Tag Archives: Brussels Griffon

Peace reigns

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How do all your dogs get along?

Booker, Teddy and Torque

Booker, Teddy and Torque

It’s a question we hear a lot – between Fran and me, there are four dogs around; her Boston Terrier Booker and Brussels Griffon Tango, and my French Bulldogs Teddy and Torque.

The truth is – they get along great, for the most part. Tango is the oldest and really enjoys pouncing on Torque, growling and, apparently, biting him. Tango doesn’t actually have many teeth, so Torque thinks it’s pretty funny and bounces right back for more.

Torque likes to chew on ears (both human and canine), which the other dogs find annoying and let him know. He’s also the youngest, most easy-going of the bunch, and least likely to sulk or take anything to heart.

Teddy is kind of a cuddly blob. He doesn’t instigate any mischief, but is the object of both Booker and Torque’s teasing play – they’re always trying to get Teddy to join in the fun.

Booker is the most active dog in the house – which makes sense, because he’s a Boston Terrier. If you want a couch potato – this is not your breed. He’s also sweet and playful and incredibly soft – if you can get him to sit still long enough to be petted.

We haven’t (knock wood) had any serious battles among this crew – but that doesn’t mean we’ve always been immune. Many years ago we had a couple of male dogs that would, on rare occasions, get into real, serious spats. Fran made the mistake one time of reaching in and trying to pull them apart. A couple of stitches were her reward.

Ever since then, we’ve had a “puppy battle protocol” which we actually practice, just like fire drills. When you hear a dog fight, raise your hands over your head, wave them around frantically, scream like a banshee and run in the opposite direction.

It astonishes the dogs so much they break off what they’re doing and follow to see what the heck you’re up to. Works every time.

Notice your dogs – everything about them

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Once every week Fran and I gather our four dogs and commit “ablutions” on them.

Whether they like it or not, the get mani/pedis, teeth brushed, faces washed, ears cleaned, etc. This is in addition to a few times a week brushing.

It’s a pain in schedule trying to find time for it every week. And until they’re used to the routine, it’s incredibly time consuming when they’re puppies. Torque was a screamer for ears. Booker has incredible “twitch” muscles when we’re doing his nails. I’ve dremeled my thumb instead of his claws on more than one occasion.

But when you take responsibility for an animal, you do it all the way. You make sure they’re fed, warm, clean, and healthy. And this week we’re especially glad we take the time and effort to take a really good look at each of the boys.

Tango is a scruffy-looking nerf herder at the best of times. When he’s between groomings, it can be hard to see his eyes. But, like lots of fuzzy dogs, he reduces down to otter-like when he’s wet. And this week we noticed an opaque, reddish spot on his eye. We knew immediately that it

The red spot on Tango's eye.

The red spot on Tango’s eye.

required a trip to the vet the next day.

Fortunately, at the moment, the vet thinks it’s a result of dry eye, possibly from allergies. It doesn’t seem to be an injury and we’re treating it with medication for the next week to see how it goes. He may need to be on eye drops/ointment the rest of his life.

And that’s really good news. Because whatever the spot is, we saw it early in its development. And at least now, we’ve avoided surgery. But the point is, Tango never bothered his eye, never rubbed his face, never got watery eyes, never seemed to squint or blink excessively. We noticed it because we make it a point to notice our dogs at least once a week. Tip of the nose to tip of their tails – we take notice.

Distractions and step stools

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Fran on Friday

Tango sitting on his stool

Tango sitting on his stool

Tango is weird. There, I said it! He is the most fidgety dog on the planet. He absolutely will not stay still. For anything. And that’s a problem when you’re trying to do obedience. Even rally. Because there are times when the dog must stay still for seconds, or minutes, at a time.

So we’re working on Tango staying still. One way is to have him sit on a small step stool. A very small stool. Any movement and he’ll fall off! I’m giving Tango cookies while he’s on the stool – one after another. So he’s learning to sit still. If he wants cookies, he’s sitting still! And it seems to be working – so far…

Dog parks are a no-no for us

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Our shop sits about a mile away from the biggest dog park in the area. Consequently, we’re often asked if we take our dogs to the park, or how we feel about dog parks.

We’re not fans. In fact, we think they’re kind of bad ideas for most dogs. And while we may believe that the dog park in our town was a good thing (dogs aren’t allowed in any of the other public parks in our community), it just hasn’t worked out for us.

The dog park planners were trying to accommodate everyone – there’s a “small dog” area that’s fenced off frRocom the acres and acres allowed for the main part of the park. The problem is that you and your small dog have to walk through the big dog area to get to the small dog portion. And as soon as the outer gate opens (it’s a card key system, only for those who purchase dog park passes), all the dogs in the park gather at the inner gate to see who’s coming in. The only time I brought my little guy to the park, I had to carry him to “run the gauntlet” – with the big dogs trying to bowl me over. They almost succeeded, I’m only five feet tall.

And once we were in the small dog area, the big dogs were running the fence to watch my little guy at play. It kind of freaked both of us out – we just sat calmly and waited for the big dogs to get bored and go away.

You may ask – where were all the big dog owners while this was going on? Standing around in a group in the pavilion, chatting and drinking their coffee. Occasional shouts of “don’t worry – my dog’s friendly” came our way, but no one came to gather up his dog and help us out.

I realize there are probably a bunch of dog park “regulars” who meet at the same time, same day of the week. They and their dogs all know each other and everyone probably gets along just fine. But as we know from our training classes, a new dog in the group can change the dynamics drastically. Dogs notice who’s there, who’s familiar, and who can be picked on.

It also depends on the personality of your dog. Roc wasn’t really into playing with other dogs – I’d taken him to the park thinking we could play ball together. And if there were other little dogs, he would have been fine. He was neither aggressive nor particularly passive with other dogs, for the most part he wouldn’t have been interested. He was, however, very conscious of his size and wary of large dogs. He got along great with the big dogs he knew, but he got to know them gradually and at his own pace. One of his favorite buddies in the world was Sera, a Doberman Pinscher.

I see three different dog personalities at dog parks – bullies, victims, and the group. Unless you know exactly who’s going to be there, both dogs and people, we don’t recommend taking your little dog to an off-leash dog park. It’s just not worth it.