Neuter Now

Veterinarians on Oahu have received numerous calls from pet owners eager to get their pets spayed or neutered since the Hawaiian Humane Society took back control of the city program last week. "We received the notice by mail, and the next day the phones started ringing," said Dr. Eric Ako, a veterinarian at the Pet Doctor clinic in Kahala. "People are calling, asking, and setting up appointments. We received a lot of calls. I think a lot of people were waiting."

The Neuter Now program, which was restarted Wednesday, allows pet owners to spay and neuter their pets for $50 for male and $75 for female animals. Owners can purchase certificates at the Hawaiian Humane Society or any satellite city hall and redeem them at participating veterinarian clinics, saving hundreds of dollars.

tripped

Kimo was lying down, so I went next door to get Hershey.
Kimo finally got up, so I took them both out.

As we made it toward the beginning of the street, Kimo pulled me back. Koa was waiting by the fence so I took all three of them out.

With the three dogs, Koa pulls more than usual. We struggled to the park. Koa pooped and I saw he had tapeworm again.

Then on to the volleyball court. I made them run for food. Koa and Kimo ran but Hershey was still timid and mostly walked. But one time Kimo was out of control. He ran under my legs and tripped me up. Evidently not thinking when he runs.

[Tue 6/30, posted 7/1]

Kimo Van Gogh

Donna took Kimo walking, so I went to tennis.

When I came back, mom said Kimo has a cut ear. I didn't know from what. Just that she didn't want to put on bactine for fear of being bitten. (Later I found out that's what Donna said.)

It turned out Kimo was in the car coming back and Donna rolled up the window while talking on the phone to Timmy. And it just so happened that his ear was in the way.

I put on some bactine. He growled a bit but was OK when I soft-sshh'd him.

The tip of his ear is missing hair. But it should grow back. Doesn't look like any ear is missing thankfully.

[Mon 6/29, posted 7/1]

Hershey on the loose

I heard some howling in the afternoon, but I didn't think it was Hershey since it sounded far away. But then I heard Mrs. Tsutsui outside calling for Hershey. He had run out the door when she opened.

I retrieve a leash and climbed the wall. Evidently the carpenters working on the house had tried to retrieve him. But maybe that's when he howled. They pointed out where he went. I showed him some food (jerky), kneeled down and he came to me.

When I brought him back, Mrs. Tsutsui wasn't too happy and said bad dog and wanted to spank him. But I said don't hit him, he doesn't know what he's doing.

I fear Gerald might give him lickings though. Maybe. Maybe not.

[Mon 6/29, posted 7/1]

black dog at the gate

I took Kimo and Hershey for their walk. I decided to take them up Puna. The big black furry dog was at the gate barking at us (the same one who was loose the first time we went up Puna. Didn't see the white pom and came back down. The smallish brown dog across the street was barking and a lady going out in the car asks if Kimo was a certain breed (I forget what she said) and I said he's a Japanese spitz.

Went back down and the black dog was still there. Despite the barking, Kimo didn't seem affected and went over to sniff. The dog let out a loud bark as he came close. Kimo was startled but didn't react badly. I guess that's a good sign.

Parade of Dogs

For the second straight day, Donna took Kimo for a (long fast-paced) walk with her.

After he came home Melissa and another friend walked Rudy and Blue. Kimo went wild. Calm him down.

Then came the lady who power walks following her husband following her dog. Kimo goes wild. Calm him down.

Then came Jumbo Koa with the whole family (preceded by Christian scootering down the street). Mother, father, son, daughter (I assume that's their family). Kimo goes wild. Calm him down.

This is good. More opportunities for Kimo to be calm.

[Wed 6/24, posted 6/26]

Donna take Kimo walking

Donna was going to walk with Allie and came to pick up Kimo.

That freed me up to play volleyball but I stopped by to see how they were doing. They were outside Allie's house and the guy with two Japanese Spitz's was just leaving them. Evidently Kimo was OK interacting with them. Noticed how white they were compared to Kimo. I don't really notice how brown Kimo looks until I see a well-washed dog. Well Kimo's back and body is sort of white.

[Tuesday 6/23, posted 6/26am]

Hershey rolls / Kimo plays?

Took Kimo and Hershey out for their morning walk. Hershey sees some poop on the yard at the lady with minpin's house. Goes up to it and starts to roll. Pull him off.

(Why do dogs roll in poop anyway?)

Then I took them to the park volleyball court. I started to run and Kimo started to run too. And went a little wild running in circles. He got excited and seemed to want to play with Hershey and hump him. Don't remember that he ever tried to do that to Hershey before. Hershey was stiff like a statue and seems scared to engage Kimo now. Can't blame him. Later Hershey went over to the fence on the side and sat down.

I tried to block Kimo from going on top of Hershey and then he started going after me nipping at my heels when I turned away.

(Why do dogs nip at your heels anyway? Herding behavior)

I think getting Kimo in that state is the first step in natural dog training. Or something like that. Just that I don't know how to do the second step in channelling that drive. Gotta read that book one day..

[Monday 6/22, posted 6/24]

Ryder

Ryder is Jacy's and Clem's 6-month old dachsund

Seems very friendly as he ran into the room and sniffed me when I was installing Avast on Billy's computer.

Also likes to play with toys. Played with the stuffed moose for a while. Then later bit the antenna off the bug slippers.

I have pictures and video on my camera.

[Sunday 6/21, posted 6/26]

Kona jumps Koa

I was taking Koa out for his walk and was walking down past the Sills house. They had some visitor outside and the door was open. Kona came charging out and jumped on Koa. I was surprised. I paused a moment to see how bad it was and when I saw it was an attack, I grabbed Kona by the back of the neck and pulled him off. Wasn't much of a problem for me since I've had lots of practice grabbing Kimo when he's in a wild state.

Chris was very apologetic but I said no damage.

But actually upon examination later, I saw a small bite on Koa's ear. I put on some bactine.

This was surprising to me since I always thing of Kona as a friendly dog. But I notice that he reacts differently when he sees Koa as opposed to when he sees Kimo. And oddly Hershey growled at him on the rare time that they took him out when I was out with the dogs. (I may have mentioned this earlier.) I theorize that maybe Koa used to get loose and bother the dogs by just wandering in their territory. Mochi has an aggressive reaction to Koa too. (I may have mentioned this earlier too.)

[Sun 6/21, posted 6/26]

Kimo catches a mouse

Went to feed Koa. Looked in the garbage can where his food is kept and saw a dead bird. Dumped the bird and tried to wash out the can. Better, but still a little filthy.

Kimo was in the back by the stone wall. I thought he was looking for a cat since a cat was sitting on the Nakano stone wall. After a while it looked like he caught something. I thought it was a moth since it looked like there were wings flapping or something.

But later when I looked on the grass, I saw it was a dead mouse.

[Sat 6/20, posted 7/8]

Kimo gets a bath

Finally decided to give Kimo a bath.

Lifted him up into the sink. Formerly I was very apprehensive about lifting him up. But take a deep breath. One hand under chest. Other hand on collar. Lift. No problem.

Except Kimo's kind of too big for the sink now. Choose shampoo. Faucet doesn't reach all areas of his body. Pour some water into bucket.

Finally I thought I got all the areas of his body. Rinse. Repeat.

Carry him down. Shake.

Hmmm. Kimo now looks two-toned. He's mostly white on his back and middle section. But still brown on his legs, rear area, and head.

OK, I'm not a professional.

Took him for walk. Went up to say hi to Sam who was inside the gate. Diana comes out with Max. Sees Kimo and says what happened?

OK, I'm not a professional.

[Fri 6/19PM, posted 6/20AM]

Koa loose

Took Kimo and Hershey for their walk and saw Koa on his pillow. He sees us too and comes out on the street. Obviously not tied up.

I head back home to get a leash. Didn't want to go downstairs because last time Koa didn't follow us and went on his way. This time, Koa actually kind of led us back to my house.

Went to get the leash and Kimo goes up on the landing to lie down. Apparently he doesn't really enjoy walking.

So I left him home and took just Koa and Hershey. Went up the street a bit and decided to try Hershey's choke chain on Koa again. He still pulled but not overly strongly. And I lazily let them go in front and lead me to the beginning of the street.

Before the beginning, I shortened the leash especially since we were going to cross the street. Over to Lolena Place.

More under control on the way back.

I took them to the back and the lady who was taking care of Koa said she's going back to the mainland to work. So I guess it's back to feeding Koa for me. Still going to have to block the gate.

It was actually blocked the last time, but somebody cleared it. Maybe they thought it didn't look too nice. Guess I should talk to Toni.

[Fri 6/19, posted 6/20]

Max the pom

Kimo was barking at birds in the morning, so I took him out earlier than usual

We joined mom, Amy, Harriet walking. Then the lady who told me about her pom that looks like Kimo was there with her pom. It was a white pom with a few light brown patches. She held him. And I asked her if she had a leash to see if I could introduce them.

The pom was kind of hyper and had an odd soft bark. He kept wanting to go after Kimo and Kimo backed off and even growled once. I tried to walk them, but the pom was struggling with it. After a while, the lady said she had to go to work. And gave the pom back to her husband (I assume) in the car. I asked the lady what the dog's name was. It's Max (another Max). Funny that I didn't ask the lady her name.

Going back, I saw Ann out with Mochi, so I joined them. Soon enough, Paco shows up and Kimo starts sniffing. But then he heard a dog barking and charged in the direction of the bark. Which is an improvement because in the past, he'd go after whatever was near.

We walked to the end of the street and coming back we saw Amy out with Miki & Shammy. (Well I think that's what happened.) I followed at a distance but turned around when Kimo looked in. Ann continued on. I held Kimo as they came back to pass us and he maintained control (didn't go wild at least). However on the second pass, he had a brief outburst.

[Sat 6/13, posted 6/15]

Natural Dog

[6/12/09] Noticed that naturaldog has become a follower on twitter. (I had become a follower some weeks before.)

naturaldog is the twitter account of Kevin Behan the author of Natural Dog Training (which I have mentioned before several times in particular with regard to Lee Charles Kelley). He has a website naturaldogtraining.com on which there are several articles.

There's a video of him on youtube from a show called Quantum Canine. There's also a promo video for his website. (Hard to see at the beginning.)

I see there's more episodes of Quantum Canine at the Fact TV Media Gallery.

The video files are in flv format and at first I couldn't figure out how to save them. Keepvid didn't work. But I finally was able to do it in IE using these instructions. Though I had to increase the space allocated to the temporary internet files. I tried uploading to youtube, but the file was too big. They only take video 10 minutes long and these are 30 minutes.

The next problem was how to play it from my computer. Apparently I didn't have any program on my computer that could play flv files. Windows Media Player didn't work. So I tried flvplayer and vlcplayer both among the most popular video players on download.com. I liked vlcplayer better.

***

[5/29/18] Kevin Behan explains how he developed the pushing technique

running on the court

Kimo was barking from back. There was a new lady walking with Amy and Harriet, and later mom. Maybe a visitor from the mainland?

I let Kimo in front to pee & poop, then he jumped over the stonewall, ran around the back of Pat's house and up the steps before I could catch him. Keith goes nuts. I down Kimo with a squeal but he's wild for several seconds before settling.

Take Kimo and Hershey out. As I walk pass, Koa comes through the loose gate and on to the street. I open the garage door but don't see his leash. I go downstairs and the lady (still didn't get her name) gets it for me.

Finally track down Koa at Lolena Place where he runs to me.

Down to the park. To the volleyball court. After letting them walk around for a bit, I put Hershey's choke chain on Koa and practice walking. Then with Koa leash, I walk Koa and Hershey together. Surprisingly Kimo starts following us.

Then I run in an attempt to get them running after me (then having them lie down for treats). Koa runs. Kimo runs. But Hershey walks. Which is disappointing because Hershey is the one who likes to play and run. But evidently he's wary of running with Kimo and Hershey. Especially since he was attacked twice before by Kimo when he went wild (first when I lifted Kimo's paw off food and he bit me. second when they were in my backyard and they saw a cat. That was the time Hershey chased the cat and I wound up finding him at AOP.) Anyway. Koa was the most straightforward chasing me. Kimo ran, then kind of ran in a large circle excitedly. Hershey trotted when he saw that there was food to be had.

After that, I took them to the playground set to sit and rest. Kimo showed he was comfortable by lying down in front of Hershey. Hershey was kind of wary and didn't seem to completely relax with Kimo close by. Koa was closest to me and lay down.

I took Koa home with everybody leaving (the lady was going surfing and Troy was going golfing. I guess Toni was staying home). I looked for the leather leash (the one that Hershey gave to me, but didn't see it. The leashes used to be hanging in the garage but are no longer there.)

[6/12/09, posted 6/13/09]

dogs on Makanani

Took Kimo out Thursday, Hershey didn't come this morning.

Went to Makanani and two dogs were out at that first house. Both were barking. One was the basenji with short hair and was more excited. The other was a smaller brown dog with longer hair. That one seemed more calm though it was barking too. The man was outside in the yard, but I didn't let Kimo come to the gate to sniff because a small child was outside too.

Then to the next gate with the old grey dog.

The two dogs across the street were barking again. But I took my time walking and sniffing on the other side and they eventually quieted down as we slowly made our way down the street. The brown one was even lying down by the gate.

[Thu 6/11, posted 6/13]

Kimo and Hershey at the dog park

I took Kimo and Hershey out and mid-walk decided to try to take them to the Moanalua dog park.

I put Hershey in the front seat and Kimo in the back seat, to keep them separated on the ride (in case Kimo goes wild at something outside).

Kimo only went partly up hill. And Hershey played chase with a small white & brown dog.

So I'd say the outing was successful with no incidents.

[Wed 6/10, posted 7/23]

four in the court

take Kimo & Hershey out
Koa waiting by gate, take him too
see Diana out w/ Max, secure leash on Koa and proceed
Tell Di I'm going to park and she says she meet us there
walk to park, Diana and Max meet us there (they drove)
See her with guy with small poi dog / guy goes to picnic table
We go to volleyball court
dogs bark at girl with black dogs
Di says one of them is good, but the other one tried to attack her thru fence one
Max declines to play w/ Max, so they go home
Make them run after me for food, Kimo and Koa run but Hershey only walks
make them lie down
practice walking Koa w/ Hershey's choke chain, not too bad

RMS, Spider and Indy update

took Kimo out, Koa was loose and I let him in the gate.

Good thing too because the next thing I knew I saw Reina taking out Miki and Shammy. Kimo didn't react too much so I followed them at a distance.

Didn't want to get too close yet, so I turned Kimo around but he kept looking back and I had to nudged his head forward

After that I went to Cat's house, partly to return Kari's jacket and partly to test the rawhide bone on Spider and Indy. Decided not to bring Kimo so as not to complicate things.

As I pulled into the garage, I was surprised to hear no barking, but soon enough there they were at the front gate barking away. They quieted down as I fed them food bits through the fence. Cathy told me to give the rawhide bones and they ignored it at first. Then I decided to go in. Spider started barking wildly and nipped me on my left food just below the ankle.

Then I sat down and kept feeding them and Spider got a little more comfortable coming close each time before running away. Indy was chewing on the bone and gave up. Spider took over. He didn't finish in five minutes, but still was much faster than Kimo. Maybe fifteen minutes compared to a month for Kimo.

Spider would be OK when I was sitting down feeding him. But when I got up he would start barking. And bit me on my right thigh. I think he's intimidated by me standing up.

Finally Cathy decided to throw the rolled up paper at Spider when he barked at me. The first time she missed and hit Indy. Luckily Indy didn't seem to fazed. Next try, she got Spider and he kept at a distance.

We'll see what happens next time.

Cathy's mom gave me some cotton with hydrogen peroxide. When I got home I put on bactine. Kimo licked it. Don't know if he's licking the wound or the bactine.

[Sat 6/6, posted 6/8]

Petey on the loose

I heard some barking and saw Petey was loose. I went out and got close, but then he ran home. Then I saw Shirley was out too and she was friendly and came to me.

[Fri 6/5, posted 7/28]

long walk

Took Kimo and Hershey out and decided to go long

Hala, Aupuni (lots of dogs, including dog who looked like he had mange), School Street, around WalGreens, up Kapalama, Kealia (noticed Hershey limping), Makanani

They were dog tired.

[Fri 6/5, posted 7/28]

it was just a nudge

brushed Kimo in the morning.

Then took Kimo and Hershey out for their walk.

Went to Makanani, the old dog seemed friendly today, but still barked as we left.
The dogs across the street barked.
Skyline, then up Puna, the black dog barks
back to Makanani, small brown dog comes to fence but don't let Kimo sniff

back to Kula. Reina w/ M&S was chatting with Amy & Charlotte. I had Kimo and Hershey sit at a distance. Eventually they passed. But then Kimo had an outburst after they walked by. Have to watch Kimo a little longer.

Then I read the paper on the front steps.

Kimo was lying down by my feet. Accidently nudged him slightly and he jumped up on my legs growling. After a couple seconds, he recognized me and backed off.

[Thu 6/4, posted 7/31]

bites upon being awakened

Kimo's not the only one (see Wake-Up Call). Here's a letter to Dr. Fox.

Dear Dr. Fox: We have a 9-year-old Shih Tzu who gets really ugly come sundown. If he is awakened from a sound sleep (at any time), he will bite hard on whatever he can find -- including hands and arms. He growls and snarls until he can be calmed down.

We have had him since he was 6 weeks old. He also is afraid of loud noises. He sleeps in our bed and when he is up there he gets testy.

He does not enjoy being around little children and has been kicked a couple of times. Otherwise, he is very friendly and runs to meet company on their arrival. He lies on my lap when we are watching TV or reading the newspaper. Sometimes, at night, if I pick him up, hold him and pet him for a while before putting him on the bed, he seems OK. However, if awakened: Katy, bar the door.

We cannot remember when this first started. Do you have any idea why this is happening? What can we do to correct it? -- C.M., Granbury, Texas

Dear C.M.: Your dog has developed a conditioned emotional reaction that is timed with altered brain function associated with the post-sleep arousal mechanism. In other words, his brain chemistry is off kilter, possibly associated with low serotonin levels.

You need to discuss this with a veterinarian who could prescribe and monitor various supplements and herbs, notably melatonin, L-tryptophan and valerian. In the interim, you may want to try putting a drop or two of lavender (L. angustifolia) on a bandana around his neck before he naps. This essential oil can have a dramatic calming effect on dogs.

* * *

Actually that sounds worse (or at least different) than Kimo's condition. I think Kimo's is a protective reaction. I'm thinking some event might have happened to him when he was asleep. So now he reacts defensively when he wakes up or even is startled while resting. But maybe this lavender oil might be worth a try. I wonder where you can get it.

Today, I was reading the paper on the steps and Kimo lay down next to me. I slightly nudged him with my food (unintentionally) and he turned and jumped on my leg and growled. Then realization set in after a couple of seconds and he backed off. Maybe it's progress that he didn't bite me, but maybe it's because my hands were safely away from him.

three to the park

Koa was loose, followed him up to the road to house up Max's driveway and took him home.

Took him and Kimo out and Gerald brought Hershey so I decided to take all three of them to park.

I guess I must have taken them to the volleyball court. And we all rested on the playground set for a while.

Then I took Kimo home. The lady in a bikini (she must have just come back from surfing or swimming) was in the back and I told her he was loose and gave her the scoop that he goes under the gate.

[Wed 6/3, posted 8/2]

Goodbye Chloe

took Kimo out and Gerald drops off Hershey (with Lindsey snoozing in the front seat).

Went to the Naio, but the old dog was shy. He came out to the gate when we were leaving, but retreated when we came back (when I saw him coming out)

A bunch of small dogs were barking. Puppies.

At the end, I saw Malia outside so I went up the road. She related that Chloe had a tumor and it was decided to put her down. How sad. 12 years of age.

[6/2, posted 6/3]