Dog Talk

a reply to: DrumsRfun

I have had several experiences that supports what you say. My first unusual encounter was when I visited a sick patient to administer chemotherapy in his home. I arrived, the front door was open, and the screen door unlatched, so when no one answered I walked in.

A huge Doberman greeted me at the door and I loved up on him for a while, waiting for someone to come, when they didn't I asked the dog to take me to his owner. He led me through the house and down a hallway to his owner's room. He was sitting up in bed, when I walked into the room and identified myself, I never saw such terror expressed on a patient's face before.

He called out to his mother who was in the attached bathroom, she walked out and she too was shocked to see me and that look of terror quickly took over her face. I asked if something was wrong. The patient said, "Storm, come here boy." Storm went to him. His mother came to me and said, he will put up the dog.

I told them that it wasn't necessary, that the dog did not get in my way. She said Storm hates everyone, and won't even let her in the house, unless her son has control of him. I was puzzled. I told them that Storm led me to the room. The patient said Storm had never done that before, "ever".

I asked if he would mind if I asked Storm to come to me. He seemed uncertain. I called to Storm, "Come her sweet boy." Storm came right over and allowed me to touch him and love on him. The patient and his mother were shocked, they said the Storm never allowed anyone in the house and the patient was the only one that he listened to, or allowed to touch him..

Storm and I were immediate friends because he "knew" I was there to make his owner feel better. I have had this same experience on numerous occasions. Most animals know. Most animals will break their training, when you are there to help their owners. They just know.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: DrumsRfun

Animals feel it and they sense it.

Most pets with half a brain that I've had can tell when their owners are not feeling good. It doesn't matter what they are. They act and react differently than they otherwise would.

I saw this and it reminded me if your post.

Sometimes animals are better at being human than we are.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

That black and white tux with the big voice? He was always pushy and pretty into everything you were doing, but when you were sick, he was a complete little mouse. He would simply get next to you and stretch out quietly. No demands, no nothing. He was just there.

He was such a good boy through my wisdom teeth and neck surgery like that.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Speaking of which...another story, this time one of mine.

Woke up one snowy morning, must have snowed about 4" of sleet and slush the night before. It was around 4am. Had my boots and coveralls all set up like a fireman's next to my bed. I'd been asleep for 3 hours which was an hour longer than I should have. I jumped in my boots and pulled my bibs up, grabbed my jacket and headed outside (again).

I saw momma first and she was in the corral with my headlamp. When got to the corral, one look behind her and wave of fear shot over me. It was clear she'd given birth, as I was expecting. She was a first time momma, and sometimes weird stuff happens with 1st time momma's. I checked in the loafing shed and there was no calf in the straw we'd laid out. Dammit! I went and dug around in the straw just to be sure there wasn't a little one buried in there. There wasn't.

I asked momma where her calf was. She just mooed at me. Normally, they'll stand between you and their calf, and if their calf is in a bad way they'll lead you to it. Not her, she was new and just didn't know what to do. But where the heck was her calf??

I figured for sure the calf was dead, and if it wasn't surely the coyotes got to it. It was snowing to beat the band by this time. I headed out of the corral in the dark to go try to find the calf. I found it about 100 yards outside the corral. It was motionless and snow had drifted up over it. When I got up to the calf it was literally encrusted in ice...BUT miraculously,...it was alive! I brushed it off as best I could and wrapped my coat around it and picked the heavy little bugger up (he was about 80lbs of slippery, half frozen, jello). I brought him back to the loafing shed and put him in the straw. We got some warm towels, cleaned him off and dried him off, then started rubbing on him to warm him up.

It was pretty obvious he'd been out there for a while, so she must have given birth shortly after I'd checked on her at 1am. Not sure how long, but it was clear he hadn't been on his feet yet (a BAD sign!). She had just dropped him and apparently walked off. I could see this because he hadn't really even been cleaned off yet as most momma's normally do. Momma's licking them against the grain of their fur encourages them to stand up and nurse.

I was pretty certain we were outside the golden 2 hour window for momma to get some collostrum in him. No way was a calf just a few hours old going to take it from a bottle, so we were going to have to 'tube' him ("drench" is the official term). We'd already called in a 9-1-1 to our large animal vet, and she was on the way. Both myself the the wife were still pretty green back then when it came to birthing, so I'd never really done the intubation procedure before. Get the tube in the right way and you save the calf's life. Get it down the wrong pipe and you kill the calf in a matter of minutes. I knew that much, hence the 9-1-1 to the vet.
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All of this takes time, and in that time momma woke up to the fact this calf was hers. This really surprised me because by toweling him off we'd removed most of his scent, and because momma hadn't cleaned him off (further reinforcing their bond) she didn't know his scent. Normally this leads to an orphaned calf, but in this case momma had it figured out and was now actively trying to get the calf up. Now, normally this would be a good thing that her instincts had kicked in, but in this case the calf had been out there so long there was no way it could get up, even if it wanted to. Not the time to have a protective momma in your face!!

Fortunately, I had some collostrum replacer all warmed up by the time the vet showed up, so we were able to hit the ground running (and we definitely were 'running'). Now all we had to do was tube the calf. Only problem was...momma.

It was one of those moments where everybody looks at each other, shrugs, and says 'whatever happens, happens...so let's do this!' So, into the corral and into the loafing shed we went. Normally a new momma like that would have stomped us all to death, and not stopped stomping until she was too tired to stand. New calf was bawling up a storm as we tried to get it in position. Momma was all around us (more than one too). She was pushing our heads out of the way so she could see what we were doing, circling around us so close we had to watch our feet to keep from getting stepped on. She was so close her belly would brush my butt as I was kneeling down. Calf was screaming and bawling and thrashing (which oddly, is actually a good sign). Momma was protecting her calf, but leaving us alone to do what we needed to do.
She knew we were there to help. We managed to get the tube down his throat into his esophagus and got a whole half gallon of collostrum replacer in him. Success!

Within 2 hours the calf was up on his feet and happily nursing. By that time we had heaters set up, electrical cords strung from hell to breakfast, heating lamps and the whole bit going.

Yeah, animals know, even dumb cows. They know. Imagine being inside a 15x15 pen with a full grown agitated momma cow, her newborn calf and three people trying to manhandle it. It was a scary day for sure, but if there was ever a time when I knew just how much animals really do know when you're trying to help, it was that morning!

Ike grew up to be a champion bull. To this day he's probably still my favorite. He's probably long since been retired and put out to pasture, but I'll never forget that morning.

Might be a little off center a bit, but something just hit me.

My Enoch is an eight month old cat that comes with a history of his own. Enoch is the most vocal and "loud" cat I have ever owned or known.

He bonded with my mother straight off, and follows her like a puppy. I noticed that he is so much louder when he is around her, not so much around me.

Well it just hit me, watching the two of them interacting. My mother is very hard of hearing. I am now wondering if Enoch is so loud because he knows that.

He may be picking his cues up from his Husky siblings, because they surely are loud, and he tries to take over Maxx's role of alpha, quite frequently. I am so lucky that Maxx is the laziest, most even tempered, friendliest, generous, Husky you will ever meet. His son and daughter will be three years old come July, and he still leaves them some of his food every time he is fed. He lets his son and Enoch play at being alpha but in the end everyone, four legged or two legged in the household, knows who the alpha really is.

The answer is still, "Me!"

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Nah, that dog has a lot of love and will never be alone, I am still trying to figure out the best thing for her.....she is our pal so I have to do whats best for her after my mom goes.
I named her after the Garfield cartoon.....he had a teddy bear named pookie, so I named her the pookster, pooks is what I call her.
I snap my fingers and call out for the pooks and she comes running.

She is a funny little character,she barks at a squirrel and then hides behind me. lol
She is not exactly an alpha but she is cute as hell.

She just takes comfort knowing I will protect her and she can relax knowing I am there.
She hates men, I am the only man she accepts and will bond with...she hates men.

a reply to: DrumsRfun

She sounds so sweet!
And it sounds like she knows a good person when she sees one.

IMHO, dogs are good judges of character

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Oh my goodness! I just had an amazing experience.

I opened the wrong side of my back pepper dispenser, and accidentally dumped out too much pepper.

I went into a sneezing fit that was epic. I could barely catch my breath. All my Huskies went into a crying whining fit that if I lived in the city, my neighbors would have called the police, complaining that I was traumatizing them.

They didn't quiet down until I stopped and let them see I was okay.

They do know when you are in trouble.