Monday, March 22, 2010

Ttouching Bonita

Hi,
We'll be leaving here in less than two days. In January we met Bonita, a scared little pup of less than six months. Initially feeding her was difficult. Her mother, Blondie, and Stormy the resident street dog had her so terrorized she would not try to take the food we offered. She was starving to death.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about her progress. She has been remarkable. Her beautiful brown coat and her confidence has blossomed.
A big thank you to our kind hearted friends who came by to sweet talk and hand feed her. All of the little bits and pieces have come together for Bonita.
Each week she got closer to us.
Bonita now plays with toys, which is something the older two dogs do not do. At 3 am when I hear the cylinder rolling with the clothes pin inside, I know it is Bonita playing, smile.
The last couple of weeks her soulful brown eyes follow me where ever I go. She wants get close, but is so afraid. When Bonita put her front paws on my leg, she looked like such a big girl. I was so proud of her.
Each time she improves, there is always a little back slide. At first I found that disheartening, then it became just the way she deals with the stress.
Other than when we took her to the vet to be spayed, we have not compelled her to do anything. Building trust has been my most important goal with her.
Today we put all of that to the test. I put my kennel lead around her neck. The look of sheer terror as the rope tightened around her neck was fairly quickly dissapated. We talked to her, telling her how wonderful she is. Dogs love to be talked to even when things are bad; it calmmed her down.
I stroked her sides. If she just felt how good it is to be pet, I knew she'd like it. When my hand went near her, she opened her mouth to bite. She thought better of it because she stopped herself. No tug on the leash required to save my hand, oh happy day.
She did a big sigh of resignation, then laid stiffly whild I began to softly caress her the way I've been wanting to for a long while. She closed her eyes. The tense body told me I could do what I wanted, but she wouldn't like it. I worked quickly to apply the Front Line to her skin. We had no idea if the stress would be too much for her, she could blow up at any time. After all she had no handling during the imprint phase, this was an unknown.
Once the flea preventative was applied we relaxed. She was still shutting it out, but when I did some ttouch (A Linda Tellington Jones technique) she melted. I did the circles near her tummy; she rolled over exposing her belly. Her rear legs kicked out, the way dogs do when they are enjoying a belly rub. My husband was at the ready, but not needed. I cut her sutures out unassisted! What made this particularly remarkable is that I took the lead off her after I did the flea repellant.

She took in the petting and ttouch for another ten minutes. Occasionally I'd stop, she opened an eye. I'd pet her again, so she closed her eye. When we were finished, she took a couple of steps, then plopped in the corner for a long nap.

Thank you, Linda Tellington Jones for some great techniques. This would not have gone as nicely without it.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Bonita & The Cheeto

Today Bonita is a bouncing adolescent dog with a happy tail. The last three months Kirt and I have gotten her to trust us. I’ve played positive and negative reinforcement games with her. She likes us. When we come home Bonita looks as happy to see us as her mother Blondie or Stormy does. She still does not want to be touched.

Yesterday I introduced Bonita to Cheetos, she loves these things. Before long she is taking them out of my hand when I held six inches away from my face. She would look directly at me as she reached for it. She was reading my body language for movement.


Once she was going to town on the Cheetos, I stopped giving them. You know how it is after you’ve had a handful of Cheetos. You must have more. Before long Bonita was circling our chairs trying to figure out how to get to the bag. It was so unfair, smile.


With my hand hanging over the side of the chair Bonita grabbed a couple more out of my hand. She was getting so confident. I put a couple on the floor just under my hand, slowly she gathered her courage. How her little teeth crunched the prize.


The next time she reached for the Cheeto, I gently stroked her back. She ran back no more than three feet, ate the Cheeto and then stretched. Initially it looked like she was coming back for another. She stopped, looked at me, looked at the Cheeto and then started an infantile sounding “rraaughrr”. She circled the chairs looking for a way to the goodies. She became so vocal, that she sounded like a chimpanzee.


Then Bonita took a drink of water, the Cheeto spell was broken. About ten minutes later, she is back looking for the Cheeto.


She takes it out my hand again; we are back to where we were before. She sees how I have changed my position so I can stroke her. She is having none of it. Bonita barks another puppy sounding, “rraaughrr”. She is chewing on her bed to relieve the frustration.


Except for the day we took her to the PetVet in Isabela to be spayed, we have never used any kind of force with her. She seemed to get over that quickly enough.


My agenda has always been the same, to get her to let me touch her. This afternoon I took a different approach, we just played. I’d give each dog a treat. The next round I’d give Stormy his treat, then Blondie. Bonita knew it was her turn. She started doing the things dogs do when they know it’s their turn. The eyes, the little bark, and then she put her front paws on my leg. Needless to say, I reinforced the heck out of that.


For a dog that was never touched in the first six months of her life, this is a pretty good victory. I’ll take it. In fact,”Woo-hoo”, she touched me. That’s pretty cool.














Friday, March 19, 2010

Early Learning K9 Style

For a good beginning the litter should be together with mom or a surrogate for a minimum of seven weeks. Around five weeks when the litter is eating well, I would remove mom. There is no need for the pups to continue to nurse.


The best surrogate we ever had was a male Rottweiler named Spunky. He would even get into the whelping box when the moms were out to potty. He stimulated the neonates. Spunky was the best Mr. Mom.

Spunky was a fun dog who would offer a fire hydrant a play bow. Over his life time Spunky was surrogate for our litters as well as clients. Rottweiler, Bullmastiff and Giant Schnauzer puppies raised by Spunky all gave lots of play bows. Coincidence???

The Puerto Rican island puppies that make it are very street smart. They learn early who their friends are and the hostilities of their world. The learning curve here is very steep or they don't make it.

After weaning, in the independent feeding stage is where we start to see the differences between our pets and the satos/island dogs.

At four to five weeks the litter will stay where mom tells them. A few weeks back a pretty spaniel cross approached me in the parking lot of our local bakery. Her litter waited in a nearby field as she returned with a crust of bread.

I have never seen a pet dog control her puppies that well. They don't have to, my girls knew it.

While the satos are learning about the three resources, our pets are learning how to play. The dogs here play with each other; our dogs have toys.

Our puppies grew up in an enriched environment. Our puppies had a 15 x 60 foot play yard with an old tractor tire 1/2 buried on its side. The center was filled with sand. Another tire on rim was 1/3 buried so they could go under and around. My husband made a low swinging bridge and a little rocker board. There was a little platform a few inches above the ground.

Post weaning, dogs require a lot of experiences. The Puerto Rican island dogs have their world in their face every day. Our dogs rely on us to introduce them to their world.

Canine Temperament Develops Early



Mothering in the whelping box begins the shaping puppy behavior. Mom sets the tone.


Once the eyes open around three weeks, the squeaky little barks and the mouth duels begin. Puppies learn to control the force of their bites gradually during the litter phase and beyond.


During the litter phase it is so cute to watch pups learn. One puppy will be on top, just feeling so full of himself that he bites the puppy on the bottom too hard. The puppy on the bottom then becomes fierce, telling the offender off.


The rule of keeping litters together for seven weeks while the nervous system myelinizes is the minimum acceptable time. The myelin sheath is the outer covering of the nervous system until this grows the puppy isn't "firing on all cylinders".


Some breeders take the mother away as soon as the pups can be weaned. A Bull Terrier breeder I know took the mother away because she was afraid the mother would harm the puppies. She was with the pups just long enough to feed. The breeder cleaned and stimulated the neonates; the mom was muzzled when she fed her brood.


The breeder kept a beautiful bitch out of the litter. She had that gorgeous turn of head that B.T. people love. She also happened to be the dominate puppy in the litter. By six months she was dominating the other dogs in the breeder's house. Her dam wasn't as dominant as the breeder thought and soon submitted to her daughter.


At ten months the breeder brought the bitch to me for social rehabilitation because she behaved aggressively at dog shows. This poor animal had not learned that she could submit and nothing bad would happen to her.


Had the breeder put her with a dog she trusted to correct the litter, this would have all been avoided.


The purpose of childhood is to have an opportunity to learn how to be a successful adult.


Puppies learn a lot together, but they need an adult to guide them.






Thursday, March 18, 2010

Where Does K9 Behavior Type Begin?

Sometimes I think communication styles would be a better way of referring to dominance or leadership styles, maybe it would be personality profiles.
Anyway here's what I do know:
A dog's behavior is how they get across their wants and needs; when these have been met there is social/recreational behavior.
The innate abilities of the neonate become honed by the puppy's life experiences. They all get similar gifts, great hearing and sense of smell, etc.

I remember reading an old Swiss study of mothering styles and behavior. If you want to change behavior; there's the place to start, right out of the box.
The study focused on how the mothers corrected their young when they suckled too vigorously; scratching or biting mom when they got those annoying little milk teeth.
Some mothers deliver inhibited nips, flip the pups on their backs & lick aggressively enough to make their babies cry. Other mothers will lick the puppies into submission in a way more gentle fashion.
It seems reasonable to conclude that the offspring of each of these styles of mothering will start out with different views of the world.
Years ago I had two rottie bitches whelp litters at the same time. They were half sisters, same father different mothers.
Belle was the sweetest mom, she lovingly did long licking sessions. These babies were exhausted after Belle licked, they slept well. By the time their milk teeth came in, all she had to do was put her nose by the head of an aggressive suckler to get it to ease up. She had licked them into submission. If one didn't get it she would go into her licking thing; it was beautiful.
PeggyO would do the front teeth nip thing, when she would lick them to stimulate urination they would cry. She was a fastidious mother, her babies were clean. Peggy rolled them all over the whelping box when cleaning.
Later, all the puppies played together. Belles' puppies were a few days older. I sometimes wonder if play would have been different had Peggy's puppies been the older.
Belle and Peggy O were wonderful, wonderful dogs. Peg lived with us for the rest of her life. If she could talk I'm sure she would have said, "Gimme the car keys, I want to go for a ride."
Belle went to live with a family. During that time she attacked a man who grabbed the five year old daughter as he tried to get the child over the back yard fence. I heard all about how fierce this loving creature could be and was glad to hear it.


So what do you think about that? Any breeders with a story about your dam's mothering style?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Canine Dominance or Leadership Styles

"If Hemi does this all the time, she is well reinforced for the behavior. If I am giving you what you want all the time; I'd say that makes you dominant over me or just a spoiled brat about to get your butt handed to you. Which do you think it is?"



Spoiled brat is right. Hit the nail on the head. Behavior is so complicated!
Mels replies are in italics.
"You say that Hemi's mom is the boss dog, what does her dominance/leadership style look like?"
(Also Shaker's mom)
She is very "quiet" about it. You would never know she's the boss walking in the house at random moments. She definately controls resources when it matters. Most times there is nothing to fight over, spoiled house dogs, plenty of food, plenty of bones, plenty of soft squishy places to lay... Certain times it is quite evident. When new meaty bones are out she can approach any dog in the house and gently take their bone. No one will contest. Often when they are handed out she will inspect each one and she gets to choose the one she wants first. She is the only one with this ability. When the other bitches are in season, she controls Stoney's (the intact male) proximity to them. He is not allowed around the other bitches. Period. This is the only time she can be "ferocious". She especially exerts this when the bitches are coming out of season and don't want male attention. In day to day life there is not much exciting.
Dominance/leadership styles vary; don't they?
The obvious here I am, I'll take what I want styles all can see. When Blondie arrives on the scene, she heads straight to the food dish. No matter whose head is in it. She bumps into dogs on the way in without a care. She's tough and athletic, so is her style. She is also a me-me girl.


Blondie's status comes from the fact that she can and will kick butt.


Nilla, Shaker's mom is an example of a more subtle leadership style. These are the leaders that fascinate me the most. Anyone with a subtle leader in their pack, please, tell us about how your dog leads.
The more subtle leadership styles we miss much of the time. And why wouldn't we miss subtlety in a dog?


We are a verbal species, yet if we don't see the speaker communication becomes more difficult. Body language is a part of our repertoire, just nod your head.


Imagine what we would know about each other if you could hear the other's heart race or read each because we could smell the change in body chemistry.

Monday, March 15, 2010

What is Canine Dominance?

"The confidant dominant dog that wants what another dog has will stand over the dog with tail wagging. The lower ranked dog will give it up. The dog with no social skills growls and slobbers then gets into a fight"

This is so interesting to me!!! Is this in your eyes always a "dominant" gesture? My little Hemi does this all the time when she wants what someone else has. Everyone that witnesses it thinks she is quite the annoying dog because the other dog after being beat in the face by her tail for a while will get up and leave the "prize". I'm not sure if she has ever done it to her mother who is definitely the boss around these parts. I will start paying attention. Very interesting and not something any "dog" person has ever interpreted that way, but makes absolute perfect sense.

If Hemi does this all the time, she is well reinforced for the behavior. If I am giving you what you want all the time; I'd say that makes you dominant over me or just a spoiled brat about to get your butt handed to you. Which do you think it is?

The only dominance ranking I see as static is the hierarchy of who gets the three resources. The rule there seems to be if you can kick my butt, go first. I'll wait.

Stormy, who never gets to breed the girl, is smarter than most of the other dogs around here. He is the leader/dominant dog in the neighborhood. He nips Bluto, the Akita on the nose like a man might correct a boy. Bluto takes it, but when it comes to sex; guess who wins?!

So if you are smarter than me, is that dominance? Maybe, we need better terms. Until then.......

Dominance/leadership is not a bad thing; I fear we put that color to it.

You say that Hemi's mom is the boss dog, what does her dominance/leadership style look like?

Thanks Tric for entertaining my recent questioning mind. I wonder a lot about aggression. Recently there has been a trend in golden retriever "show" people to claim how friendly and perfect their goldens are. They have a close friend of mine worried that his dog had an abnormal temperament because he growled at another male dog. These people claim their dogs never growl or posture and their males could run with any other intact male without a second thought. This seems like abnormal behavior to me. What do you think?

Well socialized intact males can and do get along.

Not all normal dogs like each. Grrr, go away I don't like you is not bad dog behavior in my book. As a trainer I will watch the context of the behavior for repeats, which may mean problem looming. I'd just distract; ask for a sit or a watch me, then reinforce.

The dog that acts out snapping or lunging, that's the problem dog.

I read somewhere that most dog fights involved an adolescent dog. Dogs this age are still unskilled in their language and from what I read post puberty the testosterone level is one and a half times what it will be for the rest of their lives. In beings with such powerful olfactory abilities, that could be a reason for a dog not being liked.

A dog that tells me he doesn't like something gives me an opportunity to shape behavior away from the problem. If a dog plays with kids then growls, he tells me he is sick of them. Tyr, my Rottweiler was like that. He got tired of kids after a while. I taught him to go to his spot/ blanket instead of growling. He was a great dog who never hurt a child.

The growl is verbal in a species that as per Dr. Temple Grandin thinks in pictures, so that makes it an important communication. Personally I like a dog to tell me how he feels.

I can't read the very subtle signals yet. This is getting long, so in another post I'll tell you about the night a gang of a dozen visited Stormy's spot, my house.

Just keep loving those doggies!

Is Canine Aggression Normal?

"Fear, aggression or the threat of aggression is corner stone of canine society. At night when the interlopers come; there are horrible fights."
Is aggression really a corner stone? Is aggression normal or abnormal behavior? What is the definition of "canine aggression"? Is it unprovoked attack, defense of ones resources, protection of young, defense of ones own body? Is aggression the same thing done out of fear verses other things? Is there normal aggression and abnormal aggression? The word aggression to me leaves so much to be desired because I think the definition is way too big. Aggressive behaviors can be as different as a human serial killer (abnormal right?) and a human defending themselves from an attack (normal response right?) I really have a problem with the word aggressive. Too many dogs are labeled with this word with all of it's negative stigma in tow. We try to rectify this in behavioral medicine by labeling the aggression... fear aggression, dominance aggression, territorial aggression, dog aggression, ect. Most dog's "aggressive" behaviors tend to be a product of environment (my own opinion). Some dogs seem to have more "aggressive" tendencies from the beginning. But is that really so? Or are they a product of their environment in their early life. Competition for food among a litter of puppies is thought to increase resource guarding behaviors. Puppies raised as "singletons" have less bite inhibition and other control problems if not socialized with other puppies. What they learn in the first weeks of life is amazing to me. This subject is so big. I have so many questions. It seems the more I read the more questions I have.

Dog aggression is a huge subject. Let's start with what I mean by fear, aggression or the threat of aggression is corner stone of canine society.


I believe the Dr. Temple Grandin is right; fear is a strong emotion in dogs. That she is right about them thinking in pictures.

Is aggression normal? I think our history would prove it to be so. Remember in science things go from the simple to complex, so these baser behaviors did not originate in the human species. I don't care who says so.

When the law of nature is the only one in place, the stronger gets the resource. If a smaller dog is eating, the larger dog will take the food away. That's aggression or the threat of aggression. That is perfectly normal behavior. We don't like that, so we teach our dogs to behave like good civilized canines.

Blondie now looks at me and wags her tail when she has finished her food and she wants to go take her daughters food; before she delivered painful bites to Bonita to make her be more afraid of being bit than starving. Ugly, yes and a normal behavior for a being with limited resources.

I feed dogs where ever I go on the island, sometimes I see dogs eat side by side. More often I see the smaller wait until the larger is done to approach the food. That has to be hard for a hungry dog.

It's a good possibility that the adults terrorize the youngsters the way Blondie has Bonita, so they don't have to fight when they are adults.

It's a given that boys of any species will fight for sex, we'll call that normal.

An interloper comes into the territory; if he wants your spot you fight or relinquish your spot. The interloper isn't a bad aggressive dog. He is just a dog without a spot.

It sounds like aggression over resources is a normal behavior; it is absolutely a product of environment.

For a dog skilled in its own language/culture there is no other reason to fight. Dogs that cannot win the fight will walk away from food, sex and their spot.

Fear aggression is only experienced by dogs unskilled in their language/culture. I am afraid, so I bite is very dysfunctional.

Territory aggression dogs come by it naturally, but again if they are skilled in their language they work it out. The dogs lacking social skills act out. I think breeding plays a sizable role as well.

Dominance aggression is the other very dysfunctional behavior, again breeding plays a role. The point of being dominant is to have the resources; not to get into fights.

The confidant dominant dog that wants what another dog has will stand over the dog with tail wagging. The lower ranked dog will give it up. The dog with no social skills growls and slobbers then gets into a fight.


Keep having questions, the more we question, the more we understand.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

What's Natural?

One question I have been pondering for so long but can't seem to quite articulate: What is a "natural" environment for a dog? They are not wolves, they are a domestic species. Man made so to speak, so "wild" wouldn't be natural. Reliant on man??? I think so, but I don't know. In a home? Probably an extreme. With many or it's own kind or a limited group. It seems the indians kept dogs, they kind of free ranged as a group right? What is their "natural" surrounding? How is the best way to study their "normal" behavior? In a controlled environment? In a free for all? In a home environment? I think so much in canine behavior is dependent on human influence. I don't think it would ever be possible to neutralize this stimulus and really see dogs be dogs. Any thoughts???




Hi, Mel, you ask great questions. These are domesticated dogs, not wolves or coyotes or wild dogs. It's important to study all the ways dogs live. Wherever they go with us becomes their environment whether natural or not. Hi-rise condos are not natural, but dogs live there. Urbanization is a phenomenon that started in earnest with the industrial revolution in the late 1800's. 
We've dragged our dogs with us into a civilized less natural environment. Planes, trains and automobiles are as much a part of our dog's lives as they are ours.
Except for events like a meteor plowing into the planet, change in nature takes a long time. What's natural about the way we've bred dogs? Could a Chihuahua exist in nature? Or a Great Dane? God did not do domesticated dogs, we did. Their behavior is dependent on our influence from genes on up.
A "natural" environment would perhaps be an agrarian setting, where the dogs have enough space to run & sniff doing doggie things. I am part Inuit, my ancestors lived with dogs in frozen tundra; there's a normal environment.
By studying them in all these environments we get a better idea of who this creature really is.


Here in Puerto Rico is not a better way; it's just different. Pets get health care, these dogs don't.

For studying dog behavior it is fantastic here because when you control the dog even by manipulating the environment by feeding, you change the behavior outcome. The organization and adaptability of the organism is observed here in a way that isn't possible to replicate in a lab.
I've spent a lot of time learning about dogs, reading, and seminars. The last twenty-five years we've lived with an average of a dozen dogs at a time. I've trained a large number of dogs. I started doing behavioral consults, which is my expertise.
The last four years I've learned things about dogs, I couldn't when the dogs were under my control or another person's control. It is what I refer to learning about the essential dog.
I'm guessing most folks who work in an animal hospital have played the game where you guess what the person/owner will be like when they come to pick up the dog. (If you haven't met them) Our pets are a reflection of us as much as they are breed type.
One belief I changed is that I believe a dog should spend the first six months learning more about the dog language. Our pets do not know their own language well enough. It may sound silly but the better they know their own culture, the better they fit into ours. Make sense??

Puerto Rican Island Dogs

Don't mean to rain on your parade - As I've been reading what seems to be somewhat of an idillic existance between dogs, well I don't see dogs suffering from fight injuries as pleasant and that's life, and dogs and humans this has been in the back of my mind. This just came up on the horse lists with a load of horrible experiences being posted by people on horseback.. Interesting that this doesn't raise it's ugly head in PR. I know dogs do this for fun.

Thanks to my good friend, Cheryl for the feedback. The focus of my writing is about the complex society dogs in this area have; idyllic it's not.
No one knows how many satos/feral dogs are running on the island. I believe it is estimated 2,500,000 plus. This place is no larger than Rhode Island. Many of these dogs, like Bonita are born to moms in nature without the benefit of loving humans. Living in fear of and in the shadow of man is that a curse or will they adapt, what is their quality of life?
Bonita was close to a long slow death, when we arrived. Her own mother would attack her severely whenever she would attempt to eat.
Fear, aggression or the threat of aggression is corner stone of canine society. At night when the interlopers come; there are horrible fights. When I first arrived Kirt would pull me back when I wanted to run out to break it up.
Injured, diseased and dying; it's all here every day of the week alongside the beauty and wonder. There are plenty of blogs about the poor island dogs, how they suffer.
These dogs do not get vet care unless they are blessed by the presence of one of Puerto Rico’s wonderful dog saviors. I will be posting on the humans behind these organizations soon.
I write about how they live, the good Samaritans who feed them, our struggles to keep them from itching.

We have had no water here this whole trip. Aceductos, the water company can’t seem to connect the pipes without a leak. They deliver water in tankers to our roof top reservoir; that’s idyllic.

As far as chasing horses goes, let me say that my limited experience here leads me to believe that any dog that chased horses around here would only do it the once. Boys too young or too poor for cars get around on horseback. This is very big here with issues; surprise. These boys carry big long whips and they know how to use them. Preguntas??
In January I spent a long week in class 8:30 - 5 pm because the situation is deplorable. This was the first graduating class of certified Animal Control Officers on the island ever! The last group of ACO'S were throwing animals off a bridge to get rid of them.
I DO NOT want a situation in which to control the numbers healthy dogs are picked up and killed. They have a life.
Good days or bad days these dogs go about their lives. I find what they do interesting. In the mean while there are many cool dogs on this island to meet and feed.
Thanks for the question! I had no idea that the suffering part wasn't coming across.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Learning About Dogs

Shortly, we'll be back in Illinois running our dog facility. My life as a dog trainer, kennel operator seems so surreal right now.
It is always fun to apply what I've learned from the Puerto Rican island dogs to our day care dogs. I am eager to play with pet dogs again. 

This morning as Kirt, my husband & I were having coffee on the veranda; he asked why it was so important for me to learn about what these dogs were doing and write about it. My dear most patient man would prefer more time at the beach or taking photos of plazas. 
Why? It's fascinating to learn how dogs organize themselves when left to their own choices. How dogs establish rank/status largely without fighting is so interesting. That Blondie regularly walks about a mile to visit a yellow female that looks to be related, OMG, that is interesting.
In studies that I've read about with groups of dogs researchers controlled the resources, which means the dogs were fed on a regular basis. 
Here I see how the dogs are handling the scarcity of resuorces. I think watching free ranging dogs tells us a bit more about the essential dog.
The spot where Stormy, Blondie & Bonita lives supports two dogs, not three. Do puppies move on or die?  
By learning more about the situations that create and how dogs resolve conflict on their own, we can learn better ways of handling conflict with our pets.
Mothering styles is something I'd like to look into on future trips. When did it go from Blondie nuturing her daughter to Bonita being another competitor for food? Was she always a parsimonious with the resouces? Survive first then reproduce is a natural law. How these mothers do it is the interesting part. 

I hope I've helped you visualize the dog life here.  So often Mel's questions or comments have quided the subject of the day; thanks for the feedback. If you find it interesting or have questions, please let me know.

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers for our Sadie. Dog people have so much heart.