While we were away at Seven Oaks Ranch last weekend, after a couple days there, I noticed that Cabana was scratching herself a LOT. She began chewing her paws frantically, stopping mid-step to scratch her belly with her back paws, and thumping the floor loudly while trying to scratch her front legs with her back legs. I had never seen Cabana scratch herself this much and with such vigor and intensity.
I immediately thought the water in the pond was the culprit. I had hosed Cabana off after she had been in the water, but I hadn't given her a full-blown bath. Thankfully, I brought doggy shampoo with me, so I gave her a thorough bath. But still the itching continued.
The second day there, I took Cabana to a dog park in the area. It was a very nice park, fully fenced, well maintained, with friendly dogs and people. But Cabana would not play. 
In fact, at one point, every dog in the park came up to her, almost surrounding her, and she barked at them! It was like they were asking her what her problem was, and she was telling them to go away and leave her alone. Cabana has gotten more selective about who she wants to play with, preferring familiar dogs that she's known for a while. But I still felt that her behavior was quite unusual.
Finally, it occurred to me what was causing her itching and her anti-social behavior. The new treats that I had been giving her so generously!! They have mussels in them, an ingredient Cabana hasn't had before. I should have clued in much quicker, since last month, I had stopped giving her salmon kibble, due to itchy paws. Maybe Cabana is allergic to seafood in general. I still think Ziwi Peak is a high quality brand, but we'll avoid the fishy varieties.
I bought Cabana some Benadryl and have been giving it to her for the past 3 days. The itching has subsided somewhat, but the effects of the allergy are still lingering. I'm amazed at how long it's taking the mussels to leave her system. Hopefully, she won't be uncomfortable for too much longer. This morning, I needed to drop my husband off at Oakland Airport. I'd been wanting to check out Point Isabel Regional Shoreline for a while now, so I stopped there on my way back home. It is a fabulous dog park between Marin and Berkeley, surrounded by the San Francisco Bay. 
It was a bit foggy, but there were lots of friendly dogs there. Can you see the Bay Bridge through the fog? Pretty much all Cabana wanted to do was sniff EVERYTHING.
And EVERYONE.
Cabana obliged me with some poses, but you can tell she's STILL sniffing while she's posing.
Cabana kinda wanted to get in the water. But she never wants to swim. Wet tummy = not comfy.
"Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into. I may be a water dog, but I'm not a swimming dog because I can't get my tummy wet."
"Is THAT what I'm supposed to be doing? That's just crazy."
I didn't see this dog's owner anywhere nearby. I was kind of sad and kind of glad for this dog. Sad, of course, that he needed to wear a muzzle--but glad that someone (although I can't say who) was giving him a chance to socialize and hopefully overcome whatever issue he has. He seemed very pleasant and greeted Cabana in a friendly, relaxed way, so I'm hopeful that he's improving with the social opportunities given to him.
Here's another dog that made me sad and glad simultaneously. Made me stop and ponder the intricacies of the human/canine relationship, which can be such an amazing thing.
Lately, our park has had an influx of puppies. I love it, because what's cuter than watching puppies play?! 
The photo above is 4-month old Chloe, half lab, half pit bull. That face makes my heart melt.
Here's 4-month old golden retriever, Lulu. She is an absolute sweetheart.
And this is 6-month old Akita-Lab mix, Kia. She's a very large puppy, extremely rambunctious, high energy, and has a lot to learn in her manners. Doesn't she remind you of a raccoon with that mask on her face?
While I love having new puppies at the park, I sometimes wonder if Cabana shares my views. She seems to gravitate toward certain pals she's had for a long time, namely her spaniel friends. I've always been very confident of Cabana's ability to read other dogs' social cues and to act appropriately. But lately I've been questioning her behavior because she barks A LOT at puppies. 
I first noticed the barking when Cabana would play with Kia, the Akita mix. Kia adores Cabana and seems to make a beeline for her when she arrives at the park. I thought maybe Cabana didn't appreciate Kia's roughshod attention and was telling her to bugger off. 
But then Cabana did the same thing to sweet Lulu and then to tiny Chloe when they started coming to the park last week. I don't worry that Cabana will hurt any of the puppies--I know she won't. She never growls or acts aggressively toward them--she just barks. The interesting thing is that no matter how much Cabana barks, none of the puppies run away from her. In fact, they still won't leave her alone! They do tend to act submissively, though, either rolling onto their backs or licking her face or making little whimpery noises. 
I have wondered if I should pull Cabana away and tell her to stop barking. But then, I think maybe Cabana is helping the puppies. Maybe she's teaching them to calm down or to read other dogs' social cues? So I haven't wanted to interfere in their doggy interactions. I did, however, check with the puppies' owners and make sure they are okay with Cabana's barking, telling them that if any of them are uncomfortable with Cabana's behavior, I would be happy to intercede.
So should I allow Cabana to "do her job" as a stable and mature adult dog? Or have I actually been allowing Cabana to be obnoxious and bossy, and should I stop her from forming this bad habit of barking at poor little puppies? I'd hate to be like a naive parent who thinks Junior is perfect and can do no harm, while he terrorizes all the neighborhood kids!
Sometimes, I see a blog that has the most gorgeous photos, and I wonder how they do it. Do they have that innate "eye" for getting great shots, amazing and expensive equipment, or stellar Photoshop skills? Probably, the answer is a combination of those things. My photos are nice in a generic sort of way, but they don't seem to pop the way some people's do--how do I get that pop?
I think I pass as an okay photographer, and I have a pretty good camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT). My Photoshop skills are self-taught and rudimentary, but the more I monkey with a photo, the less I can tell if I'm actually improving it or making it worse. Sigh.
Recently, at a Borders Books going-out-of-business sale, I bought a book called PhoDOGraphy for $5. It had a lot of talk about ISO, shutter speeds, grain, wide angle lens...and I realized I don't really even know how to use my camera. I have never changed any of the settings beyond the pre-programmed ones for night, action, close ups and such.
I've still got a lot to learn, but here are some of my recent attempts at being a better photographer. If I Photoshopped the image, I have placed the original photo underneath the doctored one.
This morning, both Cabana and Angie, our 16-year old cat, were on the foot of our bed, where we permanently keep a Cabana-colored blanket for this purpose. I like how both Cabana and Angie are laying in the same way, with a paw dangling off the edge. I took advantage of a fun photo opportunity, and I also doctored the photo a bit, increasing the contrast, playing around with color balance, darkening the edges, and adding a bit of texture. But the changes are almost imperceptible!
I love this close-up of Angie's little face. It was a good shot to begin with, but again, I increased contrast, darkened the edges of the photo. The changes are still subtle, but this time, I think it did improve the photo.
When I was playing tug with Cabana the other day, she looked so silly, I had to grab my camera with my free hand and take this photo. I used Photoshop to create a bit of a halo effect around Cabana.
Here's Cabana with her new friend, Whisper, a female Aussie. Cabana has had her same favorite friends for some time now, and she rarely shows much interest in playing with new dogs. But for some reason, she immediately took to Whisper. Even though you can barely see their faces, I think this photo catches their exuberance with each other. I increased the contrast on this photo, and that's about it.
In our living room, we have a window that is way high up by the ceiling. The light coming through that window sometimes creates a dramatic effect on the floor below and is a sunny spot that Cabana often likes to sit in. Cabana was standing in that sunny spot while the rest of the room was in shadow. No Photoshop was required for this one.
More attempts at better photography to come!
Kira continues to learn and improve by leaps and bounds everyday. She adores Cabana and is ALWAYS giving Cabana kisses. A kiss here and there would be fine, but the constant unsolicited affection wears on Cabana's good humor until, finally, Cabana will protest with a growl or a bark. You tell her, Cabana--after all, Kira needs to learn to mind other dogs' social cues.
Kira is fabulous on leash. She's just so happy to be next to Cabana that I almost don't even need to leash Kira. I don't know if it's her temperament or her breed or because she was a stray? Kira knows what being lost and alone is like, and she doesn't want to experience it again, so she stays close and checks in often.
At the park, none of the other dogs will play with Kira. They come up to her for a meet and greet, but they don't solicit her to play. I suppose they know she's still too tentative.
But when Cabana plays with her springer friends, like Maggie above, Kira is right there, either trying to get in on the action or maybe just getting front row seats? It will be interesting to see if this changes over the next week or two.
In this video, Cabana is playing with her pal Bodhi. They LOVE to rough house with each other. Kira does her best to keep up with them. It's so cute how she runs after Cabana, no matter what.
Yesterday, I did some reading online about parvo quarantine, and I came across a site that said the quarantine period is usually two weeks. The shelter told me the quarantine was 3-4 weeks. Kira had been treated over 2 weeks ago, so I was hoping that 3-4 weeks was excessive. I asked the shelter to test a sample of her poop to see if it was clear of parvo--and what do you know, the test came back negative. No more parvo!! Dog walks and dog parks, here we come!
I've been raring to socialize Kira because I think Cabana is the only dog she's ever had positive interactions with. I took Kira to my favorite fields, knowing it would be fairly quiet in the afternoon. I didn't take Cabana so I could focus on Kira, since I didn't really know how she was going to respond. The first dog we saw was a little chihuahua on leash. Kira barked tentatively at him, backing up somewhat fearfully. This seems to be Kira's usual reaction--she barks whenever she's scared.
The man with the chihuahua left soon afterward, leaving us with a big empty field. I thought, hmmm, how am I going to socialize Kira with no other dogs or people around? Then, lo and behold, up drove the Nine Dog Lady! Talk about a one-stop dog socialization opportunity!
The Nine Dog Lady is self-explanatory--she's a lady with 9 dogs. Yes, 9 dogs. Ranging from an Irish wolfhound down to a 3-pound chihuahua. As you can imagine, the Nine Dog Lady is slightly eccentric. (She's holding Kira's drag line just for the photo--Kira kept trying to stay close to me, which I'm not complaining about, but it made it difficult to get a photo of her with the other dogs.) I had seen her at the park a couple times, and then, the next time I went to our veterinarian's office, there she was again. She volunteers at the vet's office, probably in order to get a discount on the services needed to keep 9 dogs healthy!
Have you ever seen such bling-y dog collars? Even the 3-pound chihuahua has these jewel-encrusted collars that probably weigh as much as the dog itself.
Kira did GREAT with all 9 dogs. No more barking! I have high hopes for this sweet puppy. She's on her way to being a confident, well-balanced dog.
After dinner tonight, I took Cabana and Kira to the fields together. The few times Kira has ridden in the car, she has whined almost constantly. I've tried singing to her, turning on the radio, having her sit in different places, all with no luck. But I should have known--she's perfectly happy in the car when Cabana is with her. I think she needs to go to a family with another dog--don't you?
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