May 2016 Walter Update

You might be wondering why I have not written about Walter lately.  With all the rain we have had these past couple of months, the weeds and the desert cacti has grown ten fold.  I can no longer walk to his corral without the fear of encountering a snake.

I can see him when I drive by his house and I can tell that on several occasions his water barrel is down, confirming that he has no water.  Dulcinea is in the same boat.  I see his owner late in the afternoon giving him hay.

Today that I drove into town I saw him in the corner lot where his owner sometimes takes him to grace.  At least he was tied to the lone mesquite tree and he had shade, but no water.

Today they emerged

Late this afternoon I was removing clothes from the clothesline when I noticed two things bopping around. The grass (weeds) are a little high but there they were two puppies playing and then they came running towards me.

The first thing they did was go for my tennis shoe laces and the other tried to climb my leg.  Was surprised they were not afraid of me.  Then I saw two more emerging from the mini jungle that is our backyard.

I held my breath hoping there were no more, when I spotted a lone puppy in the background.

So she has five puppies and they turned five weeks old today.  Tammy pretty much  spends most of her day sleeping under dad's old car or by the kitchen door.

She was napping after her evening meal and did not realize they finally found where she hangs out. They wanted to nurse and she took off running!  jajajajaja...guess she would not win mother of the year :)

Her last litter also consisted of five puppies. Two were very feisty, one was normal, one was underweight and one was a loner.  The same scenario appears to be repeating itself.

Anyone want a puppy?

I am so sad

I am so sad and at the same time feel guilty.  You see Boris has never really liked eating dog food except when he first showed up and was hungry, thirsty and in bad shape.

He was a long skinny thing when he first showed up

For the past two weeks he refused to eat his Tractor and Supply dried dog food.  I thought he was being picky since eventually he would consume it.  The other dogs do not seem to have a problem with it.

Had to feed him using a cardboard tops because
 he destroyed dishes, plastic tubs, five gallon buckets

Last week we were very busy with labs and doctor's appointment so I broke down and gave him human food along with his dog food...he ate the human food.  Now I am wondering if he actually ate it or not, because Friday, I caught Tammy eating his food.

He eventually even destroyed this water container from
banging it around. Had recently bought him a new one,

Ordinarily she would not approach him since he is a very aggressive dog and like all dogs will protect his food.  But he just laid there and let her eat it.  This included the human food.

The "cucha" I made for him did not even last five
minutes before he tore it to shreds :D

Boris even attacked me, so I always had to be quick or put on my jacket in the desert heat. He has left me bruised and scratched up from pouncing on me.  Saturday, he was not in a lunging mood and he allowed me to approach him. I filled up the new water container I bought him in Mexico and he drank a lot of water.

That evening again I went to try to feed him as I rubbed his head and laid down beside him but he did not have an appetite. I parted his long black hair and examined him for a bite marks or something but found nothing.  Decided I would take him to the vet on Monday.

Sunday morning I went to check on him but regrettably he was dead.  All this is so strange, he was such an active and young dog (a year old or so) I am at a loss for what could have killed him because from my point of view this was not a natural death.

Rest in peace my little big Boris :(