Jarbidge to the Oregon Trail

Harvey is not going to be a little dog. He’s slightly taller than Murphy and take a look at those paws. Right now, he’s severely underweight (a common problem with some young birddogs – you can feed them and feed them, but like a rail-skinny teenage boy, they don’t gain weight until they’re about five years old.)

Harvey knows a lot of voice commands: Here, Down, Stay, No. I don’t have to raise my voice too much to get his attention. He obviously has a willing heart and he’s rapidly learning that he may not pull or strain on the leash when we go walking. He doesn’t *like* to heel (birddogs want to be out in front, but that’s unacceptable on a short leash), but he’s learning to and my arm doesn’t feel like I’ve been dragged by a dog.

That’s a good sign: I don’t want a dog I have to fight with on the leash! We’ve met two other dogs while out walking and Harvey remained calm while they passed. Bicycles don’t faze him. His only weakness is cats (he wants to point at them and then he wants to chase them… He’s worse than Murphy with cats).

There are challenges with Harvey. One of them was finding a name he responded to, but he likes Harvey and comes every time I say it. Harvey, by the way, was a “pooka” that befriended Elwood P. Dowd in the 1950 movie of the same name (Jimmy Stewart stars). (If you have never seen the movie, rent it NOW.)

Harvey’s challenges:

1. He’s never been crate trained. He doesn’t want to ride in one in the back of the car or sleep in one at night. He wants to sleep on the bed. Even if I was inclined to allow him to seep on a bed, he hasn’t had a bath and he’s urine-soaked at present. He can’t have a bath until his surgery stitches are healed and dissolved.

2. He’s a barker. Sharp, loud, and constant. I didn’t want to resort to such a thing, but a $50 bark collar has been a great help. We’re only using it when Harvey is kenneled (when he is most prone to non-stop barking for attention’s sake). If Harvey wants to bark other times, he is free to do so (at strangers, to “talk” to us, normal “happy” barking – just not attention barking).

3. He has not been kennel trained. Unfortunately, since both Don & I work during the day, a kennel is the only way to keep our dogs safe. The fence is too low in front * & unlocked. Leaving a dog in the house only invites property damage. Fortunately, Harvey did well in the kennel yesterday while we were at home (five hours of supervised kennel time – we did not go out and play with or talk to him, but we monitored him and he knew we were there). He must have done well today (8 hours of kennel time until Don got home) because there were no nasty notes from neighbors on our front door.

Eventually, we will get the big dog run built and he will have more room. It will have a concrete floor and a ceiling to prevent digging and climbing. The kennel had a cover and a plywood floor for the same reason. Murphy’s kennel is on concrete & has a roof, too. But Murphy has always been kenneled. (Murphy also digs…)

and the biggest challenge: Harvey does not understand staying behind a fence. Our first day together, I allowed him supervised freedom in the yard. That lasted until he started digging and pulling at boards on the fence. And then he took a run at the only short fence in our yard, right out in front: 48″. Murphy has never bothered to try to jump THAT fence, but it didn’t stop Harvey, even with his swollen little surgery site. I caught hold of him on the top of the fence as he was scrambling over.

He now has to be on an exercise tether in the back yard, supervised, until we determine how best to deal with his desire to run.

Don uses a shock collar on Murphy when in the field, because Murphy has also been known to attempt to run. Murphy is quite a bit more stubborn than Harvey and he’s had the shock collar up to 4 — only once, but… It works quite well with Murphy. Don has extra collars, but he needs an extra shocker. This is a great idea for when we finally take Harvey out in the field or the woods.

I’m not sure it will be the answer in the yard, BUT – I read that collar-smart dogs can have a “dummy” collar put on them and they will think that it is the same collar… A great idea.

I thought about an invisible fence inside the perimeter of our back yard fence, but that leaves out the Murphy equation. Murphy has never truly challenged the borders (except to hit the fence out front pretty hard and knock boards loose). Murphy would have more freedom than Harvey & I wonder if Harvey would notice??

(Note about that front fence: we plan on changing it out to an 8′ privacy fence. Zoning laws do not prohibit it. But the fence on the north side of the yard is only 5′ tall and Harvey can scale that by climbing just like he did the 48″ fence. Murphy doesn’t even think about it because 48″ is his limit. He’s too big to try for a taller fence.)

Harvey sees the vet tomorrow and I will ask his/her advice (it’s a clinic: we get who we get. They’re all great vets and have all taken care of our pets for over 20 years).

Meanwhile: crate training is going on. I am sleeping on a cot in the studio beside Harvey in the crate so he doesn’t feel abandoned. We’re keeping him in the studio because until his surgery stitches heal, we have to keep him separated from Murphy: no rough housing or doggie-dominance tests allowed until Harvey is well enough to rough-house back.

Murphy is beside himself. Here we brought him a playmate and he can’t PLAY with him! He’s barked, growled, and even stolen Harvey’s toys in an attempt to get Harvey to play with him. (When I say growled, I mean that sort of growl a dog makes when it wants another dog to play – not the “you better be ware” growl.) Tonight, Murphy brought a stuffed animal to Harvey and tried to get Harvey to play. It was a poignant moment. Harvey ignored Murphy.

I spent the past 48 hour trying every name I could think of on this dog. Several friends tossed in their favorites: Albert, Polk (short for Polka-dot), Chance, and I considered Lucky, Plato, Patch, Stripe, Beer… But the only name that Harvey has even remotely responded to on a consistent basis has been the last one: Harvey.

I figure I will lose that extra ten pounds I’ve been carrying in about two weeks’ time. If my walking partner can’t walk fast enough to get my heart rate up, two walks a day with Harvey will. Oh, yeah.

Anyway, the first 48 hours were kind of hairy. Don was very sure he didn’t know if this would work out (pay backs for Murphy!!), but tonight he said that Harvey was wonderful.

The next 24 hours will be touch-and-go: Harvey is slightly depressed, still in pain and swollen and I have a vet appointment for him at 5 tomorrow. He needs a clean bill of health and some pain meds. I think he’d like to be free of the “cone of shame”, too. (From the movie “UP!”)

Not really a cone anymore, but still awkward.

He just laid his head on my foot. Time to go and be a doggie mom.