Today at the SPCA I walked 3 dogs: Duchess, Brandy and Bobo. Sort of.

I've walked Bobo before with no problem, but today he started barking aggressively at the dogs in the kennels next door. He was in "drive" and when he saw my hand move above him he lunged as if to bite me. He's a big dog and strong. I decided that it would be a bad idea for me to walk him further. The choice was to go back to his kennel through a corridor with dogs barking on both sides, or out past a dog run with dogs barking there too. Both bad choices. I found a spot where he couldn't see any dogs, and distracted him with treats till the kennel manager came past. I asked him for help, and he put Bobo back in his kennel for me.

That felt bad. But if Bobo bit me, that would have severe consequences for him.

Instead, I walked Duchess, a bouncy big-eared sweetheart who enjoys catching treats out of the air, and little Brandy, who is being adopted soon. So that's good news.

#SPCADiary #Dogs

Today at the SPCA I walked Lulu, Kianga, & Peanut Butter.
Harmony just been sterilised as she's going home with her new owner soon! Percy's also been adopted. This is a relief to me. I try to leave out the sad parts of the SPCA here but I've been worried about him. His fascination with chasing balls had started tipping into an unhealthy and anxious obsession. But all's well that ends well.

I was surprised to see a "!!" on the whiteboard for Kianga, the sloppy, goofy basset cross. That means "jumper". Apparently she's escaped out of the dog run twice but no one knew how she got out. I kept a close eye on her during her walk and, would you believe it, she tried to open the latch on the dog run gate. Quite openly and without any guile, the sweetheart.

Lulu showed me that she knows how to use the agility equipment so we had a lot of fun running around and jumping over things. Despite the blazingly hot sun. We're having a heat wave here in Cape Town.

#Dogs #SPCADiary

Today at the SPCA I walked Harmony, Lulu and Brandy.

Apparently someone is adopting Harmony. I'm relieved because she's such a nervous, sensitive dog. I worry how life in a kennel affects her. Her potential owner is an old man who said he likes how gentle she is.

Lulu was fun to walk. She's a handful, but her energy is all joyful and positive. It was like walking a big bouncy rubber ball. Someone has clearly been making an effort training her because her sit is just perfect, and she was familiar with the agility equipment too.

Brandy is tiny, a honey-coloured dog. I had to carry her most of the way to the dog run because she's terrified of everything, but once we were there she was fine, not even worried about the full sized, intact bull just on the other side of the fence.

Brandy stared at the bull, the bull ignored Brandy. Thankfully, because all there was between them was a bit of sagging wire fence.

#dogs #DogsOfMastodon #SPCADiary

Walked 3 dogs at the SPCA today: Bobo, Sunny, and Percy.

Bobo is from an informal settlement that burnt down. No lives were lost, but many people lost their homes. I walked him first because he's house trained, so he's desperate to get out so he can pee and poop. He did OK till we reached the stables, and then he just point blank refused to go further. He clamped his tail between his leg and hunkered down. I sat with him a bit, but it became clear he wasn't going to manage so I just walked him around the grassy area in front of the kennels for a while.

Sunny has improved a lot since I last saw him! Last week it took me about half an hour of patient sitting in his kennel before he accepted the leash. Today he let me leash him after about two minutes, and had a good long walk with me.

Percy is a joy to walk. All I had to do was throw that ball till he was a happy panting wreck. He's good, catches it right out of the air with a satisfying chomp.

#dogs #DogsOfMastodon #SPCADiary

Today at the SPCA I walked Harmony, Sunny, and Percy.

Sisi has been adopted! I'm so pleased.

Sunny's whiteboard column had repeated notes that he's new and scared. He's a medium long-haired bronze-gold dog, very pretty and terrified. He'd apparently been taken out of a cruel living situation. He snapped at me at first, so I just sat with him in his kennel.

A staff member saw me on the wet concrete and brought me a bucket to sit on, I thought that was so kind of him.

After about 20 minutes Sunny was relaxed enough to duck his head under my hand for pets and to my surprise, was fine with me putting a leash on him and going for a walk.

Percy's noteboard said he likes to play ball, so I knew to take a ball with. He spent the entire walk chasing that ball as hard as he could, returning it neatly between my feet. By the end of the walk that ball was one mess of dog-spit and grass but Percy was happy and relaxed.

#dogs #DogsOfMastodon #SPCADiary

Today at the SPCA I walked Sisi, Volli, and Harmony.

It looks like someone might have applied to adopt Sisi! That is such good news. I was starting to get worried about her.

Harmony managed to get poop on her face and neck during her walk, no idea how. There's a tap in the dog run so I could rinse her off, but I had to use my bare hands, not great. She didn't enjoy the process either!

Something kind of nice happened on my way home. I stopped at the supermarket, still wearing my SPCA volunteer shirt. One of the packers who works there, a young man, came up to me and with a totally neutral facial expression and flat affect, told me "Thank you for looking after our animals" before marching off.
That was really sweet.

#Dogs #SPCADiary

Walked three dogs today, Sisi, Toby and Harmony, then called in quits because 1) hot and 2) Toby bit my finger, just a tiny nip as I closed his kennel. He's an over-excited fluff for brains so not a big deal.

I'd been wondering why Toby has "side exit only" on the white board. It's because he goes completely nanas when walking past the other kennels and you have to get him out as quickly as possible. He's a fluffy golden pup, some kind of herding breed, and a very good boy once he's away from the kennels. He immediately showed me that he knows how to sit, and expects a treat when he does so. That's what we did during his walk. "Toby, sit!" (butt goes down, insane expression intensifies) "Good boy, Toby!" (snaps treat out of the air).

Harmony is just as nervous as when I first met her. I had to carry her past a pony who put his ears back and snorted at her with all his teeth bared. Can't really blame her!

#Dogs #SPCADiary