Devil Dog

Devil Dog

I think I picked up "devil dog" from this David Letterman clip. He is showcasing Bailey, a Beagle who plays dead and asks about "that devil dog," how he was in the green room. If you haven't seen this clip, here is the link and it is featured below. Bailey is a hoot. BTW, David implies that Beagles are "snarky" and "difficult." Poppycock.

MY devil dog is not a Beagle. The reason I even call her "devil dog" is her adventuresome spirit which can scare me to bits on occasion. My devil dog is Angel. Yep, Angel, forever foster Dachshund, who showed up at my car when I parked in the drive the other morning after work. I KNOW I left her in the front room behind a gate. Sigh. I also know that particular gate lock was failing - and it failed big time that very stormy night.

Angel, black & tan, almost mini Dachshund

I bring what I perceive to be a grateful and shivering , wet, dirty dog into the house where she heads for a couch (covered with a sheet). I smell a foul odor and it is bad. Indeed, the storms did a number on my Bloodhound, Ellie Mae, who pooped in her crate big time.

Poop vs GDV

Uff da! Here's the thing with Ellie Mae: even though it was nasty to clean her crate, she was alive.

Ellie Mae is prone to GDV or bloat. The night she came home last summer, I saw her bloat. Just as I was ready to zip to the ER vet, she vomited all the cold, now hot, water she drank on her way home. So, did I mind cleaning that poop? Not one bit.

Ellie Mae is 1) older, 2) has a deep chest, and 3) ate our main meal (which I normally serve earlier in the day) for the final meal before I went to work. When you check the article link on GDV, you see she meets 3 of 4 initial criteria for GDV/bloat. Because, in the first situation, she was able to vomit, and in the second, to poop, her stomach didn't twist or volvulus. Ellie Mae was a lost dog whose family never found her and thus, I adopted her (the week before she would be killed; the hound lover at St. Charles Pet Center called me about her). Therefore, I don't know if any of her siblings exhibit GDV.

Ellie Mae Bloodhound

Resolution: the gate has links on the bottom which make it swing one way or the other. They are now in use. Ellie Mae spent another stormy night in her crate but everyone was fed earlier and no more trouble with poop. And for those perhaps wondering, YES, Angel is microchipped as is Ellie Mae. Onto microchips next week.