PoongSoon's 3rd Class

Today's puppy socialization class went much better than last week.  I deliberately arrived early so PoongSoon had time to get used to a smaller number of dogs before the bulk of the class arrived.  She initiated play with the mellow GSD and the shy cockapoo which was an improvement.  When the Akita puppy came and things got too much for her, she stood her ground and told him in no uncertain terms that she didn't like it.  Big teeth (for milk teeth), down ears, snarls, and air snapping.  He understood and backed away.  The instructor approved of this communication.   Next week's big test will be how she reacts to the noisy, excitable GSD pup.

Besides doling out the snarls, she responded very well to yelps directed towards her.  She may have an overreaction with moving back halfway across the room, but I prefer that over her being pushy.  I get a little paranoid that her interest in a very tiny puppy, maybe 8 lbs in weight, may turn into prey drive, but so far it's all been play. 

Next week, I might venture to bring a camera to the class to take pictures.  For now, here's PoongSoon's favorite cool-down pose on the tile.  I refer to it as her frog pose.

Type vs. Style in Jindos

The following are two female Jindos that attended the Jindo picnic several weekends ago.  They both have strong Jindo "type" but they have very different Jindo "styles." 

Photo by Patty Etherington

"Type" in this context means physical traits that instantly identify an individual dog as a member of a breed.

The female dog on the left is of a style that would be favored by groups such as the Korea Kennel Club.

The female dog on the right is of a style that would be favored by the Korean National Dog Association.

So much for a Quarantine...

I think my foster dog only has kennel cough.

That's why I wasn't too concerned today when I saw the following when I got home. 

 

My dad had left PoongSoon outside unsupervised and the two were trading kisses and paws.  

Kuranda submission?

Kuranda is offering a free fleece bed cover if you're the first to submit a picture of a breed enjoying their bed.

Shall I submit this one of PoongSoon? :-)

This is what a sleeping Poongsan looks like when it's 80 degrees F outside.

PoongSoon's 2nd day of class

Today was PoongSoon's second day of puppy socialization class.  Because of the Jindo picnic, we missed last week's class.

This week had mixed results.  On one hand, she was taking treats and excelling in learning new commands.  She continued to love meeting people.

The downside is that her preferred interaction with the other pups has shut down to neutral interactions.  She wasn't interested in playing.  She was okay being in the area with other quieter dogs, just wandering around with some mild curiosity, but once she was in the rambunctious area with the extrovert dogs, she had a very negative reaction.  She got squashed by the American Akita puppy that was humping her, and the German Shepherd puppy that she played with two weeks ago was way too much for her.  She had to snap, growl and show teeth to get them to back off, and her legs were shaking while hiding behind people.  I feel bad that I hadn't intervened fast enough, and of course multiple what-if's crossed my mind.

What if I hadn't missed last week's class?

What if I had remembered that the GSD was too much for even some of the extroverts?

What if I didn't hesitate on pulling off someone else's dog?   

Once I got my wits about me, I removed her from that area.  Since it was also the end of class, I left pretty fast, fast enough that the trainer tailed me to make sure I was okay.

Update on the Foster Poongsan

It's taken me longer to do a proper intro to the new foster than promised.  Things have been pretty hectic and tiring this past week.

The story behind this dog is that he and a Japanese Akita were kept in a small courtyard in an upscale neighborhood of Los Angeles called Silverlake.  Normally the two would be visible to passerbyers, but one day only the Japanese Akita was visible.  A dog lover who walks her dogs by the house noticed this and saw the Poongsan laying on the ground.  Upon closer examination, there was blood on his neck.

The owner of the house was approached and she claimed that her husband had gotten ill and could no longer care for the dogs.  The woman wanted nothing to do with handling the dogs and allowed them to become emaciated and covered in their own waste.   The Japanese Akita had swollen eyes due to untreated entropian (eyelashes rubbing against the cornea) and the Poongsan had an embedded flea collar under his regular collar.

The dogs were surrendered to rescue and hospitalized at Animal Rescue Center in south LA.  An email blast went out looking for a place for them.  The following are pictures from that initial email blast:

I received the email via my Akita friend Patty and considered long and hard about taking in the Poongsan.  Afterall, I had a Poongsan puppy that I really needed to concentrate on socializing before her window elapsed.  After meeting the dog on Saturday June 11 though, I decided to take him in.

Things weren't so smooth sailing though.

On Sunday, the Poongsan had started coughing.  Kennel cough, presumably.

On Monday, he vomitted and had diarrhea.  He had a persistant cough that would gag him and he would retch bile.  He stopped eating. 

On Tuesday, he continued to not eat and I took him to the vet.  He had a temperature of 104.7 degrees and weighed 48 lbs.  He received an antibiotic shot and several medicines to take home.  Once home, he still refused to eat.

On Wednesday, he continued to have the symptoms and resisted all attempts to be pilled.  I was probably becoming his least favorite person because of my clumsy attempts.  I started to worry that I had a dog with distemper on my hands.

On Thursday, I brought him back to the vet.  He received another antibiotic injection, an anti-nausea injection, and a cough suppressant injection.  His temperature was 102 and he weighed 46.5 lbs. 

On Friday, he finally ate!  Oh happy dance!

With him now eating, I can finally spike his food with medicine and stop being the 'bad guy' for trying to pill him.  That reduces stress for the both of us.  I think he's coughing less and less.  He still has diarrhea as of today, but now he's taking the full dose of the anti-diarrhea medicine as well as the two antibiotics. 

Here are some recent pics of him.  The body and neck shots are from today.  I think he's finally turned the corner and I can work on getting some weight back on him.

Calmer eyes.

Still very skinny.

At least the neck wound is healed.

Side view.

Foster Dog's Meds

Just wanted to jot down the foster dog's meds somewhere.  Weight 48 lbs.

Cephalexin 500 mg.  Give 1 tablet twice a day for 2 weeks.

Primor 600 mg.  Give 2 tablets once a day for the first dose, then one tablet once a day.

Endosorb.  Give 1 tablet three times a day for 10 days as needed for diarrhea.

Panacur.  Give 1 packet of each size once a day for 3 days in a row in moist food.

A Stack of the Princess

I brought PoongSoon the Jindo Picnic on Saturday.  As expected, her name is a mouthful for some people.  So, one of my long-time Jindo friends, Patty, will now be calling her "The Princess."   

I had my other long-time Jindo friend, Nichole, stack PoongSoon for me.  Nichole shows Alaskan Malamutes so she's much better than I am in this.  Normally we would crop heads off of pictures, but I thought keeping it whole would help give a scale on how big PoongSoon is at 3 months of age. 

Photo taken by Patty

Notice that PoongSoon's left ear is bent.  I think the long car ride weakened the cartilage.  It's slowly getting back up.

New Foster Poongsan

Well, I have a new foster dog, a 1 yr old male Poongsan.  I visited him on Saturday morning before the Jindo picnic and then decided to take him in after consulting with my family members.

On Sunday, I picked him up with the help of my friend, Jim, who has a very handy SUV.  I learned more of the backstory to the Poongsan, which I'll share either tomorrow or at least in the next couple of days.  For now, here's a picture of him from Saturday and a health update.

 
His current known health issues are the neck wound from the imbedded flea collar (now removed and healing), his flea bite allergy, his very thin weight, and some coughing which could be the beginnings of kennel cough.  I've noticed that it's worse when he's panting such as when he was being transported, so I wonder if it could also be trachea damage.

One thing I also noticed is that the inner corners of his eyes doesn't seem right.  From a distance, he looks like he has a wandering eye, but actually he's looking straight and the white membrane is just pulled out covering more of the eye.  I'll be asking the vet about it but a quick google search may indicate some sort of illness that he's fighting off.

Upcoming Saturday

This coming Saturday will be the 8th Southern CA Jindo Picnic, and as usual, I'll be preparing the Korean portion of the menu there. 

That means massive food prep on Friday night and Sat early morning.  After doing seven picnics, I'm trying to work smarter and not harder this year though.   Since I'm also bringing PoongSoon along, I'm going to try to avoid being a slave to the BBQ pit. 

Currently on my prep list:

Ddak bulgogi.   Boneless chicken thigh in red pepper paste/flakes.  I've already started marinating this one.  I'll thoroughly cook this the night before, chill, and re-heat on the grill onsite.

Kalbi.  Beef short ribs with the usual traditional flavors particularly garlic.   I'm leaning towards cooking this onsite. 

Gogoma.  Korean sweet potato.  This will be steamed the night before and finished on the grill.

Konamul.  Soybean sprouts.  My mother volunteered to prepare this. 

Sangchae.  Shredded radish.  My mother volunteered to prepare this.

Kimchi.  Store bought. 

Bap.  White sticky rice.  Cooked in the ultra modern talking rice cooker but transported in a huge retro rice warmer.   

Chapchae.  Transparent noodles with slivers of veggies, odan, and pork.  This is the most labor intensive item.  Some prep can be done the night before, but cooking, cooling, and mixing has to be done in the morning. 


On Saturday morning before the picnic, I'll be making a detour in South LA to make a breed ID on a dog that was removed from a neglect situation.  He's a suspect Poongsan and I'm kicking around the idea of fostering him if he looks like one in person.   The preliminary pictures weren't very clear.  

After the picnic, I may swing by the home where I got PoongSoon from so they can see how she's grown..  I'll probably smell like BBQ and dog though. 

a-DOG-able™ in a Basket

I saw this on another blog and just had to cross post it.  

Product Code:90891

This flower basket offered by 1-800-flowers.com and is tagged with the following description:

Unleash smiles with our original and fun dog-shaped floral creation. Hand-designed in a handsome, reusable handled basket with carnations, assorted poms, asters and more, it's perfect for dog lovers, pet parents, or a unique gift to get you out of the doghouse.

First Day of Puppy Socialization Class

Today was PoongSoon's first day of puppy socialization class.  The class had two German Shepherds, two Boxers, an American Akita, and the instructor's two Dobermans.  No small dogs.  

During the first couple of rounds of playtime, she showed interest in playing with the dogs, but in the later half, I could tell that she was getting over stimulated.  Instead of joining up in the fun, she would wander the outskirts and sniff the owners of the dogs.  She would turn away and butt block any dogs that jumped towards her. 

During the brief bouts of training, she refused to take any food.  She would still check in when called, but she wasn't sitting or downing for me.  With time, I think she'll do those for me, but I have a feeling that she's going to be like the Jindos and just be one of those dogs that just aren't food motivated in a strange setting.  I know behaviorists would attribute all this to stress and not having yummy enough soft treats, but I think otherwise.  At least the treats aren't an issue.  There were more than a few dogs trying to raid my treat bag.

I didn't take any pictures of the class.  Only of the tired puppy dog that resulted.  I think she'll be a very good dog for the rest of the day.

 

"Type" Evaluation

PoongSoon's other ear went up this week which prompted some musings on my part about how well she fits her breed "type". 

Her ears being up is definately nice, but it wouldn't have been considered a big deal if they didn't.    I'm not too worried about the ear size relative to the head.  I know Jindo pups always have an oversized looked to their ears at this age and suspect Poongsans are similar.  I'm also not too worried at the lack of space between the ears.  Underneath all that fur is a skull that hasn't even begun to fill out yet.



Speaking of fur, it's my suspicion that she's going to have a soft coat or a semi-long coat.  She has long fur on her ears,  on top of her head, and on her cheeks.  Long coats do exist in Poongsans though and it's not stringently discriminated against.  I do hope that her adult coat ends up harsher than it is right now.   I'm always picking off burrs from her puppy coat.


She has some pink spots on her nose that are slowly filling in.  Looking at some Korean websites, I've found that the spotty nose is  found in more than a few Poongsans.   Personally, I don't like it.  Her mother had a spotty nose that filled in completely so I have good hope that it will.


I wish the angle of her eyes was a little more up.  It would have been nicer to have her mistaken for a Jindo rather than an American Akita. Ah-well. 

PoongSoon's 3rd impersonation is of an American Akita

Body-wise, she hasn't completely fallen into the uneven puppy growth spurt yet.  Though she's grown in 4 weeks from 12.96 lbs to 23.5 lbs, it hasn't caused a dramatic change in her proportions. 

I'm hoping that I'll get a proper stack picture of her next week.  It's hard to get good photos of her when she spends 95% of her time looking like this:

or this: