It was back when Jasmine's body was secretly struggling with a number of undiagnosed issues.
Not for the lack of trying on our part, I must add. She was generally happy and active. While things looked pretty much ok on the outside, though, inside her body was struggling with things. In spite of her vets at the time not finding anything, I felt something wasn't right. And Jasmine felt the same way.
She started to bury her pee.
When I told the vet about it, he said it was normal. No, I said, she is not ground scoring, she is burying her pee. She tries to cover it up. He, again, said, it was normal. We went on this way to no avail.
I might have been a dumb dog owner but I knew what ground scoring was and the purpose it serves.
With her nose, Jasmine would push material on top of her pee in order to cover it up. Then she would sniff-check it and push some more on. She quite clearly didn't want her pee to be found and inspected. To me, that was clearly a self-assessment, indicating that she considered her pee communicating weakness, a physical problem.
This went on for quite a while. When the weather was warm, in the yard, Jasmine would push wood chips on top of it. In the winter, she would cover it with snow.
One winter night, I took her out to potty. It was cold but it rained during the day. The yard was frozen solid and the wood chips turned it into a grater.
As any other day, Jasmine was determined to disguise her pee.
But the ground wasn't budging and she was on her way to scrape her nose raw. I tried to break the ground up some to help her, but it was rock solid. It was not going to happen.
What was I to do?
Jasmine was not going to be happy with her pee out in the open. She was not going to be able to do anything about it. I could have gotten her out of the yard but, trust me, Jasmine wouldn't forget about it. She'd sit there, obsessing, asking for the door, and the first time out she would try all over again.
The only solution I could see was fixing the problem so she'd be happy with it. But how?
Then I remembered some of the Stanley Coren's books. Perhaps, if it got marked over, that would take care of it. The idea seemed sound. So out there, at night, in the cold, I pulled down my pants and peed on top of it.
When I was done, Jasmine carefully sniff-inspected it.
And then she turned back to the house. She was satisfied! It worked!
Fortunately, the next day we got a bunch of fresh snow. And then, with a new vet, new diagnoses and a new diet, Jasmine felt better about her pee and I never had to repeat this stunt again.
Eventually, she got the to point where she was proud enough of her pee that she would indeed ground score for the whole world to notice it.
Every time she did that, I was so happy. To me that was the greatest thing ever. A sign that her self-assessment was positive. She felt good about herself and about how her body was working.
What is the whackiest thing you ever did for your dog?
***
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