Further emails between Jane and me resulted in the following.
After I published the post about Molly last Thursday, there were further emails between Jane and me.
When I went to bed after I sent you Molly’s story I thought of some other points.
Separation anxiety: presumably the result of, over a period of time, seeing her friends disappear and the family leave her owner. He would feed her, let her out for a run round the garden put her away again. And then leave till some unspecified time.
If – rarely- I’m out for more than a few hours she doesn’t want to know Alan. She waits on the chair by the door looking bereft. Then I come home and …. whoo hoo it’s like the 4th July and she suddenly comes to life; runs and jumps around like a wind-up toy. The obvious joy and relief at seeing me is humbling.
Or if I go out of the room she might follow.
But even letting her out in the garden has been a trauma for her. She rushes out but if I don’t immediately follow she comes back to check where I am – but if she sees me putting my garden shoes on – hey Mum’s coming! and off she scoots. She does go out and stay on her own but likes to know we’re there. That fear of being left is obviously too entrenched to ever leave her.
BUT the most amazing thing is that when my friend boarded her she said she doesn’t bark – they thought they might have heard her bark once. And when we went to look at her, the owner told me ‘she doesn’t bark’.
But she barks now! I talk to her so she talks back! She is a brilliant guard dog. If there’s anyone at the front door she barks and can’t wait to get there. As people often don’t see our bell we wouldn’t have known they were there. And if the phone rings (think the ringtone must hurt her ears) she barks till I answer it.
And despite her traumas she is the nicest little girl I’ve ever known. Not a nasty bone in her body.
Jane x
Jane also sent a further photograph.
Then in a further email that came through shorty afterwords in reply to mine:
That’s wonderful. I may publish an addendum, so to speak, sometime next week and incorporate some of your remarks. (Paul)
Jane asked:
That would be terrific and perhaps I could add the question: Do others have experience of dogs sucking their blanket?
I assume this an anxiety or comfort habit but then again – is it to do with indigestion – considering what she scavenges? It happens when she’s had a feed and is almost like a child sucking their blanket but also reminds me of horses wind-sucking and/or crib-biting.
Obviously she couldn’t do this in her kennel ( she slept on newspaper covered board) but seems to derive comfort from it but does have a penchant for eating paper (my requisition for a chest X-ray to name but one!) and hence the photo of her with toilet roll! Also she had puppies but we don’t know old she was.
Actually the sucking reminds me of cats sucking and kneading.
She will be 11 next month so unlikely to stop now. We got her on 31 December 2016.
Best Christmas present ever.
Can someone answer Jane’s question about dogs sucking their blankets?
Many years ago, when Jean was still in England, she and Jane became good friends. They still stay in touch today thanks to the modern world.
Recently, Jane sent an email that contained a lovely story of her dog, Molly. Or rather I should say Molly, that belongs to her and her husband, Al.
Here is Jane’s story.
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Our beloved Molly. Re-homed, not badly treated but was a working dog. Molly’s owner had a bad accident and his life fell apart.
Got rid of his other dogs and eventually, when boarding her with my friend, asked if she knew a good home for her. We’d just lost our dog and though he’ll never be replaced it’s not a home without a dog. So a friend and I went to see her – fat, scruffy, lived in an outdoor kennel. So, she came home with us.
She’d never set foot in a house so not house trained but SO clever. She quickly learned to toilet outside and now ASKS to go out. Nudges my elbow and if I stand up but don’t act immediately she paws my leg. How clever is that. Quickly learned how to negotiate stairs and not catch birds.
She knows exactly what she’s due – treats, dinner – and you can set your watch by her.
She is the most loving little girl and loves being cuddled. The thought of her being alone in the kennel, no company, frightened in storms, cold, not knowing when she’d see anyone breaks my heart.
The only problem, probably because of erratic feeding, or maybe survival instinct and not leaving scents for predators, is she eats her own poo and out walking I keep constant check or she’ll eat others too.
She had to be spayed and they found cancer last year and that meant a further operation.
She is a scavenger and I watch her constantly to see what she’s got in her mouth – in return for giving it up she expects a reward, she quickly caught on how to get treats!
Well enough, you know all about dogs and their ways – each one unique.
Keep well xxx
Yet another article I want to share from Mother Nature Network.
I really don’t know how Mother Nature Network (MNN) do it! For they have a great deal of stories about dogs and a great many of them deserve sharing with you all.
Take this one. A nine-year-old Pit Bull had about as much chance of being given a loving home as I have of winning the lottery (and I don’t even enter for it!).
But that wasn’t to reckon on Michael Levitt of California. Absolutely wonderful Mr. Levitt. You are a savior!
Christian Cotroneo has the full story.
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Removed because of an alleged copyright infringement.
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I can do no better than to close this post with a repeat of Michael Levitt’s words: “We’re helping Toretto, but Toretto is helping us. Having this beautiful, sentient being in our home — and having to think about somebody besides ourselves — has really helped us get through the scariness of what we’re all dealing with.”
Sometimes the most precious gift in the world is the simplest one.
So starts today’s republished essay.
I would slightly amend the saying by removing the word ‘Sometimes‘. It is a fact that the most precious gifts are the simplest ones.
This essay was on The Dodo just three days ago and is perfect!
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Shelter Pup Can’t Believe He Just Got His Very First Bed
March 25th, 2020
Photo Credit: Fairfield County Animal Shelter
Sometimes the most precious gift in the world is the simplest one.
For Ezra, a stray dog who spent his life on the streets, that was somewhere soft and warm to sleep. And the smile on his face when he received his very first bed said it all.
When Ezra first arrived at Fairfield County Animal Shelter in September, he wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. He lay in the back of his kennel, shaking and staring at the wall. Shelter staff knew he’d need to overcome his fear to have a chance at a better life, so they came up with a plan to win him over: hot dogs.
Photo Credit: Fairfield County Animal Shelter
“The hot dogs were the key to his heart,” Samira Yaghi, rescue coordinator at the shelter, told The Dodo. “We always had hot dogs when walking by Ezra’s kennel. What started with tossing the hot dogs slowly became him taking them gently out of our hands.”
As Ezra got more comfortable, he began to press his body up against the volunteers, allowing them to pet him.
Finally, five months after he arrived, the nervous dog went outside for his very first walk. “It’s been uphill ever since,” Yaghi said. “He is full of wiggles and bounce anytime he sees us approaching, eager to say ‘hello’ and eager to give us kisses.”
Photo Credit: Fairfield County Animal Shelter
It was after one of these walks that Ezra’s life changed forever. “We had several dog beds donated and they were still sitting by the entryway,” Yaghi wrote on Facebook. “On his way out for a walk, he [lay] on the bed [and] had to be coaxed off. On their way back in from the walk, he [lay] on the bed again.”
Seeing how attached Ezra was to the bed, the shelter staff put it in his kennel. He immediately sat in the bed, smiling from ear to ear. “Just look at how happy and proud he is to have that bed,” Yaghi wrote. “He sat nice and tall with a smile of gratitude on his face!”
The sweet photo of him smiling in his bed even caught the attention of the shelter’s northern rescue partner, S.N.A.R.R. Animal Rescue Northeast. Soon, Ezra and his beloved bed will be on their way to New York in search of a home, and his friends at the shelter couldn’t be more proud of how far he’s come.
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Of our 6 dogs only 1 is a non-rescue. Jean’s history with dogs goes right back to Mexico and her finding homes in the USA for homeless street dogs taken in by her. When I met her, back in 2007, she had well over 20 dogs and when we came up to America to be married, in 2010, we came across the border with 16 dogs. All with the necessary paperwork I will add. But the border officer, after calling out to a colleague in the next customs booth, “Hey Jake, there’s a guy here with 16 dogs!“, couldn’t go throw all the paperwork and simply passed them all; not that we had anything to hide!
So Cleo was purchased to be companion to Pharaoh when Pharaoh was becoming an elderly dog.
First meeting between Pharaoh and Cleo; April 7th, 2012.
Pharaoh died on the 17th June, 2017 and he is still badly missed!
A sheepdog puppy leads a flock of sheep into the house!
Maybe not all of you saw this item on the BBC News the other day.
Plus, it’s after 4pm and I have just opened up my PC. So much later than normal!
Into the story.
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Sheepdog puppy led a flock of sheep into his owners’ home
Imagine coming home to find a flock of sheep in your kitchen? That is what happened to farmer Rosalyn Edwards.
Her overzealous sheepdog pup Rocky guided a flock of sheep from their pen right into her kitchen.
The seven-month-old border collie took advantage of an open gate to lead nine sheep directly through the back door of his owners’ home.
Mrs Edwards said: “It was funny at the time, but then there was quite a lot of wee, poo and mud everywhere.”
She posted a video filmed by her children to Facebook, showing the sheep in the kitchen of her smallholding in Devon.
The sheep caused havoc in the house before leaving through the front porch
She said: “I was in the kitchen and heard a noise. I turned around and the sheep were just standing there. There were about nine of them.
“I took the children into another room and then tried to guide the sheep out. They went right around from the kitchen and left again through the porch.”
Mrs Edwards says the flock took a good look around the house before finally leaving at the front of the house.
Rocky guided a flock from the pen into the kitchen
Despite the mess she said it was funny, in part because of the eager little sheepdog’s efforts.
She said: “Rocky did look quite pleased with himself, but he’s going to need more training.
“He brought a whole new meaning to ‘bringing the sheep home’.”
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What a gorgeous story from the Beeb!
Sorry folks, that is all I have time for!
Last Friday saw the thirtieth anniversary of Carl Sagan’s iconic photograph, or rather NASA’s photograph, of Planet Earth. Carl persuaded NASA to turn Voyager 1, as it left the Solar System, and take the photo. It became famous almost instantly and became known as the pale blue dot.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space is a 1994 book by Carl Sagan. It is the sequel to Cosmos and was inspired by the famous 1990 Pale Blue Dot photograph, for which Sagan provides a poignant description. In this book, Sagan mixes philosophy about the human place in the universe with a description of the current knowledge about the Solar System. He also details a human vision for the future.
This updated version of the iconic “Pale Blue Dot” image taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft uses modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
For the 30th anniversary of one of the most iconic views from the Voyager mission, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is publishing a new version of the image known as the “Pale Blue Dot.”
The updated image uses modern image-processing software and techniques while respecting the intent of those who planned the image. Like the original, the new color view shows Planet Earth as a single, bright blue pixel in the vastness of space. Rays of sunlight scattered within the camera optics stretch across the scene, one of which happens to have intersected dramatically with Earth.
The view was obtained on Feb. 14, 1990, just minutes before Voyager 1’s cameras were intentionally powered off to conserve power and because the probe — along with its sibling, Voyager 2 — would not make close flybys of any other objects during their lifetimes. Shutting down instruments and other systems on the two Voyager spacecraft has been a gradual and ongoing process that has helped enable their longevity.
This simulated view, made using NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System app, approximates Voyager 1’s perspective when it took its final series of images known as the “Family Portrait of the Solar System,” including the “Pale Blue Dot” image. Move the slider to the left to see the location of each image. (You have to go here to see the full image. Ed.) Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This celebrated Voyager 1 view was part of a series of 60 images designed to produce what the mission called the “Family Portrait of the Solar System.” This sequence of camera-pointing commands returned images of six of the solar system’s planets, as well as the Sun. The Pale Blue Dot view was created using the color images Voyager took of Earth.
The popular name of this view is traced to the title of the 1994 book by Voyager imaging scientist Carl Sagan, who originated the idea of using Voyager’s cameras to image the distant Earth and played a critical role in enabling the family portrait images to be taken.
Additional information about the Pale Blue Dot image is available at:
The Voyager spacecraft were built by JPL, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:
Voyager 1 is now nearly 14 billion miles from Planet Earth and still going strong. It has a plutonium battery that will last for eighty years. A one-way radio signal from Earth takes about twenty hours to reach the probe.
And now for something different but still to do with space.
When she finally made it home, her beloved pup, LBD (Little Brown Dog), couldn’t contain her excitement.
Koch shared a video on Twitter of the moment she walked through her front door and LBD pounced to shower her with kisses.
“Not sure who was more excited,” she captioned the video. “Glad she remembers me after a year!”
“We call her LBD, little brown dog, she’s from the Humane Society and she couldn’t be sweeter,” Koch told Insider on a phone call with reporters from the Johnson Space Centre.
“And yes, she was very excited, I was very excited, I’m not sure who was more excited! … You know it’s just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favourite animal.”
Now I can’t disappear without acknowledging the fantastic work of Carl Sagan.
And I can’t do better than republish the first bit of a wonderful piece on Carl put out by Wikipedia.
Carl Edward Sagan (/ˈseɪɡən/; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. He is best known as a science popularizer and communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. Sagan assembled the first physical messages sent into space: the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them. Sagan argued the now accepted hypothesis that the high surface temperatures of Venus can be attributed to and calculated using the greenhouse effect.[
He died far too young in my opinion!
But not without leaving a tremendous legacy – The Pale Blue Dot.
Tom came to Learning from Dogs a short while ago and signed up to follow the blog. As is usual, I went across to his blog in order to leave a thank-you note. I was flabbergasted at what I saw. Tom and his two dogs were walking across Spain. He called his blog Chica’s Challenge and this is what he wrote on his home page.
First, Tom decided he wanted to do a long walk.
Then he thought Spain would be nice as it has to be in winter.
And he’d like to take Chica, our podenco.
As an afterthought, he said, “Maybe we could raise some money?”
“Who for?” I asked.
“Well, as I’m taking Chica and it’s in Spain, I guess for Spanish podencos.”
“Great idea! I’ll write the blog!”
I wanted to follow his posts and did so.
Then I wanted to republish a post and asked Tom if I had his permission to so do.
One dog and her man walking across Spain, raising money for their podenco friends.
Day 7: Jimena de la Frontera to Cerra de la Fantasia 20k
The last two days were non-walking days, one for bad weather and another to move base again. Now we have the luxury of being in a house for a while in Jimera de Libar, a village we know well.
So the day started with the drive back to Jimena and the weather looked reasonable. Again, Merlin refused to be left so the three of them set off up the path, climbing steadily for the first hour and a half.
Climbing pathSpanish Fir / Pinsapo (Abies Pinsapo) in the background
The path eventually levelled out and passed beneath the rocky outcrops of the Altos de Paneron and Cerro de Marin. After a bare rocky sections where the route was harder to determine, they went into dense forest of oak and Spanish fir (we love these and call them lollipop trees because of their shape). Both dogs in great form, but Tom was mean and moody :).
Dark clouds were gathering from all directions but the view to the coast was still impressive. However, it wasn’t long before the rain began and the temperature dropped.
Looking south – you can just see the sea
Fortunately the rest of the route was on a well-defined and signposted track, winding down through the cork oaks in the midst of the Los Alcornacales. It was here deep in the forest that I eventually picked them up. I had forgotten that smaller Spanish roads aren’t always roads as I know them and the last five and a half miles I was driving along a rough track with no mobile signal, not at all sure I was in the right place. Even though we have a 4×4, I made very slow progress and it was with considerable relief that I found them, damp but completely unconcerned.
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In the original some of the photographs were side-by-side but in copying them across I chose to enlarge them.
The start of Tom’s walk may be seen here and I thoroughly recommend that you read it in full.
I shall continue to follow Tom’s walk and may republish another post.
Yesterday and today are days where it’s my turn to do the neighborhood watch patrols. I left for the first patrol a little after 9am yesterday and when I was going up Livingston Drive there was a guy walking his Corgi. Now it’s the second time we have met and I stopped and let the sweet dog come up to my outstretched hand and sniff my fingers. John, not his real name, mentioned that he was slowly adapting to a life of love and affection in stark contrast to the beatings the dog received in his previous life. John was a real hero!
Here’s another example of goodness beyond description. Taken from The Dodo.
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Dog Found On Side Of Road Immediately Snuggles Her Rescuer
Photo Credit: Kris Lenker
Kris Lenker and her husband were driving home from work last week when they spotted something on the road ahead.
They assumed, being out in the country, that the small, tan animal was a baby deer — but as they got closer, they realized their mistake. “We slowed down and realized that it was a dog,” Lenker told The Dodo.
Lenker hopped out of the car and called to the dog, but the nervous pup took off down a pathway. Lenker followed close behind, tempted to turn around. “I couldn’t see her anymore and we almost left,” Lenker said. “I just had a feeling, though.”
Photo Credit: Kris Lenker
Lenker found the dog hiding behind a fence, and after a few minutes of gentle pets, the nervous dog decided to take a chance. “She wrapped her front paws around my neck and let me carry her back to the car,” Lenker said. “She was absolutely terrified, but I could tell she trusted me … It just felt like we were brought together for a reason.”
Shortly after the dog entered the car, her demeanor changed. It was as if she knew she was finally safe. “I just pet her and told her I had her,” Lenker said. “That is when she just collapsed into a ball in my lap. It’s like relief just hit her. She rode the rest of the way home in my lap like that.”
Photo Credit: Kris Lenker
While she decompresses and regains her strength, the dog, whom the couple has named Reba, is hanging out in a warm bathroom. When she’s up to it, she’ll get to meet her new dog siblings, who will show her the rules of the house.
And Reba is still just as affectionate as the first day they found her: “Belly rubs are her favorite, and she doesn’t hesitate to ask for them!” Lenker said. “She rolls on her back and paws at us until we give in.”
Reba was initially resistant to being rescued, but now she doesn’t want to leave — even to go outside for potty training. She demands that her mom carries her outside and back in every time.
Photo Credit: Kris Lenker
“I think she is still afraid she will be left out there,” Lenker said.
It’s only been a few days, but already Reba has been putting on weight and learning what it means to have a real family. “Her energy level is so much better and she is the biggest love bug,” Lenker said. “All she wants to do is snuggle us and give us kisses. It’s her favorite thing to do.”
Lenker believes they were truly meant to have Reba as part of their family. “She wouldn’t let anyone get near her, but she let us take her,” Lenker said. “She trusts us so much and we have fallen in love.”
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“She trusts us so much and we have fallen in love.” What a fabulous end result.
There are so many loving people out there that would do the same. It’s an honour to present this account.
Last month, on a chilly winter day in Nova Scotia, Canada, Bryan Thompson had a chance encounter he won’t soon forget.
While walking through a local park, Thompson saw this: a stranger making his way through the snow, pulling a cart containing the most precious cargo.
Inside, bundled up against the cold, was a cozy white pup.
Photo Credit: Facebook/Bryan Thompson
Speaking to the stranger, Thompson came to learn that the dog has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a spinal cord disorder which can lead to paralysis in dogs. Because of that, she’s unable to get around on her own — but that hasn’t stopped the pair from still taking walks.
The dedicated dog owner crafted the cart to ensure it never does.
In a post online, Thompson described his reaction to that scene.
“I told him he was a great person for doing that, because I know there are many who wouldn’t. He just said that she would do the same for him,” Thompson wrote. “It’s hard to type this without tearing up.”
Photo Credit: Facebook/Bryan Thompson
Afterward, the stranger and his happy dog continued on their way — slipping out of sight, but not out of mind.
Thompson’s account of that touching encounter has since gone viral, inspiring countless others with an example of true love at its finest.
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This stranger, who is not named, is just a miraculous person. Plus a caring and loving man. It’s no surprise that the encounter, as described above, has gone viral.
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