Lizabeth Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I will try to explain this as easy as I can with out going into detail. First bare in mind we have a few homeless people who live along the river, they don't bother anyone they are just there. So yesterday was my birthday keep this in mind too. I have not been doing so well last couple weeks so the dogs have not been out much nor have I been working much with Gidget, so I decided to go run gidget then come home and take all 3 dogs back across the street to play. Normal play thing no biggie. Gidget was having fun, playing doing some training between all was great she was warring down so we were about to head home, I told her she could do a couple more runs down the bank and back up to me, its a game she loves to play.... then it happened, this one particular spot that I told her to run down.... there she goes full speed down the hill and she slips sliding yelping trying to get up, gets up tries to come up back to me slipping and sliding on something I have no idea what the heck it is!! Then I realize and OMG!! It was the unthinkable!!! So there she was covered in this mess harness and all head to tail feet all the whole dog! Went to the swimming area its all blocked off due to some excavating they are doing. I can not put a leash on her, she is rolling in anything and everything she can think of trying to get it off nothing is helping, so I tell her we are heading home off leash so she had best be good and stick close, she did what a trooper!!! Got home put on rubber gloves, did what I had to do, ya could not bring her in the house so i tied her to a rope, and sprayed her with the garden hose, I was in tears! my cane got covered in the stuff oh my gosh it was so bad, we were both in tears but it had to be done. Soaked her in a mixture of everything i could think of to disinfect her and de stink her even tomato juice figured it works for skunk Oder omg that poor dog! Called Kim she was in a study group, she came home took the poor dog and washed her in the tub really well and got her all cleaned up, poor Gidgy she does not want to leave the house! she cries every time she sees anyone walking a dog down to that area and she lets off this sad bark like shes warning the dog don't go down there! Shes in fear of that place, and ya know she has darn good reason! Tomorrow morning I am calling the health department and asking them who I should contact as this needs to be cleaned up before we get a rain and it ends up in the river! anyway it is everything i can muster just to get her to go outside when she has to go potty, she holds it tell she is whimpering, i have tried going out with her and the other dogs she still will not go she just stands against me, she will not go tell she cant hold it any longer, did not try to take her for a walk today because in the middle of the night last night i ended up cracking my head open and going to the er so im a bit sore today what a happy bday huh? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CptJack Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Very likely your dog is reacting in response to the falling, being bathed outside with a hose (and inside if that's not normal) and your emotional reaction than the event itself, or the trauma of having rolled in even human poop. In fact, given what I have seen my dogs roll in, I'm danged near positive that's the case. Take her outside the house, feed her treats, be calm, and it'll pass. You're right though: What a birthday and definitely get that call in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxi Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 ^^I fully agree with CptJack. I think it is likely that Gidget was probably traumatised by the fall and her frantic efforts to get back to you - She will have also picked up on your anxiety- especially as it appears from your previous posts that she really looks out for you. Like CptJack, my younger dogs regularly roll in stuff that i consider very unsavoury - I wash them down with a hose outside & eventually they seem to learn that what I consider an unpleasant smell will equate to the cold hose and so this behaviour decreases. CptJack's advice is also sound.. Gidgit needs to be reassured..and given treats.. to show that there is no problem with being outside. sorry your birthday was ruined in this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Yuk! Call the health dept. Next thing some kids will be sliding through it. Oohh, yuk! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simba Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I have been there. I usually have a white, a yellow, and a brown dog on walks. Came home one day with three entirely brown, very pleased with themselves dogs. I was just so glad I hadn't driven them somewhere, we could walk home. Human is the worst. Give me chicken, sheep, cow, horse, even pig shit. Anything but that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Yep, Human is the worst. Had a dog roll in it on a camping trip one time and the only place to bathe him was in the water faucet for the campground. I agree, though, that Gidget was most likely reacting to your distress. Lot's of good experiences going out with you should help her through it. Best wishes. And a happy belated birthday. Hope you're feeling better soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I agree with the thought that a combination of feeling frightened by falling/slipping, followed by your understandable dismay and the cleanup process, are more likely the issue than getting covered in stinky stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 My dogs have rolled in poop, goose poop, half rotten carp, cow pies and sheep shit. Bandit got a half rotten 2 foot long carp and wouldn't let go. By the time I got it loose from his mouth I had rotten fish all over me, too. That was a fun ride home - 25 miles. That is one of the main reasons I don't take my dogs to the country and let them run. There is always something awful and rotting and stinky for them to roll around in. And I would also guess that your dog was reacting to how upset you were not having poop all over. Dogs don't mind poop. Some even eat it. It's humans that have such an aversion to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simba Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 The human's emotions, the fall, and a shower, I would agree, are more likely to be distressing. I have just returned from bathing a small dog covered in cow shit. She was deeply unhappy about the whole experience. She just did not understand why she had to go into the awful shower. Green is in this year, surely? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizabeth Posted October 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Thanks!!! I have been taking Gidget outside armed with a hotdog!!! Yes a hotdog!! I break it up in little pieces and I get her to come down the 3 steps down to the ground, then slowly we walk around the yard, as if some sort of monster is going to come out and attack her! (my neighbors must be cracking up with this one!) But it is working!! She is even asking to go outside just to sit on the front porch, not to go down just to sit or lay there with me, that is fine no problem, as long as she wants to go out on her own that I call progress!! Phew I think she will get back to normal. She is still whimpering for apparent reason, she will jump up on my bed or a chair and whimper, I talk to her give her some pets and kisses tell her I love her, then she seems to be happy and jumps off the chair and lays on her doggy pillow. Her leg is not swollen or anything, she is not favoring it, I think she more is asking for me if I am ok more then anything, as I am a bit of a mess, I am so off balance today I am having a hard time, having to use a neck support just to hold my head up, she just is making sure all is fine before she takes a nap I think. I have called health dpt, I got a number which I have called waiting for a person to call me back, basically I have begun the run around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcnewe2 Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I wonder if she's hurt herself some how with the slipping. Have you checked her over for tender spots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I wonder if she's hurt herself some how with the slipping. Have you checked her over for tender spots? Great suggestion! Could be a reason for being reluctant do do stairs, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoresDog Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 I've got nothing to add, but wow, poor Gidget! Poor you! Pamper her and pamper yourself, please! I hope the Health Dept. gets on this problem. But sometimes these homeless encampment set-ups are just a big can of worms, lots of interconnected problems that are hard to solve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 20, 2014 Report Share Posted October 20, 2014 Definitely expect her to be sore from that fall and all the slipping/sliding. Poor baby. I'd be traumatized too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizabeth Posted October 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Update, First Gidget is doing pretty well this evening, going outside a little bit better, still on the leery side but more willing as long as Orion her buddy the heeler is with her. As for the environmental health department, they dropped the ball saying it is a city issue, the city gave me the big run around, ending with a city official pretty much saying in a nut shell that the city does not have the time, manpower or the funding to undertake such an operation to patrol the rivers edge hunting for all the homeless bathroom sights, even the ones that the public knows to exist! Furthermore the city has posted "no camping signs" that is about all that they can do to enforce that no one is down there sleeping and living on the waters edge. They can not place laws on the homeless making it mandatory that they carry buckets and shovels to remove or bury their waste! Yeah I was told that!!! And if I really am worried about this ending up being saturated into the ground, or running into the river I am more then welcome to organize a committee to walk up and down the river looking for human waste and removing it on my own time and with my own personal funding!!! Other then that their is not anything more that can be done other then to just stay away from known areas tell we get a hard rain to wash it away! How about them apples? I took this information to a board member of my neighborhood and he is not happy at all, he actually is the one who first drove me to the emergency room when I fell in the very same river and got the infection in my leg that is still there, preventing me from having my knee reconstruction surgery, he said he may bring me to the next neighborhood association meeting, because they need to know and see how I got this infection in my leg from this river at the beginning of summer, here it is fall and I still have this infection even though the doctors are continuing to treat me, and how I can not even schedule my much needed operation until it is gone. I tell ya this is turning into something big! We are about ready to call the news on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RemsMom Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I'm sorry you are getting the runaround. I think you and Gidget deserve a birthday do-over! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Wow. I wonder what the city would say here? That's ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizabeth Posted October 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 We are in Spokane Washington. and this place where we go is across the street, many people go there, it is just beautiful, it is a wide open area, very big open space with a few trails along the river or you can stay up on top, you can go down to the river and swim if you like, you can go along the trail and get to this area called peoples park where their are even more trails and a big bridge that you can walk over a huge water fall and have even more beautiful trails on either side, bald eagle all sorts of wildlife, just beautiful!!! Very sad that this sort of thing is going on and that their is nothing being done about it. Please don't get me wrong I do feel for the homeless people, if I were homeless the last place I would want to be is in those shelters or in the streets in the city, I would want to be in the woods myself,. But I would have the decency to keep the environment clean of derby and dig a darn hole or something. It is all just very sad. Gidget woke up this morning and seems back to normal, went out to potty like nothing was wrong, I think she will be ok. Saw a man come up out of the trails yesterday with his dog covered in the stuff, he was understandably upset, I offered him my hose, he came over we doused his poor dog in the last of my baking soda vinegar and tomato juice and got it cleaned up as best as we could so at least he could put his dog in his truck to get it home for a good bath. The man was so upset, I told him I know I just went through this, told him what the citys take on the matter was, he said he will be reporting it as well. Like he said what was meant to be a nice relaxing stroll with his dog turned into a hellacious experience bringing him to tears, this is just not rite, mind you the name of the area where I live is Peaceful Valley. Lately their has been not much peace in this valley, my truck was robbed, their have been break ins in homes and cabins through the neighborhood, they have been asking for the police to step up enforcement around here, we even had a guy this summer stab and kill someone in the park and hide in someones basement! He was found thank goodness! It's normally a nice quiet little area where people have cute homes, gardens and just a nice quiet life, seems that some people think that this means we are all suckers who have no backbone and they can do anything they wish in our neighborhood, as my neighbor said "time we show them that this neighborhood will not put up with these sorts of behaviors" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I think that your experience (with other people to back it up - like the man with the dog) would make a very interesting public interest news story. I think the fact that dogs are involved might heighten the public outrage. Not to diminish your leg infection, which is serious and should be included in the facts too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Where in Spokane? I'm fromthere. NW Blvd down by the VA hospital close to Riverside Park. Someone should post big warning sign there. That's a huge health issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizabeth Posted October 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Ok you know where Riverfront park is, I am down the hill along the Spokane River, pretty much down the hill in Peaceful Valley, funny you should mention a sign, we are talking about making a huge sign that says something like BEWARE people poo poo here! Keep DOGS OUT! The city and environmental health will not do anything about it! Then calling the local news to come down and do a report on it. Seriously its being discussed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMP Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Yeah, the poo itself would not have phased Gidget. Your response to the poop was probably the most traumatic thing of all. Dogs, especially BC, are very sensitive to their people's emotions. My dogs eat chicken shit all the time - I have to work hard to stop them because it's everywhere around here and high in protein. The only thing that works on the BC is to act all disgusted with them. They hate that even though they love the poop. Then there's the BC who thinks cat shit in the cat litter box is special treats with a crunchy coating. Dogs, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizabeth Posted October 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 I was pretty calm about it when it first happened actually I was more worried about her leg being broken with her limping on it and all, but once she was able to put pressure on it and walk a bit then I tried to get to where I could soak her in the water though that ended up not possible. Anyway I had my last attempt to get help, I spoke with a woman at a department that removes and cleans up homeless and their camps I was informed that their is an organization is set up to "run off the homless that set up camp," they come in and "clean up the camp site" "they clean up everything left behind EXCEPT That" so they want me to go down and investigate and call them back if I see a camp, I told her that I am disabled and not about to go poking around looking to find a homeless camp. So she said she can not tell me I can put up a warning sign, but if I were to put up a warning sign she doubts that anyone would have a problem with it, and she doubts anyone would take it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy Coyote Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 Too dangerous for you to be down there. Is Peaceful Valley more toward downtown? I kind of remember a place called that. I left there when iwas 14 but my brother still lives there. I absolutely think you should post a sign so people will know tokeep dogs on the trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted October 21, 2014 Report Share Posted October 21, 2014 My dogs eat chicken shit all the time - I have to work hard to stop them because it's everywhere around here and high in protein. The only thing that works on the BC is to act all disgusted with them. They hate that even though they love the poop. I will have to try acting disgusted with my two. My neighbor, who hays our fields, just spread chicken litter all over our fields about 10 days ago. I don't think it would be so bad if it spread nicely as a uniform layer, but his spreader throws out chunks here and there. The dogs really chowed down on the chunks during our walk a couple days after the litter was laid down. [i would call them back to me, and they would come, but only AFTER one last huge bite and gulp.] The result, out the other end, was huge and very black. Yech! I have altered where I walk for a while in hopes that the litter will break down after a few rains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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