For the love of Pod

[HangingOver]

All aboard Podsquad, it's Pod thread number 4.

In case you were wondering:

• What is this (surprisingly) long-running thread about? A unique lunatic rescue Podenco, known as Pod. Featuring his pals, Stanley, GentleHowl, BabyPod, GentleBounce, Fastest and Princess and many more.
• What makes you so special that you get your own thread? See above

Seriously, if anyone is considering getting a teenage/rescued/sight-hound/Podenco/all of the above and has NO idea what they're doing, please enjoy the previous instalments from the day we brought him home, to now, six months later. Posts will oscillate wildly from euphoric to mental breakdown and back again.

Here is thread No. 3 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/thedoghouse/5248472-they-love-a-bit-of-him-podlife?page=1

Here is thread No. 2 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/thedoghouse/5197068-the-pod-cast?page=39&reply=141216881

And thread No. 1 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/thedoghouse/5177112-oh-my-giddy-god?page=1

Pic of the handsome prick in question.

He really needs you, but it's exhausting being needed all the time.
We had a harness eater too.

I totally get it. I felt similar for the first year with lurcher girl even though her issues, while a trial, were much less than Pod’s. And she was well past the puppy and adolescent stage!

No one on here will have anything but huge admiration for the way you’re handling all the many difficult situations.

Really hoping you can get the health problem sorted properly. It must be so frustrating.

What did I do to deserve you lot 🥹

It's because we "get it", Hanging 🙂

Giving all of your energy, when the pain and exhaustion is pushing you to the edge, is just draining. But you do it for love. The pure love for a dog that knows you saved them.

Your squad won't judge you, we admire your strength (even if you don't feel it sometimes, you've shown it! ).
Repeat after me, Hanging... I'm fucking Nails! You hear me, universe? Nails!

No hate, it's bloody hard and it's good to acknowledge that.

Hopefully the poonamis will cease soon and you can again take advantage of daycare/kennels and build in some breaks for your own well-being

Nah, no hate here - anyone who takes on a dog like Pod (or frankly, a dog 10 x easier than Pod) has to be a big fat fibber not to admit that there are times when you think 'the fuck did I do this for...' and 'damn but life was easier without... this..'

I know I've been there, more than once!

I'd like to have something profound here about why we do it... I dunno, maybe it teaches us something about ourselves or maybe we've just got some bizarre and as yet unrecognised infection that makes us love the damn dog no matter what (particularly those of us who do it multiple times over!!).

Massive cyber hugs to you!!

I'm really sorry that you're going through such a tough time right now, Hanging. I completely get it. I love my dog beyond words - he's a rescue we've had since he was about a year old - but god it's been hard sometimes. He's had his share of tummy issues too and I've had night like you where I've had to get up over and over with him, just wanting to cry. I'm self-employed and work from home, and severely underestimated the impact he'd have on my work and emotional energy. I've had to become almost nocturnal, just to get 5 hours or so uninterrupted time each morning. To cap it off, our pooch is very loving in his way but not exactly a cuddle-bug, not to mention how stubborn he is. On good days his 'No, I will NOT walk in that direction' makes me laugh, but on bad ones I just think, 'Ugh, life was so much easier without you.' I mean, it's a fact. I adore him and would never rehome him, but it's hard sometimes.

All this to say I hear you. We know you love Pod. You're allowed to feel a little overwhelmed sometimes.

Thank you again my loyal Pod squad. @NotISaidTheCat Pod isnt a snuggler either. But it makes every occasional paw biff or snoot nudge all the sweeter.

Shortly after writing all that yesterday Pod had me laughing my head off again. We met a whippet on the way back from our walk and they had a play together. It's WONDERFUL when long dogs get together.

I think I need a plan for some little things I can do for myself in the next week to stop me alternating walking and rotting in bed and doing nothing else. DP is away from tonight and back Wednesday so it will potentially be a shitty few days, literally. In light of this brutal abandonment, DP volunteered to sleep on the sofa last night and deal with Pods nocturnal antics. Which of course meant Pod slept straight through without a peep, though I'm not complaining obviously. Unsure why DP woke me up at 6am to tell me he was going surfing and I should go back to sleep (thanks??) 😆.

Any small manageable satisfying tasks that anyone can recommend that don't require lots of effort or time away from the house alone much appreciated. I'm talking really small, like "walk Pod to coffee shop and buy a coffee", "paint nails and toes", "build a house on the SIMS" (I haven't played it for about a year so I haven't made Pod yet! All my SIMS end up exactly the same: single artist woman living alone in a fabulous house with loads of animals).

DDad is coming down again next weekend to sort out our field. OH I didn't tell you about it! Me and DFriend, the owner of the Terror Squad (Stanley, Bugbork, Hippo and Gentle Howl) are subletting a field! It needs a lot doing to it and DDad being and arborist and one of those old fashioned type Dads that can only show love through practical tasks is bringing all his gear down to move the dead wood about and make the gates secure etc. Pod LOVES it because the grass is long so he can sniffedybound. Also DFriend has a trail cam that we're planning on installing opposite the lightning struck tree that DDad says will definitely have owls.

I can't believe how excited I get about stuff like owls now given five years ago I was pretty sure I was destined to die young, upside down in a pub toilet.

Young-ish, that should have said, ha!

Wow, a field! I am green with envy!

Another thing that I envy is Pod’s happiness with other dogs. Mine reacted to other dogs so I avoid them. She’s quite a lot better now but we don’t go to the park. My previous dogs had such fun at the beach but I don’t take this one there either. She might be ok but I don’t risk it. That’s what has limited me most with her. I’ve been very thankful for the secure fields that have sprung up in the area.

If I’m away for the day at the weekend my dog walker takes her out and sometimes his wife comes too with their whippet, which my girl enjoys.

I have a couch, well actually a chaise longue 😀beside a sunny window and dog and I lie there. That’s nice especially with her head on my lap. She’s very affectionate though not really cuddly.

Your own field will be fab, how exciting.

Oh, your field sounds amazing! I'm sure Pod thinks so too.

It's really lovely to see a happy post, Hanging! Think of all the times to come with a newly healthy Pod, bouncing about like a looney kangaroo in his very own field - could there ever be a happier hound 😍

You could take a sunbed, close your eyes and pretend you're in the Bahamas 😎 Wash out a bottle of sun cream, fill with Pina Colada, day drink with impunity, jobs a goodun 😁

Maybe my friends and I are a little humungous amount less classy than you 😂

It's a new day, it's a new dawn (as the song goes) - and it's good to hear you being upbeat again.

"...upside down in a pub toilet". I laughed out loud and startled the life out of DH.

A FIELD! What an absolutely amazing idea - I am green with envy, you will have to update us with loads of field pictures.

Bill has never been that cuddly a dog. He wants to nap touching me at all times, but the only time he'll sit on my lap is if I'm in the garden lounger, so he can chew the arms of the chair, so of course when that happens I can't move for hours.

Having said that, I was thinking yesterday that I missed the times when he was a puppy when he'd curl up in my arms at night, then this morning I woke up at 5am and he was in my arms, wide awake, making little 'I'm awake' noises to entertain himself like a happy hairy toddler.

Wonderful news about the field!!! And anyone who says they can't relate to your post about how life is harder is very lucky. I have been very lucky to have a fairly easy dog. He's VERY needy and follows me everywhere. And he steals lots and digs. But generally he's pretty easygoing. And even then I sometimes think how much easier life would be. I love seeing how happy he makes the kids. But it's me who mainly does the hard graft. The expense is a lot too. I wouldn't ever give him up. But it can be blimen hard work. I sometimes say the same about having kids 😂. Hang in there. We all have so much admiration for you and are sending good wishes for Pod to get better so you can have a break

A field!

Well get out the paper and the pens - design a doggy field of dreams!

Stuff to boing on/off/around.
Sniffy stuff... sniffari?

Mow paths through the long grass.

Planters (unless you can actually plant direct) with various interesting/healthful nibblysniffables - cleavers - lemon balm - chamomile... the interwebs will have more ideas

Couple of big square straw bales for boinging on - they'll eventually break down so aren't permanent.

Couple of wooden platforms of varying height (so removable).

Logpiles to hide things around.

Log slices set out as stepping stones, varying heights..

Tons of planning, drawing and lists to make there.

If you get bored of that... um, paint Pods nails?

😭😭😭

I caught the very tip of pod's beautiful tail in the car door after his walk today. It bled quite a bit so I rushed him to the emergency vet where he promptly wagged and covered EVERYTHING in tiny spots of blood, think walls, floor, ceilings...

She said because it's the very very end they can't stitch the cut up, they just have to bandage it up tightly and hope for the best. She said if it doesn't heal there's a chance they might have to amputate an inch of it to stitch it up. Meaning he'd lose his lovely paint pot dip 😭

The worse part is the only cone that could stop him tearing the bandage off is ENORMOUS. Like big enough for a horse.

I feel absolutely sick and awful and wretched. The scream he scrumpt will stay with me forever.

Oh dear, what a horrible experience for you, and poor little Pod.

I've not commented before but have followed all your threads. From what I've gleaned of everything you have been through with Pod, I can imagine you'll spend quite some time feeling guilty but it was just an awful accident. Even worse timed in that things have been so tough for you recently. Be kind to yourself, as much as you are wonderful to Pod. I'm in awe of you and how much you put into looking after him. He is truly lucky to have you and I so hope things improve quickly as you both deserve it so much!

Thanks. ❤️ That made me blub.

@HangingOver Oh no, please don’t feel guilty about Pod’s tail. Of course you didn’t mean to injure him. Can they glue the cut like doctors can do for humans? Hopefully it heals up nicely and he can keep his tail tip. A field sounds awesome! Having a dad with building/making stuff skills will be so helpful to set it up nicely.

Aren’t a lot of dogs rehomed about 8 months to 1 year old because of the difficulty managing behaviour and just people realise what a huge responsibility a dog actually is?

Oh no.. that scream just replays through your brain over and over...

And from that you should work out I have slammed at least one doggy appendage in a car door in my lifetime. Possibly more than one (not the same dog... I try to limit it to one per dog).

It's an accident, and if you tally it against how many accidental booboos, hurties and FUCK OWWWWW's Pod has inadvertently (and slightly less inadvertently) inflicted upon your own appendages... I think the balance is still in your favour there!

Gentle hugs to you both!

Oh God you're having a shitty time of it. Poor Pod, and poor you.

Every single one of us will have a story like that, though, in case you're feeling like the worst owner in the world. The number of times I stepped on Bill as a puppy, oh my God. And then when he tore a claw off and was limping round the dog park and I wasn't even the one to notice. And when I cut the quick the last time (ever) I did his nails, Jesus, the blood, the squeal, the horror. It's awful. We all know how awful it is because we've all done it.

You asked earlier for tiny goals and my one for you is to think nice, kind, gentle things towards Pod, and yourself. If that means you do nothing except read a book sitting next to him today, or the height of your achievement is to build him a sniffing game out of recycling that his great long nose can manage even with a cone (may involve you spending a lot of time holding toilet rolls inside the cone, so in fairness may be too high to aim for) then that is a superb victory that you have to think nice kind things about.

We are all gently holding you up from afar. I wish I were closer. Though Pod and Bill would probably just bork at each other and drive us both nuts.

Btw depending on how big the split is... trim off all the hair and try Opsite barrier spray, it forms a thin barrier, not as thick as something like Germolene New Skin (which might be too thick and seal in infection)

. Also an option is the super thin plasticky dressing stuff I forget the name of, its an absolute bastard to get both front and back layers off it to apply it.. but it conforms to anything and seals stuff up. Ah ha.. .this stuff...

https://amzn.eu/d/3tysGu0

You'll have to dehair the area totally though to get it to stick but it does stick gooooood.

Then some padding if you can get that to stay on - taping a bit of pipe lagging around it may help but its hard to get anything to stay on a tail like a noodle (or any tail really).