If you are vegan, you know you love your dogs if you bravely march up to the meat counter at your neighborhood grocery to ask for raw cow bones. Foster mom has never done this before, but after much reading and convincing by various dog trainer and vet friends, I finally buckled. I went to our closest Central Market  and bought a six-pound femur bone. It was totally disgusting — covered in little bits of fat, meat, and other inner nasties — but in a weird way, totally satisfying, too.

The Dude got to come home in between his two back-to-back heartworm shots to cuddle up on the couch with his Chick and some blankets, and I felt like buying him a delicious and heroic treat to celebrate. Plus, it’s Valentine’s Day. And to a dog, what says “I love you” better than a six-pound raw cow bone? I had visions of the two boys being happily reunited for the night, and then peacefully gnawing on their bones in the living room, forgetting about all of their  troubles.

Unfortunately, the plan didn’t work out quite so. Chick was excited to see the Dude only until he realized that there was a cow bone in the house, in which case his mind went completely blank except for the bone – the bone – the bone – thebonethebone – THEBONE.THEBONE.THEBONE.

Dude, on the other hand, wasn’t excited to see the Chick OR the bone — the combo of the heartworm injection and the pain and anti-inflammatory meds have made him totally drowsy, mopey, and without an appetite.

All in all, we’re just happy to be together. Wishing you plenty of togetherness on this Valentine’s Day, too.

Settle something for us boys, would you? We only have one raincoat, and when it’s rainy like it has been recently in Austin, only one of us can stay nice and dry.

So who looks better in the coat?

This Chick?

Or this Dude?

The stakes are high here. The winner gets to wear the coat in the next set of storms!

In recent weeks, we’ve mentioned in passing that the Dude is not very food motivated. It’s been a big challenge for us because food puzzles and exercise are our deadly 1-2 combo in combatting anxiety, and with the Dude’s intensive heartworm treatment, the exercise is entirely out. With no visible food motivation, the food puzzles have been out too.

Until Monday.

On Monday, the Dude decided to turn a very sharp corner and become not just willing to work, but a complete food maniac.

We have seen a lot of dogs go from nervous and disinterested of food to gung-ho piggies, but never in the blink of an eye. The sun set on Sunday and the Dude nonchalantly walked away after sniffing his dinner, and the sun rose on Monday and he was an expert wobbler-holic, a brilliant kong-extractor, and a voracious devourer of bully sticks. Is this guy playing tricks on us?

We’re glad the boy has found his appetite — he has gained about 8 pounds since he came into our care, but is still a skinny little kid.

And with the doctor’s “Keep calm. Very, very calm” orders, food-driven training, puzzles, and games will –hopefully– keep us all sane until his 10 weeks of treatment are over!

By the way– did you notice the Dude’s new collar? Are you wondering what he did to deserve it? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

NEW POST today at our other blog — about nine new dogs traveling cross-country to join Love-A-Bull’s foster program! Click here.

Crate training the Dude has looked a little bit like this:

Some may recall that the night he came to us, we tucked him away in his crate and woke the next morning next to an intact crate halfway across the room, and a peacefully sleeping Dude on the sofa. Out came the zip-ties, and the Dude took an alternative approach: pushing and nudging at the metal bars until they gave in, bending into perfect diamond-shape patterns with jagged edges: just the right size and shape for a dog Snickerdoodle’s size to stick his head through and puncture his neck on the sharp corners.

A few failed attempts at buttering the boy up later, we landed a rehomed plastic crate (apparently better for destructive dogs).

Naturally, he was skeptical. The first day, he wouldn’t even come in the same room as the crate. The second day, he wouldn’t come near the crate. The third day, we came up with a brilliant idea: Invite his mentor/boyfriend/brother Chick into the crate first. We never did crate train the Chickster, but when we filled the bottom crate half with bedding and invited him in for a nap, he didn’t hesitate to hop right in to the cozy nest. And wouldn’t you know? The Dude dove right in after him. For the Doodlebug, it’s hard to resist a little snuggle-time with his big bro.

Eventually, we warmed up to where the Dude would enter the crate shell first– assisted by some hot dog bits — if Chick was nearby and looking like he was headed in the same direction. But if Chick was nowhere in sight? No way, Jose.

We feel really lucky that the two are such good compadres and are relatively trustworthy — barring any garbage can escapades — when left loose alone together in the house. And honestly, given how sweet these two look snuggled up like this, we’re not in too much of a crate-training rush.

For photos, bios, and adoption info about Love-A-Bull’s other adorable, adoptable pit bull type dogs, visit here.

It’s been a week and a half, and we can finally say that Snickerdoodle had become comfortable enough to feel at home.

Don’t believe us? Here’s our proof:

Different fosters have taken different amounts of time to really settle in, and we suspect that the Doodlebug’s trajectory was thrown off temporarily by his medical issues and his big scare last weekend. It’s true that he still won’t go anywhere near his crate (his third crate, after thoroughly defeating one and convincingly threatening the second) and he still gets a worried furrow in his brow when we leave the house. He still rolls his eyes and sighs when we pull out squeaky toys and balls. And he still isn’t entirely convinced that food is worth working for. But progress takes time.

We’ve hit some big milestones over the past few days: the Dude conquered his first kong snack. He learned how to walk into another room — not the one we’re in — for a nap on the couch. And he reclaimed that very primal, canine instinct to dive into the grass for a long, satisfying, post-bath back scratch, four legs pointed toward the heavens, with a big silly grin on his face. Our favorite milestone yet.

To check out our other blog — about pit bull advocacy, education, rescue, and events in Texas — click here.

After Snickerdoodle’s scary incident and subsequent visit to the vet this weekend, he and the Chick put their heads together and came up with what they considered to be the Very Best Course of Action: from here on, all dogs should sleep on the human bed.

When the vet ordered plenty of rest and TLC for the Doodlebug, surely this is what she meant.

But these guys know better than to think that us very disciplined human would let two filthy, smelly, frito-pawed, grass-stain-covered dogs sleep on our nice clean human sheets — least of all on “clean sheet Wednesday.” No, we’re too cold-hearted and clean-loving to allow that.

So the Chick and the Dude did an unprecedented thing: they volunteered for a bath.

I should have known they were trying to trick me. I should have seen it coming. But I blindly trusted these two con-artists, and gave them a quick hosedown and a good scrub with some nice shampoo. What resulted was some very clean, naked, and fresh-smelling wonderdogs — sleeping on our bed.

"Chick, do you smell that? It smells amazing." "Yes Dude, it's us, and it smells great!"

"I'm already daydreaming about nightdreaming in that nice, comfy human bed."

"Ok Chick, on the count of three, pretend to be sleeping in their bed."

"One, two, three. . . "

To check out our other blog — about pit bull advocacy, education, rescue, and events in Texas — click here.