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Today, 5th January 2008, we greet a new short-term addition to the family. Spencer is a large, elderly male labrador. He weighs around 45 kg and was picked up as a stray by Battersea Dogs' Home, London, early in December. He is somewhere between 7 - 10 years old with a few health problems. The Dogs' Home has a foster programme and Spencer is our first assignment. I was offered a choice (sight unseen) between Spencer and Jasper (a labrador cross, aged between 6 and 12 months). Jasper sounded very cute but possibly quite a demanding handful.
We were told Spencer was 'very clean in his kennel', but outside appeared to suffer from fecal incontinence as he wasn't stopping to squat, simply walking on apparently unaware of what was happening at the other end. It wasn't clear whether this was a behavioural issue, related to the stress of being in kennels, or if there could be some other explanation.
He jumped into the back of the estate car without hesitation, allowed me to harness him in and settled down happily for the ride. Once home, I walked him straight through into the garden and let him off the lead. After cocking his leg a few times, he began combing the shrubbery for the right place to squat, finally backing his butt onto (yes, in contact with) a prickly young holly bush. It didn't look the most comfortable place, but evidently it met his requirements and he proved that given the right circumstances, he would take the time to pause and reflect on the moment. I praised him.
We brought him indoors and showed him his lovely new doggy-duvet (all equipment, food, toys, medicine etc. is provided by the Dogs' Home). He was so excited, he immediately dug in, ripped the duvet from its cover and tore a hole in it before we could convince him to give it up. He'd only been in the house a matter of minutes and feathers were flying already! Not a good start! We removed the luxury feather duvet from its cover, replacing it with some old blankets and towels and checked his response - one sniff and he dismissed it as of no further interest..
I sewed up the hole in the duvet to prevent any further feather-loss and hoovered up the feathers. At this point we had confined Spencer to the kitchen, but I opened the door into the lounge to check out his reaction. He walked in to inspect ... and promptly decided the house-plants needed watering. I told him "NO!" very firmly (don't want the maid becoming upset that he's taken over her job). I took him outside again and praised him each time he cocked his leg out there, then brought him back inside to try again. Same result - although he does respond to the "NO!". Back outside again, plenty of praise when he cocks his leg out there, then back in again - to sniff the houseplants and cock his leg yet again. Stubborn old boy. Yet he's fine in the kitchen - no houseplants there.
After we'd had lunch and Spencer had had a chance to settle in (confined to the kitchen), I took him out for a walk. Originally I was intending to walk over the allotment and back, to check out his stamina. However, by the time we'd gone a quarter of a mile I realised I might not have the stamina - it was proving quite strenuous work walking him as he was pulling with all his weight. I replotted the walk to around the block (about a mile). Then we came to a place where he began to look purposeful, sniffing the shrubbery with excitement. Once again he squatted right in the shrubbery, with a bush up his backside, and produced a diarrhoea dump. Fortunately it was quite easy to scoop it up in the bag I'd taken for the purpose and drop it into the doggy-poop bin further along our walk. Once he'd done his business, his pace did settle down and he was more inclined to walk alongside me on a loose lead, and acknowledged the praise with a waggy tail.
I think we may have solved the question about the fecal incontinence - the Dogs' Home has some outside dog runs where the dogs are exercised, but these are all tarmac with no greenery, and Spencer does seem to prefer to hide in the bushes to perform.
We were told Spencer was 'very clean in his kennel', but outside appeared to suffer from fecal incontinence as he wasn't stopping to squat, simply walking on apparently unaware of what was happening at the other end. It wasn't clear whether this was a behavioural issue, related to the stress of being in kennels, or if there could be some other explanation.
He jumped into the back of the estate car without hesitation, allowed me to harness him in and settled down happily for the ride. Once home, I walked him straight through into the garden and let him off the lead. After cocking his leg a few times, he began combing the shrubbery for the right place to squat, finally backing his butt onto (yes, in contact with) a prickly young holly bush. It didn't look the most comfortable place, but evidently it met his requirements and he proved that given the right circumstances, he would take the time to pause and reflect on the moment. I praised him.
We brought him indoors and showed him his lovely new doggy-duvet (all equipment, food, toys, medicine etc. is provided by the Dogs' Home). He was so excited, he immediately dug in, ripped the duvet from its cover and tore a hole in it before we could convince him to give it up. He'd only been in the house a matter of minutes and feathers were flying already! Not a good start! We removed the luxury feather duvet from its cover, replacing it with some old blankets and towels and checked his response - one sniff and he dismissed it as of no further interest..
I sewed up the hole in the duvet to prevent any further feather-loss and hoovered up the feathers. At this point we had confined Spencer to the kitchen, but I opened the door into the lounge to check out his reaction. He walked in to inspect ... and promptly decided the house-plants needed watering. I told him "NO!" very firmly (don't want the maid becoming upset that he's taken over her job). I took him outside again and praised him each time he cocked his leg out there, then brought him back inside to try again. Same result - although he does respond to the "NO!". Back outside again, plenty of praise when he cocks his leg out there, then back in again - to sniff the houseplants and cock his leg yet again. Stubborn old boy. Yet he's fine in the kitchen - no houseplants there.
After we'd had lunch and Spencer had had a chance to settle in (confined to the kitchen), I took him out for a walk. Originally I was intending to walk over the allotment and back, to check out his stamina. However, by the time we'd gone a quarter of a mile I realised I might not have the stamina - it was proving quite strenuous work walking him as he was pulling with all his weight. I replotted the walk to around the block (about a mile). Then we came to a place where he began to look purposeful, sniffing the shrubbery with excitement. Once again he squatted right in the shrubbery, with a bush up his backside, and produced a diarrhoea dump. Fortunately it was quite easy to scoop it up in the bag I'd taken for the purpose and drop it into the doggy-poop bin further along our walk. Once he'd done his business, his pace did settle down and he was more inclined to walk alongside me on a loose lead, and acknowledged the praise with a waggy tail.
I think we may have solved the question about the fecal incontinence - the Dogs' Home has some outside dog runs where the dogs are exercised, but these are all tarmac with no greenery, and Spencer does seem to prefer to hide in the bushes to perform.
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