Thursday, March 11, 2010

Question, Pictures, and Walk to the Park

Yesterday I took some 10 month-day pictures of Don down at the bay on our usual walking loop. We passed a dog and he had some distraction issues there, but later on we saw a dachsund and were able to work on passing by calmly until he got it (somewhat). He was perfect minus the doggy distractions. I walked home via the steep route, so he was really tired upon returning and slept for a solid 3 hours! Later, we went to Safeway where he was great. Then this morning, my school principal emailed us and said he wanted to discuss more about taking Don to school. Not sure what this means, I'll see! My guess is that there is a bit of worry because of all the legal issues.
Today, after school, I took Don for a walk down to the shopping center by our house. He was great until we saw a Charles Spaniel and he completely flipped out. He really has a hard time when the dog is approaching us- it's pretty hard to get away from the situation and help him regain his focus. There is a puppy club meeting tomorrow morning, so I'll probably get some more suggestions for this. Also, I'm going to be doing a puppy swap with Silky, an adorable 4 months black lab, next weekend. It'll be fun to have a younger dog in the house again!
Most importantly, the other day my mom noticed a red, scabby spot about the size of a quarter on Don's leg. It's right at the elbow part/bone at the top of his leg. It's not really puffy or anything, and Don is in no pain. His fur is gone from the spot though. He hasn't even tried licking it, and it doesn't seem like he is really trying to scratch at it either. We called our leader, and she said not to worry at the moment, but I was just wondering if anyone has seem something like this before? It might be from rubbing or maybe a rash/hot spot? I think it's pretty common, but never having a dog before, just wanted to make sure.

(Top picture is his normal skin)
(This is the irritated spot).
On a happier note, here are some of the pictures I took:
Don got sort of bored after awhile. I love this picture because you can see the whites of his eyes and he has this "when will this be over???" look.
It was actually sunny the other day. (Don on our back porch, squinting in the bright light. You can see his wrinkly puppy face and BIG muzzle and skin folds).


4 comments:

  1. Don, you are SO cute!! Hopefully, things will go well with your principal! Good luck with that!

    I wouldn't worry too much about the spot - show it to your leader tomorrow and see what they say. Puppies seem to get staph a lot - any little break in the skin and there it is.

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  2. Cassie- it's good to know that staph is common in pups. thanks! I'll talk to my leader tomorrow.

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  3. Sounds like it might be the elbow calus starting, most of the adult dogs have a calus from lying down on their elbows. As long as it doesnt bleed or ooze it will probaly be fine. But if it looks wierd do have it looked at.

    I would suggest if you think it is a legal issue with the school, Guide Dogs has a liabilty form that should satisfy the school district. Our Daughter took her dog to school for 14 mos., He even graduated High school with her and got his own graduation medal.

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  4. Oh, those photos are just adorable (except the skin ones! *grin*)
    Hope all goes well with the school. With my first pup we had several meetings (at work) but it was mostly just so management could be more informed. Once they understood it was much better.

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