roxy is not the dog i adopted.

Two and a half years ago, I fell in love with a rescue dog outside of a Petco in Ledgewood, NJ.  We named her Roxy.  That day, we went shopping at the pet store, where she proceeded to panic when walking down the aisles.  In our backyard, an unpredictable noise and movement in a bush resulted in her avoiding the bush for months.  Roxy would run from most people and occasionally sniff others with all of her weight on her hind legs, prepared to run at any moment.  She would not allow strangers to pet her, and if they reached out, she ducked and ran away.  She jumped and ran from loud noises and any objects that were unfamiliar to her.  She growled and barked at the garbage can in the backyard when I moved it from one location to another.

Two years ago, Roxy would have looked like the saddest dog on the planet.  Her face was constant worry and she was always on the lookout for scary things.  When people were visiting our house, Roxy was literally depressed.  She'd go to the bedroom and lay there, unlikely to venture out and explore. She wanted nothing to do with strangers.

Now, I could go on here about Roxy's behavior. I could literally talk for hours about her fearful and shy behavior from 2 years ago...but I won't.  This post isn't about the dog I adopted over 2 years ago.

This post is about the Roxy I have now... about the Roxy that greets new people and solicits petting from strangers.  The Roxy that doesn't simply look for treats from strangers, but actually solicits attention from them.  The Roxy that bolts out the back door, runs directly to the no-longer-evil bush to check for fuzzy creatures.  This post is about the Roxy that drags me down the aisles at the pet store, enthusiastically sniffing everything, and occasionally turning back to me, smiling and wagging her tail.  This post is about the Roxy that shows off her play skills when strangers come over, by promptly play bowing to Buster, and chasing him around the house.

Just a few weeks ago, Roxy made a completely ridiculous spectacle of herself trying to play with Buster while there were people in the house.  I was sitting on the couch with my best friend, and Roxy ran into the living room and dove under the coffee table towards Buster.  She play bowed from her under-the-table vantage point, and demand barked at him to play with her.  She wanted to play, and she wanted to play NOW.  It didn't matter that someone else was in the house, and it didn't matter that the someone else was sitting right near where she wanted to play.  A little later in the night, George walked into the house while I was on the couch, and Roxy ran to the door and eagerly greeted him.  Now, this was a man that Roxy had previously ran and hid from.  It is the same man who, two years ago, stopped by to let Roxy out one night, and Roxy refused to come back inside the house without a line of treats for encouragement, and him not in sight.  So, on this night a few weeks ago, he walked into the house on his own, and Roxy greeted him with tail wags and she was asking for attention -- there was no barking, no running away, no ducking away from his hand, none of it.  Just happiness, excitement, and tail wags.

Blurry tail = happy dog!

And just this week, our foster dog Sugar, had a meet and greet at our house.  I had Roxy and Buster in another room initially, so the couple could meet Sugar independently.  But Sugar was pretty preoccupied with sniffing the door where her buddies were, and eventually just sat by the door (that's what I get for teaching her to "ask" to open doors!).  I asked the couple if I could let Roxy and Buster come out, and they said sure, they are dog people and the more dogs, the merrier.  I cautioned them to simply ignore Roxy, as she would likely sniff them but prefer to explore without being pet initially and they were completely comfortable with that.  Roxy and Buster ran to greet the strangers, and Buster was his happy-go-lucky self.  Roxy ran out with Buster to greet the couple, and eagerly sniffed them. She sniffed them while they pet and interacted with Buster and Sugar, and then playfully skipped away and picked up a Nylabone to chew.

Then something amazing happened.  Roxy looked up from her bone and saw the other dogs getting some loving.  She tilted her head to the side, then got up and walked over to greet these "strangers."  The male stranger was squatting down and petting Buster, and Roxy walked right up to him and turned into him, between his legs, effectively positioning herself between the "stranger" and Buster.

My Roxy, who used to cautiously sniff strangers and always positioned herself with an escape route, was soliciting attention from a strange man, and there were no treats in sight.  I had not asked her to "go say hi," and she was not greeting him and running back to me, expecting treats.  She approached and solicited prolonged attention from someone who was, in fact, a stranger.  She then walked away from the no-longer-strange-man and approached the stranger-woman and nudged her hand with her head.  She was asking for attention, and specifically soliciting petting on top of her head, rather than ducking away from a hand.

Not only did Roxy solicit attention from these "strangers," Roxy also made a fool of herself... she was throwing her front paws on the ground with zest, and inviting Buster and Sugar to play with a tail wag and a play growl.  She was excited and happy, and relaxed enough to let herself go in play, despite "strangers" being present.

Now, we still have some things to work on, don't get me wrong.  I'd like to get to the point where she is greeting strangers with tail wags because they predict awesome things are about to happen, but this is huge progress for a dog like her, and I couldn't be happier to see her growing, learning, and changing.  The simple fact that she is able to relax enough to play while strangers are present is huge, and I am thrilled that she is able to leave some of her past behind, and keep moving towards happier times.

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 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.

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...

sonny smiles

Sonny is fearful of people, but he's absolutely petrified of men.  This week Rob is away, so Sonny has been exploring, playing, and relaxing a bit more than he was previously and I was finally able to snap some photos of him relaxing and smiling.  Last night he spent a good portion of his time out of his crate. He had some major zoomies! He kept running at me full speed, smothering my face in kisses, and then leaping to the ground in a play bow with a really big woo-woo, howling noise.  I probably had the biggest smile on my face watching this dog run about like a little loon after spending the first month completely traumatized. So, without further ado...

He would run up to this spot on the couch, lick my face furiously, and then lay down for a few moments before getting up to run off after a toy or Buster again.

If you look closely, his tail is a little blurry... he was wagging that thing non-stop!




Since he was so happy and playful, I took the time last night to start a little bit of targeting with him using the clicker and it seems like he was starting to understand the game.  We'll see how he does tonight when we do some more!

a wiggle butt in disquise!

Every morning I leave the bedroom with Roxy and Buster running and leaping towards the backdoor for our morning potty break.  With the addition of Sonny, nothing changed initially because he was sick and we were going out separately; so I crated and fed them while taking him out the front door.

For the last week and a half, I leave the bedroom and Roxy runs to the backdoor and Buster runs to Sonny's crate.  I approach his covered crate, (he's usually laying down,) and as I approach, he presses himself up against the far side of the crate, watching me intently.  So, I open Sonny's crate without talking, without looking at him, without making any noise or providing encouragement in any way.... I walk away and ask Roxy and Buster, "Want to go outside?" after I've sufficiently turned the corner into the kitchen. That's when I hear Sonny's paws scramble to follow us to the backdoor.

He's been slowly relaxing when I approach his crate, because only good things happen when I come near him.  I only approach his crate for feeding, opening/closing the door, and random acts of yummy kindness.  He has been quicker to leave his crate, and he now seems to know what "Outside?" means, so he's more comfortable with the process.

Today, however, we experienced a small (large) miracle.

I walked towards his crate, and he stood up for the first time while I was that close.... and I heard his tag, bang-bang-bang on the side of the crate, and I saw his butt and tail WIGGLE with excitement.  He ran out of the crate as soon as I turned away, and scampered past me towards the back room with Buster....

When I got there, he play bowed to me, in our normal morning-play-before-we-go-outside routine... and he offered the first noise I've heard him make yet, a little woo-woo-woo growl while he bowed.

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.

play bows and tail wags

This past week was a very "progressive" one for Roxy.  I've been noticing how different she's been lately.  Her tail seems to wag a lot more, and faster, for a longer period of time.  She seems overall happier and more relaxed.  Sonny's presence has definitely brought her up one level in anxiety, but that was to be expected and her and I have been working harder to keep her comfortable and happy.

First, Roxy did amazing at her agility class.  The training facility's owner came by, and he's a big, loud, scary, "walk-with-a-purpose" sort of guy, especially to a dog who's unsure of herself or unsure of people.  Roxy hadn't met him yet, and he was walking along the line of dogs and had been saying hi to most of them as they approached him.  As he came nearer to us, I told him Roxy was fearful, and he said no problem, and stopped within smelling distance for her while interacting with the dog next to Roxy.  Roxy immediately approached him, sniffing and wagging her tail, and after her sniff, she turned her butt towards him, happily asking to be petted.

This is HUGE progress for her. Contrast that to 7 months ago when, if someone had even walked in her general direction, she would have backed up with whale eye, scared and unsure.  And, if she had chosen to sniff the person, there would be no petting allowed, as per her lack of a request.  And if the person moved unexpectedly during the sniffing process, it would have been game over; she'd have scampered away, never to return.

It was seriously a huge moment for her and I.  The walk-in, informal class has a lot of the same people each week, and the people who are there frequently were giving her lots of complements on how far she's come.

Sunday's walk provided another victory.  I had Roxy and Sonny out on a walk and it was a little chilly so I wasn't expecting to see too many people.  But there was apparently an open house down the road from us, so there were a good amount of cars on our dead end street...

As we approached the open house, there was a couple getting out of a car and Roxy spotted them.  We had stopped and turned around to avoid stressing Sonny too much; Roxy, on the other hand, turned and watched the people carefully as she immediately and feverishly began wagging her tail and whining to get closer to them... I couldn't believe it.  She whined a lesser version of her "Mommy's home" whine.  It was an "I want to say hi!" sort of whine, and she's never done that for anyone aside from a few choice people she already knows and loves.

She's also been more interested in playing with Sonny, who she previously was very happy to ignore completely.  She is overwhelmed by playing with Sonny and Buster at the same time, so I've been doing lots of 1-on-1, mixing it up with the three of them.  Sonny play bowed and play-growled when we came in from our morning potty break yesterday, and Roxy immediately perked up, as if she was waiting for him to make that noise. She ran right up to him, slammed both her front paws on the ground and rolled her head around and let out a small growl, which is what she does with Buster when she's excited and really wants to play.  Sonny was so happy, as if the girl he's been pining over finally noticed him, and Roxy and him played for a good 10 minutes before I decided to end it on a good note.

Roxy has really come so, so far compared to where she was, who she was, when I adopted her. All the desensitization and counterconditioning work that her and I have been doing is paying off, and I'm so excited that I want to scream and tell the world how proud I am of her!!