it's a fuzzy fuzzy world…

posts from the heartland, about dogs, cats, fire departments, and gaming

Nick, Debbie and Pete

Meet Trevor (formerly Ponzi)…

The new foster dog is settling in nicely, and I think he’s a Trevor. It came down to Trevor and Sparky in the end. He could be a Sparky… I think he’s got the personality for it… but I think Trevor works better for him learning things, since it’s vaguely close enough to the sound of Drummer and Thunder that calling any of the names in the backyard tends to get the whole pack moving (which is usually what I want if I’m calling them in from the yard, for instance). So he’s getting used to “The nice lady yells something that ends in “-er” and we all run back to the house.” Hey, it’s a start… I’ll take my training babysteps wherever I can get ’em.

[lj-cut text=”Yesterday was busy”]Yesterday started with getting up early and hustling the boys through their morning romp, since I had a 9 a.m. class at the zoo (the first in the process of becoming a Naturalist Interpreter… basically, one of those volunteers who stands around and answers questions about the animals). I haven’t let Trevor and Drummer out together yet (boys will be boys, and I want them to be a bit more used to each other before I start that), so I took Trevor out on leash in the front yard while Drummer and Thunder went out to play out back. Picked up a stool sample to take to the vet for worm testing (the other reason he’s not allowed out in the back with the other boys yet) and hustled everybody back inside while I got ready to go to the zoo.

On the way home from class, I managed a major grocery run, because there was nothing in the house for me to eat, then got home just in time to pick up Drummer and head back to town, since he was due for his rabies shot (how we missed that when we looked to see if he was coming due for anything when I had him at the vet before Christmas, I’ll never know). He’s pretty much maintaining his weight at about 33 pounds, no matter what I feed him, so I think I’m going to give up on trying to add weight. He looks a little thin to me, but the vet isn’t worried, his energy level is great and his coat looks wonderful, so I’m going to stop obsessing. He got treats and got loved on by the vet techs, who all think he’s adorable, and I had a brief chat with the vet in the hallway (she was dealing with an emergency, so I didn’t slow her down) and got the next steps for Trevor.

We had added an additional test to Trevor’s blood work after he turned up HW+, and the results of that were back… microfilaria test was negative, so no baby heartworms in his blood, which is a good thing. Now he gets 30 days of doxycycline and started on Heartguard. The doxy will kill a parasite (Wolbachia) that lives symbiotically in the heartworms, and according to DogAware, killing the Wolbachia “weakens the heartworms and makes them unable to reproduce, lessens their adverse effects on the body and greatly reduces the chance of adverse reaction during heartworm treatment.” So I have a scrip for doxy to get filled at WalMart, where it should be on their $10/90-day plan, which is $15 cheaper than getting it from the vet. (The estimate for treatment is approx. $450, and Above and Beyond has approved going ahead. I’ll link to Trevor’s sponsor page on A&B’s site as soon as I get a writeup and pictures to them and they get it posted… they’ll be looking for donors to help offset the costs, since the combination of heartworm treatment and neutering will cost substantially more than they’ll get back in the eventual adoption fee. A&B is a great group… I’ve fostered and transported for them for years, and they really stand behind their dogs and their foster families.)

After the vet visit, we stopped by Purrs and Gurrs to pick up some treats, and to get Drummer’s nails dremelled… he’ll let me do them, but he’s much less squirmy for them, so it’s worth the money when we’re in the neighborhood. I picked up one of their filled peanut butter bone cookies to split between the boys… Tuesday was Drummer’s birthday, this upcoming Tuesday is Thunder’s birthday, and Trevor got sprung from the shelter, so I figure that deserves a bit of celebration. :-)[/lj-cut]

Finally back home, poor Trevor was going a little stir crazy with nothing but leash walks, so I decided he could have some supervised time out in the yard with Thunder. The two of them played like puppies… it was so cute! Lots of play bowing and bouncing around. Trevor definitely has a good repertoire of doggy body language, and he doesn’t really show any effort to be alpha, so that bodes well for him and Drummer getting along (I may do that introduction this afternoon).

[lj-cut text=”Pictures and a Movie”]I don’t have any good pictures yet with the big camera, but I got a few with the phone. Thunder is the one with all the black markings and Trevor is the lighter of the two.

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The shrieking you may hear in the background of the video is Drummer, who had to stay inside and miss all the fun. He was not a happy boy!

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3 Responses to “Meet Trevor (formerly Ponzi)…”

  1. February 20th, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    jenna says:

    Looks like they had a good time in the yard! (Oh, how I miss/envy that yard!)

  2. February 20th, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    DebbieG says:

    They did have a good time! The next step is to let the two of them out to play, and take Drummer out on leash and see how he and Trevor do together. Drummer’s been really good with other dogs lately, but I worry since Trevor’s intact… I don’t want to have to break up a doggy-dominance dogfight.

  3. February 20th, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Susi Matthews says:

    SO cute! Poor Drummer, so unhappy to be left out. Looks to me as if they’ll get along just fine. Give them all pets for me and a kiss for Drummer on that sweet forehead of his.