Grooming, every day stuff

Grooming Rufus everyday after his long walk and play session is some work.

Rufus likes to have his eyes and ears cleaned everyday.  He just lays his head on my lap and waits for the baby wipes to come out.
Most dogs that have floppy ears can sometimes have ear infections because what ever gets in them can't get back out even with shaking their heads.

 Even our wee one needs to have his ears cleaned after a dip in the river.  Lol.

But, every day we start the day with a warm cloth to do eyes.  Rufus gets up in the morning and kind of squints until his eyes are wiped.  He just sighs and leans into the cloth.  He loves it.

His ears are another part of the ritual.  As soon as we get back from playing in the river he sees the baby wipes come out and right away his head is on my lap.  I just use unscented baby wipes and I stick my finger in as far as it will go.  It is something that I do everyday to prevent having to take him to the vet for meds.  With most dogs (and kids) you can smell an infection in their ears.  And once it has happened you will know what I mean.

After a session with "Bernie" and "Gracie" we need to get all the dust and mud out.

After all they just rustle and tussle until they are all so tired that they almost wish that they could be carried back to the car.

There have been a few times that Rufus has come home bleeding from the bottoms of his ears.  I don't usually worry too much because I know that "Bernie" didn't mean to hurt Rufus.  They just got playing and because of all of the loose skin and floppy ears that is the best place to hang on for a bit.
The winter is a tough time for it to happen though.  Because of the cold I don't usually know until we get back in the car and are on our way home.  His ears usually warm up enough to start the blood flow again.
When that happens he tries to shake his head because it hurts a little and he stops and looks as if to say "Oh No, not again"
When we see "Bernie" again it is almost as if Rufus says "Take it easy, Okay?"  They both start off a little more gentle. That only lasts a few minutes then they are back at it again.

They start off with a chest bump and just keep on going until they are both panting so hard we wonder if they will survive the rest of the walk.

Rufus just like Wilson always know when Bernie is in the park.  They both put their noses in the air and turn this way and that and then they are off.  We don't even need to see the truck.

For 2 very different dogs they play the same way.

Dexter on the other hand has a "girlfriend".  A lovely little girl named Keira.  It was not always a love affair between the 2 of them and most times we still think that its not.  One time just shortly after the 2 of them met.  Keira was racing to meet Dexter just as I threw the ball for him and just a second before he got to it she had the ball in her mouth.  Well, any one who knows Dexter, knows that he is all about the ball.  He let her know that it was not good form to take a ball just as he was going to pick it up.  Ever since then every time they run into each other, Keira ends up sliding on her back right under Dexter's chin.  And of course he lets her know that he is the top dog.
Both of us humans start yelling at Keira to stay standing.  Usually from opposite sides of the field.  If Keira stays on her feet then Dexter is okay.  As soon as she lays down then it doesn't sound as if they are friends.

But, back to grooming.  Some days more than others we can go through a half a roll of paper towel getting cleaned up after a walk in the park.  Rufus just stands in the middle of the kitchen waiting until he is clean again.  He really likes to be clean when he gets home.  If we do have any cuts on his ears he waits for the melaleuca oil to come out.  He just waits and waits until he is all fixed up.

Dexter, because his ears are hairy on the underside, we have to shave them on a regular basis.  But he gets the same ear wipe everyday after the park.  His eyes on the other hand I never have to do.  Bella takes care of that for me.  She gets right up in his face and starts cleaning his eyes.  Dexter in turn will clean her ears.  They get it done then have a nap side by side.

Well,  I was going to cover whistle training and the success I have had with it.  But we will talk about that next time (I got a little distracted. LOL)

Rufus Goes Camping

Good morning.
Today our subject is camping.
Rufus loves to go camping.  However it is not a lot of fun until we get unpacked. Both Dexter and Rufus have to be in the dog run until I get everything out of the trailer and car and get set up.  They just look at me
through the pen until it is done.

Once it is done though we have a nice lazy time of it after all isn't that what camping is all about?

We spend most of the day walking or just sitting and watching everyone go by.  Rufus does not let anyone walk by with out letting them know we are there either.  His huge bark is enough to scare most people.  The only time he is really really upset is when we get visitors that have been drinking.

Most of our "family" at the campground know Rufus and will call him by name and that is enough to quiet him down.  We wait for our friend Jocelyn to come around because she just loves Rufus.

This year we are going to try to do some different things because we have a new site.  We are further away from most of the campers but that gives us a chance to walk around more and see everyone.

Of Course with his nose to the ground all the time and all the smells from the colony just on the ridge around us... he does get that tough skin on the top of his nose all worn off.  Sometimes when we get back to the trailer he has a bloody nose from it being on the ground so much.  But that is what Bloodhounds do best.  Given a chance he would just keep going and going....  I have taught him him how to cross a cattle guard.  That took a little practice on my part too because it is kind of a balancing act when you you really look at it.

Dexter and Rufus look forward to our walk.  It usually takes us about 2 hours to complete the loop that we take.  We go up to the secondary highway. And then we walk down to the cattle guard and then usually turn around.  Once we cross the guard there are cattle that come close.  So... we try not to go too close.  But I would estimate that is about a mile or so from the entrance to the park.  Then we go back along the ridge and there are gofers and other creatures that he hunts out.  It takes us a while.  Sometimes depending on how many campers are out we will walk all through the campground looking for friends.

Once we finally get back from the walk it is time to just relax until someone comes by.


After a long walk this is his favorite spot.  Since the trailer is small and the bed is the best spot in the place this is where we just laze about.

We are looking forward to a nice camping season this year.  It will be a good one.










As you you must imagine.  Dexter's little legs are tired too.  It is a good time to just have a good nap.

Even Bella is excited to go with us.  We have a cage for her and she chases "bugs" or whatever else she wants to, until it gets too hot outside for her then she is back in the trailer with all the flaps open for a breeze.

She has even got a following at the campground.

For the most part it is the best part of the summer and early fall.

We are not able to get out as much as we would like to because that pesky thing called "work" gets in the way of it all.






Wilson loved to go camping too.  One time we went to a campground that had a lot of free range cattle around it.  Wilson of course was on the leash at all times.  When we were walking once we happened upon some of the cattle.  Most times, cows will just walk away from a human and dog but for some reason they were following us around. We tried walking straight toward them to get back to the trailer.  Instead of parting for us like they were supposed to they came straight for us.  Scared me silly.

After our trek of dodging cattle and trying to get back to the camper. Wilson was so tired that he just found a tree and had a good nap.  The next morning when I opened the door to head out to the out house what was there but about 4 cows.  I told Wilson then that the cows were asking him to come out and play.  Of course, when I tried to get a photo of that my camera died.  And all the cell phones were too low on power to get that award winning picture.




Come back again to see the progress we have with a whistle.  Also we will tell you of our grooming ritual that is a must for any dog with floppy ears.

Rufus and Uncle. Not a good combination.

Well we have had an exciting week so far.
I wanted to blog about something and got a little distracted.  Our campground got flooded out and we had to make a mad dash down to try to save our things from floating to Lethbridge.  Thank goodness for Angels that we call family at the campground.  Just as we were about 30 minutes away they called to say that they were moving my trailer to higher ground.

 What a way to find out I had a hole in my rubber boots.  I had to empty my boot about 4 times over the course of walking around gathering stuff that had started to float away.  It made for a soggy ride home.  But long story short.  We got everything in the dog run and we still had just a little patch of drier land that was right up against the hill.

Anyway back to the real subject here.  RUFUS




Well Rufus, we found out does not like my brother when he comes to my house.  He is okay when we visit my mom and my brother is at home.  But have him come over... not a good time for poor Rufus.
In October of 2011 my mom broke her right femur.  There were problems that kept her in hospital until March of 2012.  So my brother was going to be all alone for Christmas. Mom could not even come out for a short time and our kids were with their respective in-laws so I invited Glenn to come for dinner after we went to visit mom.
I walked the dogs and we said Merry Christmas to all of our park friends that were out with us and we got home just minutes before Glenn arrived at my house to head up to the hospital to see mom and make sure that she was doing okay.
The moment Glenn came in the house Rufus headed for the stairs and was grumbling.  It wasn't a full out growl but it was definitely a grumble.  He hid around the corner and looked like he wanted to come and see but he was not sure.  
I called him down but there was no way that he was going to come.  So I gave Glenn a hug and told Rufus that it was only Uncle Glenn and it was OKAY.  I even gave Glenn a cookie to offer him but even then NO way was he coming close.
We went to the hospital and we when we returned and came in together we were hoping that Rufus would change his mind about Glenn... but NOPE it didn't happen.

This is the last photo I have of the 4 of us together.  Both my sisters and my brother. We do not have time in our busy lives to be all in the same room together anymore but other than my sister Carol we try to see each other when we can.
But back to Rufus and Uncle Glenn.
I asked Glenn to look at something on my computer that was not working right.  And my office is right next to the room that Rufus claimed..  It had just been cleaned so his stuff was picked up and put away.  He followed us in to the office and just grumbled.  I had to check on dinner so I just left Glenn to do his thing.
In a couple of minutes Glenn called me and said that the dog peed on the floor.  At first I thought it was Dexter because sometimes Cockers will dribble a bit when they are excited.  But apparently Dexter was just sitting at Glenn's feet.  I asked who it was and was told it was the big dog.
Well, I guess Rufus thought that Uncle Glenn was going to steal all his stuff that was out because he left a lake between the 2 doorways.
I can only guess that it was to make sure that Glenn would have to stay where he was and not go into Rufus's room.  He looked at me as if to say "that will make sure he keeps his hands to himself"

All through dinner Rufus sat on the floor on the other side of the table from Glenn and just let out little grumbles after he looked to see if he was still there. I thought Rufus was going to have a melt down if Glenn did not hurry up and finish eating.  So we knew then that it would be a long time until Uncle Glenn could come back again.

Rufus does like men so I don't know if it is beard or what.  I take him with me to visit mom and Glenn is home and he is fine.  Just not in our house.  

 So... I guess we will just have to make sure that Uncle Glenn is frisked before he leaves our home by Rufus, just to make sure that he is not stealing any of his stuff. LOL.

Come back again to see what Rufus does when we go camping. 

Hoarding or OCD

It has been a busy week.  Rufus Dexter and I went walking everyday and got some more good pictures to post later.

Now the subject of the day. "Is it Hoarding or OCD"

This is the look that we got the first time that we found out that Rufus is a "hoarder"
We only had him for about 3 weeks when I had a vacation week planned to go camping.
While I was gone with the dogs and the cat, my husband was home for a couple of days and decided to clean up the room that Rufus claimed as his own.
I was getting texts from him asking if I was missing a bra. I sent back that I was sure that I had them all accounted for.  Well, I guess I didn't.  My husband found one along with tea towels that had been hanging on the handle of the stove.  There were also socks.  Only one of each color.  Dog bones and dog toys.
They were hidden under the bed and in the closet and in a heap in the corners.
He didn't chew them. he just like to have them close I suppose.


Anyway, when we got home 5 days later I put the dogs in the house and went back for Bella and the some of the other stuff that we brought home.
Rufus met me at the door with the most sad sounding howl that I have ever heard.
When I asked him what was up.  He headed for the stairs.  I told him that he had to wait for just another moment.

When I got everything in he was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.  I followed him and he stopped at the doorway to the room and let out another howl as if to say "call the police, someone stole all my stuff"

The futon was made with a clean sheet and everything had been put into a Rubbermaid bin with the lid on it so he was confused as to where his toys were.  He then sulked all the way down the stairs and got up in the chair as if to say that he was not happy.  Now he makes sure that he is the first one in the room and he waits until he is sure that we are not cleaning everything up again.  (we wait until he is out).  He just shivers and shakes if he sees us with the vacuum or if we are in the room for too long. 

Wilson on the other hand was very OCD.  When we started getting some toys just for him he took very good care of them.  He made sure that they were all on his dog bed when he was not playing with them.

However.  When he went to bed he had to make sure that all of them were lined up just so or he would worry and shake until all of them were there.  

For Christmas the first year that we had Wilson he was given a "Bag of Coal"  In it were 5 plush "briquettes"

He got them all lined up around his bed and made sure that all 5 were there every night.

Wilson decided that his bed time was 7pm every night. He would huff at the top of the stairs as if to say "I'm going to bed now" and off he would go.  When I was on my way to bed I would look in on him and give him a pat on the head.  One day I accidentally moved one of his toys.  He stood up on his bed and gave me a look that almost said "Don't do that again" he then put the toy back to the spot it was in.  I think it only moved about an inch.  He looked again and made sure that nothing else was out of place then he laid back down and went back to sleep.  

Then every day after that I would hide his toys when he was up for the day.  I would "hide" them in the room all over the place.  I would put one on the book shelf within easy reach for him.  Another I would put under his bed, I would leave a desk drawer open and put one inside. One on the computer desk and on the office chair, on the printer tray. And so on.  

One night he went up and he was busy gathering up his toys and placing them just so, but about 20 minutes later he came to the top of the stairs and "huffed" at me.  I just told him to look again. So he went back up and I could hear him nosing around.  He came back to the top of the stairs an huffed again.  

I followed him up and he stopped by his bed and looked at all the toys he did find.  There was a space for the one that he couldn't find.  I showed him all the places that he already looked and he just gave me a look.

Finally he spotted the one on the office chair that he missed.  He took it and put it in its place, laid down and went to sleep.  

There were many nights when I would go to say good night to him on my way to bed that I found Bella cuddled up to him.  I never did get a photo of it and I really wish that I had.

Thunder Storms

Today our walk got cut short.  A thunder storm moved into the area.  We were getting soaked.  We made it home before the first and only crack of thunder happened.  Dexter and Rufus were almost out of the car and rumble rumble BOOM.
Rufus was in the front seat of the car again.  When I called to him to come out the back of the car he looked at me as if to say "No Way"

 This was the day that we brought Rufus home.  We stopped at the park before even making it home.  It was a long drive back.
We thought that we would get Rufus used to the park.

But, getting back to thunder storms.  Rufus is not fond of them at all.  Last spring we were walking in the park and all of a sudden I saw a flash, the the huge boom was right over top of us.

I caught Rufus before he could bolt, he was heading for the trees.  We made sure that Dexter was with us and we headed for the car.  He was waiting at the back of the car and looking at me as if to say "Today if you please"

Dexter and Rufus having a bit of fun when we were camping not even 3 weeks after we brought him home.


After the flood last year that changed the shape of the river where we walk, there was a lot of rock being brought in to shore up the far side of the river bank so that the railroad tracks stayed on the hill.  Rufus did not like it one bit but we were trying to get through it,  I did not realize that the rock that was brought in and dropped over the side of the bank sounded like thunder but to Rufus it did.

Wilson was not as afraid of the thunder.  When we could smell the electricity in the air he would always try to be a lap dog.  120lbs of lap dog.  But he was still gentle.
This next video clip is him playing with some puppies that we know quite well.

I have really been missing Wilson these days.  But I have Dexter, Rufus and Bella to keep me very busy.

Stay tuned to find out how to tell if it is "OCD" or just "Hoarding" 

Trying to Keep a Bloodhound Off The Bed

Well it is almost bed time.  We have had a busy day.
First I had to work all day so the dogs were waiting for me.
We picked up Bailey and Dawson and Sara to go walking today.  Rufus just loves Dawson.  They love to run together.  One little boy and a big dog is really fun to watch.  With Dexter and Bailey too makes for a shorter walk but more fun in the mean time.

Rufus just follows Dawson around the park.  Even when there is a "friend" there to play with.  They are not to far apart.
Rufus was not always like this.  Wilson would have been like this now had he been with us longer.

Wilson did not get a chance to really get out and play with the kids at the park.  His nose was always leading him.

Bed time is a unique time.  Of course when everyone is ready for bed we end up having to chase a bloodhound off the bed.  Chase is probably not the right word for that.  Have you ever tried to move 110 lbs of sleeping dog?  Not easy.

We found through trial and error how to keep the dogs off the bed to begin with.  Every morning we would make the bed and before we could turn to close the door there was a bloodhound on the bed .  So, we tried a very simple and very inexpensive way of keeping "Wilson" off the bed.

We got a few of the cheapest mouse traps we could find.  We set them and put them on the bed.  The first time that we heard a mouse trap snap, "Wilson" came sulking down the stairs to the living room and he flopped down on the floor and sighed as if to say, "well that didn't work".  Every day when we were getting ready to start the day he would stand my the door and "huff" at us once he looked at the top of the bed.  Wow if he could speak....

Rufus,  now he is very different than Wilson.  So did the mouse traps work for him?  Of course not.

Rufus was much younger when we tried with the mouse traps and once he got snapped for the first time he just thought that it was a great game.  He tried to eat it.
We have an old baby gate that we just set up against the door frame and that is enough to keep Rufus out of the room for a bit.  Once it is down and I am in bed....  We lets just say for a big dog he is very quiet and very gentle about getting up on the bed.  More often than not when Ken is away, the first thing I see when I open my eyes is Rufus.  Usually on Ken's pillow.  This is a work in progress.

Let me introduce you.

What can I say about Bloodhounds that has not already been said by breeders or veterinarians?
I know you are probably saying to yourself  "not much".  Living in the city and in a small townhouse with not much of a yard, it is quite a challenge.

Well I want to introduce you to 2 very special bloodhound that are very near and dear to my heart.

My first was "Wilson".

I was looking on the Internet for shelters that offered "friends" that needed a new forever home.  My first choice had been a Basset Hound. But I found the saddest photo of a Bloodhound that I have ever seen.  I said to myself then "How much harder can it be?"

We made the arrangements to go and see him.  On the way there my new car broke down on the side of the highway.  The engine blew with only 7500 kms on it.  So my older son came to rescue us.

That day really did change my life.  I went from walking to being dragged almost every where.

"Wilson" was a typical bloodhound when we were out.  At home though was a different story.  I will tell you more about that in up coming posts.

It is very hard to find a photo of him with out the leash showing.  But that was normal for him.  Once we learned to respect each other we had a great time.







My Second Bloodhound is "Rufus."
Just ask anyone at our park who "Rufus" is and they will all tell you they same thing.  He is not your typical Bloodhound.

He has wormed he way into every ones heart.  Most of the people that we see would gladly take him home with therm.  I have had so many offers that it is hard to keep track of them all.  There are many who look to see "Rufus" everyday.  And he knows almost everyone.










I don't compare them because they are 2 very different hounds.
The stories and the way I was able to train the 2 of them with out the help of professionals is what this post is all about.
Come back again tomorrow for some more about both of them.