Ok now i think i've got it! I can now post to this as ME and not my silly rabbit friend without losing all my prior posts like I did before trying to create a new blog! I'm so blond!
i'm pretty whipped right now. yesterday i took O'Reilly, who is probably about 7 months old now, to the doggie park. I met with the rescue coordinator from the Ridgeback Rescue that helped me adopt him and her 2 dogs. We were evaluating his energy level, and if I am a good fit for him. I was thinking i wasn't. She thinks I'm doing fine and gave me a couple pointers on what O'Reilly needs to be successful - boundaries and outlets.
He loves to play with Lakota and she with him. But he gets more and more amped as he plays and then gets too rough. I didn't know how to deal with it. She said to immediately put him on a leash and make him sit/stay or down/stay so he realizes he's getting too rough and it's causing him to have to be put in a time out. That will hopefully give him the boundaries he needs.
And once or twice a week I should take him to the dog park to play with other dogs. That will help with giving him outlets for his energy. (That's on top of daily walks and leash/command training of course.) He really had a blast there. He did really well but did start to get too rough which she saw happening so she put him on lead and walked him around the area. . It was neat to watch her work with him and I learned a ton from her in that time we spent. I felt a lot better afterward.
The thing I haven't wanted to blog about... he's the reason Luther is gone and it's been really hard. Sunday night I put Luther and Riena in the outdoor enclosure that I had made for Archi. They were caged inside which I hate but it was the only way to keep them safe from the puppy. Archi has never gotten out of the enclosure but Luther is quite a digger. He found a spot where he was able to dig around the chicken wire and get out. He and Riena are impossible to catch. But I knew they'd be somewhat safe because they spend most of their time hiding under the shed.
Monday night Luther came out to forage and O'Reilly apparently caught him. He didn't try to hurt him but just in either catching him or stepping on him he broke Luther's back. He was paralyzed in his back legs. Otherwise he was alert and eating the next day after it happened. That night I took him to my vet. She showed me the X-Ray and the fracture was high up on the spine and the nerves would be damaged permanently. If it had been closer to the back end the nerves leave the spine for the back legs and there would have been a chance for recovery and regaining use.
As of right now I have been unable to catch Riena and get her back inside but I'll keep trying.
It's been quite a week, a long one, I'm glad for the weekend that's for sure!
2 comments:
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Luther. Poor O'Reilly didn't mean it, I'm sure, but still ... it's in his nature as well. *hug*
Hopefully his boundaries will improve and he'll calm down a little, he's probably just so excited about life (which is a huge difference to, say, a cat that seems to be bored with life every time I look at her!)
Glad to see you have your blog now. No more sharing with the rabbit! :D
Thanks Katie. Yeah I think he'll calm down. After the dog park he was pretty mellow yesterday so it helped me to see what will help him. This morning of course he's all rested and rarin' to go again! :-)
puddy's not bored with life, she's just carefully thinking.. plotting her overthrow so she can take over the world
where as rabbits, when you look at them and they're just there, i'm pretty sure are doing advanced math calculations...
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