14+ locations for our 14+year old dogsu

Our Bozkins is a well travelled doggy. When he was only a few months old, he travelled with us from Delhi to visit our family in Romerh & Tiara, Himachal Pradesh. 

Among other places, we all went for a weekend visit from Delhi to Gosheini which I can recall. 

Then when he was just about a year old, we had to relocate from Delhi to Singapore, for a year. He spent a month there in quarantine, where we were allowed to visit him everyday thankfully. 

Then we were transferred from Singapore to Bengaluru. From here we made trips together to Ooty, Coorg, Puducherry & Goa. 

We also drove from Blr to Kolkata and Ranchi two times, with pitstops in Vizag & Orissa. 

He has also visited Galudih (without us though, as we were in hospital). 

He has had a well travelled life. (He has not been on a train or ship though!) So atleast 14+ locations for our 14+year old dogsu. 

Bozkins

Bozo made his transition exactly 7 days into his 15th year. Luckily he didnt majorly suffer more than 5 days. 

On his birthday, he was happy with his chewy squeaky rubber ball. Which he regularly caught in his mouth and mostly refused to let go. Spent a lot of time in his grassy patch and at Bozo point. 

- then two days after his birthday, on 8th March, he had major pus formation in an old wart, and fever. 

- by 10th March we managed to get his temperature back to normal, and dry the wound, but he almost totally stopped his mobility. 

- 10th March, by night, he stopped intake of food and liquids, which had reduced quite a bit. Puking soup and then puking bile had started. 

- 11th March morning we immediately took him to the vet to start him on drips: twice a day was required. No fever. Antibiotics and steroid (for potential tick fever and any infection in the wart) along with drip were given.. Blood test was taken. High creatinine and platelets were just below the lower limit. 

- 12th March: same thing continued. Vet said liver and kidneys have almost given up as per blood report. Something to support the kidneys was added in the drip. He peed quite a bit in the evening successfully, post the drip, just before we got him home. 

- 13th March: we had decided to stay the day at the Vet hospital for the twice daily drip, and not disturb Bozo with the car journeys. His breathing difficulty stepped up while first drip was going on. Oxygen tank was put. Blood test report revealed lower platelet count. Sharu immediately went to get antihaemorraging homeopathic medication from home, while i stayed with him and kept petting him. He was a bit disturbed with a few howling doggies. I played my music loudly near his year to calm him down. Bozkins breathed his last once Sharu reached and managed to tell him he is back. Immediately. He waited for all of us to be together when he transitioned. 

At 4pm, 7 days into his 15th year. 

 

Bonjour Paamsu

At 95+ human years, Bozo paams is now I think, the oldest living being in our building society. He has all the love & good wishes of his very many affectionate close pals here (yes, you know who you are). 

He comes down for his short loo break walk & excercise everyday, where he catches the rubber chewy ball in a brisk trot (where we sometimes have to pretend to overtake him to get his speed up). 

And this is after a car accident 3 years back which put the human co-passengers in coma & trashed the Corolla car. 

Hats off & deepest respect also to Hahnemann, whose insights have guided us to observe and understand Bozo's & as a result, our health too.

Bonjour paam's strength and caring are still teaching us priorities of life.

Take care and Happy New Year for 2023!

Logged back in..

This will hopefully get published, so then I will have figured out how to log back in to update my blog using my phone. Yes! Now am trying to see if I can update this!

Update

So I re-read my first post about Bozo and I am still shaking my head and laughing at myself!
a. why was I so obsessed about the food bit 
b. the top dog thing – I knew it would sort itself out in time (smug smile)
c. the post itself while also put out to amuse, was embarrassingly a tad too long!

Just an update about Bozo as he is now (those of you who are reading this presumably want to be updated):
Have abandoned my attempt at calling him Bonjour (even the name tag fell out eventually). Here are the reasons why:
a. it was sounding pretentious – should have called him Namaste perhaps..
b. No one (including me) could pronounce it quite right – especially at the vets, when everyone was struggling to hold him down, the attending vet screaming ‘down Bonjoor down” wasn’t eliciting any results)
c. Kennel time, unaccompanied quarantine time, certifications etc – anyone handling him without appropriate explanation from me.. you get the picture.
So good old Bozo it is, could be any other dog’s name in a list, but whatever.
Probably only the association with his original name will remain in his love for baguettes, no matter how stale, truly.

So Bozo, or Bozkins as he is affectionately referred to, is now a grown up, lithe, aerodynamic two year old Golden Retriever, who still launches into anyone who cares to give him a whistle. He packs a punch at a flying mass of 30kilos– if you are lucky he wouldn’t have gathered much speed. It’s just his way of saying hello. Greet him and relax. You are his guest after all.


Communication:
I am happy to say he completely and attentively listens, has a well developed vocabulary, and is pretty much docile after his first Hello. He can understand (and distinguish from afar before you) Bengali conversations, english, smattering of hindi. Even bahasa and kannada. Ok that’s stretching it. Just croon to him in any language, he will understand you.

He is trained. Yes, he is.
By a cousin who rolled on the floor and allowed his ears to be chewed in greeting.
By the Quarantine personnel in Singapore, and now he will shit only when the grass tickles his bum. (gone are the days when we could just leave the newspaper in a corner (ok, all over) the verandah for his reading pleasure)
Sit, Shake, Jabey(lets Go)?, khabey (want to eat?), Get your collar etc are passé

He has trained us. Yes, he has.
To give him his food, in three courses. Too long a story, but net net, three courses.
To get the room temperature Just Right.
To steer us to where he wants to go, mostly.

He can understand complex communication:
Veiled threats: Abar? ABAR? (Again u are doing that? AGAIN?)
Open threats: Agey kheye nao tar por nichey jabo /Na khele nichey niye jabo na (I will not take you outside unless you finish your food)
Closed ended statements: Stay kore good doggy hobe (self explanatory perhaps?)
Encouragement: Good doggy korey nao (I have walked you enough now, kindly select a spot)
Pls to note: he can distinguish between the different usages of ‘good doggy’ (significant look)
Of late of course, Bokey dao (Scold/Bark at him/it/nothing in particular) doesn’t seem to be working every time– he is mulling over whether we want him to befriend or be one up against, other dogs. We are working on this.

Favourite Occupation:
The only non-negotiable in the two years so far has been: exercise, exercise and more exercise. He is happiest when he is chasing the ball, and bringing it back to just beyond arm’s reach. Can do this endlessly.
2nd favourite occupation: humping legs – only and immediately after returning from a walk. Heaven help the walker wearing shorts.
Rolling on laundry: he isn’t too choosy about whether washed or unwashed – the damper, the better though. And towels, in any form – aaaaahhhhhhh!

Medication
Hopefully, this section will be of help to other dog owners, and hopefully we will not be adding too much to it.
(PS: there is absolutely nothing that works its magic like Homeopathy)
Kennel cough or something very much like it: Vitamin C: 4 tabs a day, Steam thrice a day. By end of the next day the coughing had stopped, and he sneezed out a lot of snot (I don’t know who was more surprised with that, him or me)
Nosebleed – last year – happened only once, presumably dehydration: Arnica – seems to be his constitutional medicine
Loosies: Nux Vomica
And once I was horrified to see him pee almost red/ deep orange: Again, presumably dehydration and no infection, because this worked: Half cup Chicken soup fed every half hour, loo break every other half hour, till colour back to normal. It took a day. Back up: Resurce powder – didn’t have to use it. Spice up the broth to elicit interest if required. Arnica every hour.

Ok that’s it for me now. Will post pics once I sort them out.
Woof woof!

Today

Have been meaning to record the trials and tribulations of bringing up a pup as I seem to have forgotten the schemings and misdemeanors of Simba (yes, the one with the butter wont melt in my mouth look) before he became the darling that he was. In my memory, we never trained Simba, we just treated him as another family member – a more darling one of course as he almost always got all the love and affection even while the other members of the two-legged kind were more often than not, not on speaking terms. However, as my dear sister pointed out, I seem to have forgotten the brat that he supposedly was. Again since there were all of us milling around aimlessly in the house most of the time, Simba was just automatically brought up, without much effort. Evidently it is a different situation altogether now.

Its not that I am not enjoying myself, I am enjoying myself hugely. It’s just that I, alarmingly often, feel like tearing my hair. I also seem to have lost almost all my confidence in whether I am doing the right thing. So this is also more of a helpline for me, apart from hopefully being a point of reference to similar others, for advice, tips and guidance. And Reassurance of course!

The websites for diet that I have browsed through so far almost always contradict each other.
- garlic is a good tick and flea repellant, garlic is poisonous to dogs
- stick to the same kind of diet, bung in variety
- no salt, no oil, yet doggie diet recipes have salt and oil in them (not that I am inclined to make them)

The websites on training for Obedience and Respect are all commercial and therefore while mildly informative, stress more on the whys than the whats. They are all preying on the susceptibility of pet owners who hanker after The dog who will listen to them Unconditionally and Always. As you can see, I’m sold and hoping against hope that this is possible DIY. These are of course early days yet and I am hopeful to come across a site that freely doles out genuine pointers on what to do. Suggestions at this point are obviously welcome.

So, as of today, I am trying to (re)establish myself as leader of the pack. We are not Mommy and Daddy. We are at different points in time, Top Dog. I am currently trying to take advantage of Sh’s absence of a few days to gain significant and rapid advancement to the top. Especially important now that I have noticed in the past two days it is only my hands that are getting bitten and my clothes getting torn, Sh having already upstarted me to successfully negotiate his way to the top.

Of course in attempting to train it is not easy maintaining that professional demeanor and therefor to not take the sassing personally. And to switch off from Training mode to Mother mode But a note to myself: Smartass is always watching and noting. I must remember therefore in all modes, to remain Top Dog.

Since this is a site requesting technical support rather than just sharing anecdotes, here are some questions that I hope will get answers from the beyond (some answers reveal themselves zen-like as I write, but I am always open to your views):

I have veered between firmly believing I am overfeeding him to wondering whether his meals are balanced. We have after multiple towels being thrown in in despair, reinforced our agreement to give him “home food” as opposed to "dog food” (after all, dogs inhabited the earth before dog food did with their exploitative marketing tactics et al).

So, currently his four planned meals are
- 2.5 rotis and approx 50 gms paneer (half liter toned milk gives about 100 gms paneer which I am using over two days)
- 70gms mutton Keema with a pinch of turmeric and garlic, 4 beans, 5-7 pcs of lauki and half a carrot + 3 Tbsp dal, 2 Tbsp rice
- 125gms mother dairy curd (haven’t been able to crack the code for uniform setting of curd)+ 4 Tbsp rice 70gms chicken keema, with a pinch of turmeric 4 beans, 5-7 pcs of lauki and half a carrot + 3 Tbsp dal, 2 Tbsp rice or 2 rotis
In this there are, everyday, 2 meals which he is tending to skip/leave significant leftovers. So evidently I am overfeeding him? Or do I need to do something about a more stringent quality control in the preparation? (what do street dogs eat??? They don’t get even half of this variety dammit)

Have tried slipping in a bit of banana to the curd rice dish but he sniffs it, takes a step back and sits down shaking his head (no doubt thinking to himself, "O dear, Priya Priya, why did u have to ruin a perfectly good meal. What do I do with this muck now?”
At which point I go "You have to EAT it I say, because I am Top Dog, and you do what Top Dog says”
But of course, who cares about whether I think I am Top Dog.)

The question is, should I pop the untouched meals or mostly left over parts in the fridge and bring it out at the time of the next meal (there has been so far one successful event with this, so I know it will work) or should I chuck it and give him his next planned meal?
If I keep surfacing the same dish, and this war of the wills continues for 3 attempts (by which time I am worried that the food has gone bad – so should I be chucking it anyways?) won’t it affect his nutrient intake – given the food distribution above? How important is banana in his diet, given the above?

Why isn’t he eating just about anything I give him? And how to get him to do that???