces from the large baggie of them I had in my pocket. One by one, Baby got a jack pot.

I then brought out Leissl, Pippin, and Luigi. The two girls are trained in Novice, and Luigi’s on his way, but learning the stays, which is what we were practicing. So I put Pippin, Leissl, and Baby across the yard on stays, and Luigi was on a leash near me. Baby was the only one who did both stays flawlessly. I mean flawlessly! She was magnificent. Everyone got treats from the bag in my pocket, and we celebrated each other’s place on the learning ladder. Then I opened the back door and everyone else got to celebrate.

That’s when it happened. Somehow, and it’s not because I had had two beers, but somehow, the whole packet of chicken pieces I had lovingly cut into nice-sized training pieces and Kong Tots fell out of my pocket. It was right by the back door, so it happened as the indoor subset of the FDSP joined the outdoor subset to make the whole set. My packet had not been securely closed. There were treats all over the back door welcome mat, and dog snouts quickly realized what had transpired.

I started picking up little pieces as quickly as possible. I saw the packet sitting there on the faux grass welcome mat as I furiously picked like a chicken, but thought I needed to pick up the little pieces first then stash them in that packet. During that thought, I saw the black-and-tan snout swoop in, grab that packet up, and depart like a stealth Dober. That’s when I stood up, and said, “Luna! Luna Verte, you drop that right now!” It took another repetition of what I had said to get it done, but Luna did drop it. Several steps away. I told everyone just to leave that stuff on the mat alone till I got back. Did they? Well, mostly.

I got back there with the packet, and finished picking up what I could, but I was not as motivated to get the Kong Tots, as I was to get those chicken pieces. So once I got the chicken back in the packet, I called it a wrap, and let the foraging go full speed.

I had seen something like that happen in a clicker class once. I laughed my head off being it was someone else who clumsily competed with her dog to get to the treats that spilled out of her treat bag onto the floor. Their snouts are faster than our fingers when it comes to that, you know?

And this sort of thing is so much more entertaining when you are watching someone else in the throes of trying to out gather treats before their dogs.

Last night, I hauled Baby and me over to the arena for another bit of work.  Being she had the lapse on staying on Monday night, I thought it appropriate and necessary.

The group who practices on Tuesday night is not the group who practices on Monday night.  It’s very interesting that such a divisive set of dog people exist in the same community.  The Monday night folks are mostly obedience and agility.  The Tuesday night people are mostly agility and confirmation.  The three people there who were practicing obedience were one other person from Monday night, her friend, and me.  We were in our own little squared-off areas practicing different things.  It was isolating, but fine.  We were there for a purpose, so we got to it.

I took Baby on a run-through.  I was the judge and the handler.  OK, it wasn’t as strict as the ring being I gave Baby a few treats while doing the routine, but she did fine.  Even the recall, which we did four times, was beautiful.  Absolutely beautiful!  (I hope we didn’t use them all up.)

Then came the stays.  These were perfecto, too.  Eegads!  It was as if Baby transformed into an OTCH dog.  OK, I shouldn’t go that far.  She did sniff a little on the down-stays.  (We did two sets of each.)  And on the sit-stay, Baby’s ears perked up in such a lovely fashion, but it was out of interest due to the confirmation dogs were playing a game and Baby Social Butterfly wanted to join them.  However, she maintained herself, and sat there.  I did not treat her on either set of stays until the completion of the down-stay being if I don’t treat her after the sit-stay on Saturday, she may hold a grudge, and get up on the down-stay to come over to me to ask, “What gives?’ 

After our one-dog run-through and stays, Baby won the blue ribbon and HIP – High in Practice.  No picture was taking being the camera had declined to come to practice night.

Yeah Baby! My beautiful 10-year-old rescue buddy!  You go, girl! 

Helen

Baby was spectacular on her recalls tonight. So much so, that during the 1-minute sit, which our club practices for 3-minutes for the Open dogs, Baby ran to me twice! Now this was after the 1.5 minute mark, as I had asked the drill class instructor to let me know at the halfway point. I went back to my dog then, my dog being Baby Puss Doberdiva, and gave her a cookie, let her get up, and I put her back in a sit. Why did I do all that? Because I am so worried that her arthritis is paining her, I don’t want her to have to sit for longer than she has to if she is uncomfortable. But truly, she took advantage of this. By the time I got back in the line of handlers, turned around, Baby ran to me…full speed. Had this been a recall, I would have been thrilled. But the purpose of a sit stay is the STAY part, though the sit part is relevant.

I asked my friend to take Baby back in line, and she did. She sat her for me, and Baby looked appalled! I thought that would be that, and it was. For me! Baby came running to me a second time. OK, I was not going to give her a treat for that. No no no.

Before class, I had fed Baby half a dinner bowl sized portion being there was another half a dinner bowl sized portion in my treat bag, and she knew it. I had pan friend 4 chicken tenderloins for the Queen Mother yesterday. Chicken is one favorite food of Baby, aka the Recall Specialist. Mostly. Baby wanted more treats. More food. More more more. She chopped me during the times she wasn’t eating tonight. She’s a dream.

Meanwhile, I had to work her recalls vs stays after drill class was over. This was a series of do-overs being Baby ran to me every 3 or so times before I said, “Baby come!” #*&@#$!! I got a lot of exercise walking back and forth to put Baby in “her place” tonight.

Most importantly, to Baby, she has a new title. Baby’s previously troubling courtship with the recall – to come or not to come – is now replaced with the arbitrary stationary refusal phenomenon aka “to stay or not to stay syndrome.” Being I will now be worrying if she is going to STAY or not until the moment the answer comes on Saturday, Baby’s new title is the Creative Goddess. She gets me worried over something new and delicious every other week or so. She’s the best.

God bless creative souls.

Helen