Bathtime.....

There's nothing like a cold bath in the backyard when it's 105 degrees outside. Some of the gang know this and make themselves available for bathing, some of them prefer to avoid the hose area until they are led there. The Golden Retrievers tend to belong in the first group. The webbing on their feet is probably the first clue that they consider water their friend. As soon as the water comes on, Gracie starts circling, Lucy coyly peeks around the corner and Daisy and Maggie are ready and waiting. It's too bad that the first thing that Daisy and Maggie do after their baths is roll in the dust (dust + water = mud and we know that they like that)
Next comes Gracie, she has run past the bathing spot several times waiting her turn and now she has it. Gracie loves her bath and goes into a crazy, playful run right after, cooling down and trying to get the rest of the gang worked up. Toby plays hard to get, but once he is getting wet, stands still and enjoys. Lucy comes easily and picks up her hurley and walks happily off aftterwards. Layla acts like she is shocked that I would dare spray her with soap and water, but takes it peacefully and goes off to lay in coolness in the dining room (yes, the dining room, it took a couple of hours for the inside of the house to dry off after this bathing session). Hunny Bunny doesn't smell so funny anymore, which is a good thing. The rest of them either hit the last bathing session (last time temps climbed into the big numbers) or will catch the next session. I finally dried off too... now everyone is cool  and clean, asleep in the house, catching the air conditioning where they can....

Daisy rolling in the dust

after the bath

Toby and Daisy

Layla too

Toby's wet head

Daisy cool and happy

the bath wore sweet Hunny Bunny out

Home again, Home again....

There's no place like home.... that's the absolute truth. For the first time in over five years, I have been away from my gang for over a week. It's not easy leaving 15 dogs, most of which have some sort of special need or another. Michael was gone with me for most of that time, so we had to put them in capable hands.
For the first couple of days, I had visions of every type of catastrophe I could think of happening while we weren't there. I imagined waterbowl malfunctions, Hunny Bunny rolling down stairs, Charlotte hiding in the shadows not willing to take her pills, Asteroid causing serious injury to our petsitters, Ginger unifying the gang to create a dog-only version of Orwell's Animal Farm .....you get the picture. At feeding times the first couple of days, I was focused on my cellphone waiting for a call describing these disasters and more. On the second day we checked in and , guess what, everyone was doing great and having fun. No problems at all.... After that, I relaxed and enjoyed myself. I still felt a little pang of relief after every feeding time when no call came....
Homecoming was amazing, Michael had already been home for a couple of days, so it may have been over the top if both of us came home together. First, Sentry Ginger caught sight of me sneaking down the boardwalk. It wasn't long before I was surrounded by the whole group; giving me toys, playing among themselves, jumping, barking and best of all smiling :) everyone looks maaavalous....
The only casualty of our extended absence was one Coach tennis shoe, recognizable only by the color of the shards in the yard....Oh well....I'm debating throwing the other one out the back door so they can play with that one too. Is that bad training?

I was so excited to be home that I forgot to take any homecoming pictures. We tried to reenact the homecoming today, but I just couldn't drum up the same excitement (especially in 95 degree temps). Here's a couple of group shots anyway.

they're at least coming my way

I couldn't even get this group to look at me today

we have a (Rescue) dream....

Front: Hunny Bunny, Lucy, Toby - Back: Daisy, Rosie

Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary is the next step in what we have been doing for quite a while now. It stems from a love for senior dogs and a growing obsession to help these less desirable, but most deserving dogs. We started out simply as  adopters of some more needy dogs, going from 7 to 15 dogs over the past few years. We are now at our maximum, both with space and finances, until we put together a plan and thoughtfully work to make Old Friends a bigger entity, able to rescue more senior dogs.
Our home based sanctuary is based on a deep belief that each dog is healthiest and happiest living as an inside dog in a home environment as part of a loving family in their golden years. Stability is important for the senior dog and moving is very difficult for these dogs. For this reason, they need a long term placement, committed to them for the rest of their lives.
This year is setup year.... we plan to stay as we are while preparing for the future. We are in the process of becoming a recognized 501(c)(3) charity. This will free up more funds to spend on the dogs and will give us credibility in the rescue world. We will be able to solicit tax-deductible funds and will be able to put money toward sanctuary related projects more easily. We will be able to get discounts on food and products that are available to non-profit groups.
Later this year, we are going to attend a week long workshop on setting up a sanctuary at the amazing Best Friends Animal Society in Utah. We intend to learn from the best!
We have many ideas but are not sure which of them will eventually come to fruition. Throughout this year we will put together a long term plan that will change as we grow.
I will revisit our plan again toward the end of the year to see how it has changed. Here are some of the long term goals that we would like to accomplish as we grow.

• Get a network of lifetime foster homes to allow us to take on more senior dogs into home environments.

• Emphasize work with senior humans to accomplish this goal.

• Develop dog related fund raising projects.

• Become expert and develop a network of experts on senior dog specific subjects.

• Present workshops/specific lectures on senior dog related subjects. 

• Work only with dogs who are unable to find adoptive homes through other rescue due to age or age/disability.

• Get another home environment (facility) staffed by volunteers to allow us to provide a home for even more dogs (the BIG dream).  

•  Maintain a facebook page, blog and webpage to share our experiences, what we have learned and what goes on day to day with our Old Friends.

a Study of Noses

from bottom left: Rosie, Toby, Ginger, Gracie

Dog noses are so much more advanced than people noses....they are amazing! They are thousands to millions of times more sensitive than ours, depending on breed.
Here's some interesting information about dog noses from Dog Breed Info Center, "Understanding a Dog's Senses", <http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/articles/dogsenses.htm>

When dogs smell something they are not just registering a smell, they get an entire story. They can smell pheromone, which is not only found in the urine and fecal, but on the skin and fur. From this they can tell a lot about another dog or human including if they are male or female, what they ate, where they have been, what they have touched, if they are ready to mate, if they have recently given birth, or had a false pregnancy, and what mood they are in. They have even been known to smell cancer on people, alerting them to it and saving their lives. This means when your dog smells another person, tree that another dog has peed on, pant leg that another dog has rubbed up against, or chair that someone has sat in, they are actually reading a story, not just smelling an interesting scent. While a human will smell something like spaghetti sauce as one smell, a dog smells each individual ingredient. Unlike humans, dogs can move their nostrils independently, allowing them to know what direction a smell is coming from...
Puppies have heat sensors in their noses to help find their mother during the time when their eyes and ears are closed. These sensors disappear by the time they are adults. 

Dog's noses look pretty amazing too. I have put together a collection of all of the noses (dog noses that is) at Old Friends for you to compare.

Asteroid

Charlotte

Daisy Mae

Ginger

Gracie

Hunny Bunny

Layla

Leo

Maggie

Rosco

Zuzu

Belly

Lucy

Rannie

Toby

Maggie

Maggie is a 13 year old creamy white golden retriever who came to us as a foster dog from Middle Tennessee Golden Retriever Rescue when her owner, who had adopted her a few years prior from MTGRR, moved out of town and only took the two younger of his three dogs.

Maggie's first day here

 Poor Maggie had previously been surrendered by another owner who didn't have enough time for her either. Here she is 79 dog years and still doesn't have a place to call her forever home. (When I am 79 years old I certainly hope that I am in my forever home.) Within a few days,  Maggie had found her forever home at Old Friends. Maggie may be older, but she is still very opinionated and not afraid to express those opinions. She speaks often in barks and snorts and is not afraid to start a scuffle over something she wants (ice or food are the two favorites). This has led to her being put in her eating room before any food comes out of the bins.
Maggie came to us with a strange bunch of food and medications for skin allergies, ear problems and weight control. Within a few weeks this had been minimized through good quality food. She is fortunate in that she does not have any joint problems and moves around easily. She does like to sleep, with her favorite place to sleep being half in/ half out of the doggie flap. She obviously does not pay the air conditioning bill.
Despite her opinionated nature, Maggie does love the other dogs and wants to be part of the group. She is friendly and sweet and loves to be hugged and petted. She is well socialized and friendly with strangers. All in all, Maggie is a fantastic dog.

Enjoying a roll in the hay

Maggie loves to chew on sticks

Maggie and friends

Maggie doing what she does best....

Mud is a Dirty Word

If you saw the picture of Gracie that I put on Facebook last week, you already know that we have a mud problem. 

Gracie - last week and various other times...

Admittedly, we also have a Gracie problem, but since that's not going away anytime soon (she's vowed to stay a puppy until she's at least 15 years old), we'll have to deal with the mud problem. It doesn't help a bit that a natural spring goes through the lower, flatter and more popular section of our yard, leaving the water table just a few inches underground for most of the year. Gracie and friends have tried their best to dig a pond, but have only succeeded in creating something akin to the La Brea Tar Pits.
In all honesty, this has been going on since way before Gracie...
Michael built a boardwalk over the mud several years ago to give a clear path across the yard. That helped most of the time, but the dogs didn't quite understand that they were supposed to walk on the boardwalk all of the time, and they had things to do in the grass so there was a lot of off-boardwalk activity going on. The grass didn't flourish, both in the shade and under paws of all sizes. After the big rain in 2010, there was no grass or topsoil left at all. 
We put pine straw over the entire area, replenishing it every few weeks throughout the year. It helps a lot in most seasons, except for the spring with the regular rainfalls.
Our latest problem has been lizards. The lizards go under the boardwalk, so Gracie goes digging after them, followed by much of the rest of the gang. Pretty soon the boardwalk will be an overpass....
Today Michael is putting paving bricks along the side of the boardwalk. He'll cover them with straw so they don't look so bad. That will keep the lizards and then (hopefully) the dogs out. While he's doing it, Michael has multitudes of helpers; Belly's eating the sand, Charlotte is eating the mud, Toby is playing in the sand, Maggie is digging a hole....what next?

 

Gracie, Rosie and Lucy on the boardwalk

everyone likes to help spread the straw

Toby helping Michael with construction

everyone wants in on the action

 

the Senior Dog Medicine Chest

Lucy resting after tumor removal surgery earlier this year...

One of the primary goals at Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary is keeping the dogs as comfortable as possible in their golden years. Surgery is rarely an option with senior dogs because the benefits don't have time to outweigh the discomfort and stress caused by a surgery and because senior dogs are less resilient after surgery than younger dogs. The solution almost always lies with a good quality food, a comfortable living environment and proper medication. In this post....I'm talking about medication.
Twice a day, while lining up the food bowls, we also line up the medications, making sure that the right dog gets the right meds. We have made modifications to the medications, with Dr Benner's recommendations, to try to find the best solutions for each dog. If something doesn't seem to be working, we'll try something else.

Right now, here's the lineup:

Charlotte: has been on Phenobarbital since she was 6 months old for seizures. She also gets Joint Max twice a day and low dosage prednisone for mobility problems. We recently switched her from carprofren to prednisone and have seen noticeably better results.

Rosco: was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism and now takes Soloxine twice a day.

Asteroid and Maggie are taking Benedryl which helps their allergies.

Daisy: takes Joint Max twice a day and carprofen every morning for knee problems.

Layla and Zuzu are taking Proin daily for incontinence.

Hunny Bunny takes carprofren and Joint Max every day for joint stiffness.

So there you have it. Eight of our thirteen seniors are taking some sort of medication. It gets complicated at feeding time.....

Rannie

"I'm not fat, I've just got a little head...." She's been telling us this for years, we're not so sure we believe her (and she has packed on two extra pounds since last year). Rannie (originally Roxanne) is a beagle mix who's history starts in 2003 when she, as a puppy less than a year old, was hanging around the men's dorms at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, TN. That was the life, and she probably would have been fine there, if dogs were actually allowed at the men's dorms at TN Tech. Rannie was on her way to animal control when my son's then girlfriend brought her home to our son to live with Rosco. Young Rannie was a lunatic. She buried bones in the couch, got on the kitchen counter and ate the rubber garbage disposer guards out of the sink, jumped fences, got on the pool table and put the balls on the patio, played Rosco into exhaustion and generally ran everyone around her ragged. This went on for about two years and then she calmed down and began to act like a civilized dog - most of the time. 
Rannie's favorite place to sleep is on the back of Michael's chair when he's in it or between Michael's  pillow and the wall when Michael is sleeping. She's a guy's dog....probably because of her start in the men's dorms.

Rannie loves to lay on her back. She doesn't care where she is....here is one of my favorite videos. Ginger can't figure out what Rannie is doing.

Eating is Rannie's favorite pastime and she would get a lot plumper if we let her. She's a sweetie now and likes her pets and belly rubbed. Thank goodness her puppy years are far behind her.....

Rannie and Freedom 2008

she has a beautiful smile

Rannie with Rosco

We've got the Recalled Dog Food Blues.....

I'm sure that you've heard that Diamond, maker of Taste of the Wild, Nature's Domain and a host of other dog food brands, has a big recall going on. This time, there's a danger of Salmonella in the food and reportedly humans have become ill from handling the food and some dogs may have become ill too. They have traced the problem to the South Carolina plant (not China this time folks, right here in the US). We are now seeing that this recall is effecting other brands as well such as Wellness and Nature's Balance. It's getting hard to find a "good quality" food that's not affected.
This is nothing new, one of the most memorable recalls came in 2007 when wheat gluten from China caused widespread recall after potentially thousands of pets developed renal failure and died. Since then there have been several recalls for Aflatoxin, E. Coli, high levels of vitamin D, Salmonella and who knows what else. Just recently we had to stop feeding chicken jerky treats from China, which are causing severe illness but are still on the shelves at some of the big box stores.
There is no pattern, we can say don't feed your dogs anything that comes from China, but then there are problems in the US too. We try to steer away from brands which have been recalled, but so many of the brands are made in the same factories. We can try to feed only the "high quality" brands, but this last recall and others prove that even they are not immune to quality problems.
Until now, we have been feeding Nature's Domain with no problems. Feeding a grain free food had helped with skin and ear issues in several of our dogs. Changing everyone over to another food is going to result in all kinds of smelly problems for a few days....and then we'll have to see if the new food causes any new problems. Ugh!
I am confused as I'm sure that everyone is. It's impractical to cook all of our dog food for all of our dogs, but it seems to be the only way to avoid unintentionally poisoning our dogs for whom we want only whats good.
We will continue to search for a "safe" brand of food, but I am starting to wonder, is there really one out there?

 

...and along came Zuzu

I was writing a completely different post last night and along came Zuzu to change my path. She is a 12 to 13 year old brown dog who was going to be put to sleep today because of severe hardships in the family who took her in as a foster a year ago and an inability to find rescue for a girl that old with some physical limitations. Rather than bring her back to animal control, where she would most certainly be euthanized, the decision was made that if rescue couldn't be found by today, the most humane thing to do would be to send Zuzu quietly to the Rainbow Bridge.
That was when fate stepped in. Our friend Caroline, a GREAT Great Dane Rescuer, made some wonderful comments about Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary on her facebook page that made some of her GREAT Rescue friends aware of our existence. We were contacted by a couple of people who were aware of Zuzu's story and wanted to know if we could help....
To know us is to know that it is very difficult for us to say no. We had set our limit of dogs here to 15, and heck, there were only 14 at the moment. We said that we would try to help.
Today, things fell together very nicely. Before noon, Zuzu was with us and on the way home. She rode well in the car and once we got home easily took a walk around the yard with Leo and then took a nap.
Zuzu is a sweet, affectionate girl who wags her tail so much that we can find her anywhere just by listening for the loud thump-thump-thump on the walls, the floors and the furniture. She walks slowly with a little stagger and always seems to have a smile on her face.
When Dr. Benner examined her this afternoon, he found her to be in good health. He was not concerned about a small growth on her forehead. We were very happy that she is heartworm negative and now she is up to date on all of her shots and preventatives (conveniently, today everyone got Trifexis along with her). She has a deformed foot, all but one toe is missing, either from an accident or since birth. It is healed well but keeps her from walking normally. She will need some dental work soon, but we will wait until she is settled in for a while. Dr. B thinks she may be a bit younger than the 12 or 13 years originally thought, or at least a "young" 12 or 13.
Once home, she needed some rest. The day was wearing her out. She slept on the couch downstairs until dinnertime and gobbled that up. We were going to wait to introduce her to the gang until tomorrow because she had been so tired, but changed our minds when we took her for a walk and she seemed up for a challenge.
We put her in the fenced area and introduced her to everyone one or two at a time. It went well and we had no problems at all. Within a few minutes she was sitting happily with the rest of the group and has been doing well all night, ever since.
Once again, and I'm sure everyone get's tired of hearing it, I have to tell everyone how proud I am of our pack. As always, they welcomed a newcomer into their home and happily allowed her to pick her places, and share their attention, space and things. We love them all so much....
Here are a few first day photos of Zuzu.

at Home at last

and furthermore.....

a happy girl

hanging with the pack

and loving it....

the Power of the Pack

We have 14 dogs living here together and they all get along great. They are quite well balanced and happy, despite the fact that some of them have come from very unsettled pasts. We trust them implicitly to be kind to one another and to welcome others into their group. Why?

We attribute this to two reasons, first, they are a relatively old group, their average age is around 11 years old. Old dogs are more settled than younger ones. The hormones aren't racing and they have calmed down.

The other reason that our dogs have settled in so well is that they are part of a pack, a dog family. When they come, they are welcomed by the others who can show them, by example and in their own language, that they are coming to a safe, comfortable environment. Our youngsters, Ginger and Gracie are particularly sensitive to the limitations of the older dogs and play at a softer, gentler level to adapt to the abilities of the seniors. Watching the differences between how they play with each other, with the active seniors (Layla and Toby), the softer seniors (Lucy and Leo) and the smaller dogs (Asteroid and Belly) is fascinating.

Ginger has taken the role of protector of the group. The Great Pyrenees in her makes her well suited for this role. She keeps a vigilant watch over the yard, warning away dangerous squirrels, raccoons and neighborhood chihuahuas who may wander near. I have seen her frantically bark everyone back toward the house when she sees something that she perceives to be dangerous.

Gracie is the self appointed welcoming committee. Boisterous by nature, she is the first to meet and greet the newcomers. Her happy, goofy personality makes any newcomer instantly feel safe and comfortable.

Things aren't always perfect, but they always seem to work things out short of any real confrontation. We are proud of our pack!

treat time

napping together

Toby - the Big Guy!

At almost 11 years old, and 120 pounds, Toby came to us in early 2011 when we got an urgent email from a neighbor concerned about a large golden who was wandering the neighborhood after his owner was put in a nursing home. Toby was crossing a busy road to visit with friends on the other side and would be completely homeless in a day or two when his owner's caretakers were going to move out.
Although the plea came to the Middle Tennessee Golden Retriever Rescue email, no surrender form was forthcoming because the owner in the nursing home had to be contacted. He was not aware that he would probably never leave the nursing home and was not anxious to surrender his dog. We agreed to take Toby in right away, to keep him safe until we could get a surrender form and put him in the MTGRR program.
Toby came in like a hurricane, he barked at everything, growled randomly, humped the furniture, ate holes in the linens and was a general pain in the neck. He got along well with everyone, but we couldn't wait until we could move him along and on his way.
Then, on about the second week, Toby caught wind of the fact that he was going to be moving on as soon as his paperwork came through. Overnight, Toby figured out the rules and became a civilized Golden Retriever. A few days later when his surrender form came in, we agreed to keep Toby until he found his forever family.
After we got the surrender form, we took Toby to visit Les, his former owner in the nursing home. Toby was a complete gentleman when we visited. Les was in very bad health and was relieved to see that Toby was being cared for, was happy and doing well. Les asked us to please keep Toby with us and, happily and with no regrets, we will keep that promise we made to him. Toby became a permanent part of our family. Les passed away about a month after we adopted Toby.
He may be twelve, but he acts like he is half that. Gracie teases him relentlessly, which he loves. She will walk by him with a toy and bat her eyes and he's off after her. He'll follow and make grabs for the toy and finally, in the end she'll give it up. For some reason, Toby is obsessed with paper and envelopes. We have to be careful to keep the mail away from him. He thinks it's all his. He has a way of talking we call his a-grrs. It may sound like growling to the casual observer, but it's his way of communication, no aggression there.
Last time we weighed, Toby was at a svelte 104 pounds. Dr. B said that he should be around 100 so we think that he's doing pretty good. He's on the Gracie exercise plan, so we know that he'll stay fit.
Toby answers to "Big Guy" as well as he answers to his name. He's a needful guy, loves his cuddling and is always right there beside us if he's not after Gracie. He is happy and comical and we are so happy that he stayed here. We have brought Toby to several  MTGRR events to show people just how friendly and energetic a senior golden can be.

Toby on arrival day

Fun in the snow

some dogs chew on sticks, Toby gets a log

He just made it through the doggy door

Toby in front relaxing with friends

Happy Toby

Toby 2012