Zeus' Adventure Time!

haidinyak
Jun 13, 2019
12 min read

Updated: Jul 25, 2019

That saying "Time flies when you're having fun" is so true! The last month and a half we have been so busy taking the dogs, in particular Zeus, to outings that time has just flown by! We have gone to two professional photo sessions, a 5K race, and the first cottage weekend of the season for the year.

Our first fun experience was for Mother's Day. This year we decided to hire a photographer by the name of Heather Savard ( https://www.heathersavardphotography.ca/ ) to capture some photos of the family all together while out on a hike. That day we got the dogs dressed up in their bow ties and headed out to Heber Down Conservation Area. (https://www.cloca.com/heber-down-ca). I was very excited to meet up with the family and for Zeus to visit with everyone again. Of course he was also extremely excited to see everyone and at first tried to pull me to each family member. Thankfully, I had recently switched up his training gear and started to use something called a Halti, and this stopped him from pulling me right away. A dog Halti is simply a head collar that somewhat resembles a halter worn by horses. Also known as a gentle leader, head halter or head collar, a dog Halti basically goes over the dog's head with the bigger loop going around the dog's neck and the smaller loop going over the dog's muzzle. That way when the dog tries to pull, his head is turned and the pull motion is stopped. This has been very effective with our Danes and from the first moment we used it we noticed how effective it was with Zeus as well, in fact it was like night and day. The only difference between our Danes and Zeus is that the Olde English Bulldogge is a short nosed breed so we had to find a Halti specifically made for that. What we found was the Halti Optifit Head Collar. (https://www.petexpertise.com/halti-optifit-head-collar-dog/ ). Thankfully this one worked well with Zeus' short nose and now anyone can walk him. He no longer pulls and we can walk right past other people without Zeus running towards them. That isn't to say he likes it, in fact he will often try to rub it off his nose when we walk by a bush or there is some grass he can try and face-plant into. But a quick correction and treat for good behaviour has really reduced the amount of times he tries that. So for these photos we used the Halti while walking along the trails as there were other people out enjoying a hike, but we tried to take the Halti off when the camera was out. I was very pleased with how our family photos turned out and so happy to have the dogs involved for them as they are really a big part of our whole family. I will post these photos at the end of the blog.

The next big outing was for some professional photos with friends. I had seen on Facebook one of ladies I work with post about a photographer doing some photo sessions for charity. The deal was a 20 minute session for $40 and all the proceeds would go to a charity called K9 Crusaders ( https://www.k9c.ca/). I decided this was a wonderful opportunity to update our friend photos we had done 4 years earlier and asked all our best friends to go with their dogs. Much to my excitement they also liked the idea and they agreed, so we booked in for a 40 minute session at $80 and just split the cost between us all. It ended up being 8 people and 6 dogs in total which made for some real fun! There was a little bit of chaos and lots of commands being yelled out by each owner, and not all the dogs would cooperate at the same time, but the photographer Alexis Mak did an amazing job and got some really good photos of us all at West Beach in Port Hope. (https://alexismakphotography.com/) (https://visitporthope.ca/waterfront).

(The first two are from 4 years ago and the last two are from this year. Just a few changes)

We decided to use the Halti for Zeus while out at these photos as well because once again it was very exciting for him to see everyone. He was good the whole session and was great with the other dogs until the very end. One of our friends has a Newfoundland dog named Hank and he had growled at Zeus a little and then at the end of the day started to bark and stand over Zeus. Well this little Bulldog was not taking that and went at Hank but thankfully nothing happened as Mike held him back and Hank just walked away from him. This made me feel so sad and embarrassed because until now we have not had an incident. This is what Zeus did before he was neutered and he had been totally fine ever since. I talked it over with Mike as I have this need to analyze everything until I can figure out how to fix it. We noticed Zeus didn't do anything until the very end of the day when Hank was standing over him and barking and the dogs were tired and hot after an hour of posing for photos and listening to commands. Mike also pointed out that after the outburst Zeus calmed down and nothing else happened the rest of the day. We would have to be careful not to let dogs try to push Zeus around in the future. And Hank is a wonderful dog otherwise so I am sure in the future we can get them to be friends with careful interactions going forward. After the photos we had to sign a contract and we were told our all the money would be donated to K9 Crusaders. The photographer ended up being able to donate $410 all together and all of our names went onto the donation card. These photos I will also post at the end of the blog.

Our names at the bottom. Amanda, Nathan, Heather, Jennifer, Mike, Kelly.

The next big outing was for another event for charity called The Furry Friends 5K Race. This event took place in Oshawa this year and is about raising money for different rescues, one of which is a Dane rescue which is close to my heart (https://www.furryfriends5k.ca/). They do the run every year and I highly recommend it. I have done this race previously with our Danes but last year we missed out as our Dane Ares is getting older and his legs are getting sore now with arthritis so we no longer feel that he could do the whole 5K and be comfortable afterwards. This year I decided to ask friends to come along with Zeus and I and Ares got his own special lakeside walk with his favourite human, his dad, Mike. I was able to convince Steve and Kelly and their two little Dachshunds Latte and Abby, Rada and her Lab Abby, Amanda and Nathan and their daughter Ellie and their Goldendoodle Archie, and Victoria and her kids Elizabeth and Aiden to come along. We called our team "We Let The Dogs Out" and we all managed to run the whole 5K. I was really proud of everyone who came out and did the race! Zeus was great for the most part. Before the race he had an outburst when the Lab Abby first arrived and when I think back on what happened I believe it was the energy that Abby brought into the group. She was very hyper and this got Archie excited and playful which got Zeus going. Not to say it was right on Zeus' part, and I was extremely upset and embarrassed he did this again. I ended up just pulling Zeus away and settling him down and he ended up being fine after that. All the other dogs that day didn't bother him and he went back to his happy loving self, but this stayed on my mind and I couldn't apologize to my friend Rada enough because she is the one who introduced us to our new family member and I really wanted her to see how far Zeus had come. I really wish things went down differently and I have hope that Rada will be able to visit Zeus in the future and have a much better interaction. Other then that one moment the rest of the day went by perfectly. The day had actually started out rainy which was good for us as it wasn't too hot or sunny when the race started and the rain ended up stopping shortly after we started the race and the dogs were able to enjoy themselves without being soaked the whole time. Each dog got a medal once they completed the run and little Zeus was so happy when he got his, like he knew he did something good and was able to relax now. There happened to be some professional photos that day of the dogs running the race and of course we took some of our own. Zeus loved greeting all the people that day and he especially loved playing and getting attention from the kids that Victoria brought. Elizabeth and Aiden loved Zeus and were hugging him up tight, rolling on the ground with him, giving him treats and water, and Zeus ate up every minute of it. He was gentle and wagged his stub and gave lots of kisses and cuddles. I was very proud about how he was with all the people that day big and small as he had lots of strangers come up to see him. I will post these photos at the end of the blog as well.

The day ended on a really good note and later that night we celebrated the good day with a BBQ at Steve and Kelly's house. We were able to bring Zeus along to visit with everyone and meet new people so we could keep Zeus’ socializing up. At one point as we were all sitting outside on their deck Zeus decided to jump up onto it from the grass. Well his little back leg didn't quite make it all the way up and he bumped his knee on the deck edge. We all heard this big BANG and right away Zeus cried out and started limping. Now, as a dog mom and especially to a puppy, my dog mom instincts kicked right in and lots of fearful thoughts rushed into my head. Is there a broken bone? A torn ACL? A popped knee cap? I rushed over to Zeus and tucked him safely into my lap and arms. I held him until he stopped crying and like the good boy he is, he just let me look over his leg. I gently touched it to make sure he didn't cry out again as my first fear was it was broken and thankfully he didn't. Then I tried to gently move his knee to make sure he didn't tear his ACL some how, another huge fear of mine since going through it with my Dane Titan. Again he let me and didn't cry out, so I just softly rubbed it better until on his own he felt like he could get up and walk. At first he was limping, but slowly he started to walk on it better until he was back to his normal happy self. Thankfully, all crisis was adverted and the rest of the night went perfect. He was able to play with Latte and Abby, even though they didn't enjoy the game too much. Zeus likes to walk up to them with a wagging stub and see how close he can get until the two girls chase him away. But when the BBQ hot dogs come out for a treat they all were best friends eating their special snack together. Those girls just play hard to get with him but Zeus loves it. Zeus also loved getting attention from everyone and really sold the breed as some of the guests were asking questions and looking for info into a possible pet for the future. After such a busy day Zeus was exhausted and once home he slept through the whole night and most of the next day before getting back into his usual routine.

Zeus enjoying the truck ride to Kelly and Steve's house

The next big adventure was to the cottage up in Georgian Bay. Zeus has been here once before when he was just shy of 4 months old for Thanksgiving with the family, but I don’t think he fully remembered it. He was so excited to check everything out and of course see everyone. We took the boys for walks together to the beach and Ares showed Zeus how to enjoy digging in the sand, and how to wade out into the water and cool off your belly, and he also showed him how to stand up on the rocks and check out the beautiful bay surrounding us. Zeus seemed to really love this and he also liked having the extra walks (but he still hates the getting ready part) and the two dogs really enjoyed playing with everyone at the cottage as well. Unfortunately, we did not feel confident leaving Zeus off his leash/lead just yet as he has such a high prey drive still and we worry he would take off after something and not come back when we called. This is a work in progress which works 50% of the time depending on what treat bag we shake. Our good boy didn’t seem to mind the lead though and he was comfortable in his harness for most of the weekend as a lot of the time is spent outside. The only downfall this whole weekend was when Zeus had another outburst episode with the neighbour’s dog. He is a Mini Australian Shepherd named Garrett who is not neutered and he just comes over on our property any time he pleases. So this weekend as usual Garrett came over to say hi to us and greet Ares, who happens to be very friendly with Garrett, and Zeus decided he was not having it. After an initial greet which I thought went fine Zeus decided he was going to have a go at Garrett, the same awful noise and charging he did before. Of course we didn’t let him and nothing came of it as Garrett just gave him his space, thank goodness. So we put Zeus in the cottage and kept them separated. However every time Garrett came wondering over Zeus would go into naughty dog mode. I tried to put his Halti on and take him out just to meet Garrett’s owner Pete. Zeus, who usually loves people, didn’t even want to see Pete and instead just tried to go at Garrett the whole time. So we stopped trying and put him back in the cottage. The next time Garrett wondered over Mike had Zeus on his leash and he took Zeus over a little bit to see how he would react….and would you believe it, nothing happened. There was some focusing and a little pulling on the leash, but nothing compared to when I had him. In fact, Mike was able to walk Zeus over to Garrett and not get nose to nose but close enough that Zeus could meet Pete with no issue and with a wagging stub because Zeus was happy to get attention from someone. But if took the leash he would go nuts again. So we talked about it and we think Zeus is getting too protective over me or the property. I remember reading that this breed is extremely loyal and protective over home and pack. When we went on a walk the week after the cottage I was walking Zeus and two dogs came running over to us off leash. One was a Maltese Shih Tzu and the other was a Boxer. At first I was worried as I wasn’t sure how Zeus would react now, but Zeus did nothing but greet them nicely and try to play with them. He even let the boxer jump on him and push him around a little with no incident. So we made sure to praise and reward this behaviour a lot with the hopes he continues it. A friend of mine once said "Dogs are like people in the sense that they don't like all dogs. Just like people don’t like every person they meet." It is very true but we will keep trying to work with Zeus with the hope he can at least learn to tolerate every dog a little better. Other then this one issue that has come up the weekend was perfect. We took Zeus on a little road trip while Ares was resting with Mike, and got some ice cream for everyone. While at the store Zeus had his picture taken by some people and lots of kids came over to visit and pet him. He loved the attention and he really loved seeing the kids. Some times I feel bad that he didn’t go to a family with children in it, but thankfully he is in a loving home and my friends have young kids he can visit with to keep up that wonderful behaviour and get his fun kid time in.

Every adventure we have is a new opportunity for us and for Zeus to learn and figure out what each other wants from the other. It's been frustrating at times but I have to keep reminding myself he is still just a puppy and he will eventually understand what we want from him. Plus he has still been so wonderful at home and with Ares and that is the most important part. When on walks now Zeus will often get ahead of Ares as our big guy has slowed down and if Zeus gets too far ahead he will stop and wait for Ares to catch up. Once Ares gets close Zeus will go up to him and lick his face as if to say "Are you okay brother, let's keep going". I am loving the bond these two have made and continue to make. This breed is such a wonderful family dog I highly recommend them.

The other thing we have started to do is Will They Eat It Wednesday. I noticed that Zeus will try almost anything and eat almost anything, while Ares will not. Danes are picky from what I've seen so we decided to make some videos of the boys trying new foods with captions of what we think they are saying, and then we decided to post it once a week online. The results have been hilarious and we have got a lot of positive feedback about it. So I will leave you with our videos of that and with all our adventure photos until the next update. Enjoy!