sugar is home

I didn't think I could part with Sugar.  And actually Rob and I considered keeping her... it was a frequent discussion, honestly.  She was with us for 5 months, but it felt like she'd been with us forever. She fit right in with Roxy and Buster, adored Rob and I, and was just overall the dog we were always looking for.  She didn't mind being the last one in the bed (snobby Roxy needed "her" spot) and Sugar was perfectly fine to sneak in later, and snuggle by my feet.  She was able to read Roxy and Buster so well.  She knew Buster didn't want to share his ball during fetch, so she'd chase him towards the ball, but veer off to the side when he got close to it and come back to me, so she could chase him again when I threw the ball.  She figured out quickly that sharing her body heat was the way to Roxy's heart. She snuggled like a champion, and was a pro at surprise french kissing you.  She was always ready and willing to go with you, even if that meant sitting in the yard watching you rake the leaves.  It was incredibly hard to let her go.  I mean really, who wants to let go of the perfect dog?

But in the end we found her the perfect family. They love and adore her, and she loves them back.  I knew it was meant to be when, during the meet and greet, she completely ignored me and my play requests, in favor of belly rubs and snuggles for her future Mom and Dad. She's doing wonderful and I seriously couldn't be happier with her placement.  Below is an update I got from her new family, I guess I can stop crossing my fingers that she'll come back now, huh? :)

From her new adopters:  "Sugar is doing great and we're definitely enjoying her! She fits right in and is perfect. We had her around Amanda's whole family last week for her bday and she was great. She listens very well and she learns quickly too. I already taught her high five! lol. At first she was kinda nervous. After a few days she started learning that this is her new home."

"She loves car rides. Any time we go by the car she wants to jump in. She is doing great though. She loves jumping on the bed with us and I think she already claimed one of the couches as her couch. Haha."

sugar's story

I went to the kennel with Roxy and Buster to bring home another foster dog.  We tried one male pitty who Roxy absolutely adored, Thunder.  Roxy and Thunder were play bowing and wrestling in no time, and I thought we were sold on bringing him home.  Then, I brought Buster out to meet Thunder, and, unfortunately, Buster had no desire to interact with Thunder at all.  Buster would growl whenever he came near.  We tried parallel walking and slow introductions, but Buster just wasn't having it. So, we opted to try another dog -- a female -- and hope that worked better for Buster.

Tammy, the foster coordinator and one of the only people I trust to help me introduce Roxy and Buster to dogs at the kennel, came out with a dog named Sugar, a white dog with red freckles and spots who had the most pathetic look on her face.  It was obvious that she had multiple litters of puppies in her life, and she was listed as only 3 years old. I was told she was friendly, and had been surrendered to a shelter without her puppies. The puppies had come in a few days later, but they were all adopted.  Sugar was recently treated for heartworm, and was to be kept calm for the next 4 weeks.

Buster was a much bigger fan of Sugar... his body language was so much more relaxed, he wasn't avoiding looking at her, and he was even sniffing and wagging his tail.  His whale eye was gone, and there were no growls of disapproval.  Roxy tried to play with Sugar, and Sugar just stood there, looking completely lost.... so we took her home for foster.

She spent the first several days asleep on the couch right next to me.  If I got up to go in the kitchen, she followed.  If the other dogs began playing, she would lift her head and watch for a few moments, before putting her head back down with a heavy sigh.

Her body was in rough shape.  She was practically molting, she had intense diarrhea, and her teeth were beyond yellow -- they were actually becoming orange in some spots.  We offered lots of bully sticks and chews, gave her a bath, and brushed her often and her body began to heal.

Slowly, but surely, Sugar showed that she was genuinely a loving dog, who's mission in life is cuddles, snuggles, and kisses.  She started to figure out our routine, and began running into her crate at meal times, and hanging by the backdoor when she had to go out.  She began zooming around and smiling, and was pretty much content to be loved all day long.

We started working on training, and Sugar was thoroughly confused.  She knew how to sit, but not on cue, and it was almost as if she offered a sit when she didn't know what to do, or when she thought she was in trouble.  But she seemed to have no idea that there were things she could do that would be rewarded, that she could alter her behavior to earn treats and other rewards, so I spent a lot of time working on that with her, and you could see she started to understanding that sit = reward.

Then, after a couple of weeks and she had settled in, Sugar started digging holes in the yard.   I approached her to redirect to a toy, and when I reached down for her collar, she literally cowered.  She flinched, sat, and rolled half-way on her back to expose her belly to me.  I felt terrible, knowing that someone had likely mistreated her... so as she rolled over, I rubbed her belly and she wiggled her little tail nub at me while staring in disbelief.  We did this a lot, I "practiced" approaching her and just loving her to pieces and after about a week of that, she stopped cowering and rolling on her back, unless she just plain wanted a belly rub.

Next, I wanted to teach her to target my hand... I called her name and she ran over to me and sat at my feet. I lifted my right hand up, about a foot in front of her face, and Sugar flinched.  Again, here is this literally perfect dog, and she was expecting someone to hit her.  So we worked on that, too. 

Sugar settled in very quickly, and her and Buster became fast friends.  Roxy was a little less tolerant of Sugar's play attempts, but all-in-all, Roxy liked her.  We had gotten very lucky with this dog that no one knew much about aside from being "friendly."  And, in the mornings when we get up and get ready for work, I would often find all three dogs, snuggled up on the bed together.

Sugar accompanied me on a trip to upstate New York, where I met with some of my rescue friends and volunteers from Rescue-a-Bull.  She met many dogs, and plenty of people, and she was fabulous.  By the end of the weekend, she was tired and bit less interested in making friends with the other dogs, but she had behaved ever-so-wonderfully.

I've been taking Sugar to adoption events, but we haven't gotten a lot of interest in her, despite her loving personality and adorable wiggles.  I've been updating her pictures, and posting about her frequently, to keep her fresh in everyone's minds.  And, we've been getting more inquiries for the last week or so, so I am beginning to get hopeful that she may be going home soon.  And although I'm hopeful, I'm a bit sad, because Sugar is literally a perfect dog.  Roxy and Buster both like her, her energy level matches theirs, and so does her intensity.  She adores Rob, she is funny, and snuggly, and just a completely lovable dog in all possible ways.  She is going to make someone very happy, that is for sure.  And the difference in her, from the day she came home and pouted while sitting on my deck for our adoption pictures, and now, is pretty amazing:

a new foster for sonny

Sonny went to his new foster home this weekend.  He had been back home with me for a total of 17 days and he was doing really, really well.  Of course that made this whole thing more difficult for me.

Sonny was still nervous with Rob, but had begun playing in the same room as Rob, as long as Rob was sitting still.  Previously, he wouldn't even come out of his crate if Rob was in the same room as him.  Sonny was also going out of his way to venture into the second bedroom (where the computers are) when Rob was there.  He was doing some "drive-bys," where he would run in, sniff a little, and run back out.  He would do this several times in a row before going back to relax in the Papasan chair in the living room.

Sonny and Sugar were also becoming fast friends.  Sugar and Buster were doing a lot of interactive play with toys, instead of just wrestling, and Sonny was always trying to get involved.  I actually think that is part of what helped him make the leap towards tugging -- he was watching Sugar and Buster play tug together, and then participating in their game.  I would grab the tug toy while they were playing, and tug with him a little before letting go and wandering away, to let him take in what had just happened.  Soon after, he began bringing me the rope toy and attempting to tug with me.  It was pure bliss for me.

Anyway, when we were told Sonny was being returned, it was never in the cards for him to come back to my house.  We had our two dogs and one foster, and that was sort of our limit.  In addition to that, we have several weekend and week-long trips coming up in the next six months. We typically bring the dogs with us on short trips, and leave the dogs with a dog sitter on the longer trips.  So, every planned trip would be a huge stressor for Sonny with the potential to set him back pretty far.  Leaving him with random people each time we went away would be traumatizing for him.  Attempting to take him with us on short trips would be equally traumatizing because there is no way to avoid his two biggest triggers:  people and changes in his environment.  So, the goal was to find Sonny a foster that could take him long term at the moment of his return.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The situation became unsafe, and poor Sonny was panic-stricken, so I went and got him less than 12 hours after I was told his adoptive family wasn't keeping him.

I knew when I got him in my car that he wouldn't be staying for long. And I knew when he walked in my house and went from frozen-stiff and terrified to the wiggly, happy little boy I remembered, that he wouldn't be staying. And I knew every morning, when I got up and was greeted with his speeding tail, thump-thump-thumping on his crate, that he wouldn't be staying.  And I knew every evening, when I came home and he jumped up on the couch to snuggle me and kiss me, that he wouldn't be staying.

But none of that made it any easier to send him off to his new foster home this weekend.

sonny tugs (with video!)

Sonny has been back with me for almost 13 days and he is doing very well.  He warmed up to be almost immediately, and is back to licking my face, play-snuggling, and just running about like the goofy dog that he is.  Sonny has always been semi-interested in playing fetch, and he's not biased towards tennis balls -- he wants me to throw whatever toy has caught his attention at the time, regardless of what it is.  So he's been bringing me the rope tug toy, the Kong Wubba, tennis balls, and these tennis-ball-sized squeaky toys that are shaped like gummy bears.  I've been throwing everything he drops for me to throw and he's been having a blast doing it.

But last night when I came home from work, it was different.  Sonny didn't want to just fetch the rope toy, he wanted to TUG.  He ran towards me, rope dangling from his mouth, and he was prancing his little paws around, instigating me to grab the rope.  The moment I grabbed on, he started walking backwards with the rope, attempting to tug.  I was encouraging him to tug and play and he started to tug back, tail wagging like crazy the whole time.

So, of course, I captured it on video just so I could see the difference from earlier on... in the beginning, if you went to grab the rope toy while he had it, he would drop it immediately and run the other way.  Now, he's playing tug and waiting around for me to throw it for him, too.

Last night, before bed, Sonny got a case of the zoomies and was running around like a madman, wiggling and jumping around with toys in his mouth.  We were in a different room than the rope toy, but he discovered the Kong Wubba in the corner and he and Sugar began playing tug.  I turned to watch, and he stopped immediately.  I thought I'd ruined the moment and he was done playing....

But he only stopped playing for a moment.  Then he wagged his tail in full-speed Sonny fashion, and latched onto the Wubba harder.  Then he proceeded to use the Wubba to drag Sugar towards me, where he placed the bit of toy that was not occupied by a dog's mouth directly into my hand. He wagged his tail, full wiggle-butt style, and waited patiently.

So, although he was enjoying playing with Sugar, he really wanted to play with ME.

sonny had a breakthrough

Sonny came back to me last Wednesday night.  For a variety of reasons, his adoptive home didn't work out.  I'll spare you the details, but the situation was unsafe and Sonny was extremely stressed out.  When I picked him up, he was petrified and literally molting.  He was hiding in the back of his crate and avoiding human contact.  He didn't seem to recognize me. I was so scared for my boy, worried that we would be starting from square one.

When we arrived home and I got Sonny out of the car, he perked up.  He wagged his tail a little, but he was still not engaging with me like he used to.  But the moment we walked in the door, Sonny was high as a kite.  He ran around the house like a maniac, wagging his tail, sniffing everything, and smiling! He remembered Roxy and Buster, and was immediately fond of Sugar, our other foster dog.  Rob and I sat on the couch and let Sonny get comfortable.  He kept coming over to me and checking in, and was even checking out Rob.  He would run over to him, sniff his feet and fingers, lick him, and run away.  That behavior didn't last past the first and second nights, but it was so nice to see, especially because that is how his initial interactions with me were.

The night following his return, I spoke with the veterinarian and we agreed to put Sonny back on his medication.  He is on 16mg of Fluoxetine 2x/day.  He's been off the medication for 3 weeks, so I expect it to take a few weeks to see any effects.

Anyway, on to Sonny's break through.  Our typical night with Sonny used to involve Rob and I sitting on the couch watching a movie.  Sonny would spend most of the time in his crate with the occasional exploratory adventure.  I'd been keeping treats handy and doling them out whenever he left his crate.  If he chose to hang back, I'd toss treats for him.  If he approached, he got treats.  Each day was different than the last, and I just followed his lead as to what he could handle on any given day.  He would rarely take his eyes off Rob, regardless of the food in my hands, so there was a lot of offering food while he continued to look at Rob.

Last night, we started an official game of "Look at That!" with Sonny, with Rob as the stimulus.  We have had a large amount of success with Roxy using LAT, and I had been eager to do some overt conditioning work with Sonny, but had been waiting for him to be ready (i.e. waiting for him to be able to stand still long enough to do a few trials in a row).

So, we were sitting on the couch in our normal formation (Rob furthest away, lying down) and Sonny was spending a good amount of time near me. He kept looking at Rob, so I began marking and treating him.  When I marked, Sonny would look back at me, expecting a treat, which was pretty big progress in-and-of-itself.  So, I asked Rob to say a few words every couple of tries.  The first time Rob spoke, Sonny ran back to his crate, and then came back to me when he realized I had marked, "Yes!"  Then we did a few non-verbal trials, where I marked/treated for Sonny looking at Rob without any vocalizations from Rob, just to keep it from getting too scary for him. Then we tried again with Rob speaking and Sonny ran mid-way back to his crate before coming back for his treat.

The third time Rob spoke, Sonny looked at me, expecting a treat, rather than retreating.  He took his treat and stuck around, waiting for more.

It doesn't seem like a big deal on paper, now that I'm re-reading it.  But it is huge progress for Sonny.  He seems to realize he's in a familiar place, And sure, he's still avoiding Rob under normal circumstances, but for him to not run back to his crate when Rob spoke was something like watching a miracle occur.

sonny came home

Week 1 with Sonny

Sonny came home with me the last few days of January. In the 4+ months he has been with me, he has grown and changed so much.  He started out hiding in my bookshelf, then hiding in his crate, and hiding in the closet for hours at a time.  If you touched him, he would cringe and cower.  A few weeks ago, he began snuggling with me.  My boy that spent the 1st day in my house hiding in a bookshelf, the rest of that first week hiding in a closet, and the next month plus in his crate, learned how to cuddle, just before he went to his forever home this weekend.

I can't even begin to describe how much he's grown.  The difference in his behavior from his first couple of weeks is indescribable. I could see it in his eyes; he went from petrified and frozen stiff to pure love and being full of wiggles.

His initial progress was only when he was around my dogs, Roxy and Buster. And once he stopped trying to jump the fence and he was allowed to run and play in the backyard, he made a lot of progress.  He began running, jumping, and playing in the yard.  He was fetching (or at least, chasing) the ball.  He got curious and started exploring things, he began relaxing on the couch, and he was freely jumping up and down the retaining wall in the backyard.  He figured out the routine and began responding to his name and to certain cues, like "Outside?" "Inside!" and "Are you hungry?"  He began voluntarily coming out of his crate and approaching me to play with him, throw his ball, and of course, to give me kisses or collect his dues (treats!).

When Sonny came home with me originally, he spent probably the first month in his crate, pressed up against the back bars so far that when he moved, you could see crate lines on his fur.  When I'd come home at night, I'd walk over and let Buster and Roxy out of their crates and Sonny would ever-so-cautious come out of his crate, but only after I had walked away.  I spent 90% of the time I was home thinking of creative ways to drop treats in his crate without spooking him.  And slowly, I began to notice progress in his face and body language when I would approach his crate.  It started with the fast-paced, only-moving-a-little-bit, still-nervous-and-unsure little tail wag, and it progressed to the full body wiggle and play invitations you see below:

When you work with a fearful dog, the little things are, in fact, monumental.  Sonny is seriously special to me; I adore him to pieces.  And I knew this day would come, where I would have to let him go, but I honestly didn't think it would be as soon as it was.  If keeping a third dog was an option for us, it would be ridiculously unlikely that I would have let this dog go.  Seeing him progress from the semi-feral dog he was, to the dog he is now, has been the most amazing thing to see.  Sure, he'll always be a little special, I'm sure, but this dog is happy, despite whatever previous neglect or abuse he may have endured. He has such a zest for life, it's incredible. He gets the zoomies like a puppy, he squeaks tennis balls while rolling on his back, he chases toys, and he literally bounces around the yard like a bunny. He still flinches when something scares him, but he is recovering faster that he was before.

Our last morning play session on Saturday.

Needless to say, saying goodbye to Sonny this weekend was not the easiest thing.  In fact, it was one of the hardest things I've done.  Despite knowing that he is in a wonderful home where he will grow and learn and be loved, I can't help but worry about my boy. This new adventure will undoubtedly stress him out, but I know it's the best place for him. His new family adores him and wants nothing more than to help him grow into the dog he has so much potential to be.  Luckily for me, his new family has agreed to allow me to visit him, but we'll obviously wait until he has settled in there and bonded to them.  The last thing I want to do is stress him out or confuse him more, so I get the feeling it will be months before I get to see him again. Although, I'm sure I'll get pictures.  But until then, Sonny is home with his new family and despite missing him, I am truly happy for him.

progress is as progress does.

Sonny is doing fairly well.  He's learning to relax a bit more and playing a bunch more as well.  He's also recovering from scary events much quicker than he was before, which is huge progress in my book.

We've been playing a lot outside, seeing as he hasn't tried to climb the fence or shown any interest in climbing the fence in just over 3 months.  And since his new default behavior when he's scared outside is to run to the deck and wait to go inside, before recovering and coming back into the yard to play some more, we've been spending a lot more time outside playing.

About 2 weeks ago Sonny started breaking out of his crate a bit, and that's about the time he started showing more interest in playing, so I put two and two together and guessed that he was just letting me know he was ready for more exercise and interaction.  So we've been playing a lot more, him with me and him with Roxy and Buster, and he's been eating every meal out of a work-to-eat toy.  His favorite one right now is the Atomic Treat Ball from SitStay.com.  He likes to move it around in his crate and watch the treats fall out, and pick it up in his mouth and drop it so the treats fall out.... it's really cute to watch him, I can actually see his brain working to figure it out.  I also tried the Tricky Treat Ball from Omega Paw, but he had a much harder time with it.

Anyway, here he is, playing in the yard, leaping and hopping around like a bunny and enjoying the fresh air.

I briefly started clicker training with him, as well.  He's surprisingly not afraid of the noise the clicker makes, but he's still a bit hesitant in general so we haven't had a lot of success yet.  I usually spend just a couple of minutes a day when he's really excited and interested in approaching me to work on some hand targeting.  I just sort of capitalize on his excitement and playfulness because I've found if he's exploring quietly and I try to engage him, he gets a bit suspicious and wanders back to his crate.

So, all-in-all we are seeing some progress.  It's minimal, but progress nonetheless.

all-around update

Roxy's leash-walking skills are getting better and better.  We're now able to do most of our walk with minimal stopping.  We're actually down to walking in a heel position without any treats when there are minimal or no distractions -- and when she screws up, I can mark "oops" and she'll come back into a heel because she knows we don't go anywhere until she's next to me.

She still pulls when she sees something moving (a person, a dog, a leaf, another animal) but we're working on that.  It's tough because once she notices whatever it is moving, I mark "oops" and stop but she stays at the end of the leash, pulling. So I have to come up with a new strategy for handling that because it's not working.  She'll just keep pulling until the moving object is out of sight, or close enough for her to recognize. Then she'll come back into a heel position.  So, we need to work on heeling with distractions.  I need to up the ante with rewards for not pulling with distractions.  So I'll probably start in the house, then in the backyard, then the driveway.... all before working in the street.

Roxy's agility class is also going fairly well.  She still gets really excited when I ask her if she wants to go to school.  We've been learning left and right turns, rear crosses, and we've been working on the teeter, which Roxy is doing wonderfully on.  I thought she'd be spooked by it, but she's really doing great.  She'll jump up when it's at the highest height and pull it down, then climb on it with all fours.  We haven't worked up to walking across it yet, we're taking it slow to make sure it stays happy. I'm debating what we'll do after this class, though.  The class is really for competitive agility and although Roxy enjoys agility, she isn't as driven as I think she might need to be in order to actually compete.  I think I need to work on some crate games with her to build her drive a bit and see if that helps.

As far as Sonny goes, his behavior continues to fluctuate.  He came out of his crate once last week and zig-zagged his way towards Rob, who was laying on the couch.  He got close enough to sniff Rob's legs before retreating to his crate.  That's how he started interacting with me, so albeit it's slow progress, but it's progress nonetheless.

He's been playing with Roxy and Buster a lot more, and Roxy is becoming more tolerant of him.  He had been licking her muzzle feverishly and she let him know she didn't like it and he's getting better.... he's down to a drive-by-licking instead of a full-on make out session with her face.  Roxy's also been instigating play with him more, and her and Sonny tear through the backyard, running in circles after each other some days.

Sonny has also been playing and interacting with me more.  He has such personality; there is so much spunk and puppy in him.  He is really a goofy dog and he makes me laugh.  I'm fairly certain he learned to play fetch from Buster because he keeps coming up on the couch with the ball in his mouth, allowing me to take the ball and throw it for him, and then taking a flying leap over me after the ball...  When he comes out of his crate in the morning, he wags his tail feverishly while play bowing and grabbing toys to carry about.  It's nice to see him acting like a dog a little bit.

He is still pretty scared of men.  He's been sneaking about and snatching Rob's stuff and running to his crate with it, and that has helped me devise a plan.  I'm going to start desensitizing and counter-conditioning Sonny to smaller parts of Rob... i.e. his smell, his voice, etc. One piece of Rob at a time.

And Buster is, well, Buster.  He's wonderful.  This morning he was watching me do something on the counter in the kitchen and he turned around quickly to go elsewhere, and in the process he smacked the whole side of his face into the cabinet and then sat down with this pathetic look on his face.  I crouched down and he buried his face into my body and let out a big sigh.  He's a silly dog, but he's really such a sweet, sweet dog.  He loves to just climb right into my lap and snuggle. 

We spent a few hours at the park on Sunday and later on, I caught him sleeping on the couch with his tongue sticking out...

i guess sonny is feeling more comfortable

Well, Sonny has been more interested in playing lately, and last night he was even brave enough to run in and out of his crate when only Rob was home (huge!).

Rob was throwing Buster's ball, and after Buster ran into the kitchen, Sonny would run after him. Then he'd follow him back to the living room and go back in his crate.  But he kept peering out, watching Rob and then following Buster back into the kitchen.

When I got home, Sonny was even brave enough to come within a foot of Rob's feet and attempt to smell him, and even ventured towards the TV, which is further than he's gone before.

And then he collected all the toys in the living room, one-by-one, and carried them back to his crate.

Then, I woke up to this... Sonny's bed, with a giant hole in the bottom of it, with the tag torn off.  The picture I wish I'd taken was him in his crate, on his bed, with stuffing surrounding the bed, like an ocean of fluff.  But he doesn't like when people hover near his crate, so I didn't want to make him wait there while I took a picture.

Now I'm trying to figure out ways to exercise this boy more.  Walks aren't cutting it, and I can see his energy starting to come out.  It's difficult because he can't be off leash in the yard because he climbs fences and seeing as he isn't likely to come back, that's not safe.  I've been bringing him out on the retractable leash to give him some more room to run about, and he chases Buster around a bit... but his play style is different than Roxy and Buster's.  Roxy and Buster run a little, then wrestle and bite and romp.  Sonny is more of a run-and-play type of dog, where he wants to chase, chase, chase, and maybe play bitey-face a little.

I may have to take up jogging in the morning and take him out with me. Not exactly my idea of fun, by any stretch of the imagination....

a play bow, a hike, and little victories for sonny

I'm slowly getting to know Sonny's personality, and I'm totally in love with him.  He's adorably playful and he's starting to show some excitement when he sees me in the morning.  He bounds out of his crate and follows me to the backdoor, where we commence play session #1 for the day.  He bows. I bow. He half-jumps, with his front paws in the air like a puppy who has no clue how big he is, or even what balance is, for that matter. I put my head down and he comes over and nuzzles my head a little, licks my fingers, and runs back a couple of feet and play bows again.  At this point, Buster usually runs to me, half tackles me for the morning cuddles, and then Sonny runs over and licks my toes.  He's totally adorable, with his mouth open just a little, his ears relaxed, and his tail up. And the whole time he's observing, watching what's going on and trying to figure this "home" thing out.

Then we go outside, and he eliminates right away; something that was previously took upwards of 30 minutes. I've been taking him out back in the yard on the retractable leash to give him some space because he seems to prefer to go further away from me, rather than closer.  Lately I've been taking him out with Roxy and Buster, now that our introductions are done... and they go off running and he so badly wants to join them and play.  He bounds and leaps after them, with that same goofy, puppy-antic-style leaps and bounds, and I do my best to keep up, but when they start running under and around bushes, I can't follow and neither can Sonny because the leash will get tangled.  I feel awful when he wants to run with them and can't.  But he can't be off-leash, not even in the yard.

The problem is, Sonny has shown that he's easily capable of jumping and climbing 7+ foot fences.  My fence is only 3.5 feet tall. So there's no way I can trust him.  So far, the only way I've got him to approach me is if I'm squatting down and loving on Buster and Buster gets super excited.  So I have that as an emergency backup plan, but I'd really rather not have to go combing the woods in the middle of winter (or any season, for that matter) with Buster, my 3-legger, hoping Sonny will come to us.  I can't risk it.  He's way too much of a flight risk. 

Yesterday, Rob and I took Roxy and Sonny for a hike.  I took Buster for a long walk earlier today, but the hike would have been too much for him, especially with all the ice. Plus, I wanted Roxy and Sonny to be out there together; walking together, getting treats together, and smelling stuff together.  Sonny did really well, overall.  We avoided the few people that were out there, but he was taking treats and drinking water with us right there, which has previously been difficult for him to do.  He even took a few treats from Rob.

Roxy struggled a bit when we saw some people with dogs, unfortunately, and made me realize how far we still have to go with her.  I was actually quite a bit surprised by her behavior, because she's been otherwise doing great when we see other dogs.  But this was a new environment, and Sonny was there and his anxiety probably didn't help.  I can't wait for the weather to get nicer so I can do some more work with her.  It's been so cold I haven't been able to find anyone else outside (with or without dogs) to do some desensitization and counterconditioning.  We also walked her on her flat collar because we figured the halti head collar would get frustrating on her face for 2 hours or so, and boy, do we need to start working on her heel.  She's great on the halti, but once we get on the flat collar, she pulls like a freight train! So rather than having her try to learn "keep the leash loose," I'm just going to train her to walk next to me (in a heel position) all the time.  I think she needs more exact instructions about where she should be walking, as opposed to the general "loose leash" work we've been doing.

Sonny, on the other hand, seems to be leash trained.  Go figure...

sonny, week 2

Sonny has started spending less time hiding in the closet and more time trying to interact with Roxy and Buster, now that his medical quarantine is over.

He seems overwhelmingly more comfortable outside than inside, and he's still fearful of Rob, but is getting more curious about him, which is good news in my book.  He's also progressed to feeling comfortable enough to eat while Rob is in the room.  There were a few days early last week that I was worried he was becoming more fearful of Rob, but it seems like his behavior is fluctuating back and forth a bit.

He is very excited in the morning, and wants to play with not only Roxy and Buster, but also with me! Today I got several play bows, sniffs, and licks.  And, when I go into the computer room, he'll follow and lay on the bed.  He'll even come in there if Rob is in there, but he goes to the far end of the room, the closet, to watch everything rather than go to the bed, which is closer to Rob.

Overall, Sonny is a million times more comfortable when there are other dogs around.  He is great with other dogs; he shows lots of appeasement gestures, he play bows, he plays gently and appropriately, and overall his body language is much more relaxed when he's trying to play, while he's playing, and after he's played.  Even when we're outside, when he spots Roxy or Buster, his tail immediately goes up, and when they're close to him, his tail is wagging like crazy.

We have a long road ahead of us, but seeing even just the smallest amount of progress brings great hope.

sonny, day #3

So, Sonny is doing okay. Sort of. He's starting to adjust.  He's less panicked than he was on Sunday night.  He's still jumping at unexpected noises and movements, which we're not expecting to change for a long time; but he's walking closer by me, and allowing me to move about without bolting.

The weather sucked today so I worked from home and Sonny spent most of the day in the closet pictured, next to my computer.  It's about 4 feet from me, closer than he's spent most of the last few days.  He slept and snored there for a few minutes.  And throughout the day, he was venturing close to sniff me, then turning and running back.  And I can feel him watching me, absorbing everything we do.  He won't take treats from my hand, but if I give him something yummy and walk away, he'll snag them as long as I'm not watching.  If I accidentally look at him while he's grabbing those treats, he stops and puts his head down.

We're still working on the routine, but I think he's house trained. Which, honestly, breaks my heart the most. This poor dog has probably been through hell and back, yet he's house trained. Someone took the time and energy to teach him to do his business outside, but couldn't just plain be nice to him? And, although he's house trained, he's still terrified to go.  When he's going, he looks up at me, as if to check to make sure I'm not going to do anything. If I move while he's going, he freezes, stops mid "go."  He's been here 3.5 days and has only pooped twice and peed 3 times.  He didn't poop for the first day and a half, despite eating all his meals (only when there's no one there to see him or hear him).

He's definitely more scared of Rob than me. It's no fault of Rob's, but he's much taller than I am, has broader shoulders, a deeper voice, and he walks with more purpose than I do. Plus, I'm the one feeding Sonny and taking him for walks, potty breaks, etc.

He absolutely adores Buster. We found out he has giardia, so I'm trying to keep him separate from Roxy and Buster, but sometimes he will just freeze and won't move. I've got a leash on him so I don't have to get close and freak him out, but sometimes it's not enough.  So I call Buster over and Sonny immediately perks up, and is likely to follow him. And Buster will go wherever I ask, for the most part.  He's been a great helper.

Roxy is none-to-pleased with the whole situation.  She's doing okay... the first day was fine, but the last couple of days (prior to knowing about the giardia), Roxy has been raising her hackles when he gets close.  He likes to run up to Roxy's face and kiss her, and Roxy's not a fan of that.  So I've been doing some body blocking to prevent him from getting too close to her face, and doing a lot of marking and treating for her.  She seems to like him, but just not like that he's a total mess.

Today we were outside, and I was bent down on the ground loving on Buster and Sonny came up on the side of me and sniffed my hat (while it was on my head!) and then offered a few licks and walked away.  I was so proud of him.

He's still a huge flight risk, so we are on leash, even in the yard.  I think we'll be that way for a long time.  He does, however, seem to really enjoy taking walks.

sonny came home.

We brought Sonny home to foster yesterday.

I brought Roxy and Buster to meet him at the kennel. We did one-on-one intro walks and short play dates in the yard after that went well, and then brought all 3 in together just to make sure there were no immediate issues.  It's important to me that there are no issues up front because of Roxy.  We've tried the crate and rotate thing with her and she just plain doesn't tolerate it; and she's come so far in her training, I can't jeopardize what we've accomplished.

Anyway, so Buster, Roxy, and Sonny hit it off.  Roxy was play bowing and inviting him to play left and right.  Buster tried to hump him a hundred times (he has this thing for other male dogs) and we did some Time Outs and that fixed Buster's humping issue.  But whenever he tried, Sonny didn't mind. Sonny was licking both of their faces, in between trying to jump over the 7+ foot fence to get away, poor baby.

When we got home, I took Sonny for a walk. Then I took Sonny and Buster for a walk together. Then I took Sonny and Roxy for a walk together. Everything went great.  Sonny even peed while I was there, for the first time since I've met him.

When we got home, Sonny went in his crate and slept with one eye open for about an hour... then we went outside and he did pretty good out there, aside from trying to jump the fence. At this rate, he'll never be allowed outside without being on leash.  Once we came back inside, though, he went and hid under the fake Christmas tree we have yet to take down.  He crawled underneath the front of it and hid in the back and underneath it.

I went to the back room to prepare their dinners, Roxy and Buster followed me, and Sonny followed behind them. While I was there scooping food out into bowls to bring to the kitchen and stuff into toys, Buster snapped at Sonny.  I never feed them there, ever. But the food comes from there.  And when I first got Buster, he had some major guarding issues.  He's amazing now, he's never guarded toys, and doesn't guard food/chews/high value items from people.  He's great with toys and other dogs.  And I haven't had a problem with him and the food-prepping station with Roxy, but Sonny is new and Buster is just showing that he's a little nervous because there are big changes going on, with a third dog in the house.  Okay, mental note -- dogs go into crates prior to me preparing their food. Done. I do high-value items in their crates already, so this isn't a big difference. Sonny doesn't seem to be holding it against Buster, in fact, he seems to love Buster and is taking cues from him as to what to do.

So, I fed them dinner in their crates, and while he was eating in his crate, I took the silly Christmas tree down before he came out of his crate.  Once everyone was done eating, I opened his crate and he followed Buster around the house.  Then he walked back towards his crate, and instead, he chose to literally crawl into the bottom shelf of my bookcase, on top of some picture frames.  The poor guy just laid in there for a while cowering.

I tried dropping high-value treats somewhat near him, but he didn't budge.  So I went and grabbed a dark colored sheet and covered his crate with it, to see if that helped him any.  I walked into the other room and my guys followed, with Sonny in tow.  When we went back into the living room, Sonny went right for his crate.  Poor guy just wanted his crate covered. Done.
 
And now he's using his crate as his hideout, runs back to it when something scares him, so at least he has somewhere to go where he feels safe. And he's not trying to break out of it (knock on wood) so I'm thankful for that.

He only eats if I leave the food with him and walk away after a few minutes, and he refused to pee last night so this morning he peed for a good minute and a half or more. And he's totally terrified of Rob right now, so Rob's completely ignoring him, except for occasionally dropping high-value items in his general direction.  He scrambles into the corner when you walk around, if you accidentally look at him, he flattens out on the ground.  If you talk while he's exploring, even if you're not talking to him or looking at him, he stops what he's doing and just stares, curiously.

But Sonny just loves Buster and Roxy. His tail wags for them and he wants so badly to play with them. We saw a couple of play bows (Sonny has the cutest play bow ever) but he's still not sure of himself. But any dog-friendly Pit Bull is uber-special to me.

We have some work to do, but he's already perfect to me.

a tribute to bandit

Bandit was our first foster. She was adopted just about a year ago, and I've been thinking about her a lot lately.  I keep looking back, thinking we should have kept her.  I still feel like I made the right decision, but I can't help but miss her. She was such an amazing dog.

A HW+ dog who went through HW treatment while in our care.  She was an amazing dog and her and Roxy were great together... they were both brindle, and just plain adorable together. I joke they were in "doggie love."

Bandit was found as a stray, and had at least one litter of puppies before that.  She had a love-hate relationship with squeaky toys. She loved every person that walked into the house.  Bandit taught Roxy to be a less afraid. We talked of keeping Bandit, but I was nervous because she hadn't yet been spayed (due to being HW+) and I knew that spaying a dog can sometimes change their behavior/temperament due to the change in hormones. I didn't want to have two dogs that didn't get along in the house, and there was no way of knowing how she'd be 6 months down the line.  The other problem was, if we kept her, we wouldn't be fostering anymore.  We had limited ourselves to 2 dogs in the house at one time, except for occasionally watching our friend's dog for a week or so at a time.

She wound up getting adopted by family members of someone who volunteers with the rescue, so I at least knew she was going to a good home. I met the family, a mom, dad, and teenage boy who totally loved her.  He was a good kid, too. You know, one of those kids that had respect for people and actually knew how to hold a conversation.  And he was so sweet with Bandit.  And Bandit loved him.  We knew we would miss her, and being our first foster, it was probably the hardest thing we had to do.  We still miss her.  Rob is still a little upset with me. I don't blame him, but after Bandit... we had the luxury to foster several other dogs, one of which we did wind up keeping.  He needed us.  If we had kept Bandit, Buster we would not have found us... err, we would not have found Buster.

Bandit, here's to you. We will always love you, and I'm sure by now, you've forgotten us because I know you're so loved where you are.