We welcome Tink - Zac is a hero hound!

[AlisonandMia]

Well, we have finally done it - we are back to being a two-dog family! This Sunday Tink, a 15 month old Papillon girl came to live with us.

She's settling in unbelievably well. Her previous owner (who bred her) brought her over for a "meet and greet and visit" the weekend before last and we repeated the "meet and greet" routine again this weekend before Tink actually moved in. I think this really helped both dogs (and the humans) to be as relaxed as possible about the whole thing.

I am so proud of Zac - (AKA "The Hound of the Basketcase") he has been on his best behavior and has made a huge effort to be calm and set a good example - he seems to have taken on the big brother role with sober enthusiasm. It's a bit like giving that wild ADD kid an important job to do - he has risen to the occasion and shown a side of himself that isn't necessarily so obvious a lot of the time. I must say he has really benefited from a couple of years as an only dog however and all the training and conditioning that I've been doing for the last four years (wow! - has it been that long?) has really paid off this week. He's so sweet - if he doesn't know quite what to do or feels a bit confused he'll go and lie in his crate because he knows he will always get approval for doing that.

He seems to really like having Tink around but I think he also kinda wishes she was a young male dalmation or something - so they could charge around slamming each other's slobber-sodden skulls into the ground! (His idea of a good time - he's a real boy.) Mia taught him well how to play nice with little girl dogs though and he and Tink are negotiating a play style that suits her - ie she can do what she likes and he has to do what she likes, too. Like Mia (and me for that matter) she simply stops the game if she doesn't like what is happening or is about to happen. He gets the message.

Tink is well socialized but pretty much completely untrained. She's gradually working out that jumping up, fun though it is, doesn't get you anything in this life. She learned about the clicker yesterday and learned "sit" almost instantly. My daughter has been working on only jumping into laps when invited. Tink worked out very quickly that she could only hop onto Ellen's knee when told to. Her next thing was to sit and bark at Ellen to "tell" her too ask her! Smart and cute but it doesn't work like that...

At the moment both dogs are in their inside crates chomping on meaty bones. Zac is very guardy and a little crazy (a severe, primeval wolfish paranoia sets in) when it comes to bones so this is how bones are going to have to be served up at least for the foreseeable future. They ain't complaining though.

Now for some photos:



http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=260&pictureid=1982

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=260&pictureid=1990

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=260&pictureid=1984

[mytil]

Oh Alison that is really great. She is beautiful. And Zac is such a good boy.

Thanks for posting these!!!!!!!!
Terry

[lulusmom]

Congratulations on your new baby. She is really pretty and I'm sure you'll have her whipped into shape in no time at all. They are the smartest toy breed out there so I will be interested in following your progress with her. Too bad none of my kids have the Papillon gene. :D

Hound of Basketcase. :D:D:D:D That's too funny. He may be a basketcase but he sure is pretty too. Talk about having symmetrical markings.

[frijole]

Cute as a button. Such joy she will bring to you and to the Basketcase. That was a great line. Thanks for sharing the photos and the update. Congrats! Kim

[labblab]

Oh Alison, congrats from me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :)

Marianne

[Roxee's Dad]

Congratulations on the new addition and what a beautiful girl she is too :) I had a few Papillon's as customers when I was living in TN. They were all so darn smart. Just love those ears, Also known as the Butterfly dog :) I love grooming them because their is so much you can do with those ears ;)

[bernie47]

My other dog natcho is a papillon x red heeler.. and so smart.. if you check my photo album will see similar coloring...but much larger dog ..
Tink looks beautiful ...love the pictures
wish you all the best with your new fur-baby
Ebonie & Catherine ..:D

[Squirt's Mom]

Awwww....what a doll she is! It sounds like she is fitting in quite well already and with a little guidance, she will become the perfect little lady. Trinket doesn't understand why just being cute isn't enough for Tinkerbell to get whatever she wants....it sure works for Trink! :p

"The Hound of the Basketcase" - how freaking funny! :p:p That's a good one, Alison!:p Zac's eyes are just gorgeous, basketcase or not!

I am so happy for you and hope you have many enjoyable years to come with Tink and Zac!

Hugs,
Leslie, Squirt and Trinket

[judymaggie]

Alison -- Tink is just precious!

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n36/judymaggie/Congrats/congratulations.gif

[sunimist]

Congratulations Alison! She is adorable! :D Thanks for sharing this wonderful news!

Shelba and Suni~~

[apollo6]

Congratulations
Love the pictures
Sonja and Apollo

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Alison,

How are things working out with Tink? Would love to hear about her in her new home!

Hugs,
Leslie

[ChristyA]

She is beautiful and he is so handsome!
Congratulations on your new girl,
Christy

[Franklin'sMum]

It's a Girl!!
Congratulations on your new addition, Alison, and so glad to hear that Tink is getting along so well with Zac (and vice versa) :)
How wonderful :D

Jane, Franklin and Bailey xxx

[BestBuddy]

I'm a bit slow catching up but this is great.

Congratulations Alison, she is a doll. Nice to hear she is getting along with Zac too.

Can't wait to hear some stories too because she is one of those 4 legged family members I am sure there will be some.

Jenny

[marie adams]

Hi Alison,

How cute she is!!:) My neighbors across the street have a little Tink, her name is Macy and she is so cute when she makes her front paws go up and down when she is excited to see you.

Zac is very handsome. Is he part Australian Cattle dog?

Take care and enjoy!!:):)

[Casey's Mom]

Alison, sorry this is slow just catching up but Congratulations!! She is so sweet and I love her name -it suits her very well.:):)

I know all about Heelers - glad Zac is behaving himself.
Personally - I always think dogs are happiest when they have another around, pack animals that they are.

[AlisonandMia]

We are not happy at our place this morning - not happy at all.:(

Tink has done something to her left knee. Did it around 4pm yesterday, in retrospect. I'm just hoping its not a cruciate ligament - don't think she's in enough pain for it to be that and she is hardly the most likely candidate.

I suspect she clouted her knee on something while running full tilt in the back yard playing with Zac. Just hope she hasn't damaged/displaced the patella because she's certainly behaving like she's got a severely luxating patella or something.

We can't get into the vet until 3pm tomorrow! I'm going to see if I can get hold of some doggy pain meds in the meantime just in case it gets more painful. (Vet won't be legally able to prescribe until he's seen her). I'd have to crate her if she had pain meds as I suspect she'd start tearing around on it again. At the moment she is looking after it well - keeping quiet and holding it up but still happy enough and chasing insects about outside. She was dead keen on going for a walk this morning claiming that she had three good legs so the one dud one didn't actually matter - but she had to stay home instead.

I'm really loath to crate her full time unless it is absolutely necessary - which I fear it may become if she requires any sort of surgery or even ongoing conservative treatment. I'm truly dreading having to have the little live wire crated up full time - but I know others have been through the same thing and somehow survived......

Alison

[frijole]

So sorry Alison... was going to say... Deb can surely give you some advice. ;) And I could give you some pain pills if you were closer. :p Poor Tink - keep us posted on how he is doing. Kim

[Casey's Mom]

I hope she is okay Alison. I know the feeling when you can't get to the vet - we don't have a good emergency system here either. Anyways she seems happy enough and that's the main thing.

Hugs,

[lulusmom]

Alison, I'm hoping the little imp just strained something and it will get better with a little down time. Jojo has pulled up lame a few times on one of his back legs and luckily, was fine in a day or too. It could be a cruciate ligament tear/rupture or a luxated patella but I'm channeling positive thoughts for a simple strain, requiring a quick and cheap office visit. I mean after all, Tink is not a cushpup so she shouldn't be giving you fits just yet. :D:D

[Roxee's Dad]

Hi Alison,

Keeping everything crossed that is just a minor issue and will heal up very quickly.

[AlisonandMia]

Well it wasn't her knee - or we don't think it was. It looks like it was her back and the pain was radiating to her knee. Vet couldn't find any tenderness or pain around her knee and declared her patellas (and the rest of her knees) to be very good and sound. (I was told by her breeder that there were no patella issues in her line). The vet did find a distinctly sore spot over the sacroiliac area though. He did say there was a remote chance there was something wrong in the knee such as severely strained ligaments which could cause further problems but it was more likely a back problem despite it looking (and probably feeling) like leg-based lameness.

The vet suggested that she could have done it leaping for a ball but, because of the timing, I suspect that it was a Tink/Zac combined effort. They play hard and fast in the back yard at times.

Anyway she is on meloxicam for 5 days and we've seen a huge improvement - which I guess is consistent with it indeed being a back injury. She is on rest and controlled activity for a while - and certainly no charging about with her big, hairy brother out the back - or jumping on the furniture, or leaping for the ball, or....:(:(:(. It's raining here (again!) so this is pretty much what would be happening anyway. The only difficult thing is denying her her evening charge about the house with her soft toys before bedtime - that is tough on her as I think it is her favorite time of day. Last night she got a modified version on her lead and I don't think she was all that pleased, to be honest! She got her cuddle and tummy rub on the couch though so that was ok even if she didn't have the fun of leaping up there herself.

I just hope that once this is over and healed up that it stays that way and that this was a one-off result of a freak accident of some kind.

Alison

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Alison,

Well, I think this is good news, right? Knees in good shape sure sounds good to me! After Squirt's knee problems and all of Crys' issues, I hear "good knees" as a blessing! ;)

I hope this is just a little muscle pull or bruising and that Tink will be back to her usual bouncy self soon.

Hugs,
Leslie and the girls - always

[k9diabetes]

Holy Cow Alison!!! I never saw this thread until now. :rolleyes: Really really really late congratulations to you and to Tink, who is obviously joyously happy in her new home. Maybe a little too joyously!

I'm so sorry to hear that she injured herself and relieved to know that the Metacam seems to be working.

Natalie

[bernie47]

Been following tinks progress..my girl Natcho has had one cruciate ligament..done and another just around the corner
the vet said..
Tink is precious .. and lucky to have you Alison..keep your spirits high ..and stay positive ...;)
Cheers Catherine ..

[AlisonandMia]

Our little Tink had a very, very close call a couple of nights ago. And it was her worry-wart of a big brother, Zac, who almost certainly saved her life!

I had let them out into the backyard briefly before taking them for their evening walk. We usually walk about 9.30pm so it was well and truly after dark. I went into the living room at the other end of the house from the back door to put the covers on the birds before we went out. After the the dogs had been out for about a minute, Zac began carrying on in the strangest way, making a weird yowling sort of bark and, according to our son, Jack, who was in the kitchen, running backwards and forwards from the door and into the back yard trying to get someone's attention - just like Lassie. Jack went out to see what was up and found that Tink had some sort of prey and was playing with it. He couldn't see what it was and she was darting rapidly about amongst the pots.

He called out to me that he thought Tink might have hold of a cane toad. I rushed out and he called Tink. As she looked towards him I could see that she had indeed got hold of a toad. The toad didn't look like it was in very good shape (looked like some sort of spinal injury - it was very sluggish) and was oozing poison from its shoulder/neck glands! (I put it in a plastic bag and popped it in the freezer.) We scooped up Miss Tink and raced her to the bathroom and rinsed her mouth out with a syringe and then rang the 24-hour vet. They said to wipe her mouth out thoroughly with a wet cloth and to keep doing it for 10 minutes. If she was still ok in 45 minutes then she would be ok.

I don't really remember where Zac was while we were getting hold of Tink and dealing with the toad but he was totally quiet and stayed out of the way. He is a lively, vocal dog so that is actually somewhat out of character for him.

Once we'd done what we could for Tink and put her on a lead to keep her quiet, we let Zac inside. Usually he is very obedient and we go through this whole thing where he doesn't come in until invited, sits and does whatever other little things I might think of for him to do until directed to his crate. This time he came in when invited but ignored my asking him to sit and headed straight for Tink and sniffed her mouth. Satisfied that she was ok (presumably couldn't smell any nasty toad stuff on her) he trotted off happily to his crate without being asked.

Zac has always been totally revolted by toads and frogs; he obviously finds them disgusting and somewhat frightening. It seems to be something about the smell. He has pretty high prey drive, loves to chase balls, and shakes toys vigorously etc. but will actually move away from a hopping amphibian once he realizes what it is. He was bred on a farm near Brisbane so maybe his apparently-innate revulsion for toads is something genetic.

It looks like when he saw Tink with a toad he was horror stricken for his little pack member and raised the alarm. The way he was barking was something we've never heard from him before - a really weird noise -and his behavior was definitely aimed at getting our attention and action.

Fortunately Tink was totally unaffected - didn't even get any drooling or show any signs of pain - so it looks like she mustn't have got any toxin in her mouth. Presumably she had been grabbing the toad by its back legs/hind quarters and, knowing her, tossing it about and shaking it, but had somehow managed to avoid the more-dangerous front end.

Needless to say she will not be allowed out into the backyard after dark in future, except on a lead. She's never gone for a toad before, but over this last wet summer the frogs and toads have been "teasing" her terribly and at last she gave into temptation.

All I can say is thank goodness for Zac and his sound instincts and quick thinking and for Jack's good sense in listening to what Zac was trying to tell him, too.


Alison

[BestBuddy]

Zac deserves a medal.

We don't have the toads (thank heavens) here and I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. Your quick thinking has made what could have been a very serious situation just another story with a ahppy ending.

Tink was probably very proud of her catch so you were lucky to be able to get the toad out of her mouth without the poison getting into her mouth.

Good job.

Jenny

[frijole]

Wow what a story. We had those toads, or a version of them down in South Florida and I was petrified of them because my two loved chasing anything that moved. Luckily I never had to deal with it. Way to go Zac.

[Casey's Mom]

Zac is a hero - you have lots of scary animals where you are Alison! Well I guess we do to we have coyotes :) Thank goodness for a fenced yard.