Happy Birthday Bo

Today was Bogart's Birhtday. Started out hot, so all the pups were tired..then noisey thunder made them all a little nervous...but Bo's cookie birthday treat had them all at attention. Happy 7th Birthday Bogart!

Can't Keep Otto Down

(continuing story of Otto)
Otto moves back to Chicago and does well in the new doggy daycare. Maybe the extra socializing with Bo and Bandit taught him something. I will not forget all the little "fun" thing he did in Wisconsin. We had fense that slid down between two boards along the back hallway, so it couldn't be pushed down or jumped over, thus keeping all the dogs in the hallway and laundry area. One day I came home to find Otto on the other side. Fence down but Otto on the other side. Next day we put up a video camera to figure out how he did it..did he climb over it..did one dog boost the other over the wall to escape. No, though not perfect quality when viewing the video, it appears Otto used his nose and pushed it under the bottom on the fence, raising it..and then when he could fit under, scooted under it and he was free. Such determination.
Another time when I was gone, Otto pushed open the door leading to the garage. The garage door was down and the door he just opened closed. He was now trapped in the garage which wasn't what he was planning. He continued to scratch the door, the frame and the drywall to no avail..thank goodness. I came home opened the garage door to an elated Otto, free at last!
Otto does a little more hunting, and a trip to Traverse City and then he gets sick. He is tired and has no appetite. He walks like he is stepping on egg shells. Leah takes him to the Chicago Vet and runs some tests. Otto is diagnosed with Blastomycosis. This is a fungal disease that infects both dogs and people. Can be rapidly fatal if not treated properly. Even with proper treatment some dogs never recover. Fungal organisms live in sandy soil near water. Hunting dogs are at greater risks along with younger dogs. Otto is just over one year old and appears had inhaled these spores. The spores travel down the airways of the lungs and infection develops. Skin lesions or lymph nodes can appear. People can not contact Blasto (as it will be called from here on) from dogs only from the soil itself.
The Vet wants to keep Otto overnight for more procedures. Kyle and Leah are emotinally drained. They leave Otto there and go home to wait for the news. Even when he is sick, Otto is Otto, and he is not happy about being left in a crate. It doesn't seem to matter to him that he is very sick, he cries, whines, barks, and the Vet calls Kyle and suggests maybe its best if they take him home afterall.
Otto has lost weight, and is very tired but he gets what he wants, to be home. But now what? Leah gets a special dog food, with low fat, and orders the first bottle of medicine. This is people medicine and Otto needs to have it squirted into his mouth two times a day. BTW, This bottle is not cheap. There is also pills that will take care of any infection. They are told to boil ground beef and serve him that as well. Leah takes off a couple days but Otto needs daily care and can't be left alone because he will cry, whine, bark, and disturb the neighbors. He can't attend doggy daycare because he has this disease.
I offer to take him again, come back to Wisconsin, this time its more of a hospice setting. Otto can get all the TLC he needs here.

So they pack him up and bring him to Wisconsin again. Otto arrives and has no interest in Bo or Bandit. He just sleeps and sleeps. He is to be on this medicine for 8 weeks. And each week, he improves. In a couple weeks he starts to be himself again, running, playing, looking on the countertops for anything to eat. But there are some changes. He doesn't mind going into his new larger cage when I have to go out, he walks in and makes himself comfortable on the quilts. He seems calmer now but he still loves to lie against or on top of Bo whenever he can. Eight weeks pass and Otto has survived and heads back home to Chicago again.

What's Next for Otto

Leah had found a doggie daycare for Otto for when she goes to work. They even had a pick up and take home service. This might sound like a perfect answer for a needy dog but it was not what Otto wanted. He did not like being put in a crate for the drive to daycare, and he did not really like being in a room full of dogs. He had a tendency to not socialize, he would stand at the top of the small slide, overlooking the area, but not joining in. Basically after a while, Leah and Kyle got the news that every parent dreads..Otto flunked out of doggy daycare. They did not feel it was a good setting for him.

What was next for Otto. A little study abroad, well actually how about coming to live in Wisconsin with Bandit and Bogart and Scott and myself. During this time we learned first hand just how determined Otto could be.
When I came home to find he had opened the pantry and emptied three shelves of food. He ate combinations of cereal, cookies, crackers, noodles, dog food, sugar, flour, hot cocoa mix, pudding, hard candy, chewy candy, just about everything that is stored in the pantry was now on the floor, and either empty or ripped open.
Bogart joined in on the feast but Bandit, knowing this was not good, was hiding upstairs in a bedroom staying out of trouble. That is how through try and error we found a way to lock the pantry doors by tying the handles together, loose enough to slip it over, but tight enough that a nose (or head) can not open it up.
Then Otto was put in a cage when I went out. The first time he was alone for a couple hours, he decided nothing could hold him and proceded to chew on the bars and move them apart. If I had been gone a few hours longer he may have at least gotten part of his body out. The bars were then reformed, tied for strength. We did not give up on the cage..made it more appealing, cushy quilt, a few extra treats and eventually Otto got used to going in when I was going out.
Along the way, he found other ways to get into trouble.
He found interesting things on a shelf..he ate all the dry fish food out of the container.
Learned to open my purse, pull out everything until he found gum or lifesavers. Once he used a chair to get up onto the top of the cage and then onto the countertop. Looked around for something good, but I had already learned that the countertop would now always be clean without any food on it. No bread, no avocados, no pretzels, nothing.
Inbetween keeping us on our toes, Otto got along great with Bo and Bandit.




He also loves to sit on the other dogs whenever he can. He also prefers to lie against or on a person..snuggle next to them..or as I like to say the Otto flop. It might be like security to him. He still missed Leah and Kyle terribly and about 6 months after coming to Wisconsin he went back to Chicago. Leah had found a new doggy daycare, and they were buying a new condo. Everything would be great from here on...or would it. (Next Can't keep a determined dog down)

Otto Part 2

Now Kyle, Leah and Otto are residents in Chicago. They enjoy taking Otto on walks around the city, visiting the dog parks and the dog beach. Otto pulls when on the leash and to teach him to walk better, Otto is enrolled in obedience classes. He, as expected, does not do well with the "owner out of sight" ritual since he doesnt like to be out of Leah's sight, but when he graduates he does win the "best trick award". Kyle puts a dog treat on his paw and he just stares at it until they say "ok". Then he eats the treat.
This ability to stare down anything must be a trait of a hunting dog..and yes a German shorthaired pointer is a hunting dog. Kyle finds a pheasant farm in Wisconsin and it's time to "teach" Otto to hunt pheasant. His brother Dan joins him and early one Saturday morning they are off. Most dogs arrive at the pheasant hunting farm in crates in the back of the car. Not Otto, he arrives nestled in Dan's lap in the front seat, munching on some tater tots. Gotta keep that strength up. Other dogs are barking, excited about their upcoming hunt. Otto, stretches and looks at the Kyle with the expression, now what do I do? But as I said earlier, Pointers are natural hunters..and it doesn't take long for Otto to track a pheasant and yes...Point. Future hunts would include Leah, Heather or Matt, all watching Otto do this thing. Siblings and dog..bonding.
Back in Chicago, a new faith was awaiting Otto, it was time for Otto to learn how to be alone. This was not on Otto's list of things to do, he definately is attached to Leah. But Leah had accepted a job offer and the next question is "Could Otto be left alone with no one home?" Simple answer it turns out was...no. He did not like to be left alone, he does this whin-cry-bark that is so annoying and sounds like he is lying somewhere dying. Next step, to avoid a ticket for disturbing the peace, Leah looks for a doggy day care. (next segment: Otto in daycare)

ALL ABOUT OTTO

Today Otto and I took a quick walk around the block. Nothing unusal happened but that in itself is unusal when something pertains to Otto. I should explain. Otto has faced a lot in the 5 short years he has been around. Talking about all Otto has faced will take a few posts..so lets start at the beginning.

A litter of German Shorthair pointers was born in Pennsyvania on April 2, 2005. Leah Hays picked out one from a group of pictures emailed to her, there was one that was a little more darker than the rest. That pup was then delivered to Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Leah meet up and took ownership of a dark brown with some white spots puppy. Otto Von Bismark, a fitting german name for a German shorthair. Leah took Otto to Traverse City, Michigan for a little bonding vacation.






From there he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Kyle and Leah were going to live for a couple months. Sounds pretty tame and normal right..well not really. One of the things that Otto faced at the beginning was he had a protruding belly button which needed surgury to fix. He also had possible mange on the tip of his tail, but it turned out to be a bald spot. He received a ticket for walking off leash and by walking we mean stumbling because Otto's ears were Dumbo style. They seemed so long that he could almost step on them. Otto had one other problem, his bladder seemed to be very small. He peed all the time, anywhere and especially seemed to like to pee in the apartment Leah and Kyle rented that summer. He also did not like to be alone in the crate. Actually he did not like being alone anytime anywhere. When he was alone he whinned. Not a quiet can't hardly hear it whine. He is the master of the whine. So why not just leave him, won't he eventually stop..because no, he won't stop. He will whine for hours and then evenutally you give in because you can't take it any longer and he looks at you like he is saying...Thank goodness, what took you so long... The best way to put it is..Otto is needy. He needs to be with someone, as a puppy he preferred Leah over everyone.
Its now August and its time for another move. Kyle and Leah rent a condo in Chicago where Kyle will be working and Leah will be looking for employment. Leah, having visited TC again, rents a HUGE moving van, I mean HUGE, and her and Otto embrack on a road trip to Chicago. Heather and myself meet Kyle, Leah and OVB and help empty the van and move them into their first place together. Otto christens the third floor unit with a huge puddle of pee. Welcome home. (story to continue)