Wow.
What a day…
(In case you missed the events of yesterday, click here.)
Very bad.
Today, I am emotionally exhausted.
I have spent the entire day policing all of the animals with uber vigilance. I hovered a lot.
…talk about a helicopter owner…
Knowing I have a bad dog is frightening. Knowing that the bad dog used to be the good dog – makes me not sure of anything.
PLLL and Bodhi today – back to normal, sort of.
PRINCESS LLAMA LLAMA LLAMA
PLLL was back to her old self – mostly – today. She slept more than usual, but she also did all of her usual stuff.
My wooly patient ate leaves and hay and grain. She seemed to manipulate her lip fairly well, considering… She wasn’t upset with me anymore. I sat with her for a few minutes several times today. Each time, she sat there with me and ate what I offered. Rose bush leaves, mostly. She loves those.
She ate what I offered. The lip is moving fairly well. And yes, her wool is messy today. For sure. She hasn’t been into grooming…
FLIES
Ugh. I did, however, notice that the flies were back. Perfect timing.
Not.
I had no idea how to keep them off of her lip and the thought of nasty flies on her stitches made me feel queasy. Yuk.
Why not just use fly spray? Because she would spit at me and probably never let me touch her again. Fly spray would be the last insult. She hates sprays and fragrances.
I thought about spreading THE BALM on her face but she is still really hairy and I thought it would be too clumpy and then maybe runny when it melted.
What to do…. what to do…
I had a bright idea to weaving one of those fly tags into her wool. But how?
Hmmmm.
Maybe I could clip it into her hair. But the tag has to sit with the metal side down and I wasn’t sure I could get it to stay ‘just so’.
Then I saw my FLY ARMOR brow band. Hmmmmm.
I filled one side with the fly repellant strip (I thought both sides might be too strong for her … ) and then put one end of the velcro around a plastic ring and then I put a hairclip on the ring.
Hmmmmm.
I thought I could hang it on her neck wool like a hair extension – or something.
My friend, Leslie, happened to be over at the time so we went up to experiment with PLLL and the fly ointment brow band hair extension together.
I approached PLLL with my contraption. She looked at me quizzically…
“What are you going to do with that?”
And before I could answer her, I had it clipped to her neck!
It hung there rather unceremoniously.
Hmmmm.
I looked at Leslie and started to say how I wonder if the velcro on the other side would just stick to her… as my hand was springing into action.
Whap! I buried the other bare velcro end into her wool.
Geeeeshcrrrrrz. It stuck!
Now PLLL was wearing a lopsided FLY Armor brow band as a necklace!
And, the flies disappeared from her lip and face.
Mission accomplished!
PLLL with her new necklace. You can see her lip is swollen.
A close up view of the necklace… It is a Fly Armor browband.
Only one fly left! And none on her lip!
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?…
I’m going to have Shiva checked out for senility. It just isn’t like him to do this…
He is going to have to wear a muzzle when he is outside. He is going to have to be locked in a stall when we are not here.
I’m also wondering if I should get an escape proof kennel…
I don’t trust wire fencing to keep him out of her pasture – and I don’t trust him.
My friend, Fran, said she would house PLLL temporarily, once her lip heals and she can be moved comfortably. Fran lives just a few minutes away.
This saddens me.
Not that Fran wouldn’t be a fabulous home…she would!
It is just that I know PLLL loves her paddock and I know Bodhi loves her.
And I love having her here…
But, I do not want PLLL to ever have to be terrified like that again.
Do I move her? Do I kennel him? I am still debating the best solution.
All I know is that this can never happen again.
PLLL looking rather shaggy and unkempt. She didn’t feel much like grooming herself today. (They walk through the branches to remove debris from their coat.)
UPDATE ON WRIGLEY
As you may remember, just last week, Wrigley impaled his neck on the gate – I think – when he was horsing around. Go figure.
Just in case it was the gate, I got a new one. It was on sale and the right color. Bonus!
The gate looks just right!
His wound was very deep. The vet could stick his entire finger into the hole. Ugh.
Anyway, Wrig had many stitches inside and outside.
I slathered THE BALM on it every day and gave him his antibiotics as prescribed.
Today, his accident looked like this:
Much better… except for the clumpy shedding, he is doing very well!
You might want to think about all of the changes that have happened in this older dog’s life recently. There are two new, very large, rambunctious puppies in his world that are the perfect age to be a threat to an older dog’s status. They are also at the age where they will be experimenting with predator behavior and learning to hunt. You have a lot of very diverse animals in a relatively small space. It may seem large to a human, but from a horse/dog/llama perspective, a hundred acres would be crowded with the number of animals you have. If you think about all the upheaval and change in Shiva’s pack in the past year, his behavior is not surprising. He probably doesn’t feel up to taking on those pups so he may be trying to reestablish a place for himself by attacking a prey animal. He may also be trying to teach the pups how to hunt, which is also totally normal behavior for an older dog. It is his job. You might want to focus on ways of making him feel more secure and unthreatened. Also, recognize that, while the pups may not have been involved this time from a human point of view, sitting back and watching how their elders hunt is how dogs learn. The next time they will join in. From my perspective, this does not seem like senile behavior at all. It seems like totally normal pack behavior. An older dog trying to maintain his status and teach the younger generation.
Well, this reminds me of several stories I have heard of dogs and cats going bonkers for no reason that their humans can see. One dog bit a child, and it was later discovered that he had an ear infection that was quite involved. No one knew because his ears were long, floppy and hairy. Another was a cat who went postal when touched by his owner. He had a tumor, previously undetected, that was causing him intense pain. And maybe Llama llama did something that triggered an attack.
Could there have been a snake? Maybe the dog got the llama while going after a prey item??
Those are my thoughts. I hope things work out for you. ((Hug)). It is never easy when our animals are ill.
Please be sure your Shiva was the culprit, remember what we assume after the fact, may not be the case. (is there other preditors around, that your dogs were barking at). If it was me and had to make these decisions. I would keep both animals at home, it won’t hurt Shiva to be in a stall, or other secure area, while your gone. Both animals will be happier at home no matter what arrangement you have to make to keep them both safe. This is your family, you’ll be happier with them home too. I am sure you can make it work.
Well…ummm….not sure what the answer is…Only you will determine that. I know that whatever it is, will be a very hard choice. I do suggest, wait till you have Shiva tested first before making any rash decisions. For a dog to do something out of character, SOMETHING is/was, not right. I will be anxiously awaiting the results, any will pray for the right answer to come to you.
I think I would err on the side of caution and kennel him anytime you are gone – any length of time, put him in a stall. Removing Princess LLL is not going to solve anything, she’s at home at your place. And Bodhi would probably freak out. Seems like he really likes that fuzzy monster. I’ll be interested to see what the vet says about Shiva, I don’t remember how old he is. Breathe……..everyone’s healing up just fine.
I am so glad everyone is on the mend. It is so puzzling that Shiva would do that, I sure hope you can get it straightened out. I also can’t help but think what your vet bills must be. I think that would bury me. Which is, unfortunately the reason I am without a horse right now. Hoping to get on my feet soon. Hang in there.
Well that is odd. I posted the first part but no the second.
Just know there isn’t one test that will point to senility but it’s more of ‘what’s going on that makes the owner and vet think senility’. Change of behavior? Change in body? Change of something to make the owner say ‘This is not right. What is going on?’
With my dog, Shadow, the vet ran blood work and took x-rays. We found out he had a mild-kidney infection and arthritis in his hips. Those two things in my dog was enough to trigger bad behavior. Once he had meds for that, he was still show signs not all was well in his head. For example he was very good about going potty outside but seemingly over night he would only go potty inside. And the list goes on from there.
I hope everything is going better today
Oh, Dawn! I’m so incredibly sorry.. Hang in there and know that I’m thinking of and sending all of you happy, healing thoughts.