Here she is! (new dog)
Thank you to everyone for all your kind words of support! All went well at the meet and greet and we brought her home Saturday!
We decided to name her Tuffy - cuz she's one tough little gal! She's pretty scraggly looking - she should be all white but her feet are urine stained. Once they grow out a little more I will attempt to shave them. I'm not sure how to clean her face.
She does not like to be touched at all. If we have to pick her up, she freezes in a scrunched up cringing type hold. The rescue lady said she was probably only ever picked up by her scruff to be pulled into and out of her cage.
She's already showing signs of improvement though - she answers to her name! She will come to me and her nose will touch my finger and I praise her. She's not food motivated - I haven't found a treat yet that she will take. She does like steak and cheese though! Unfortunately she only has a few teeth left in the back of her mouth.
You can see a little nub at her backside - that's all they left of her tail. She doesn't even have enough there to wag. It infuriates me that they would've docked her tail so short. I'm sure it was all for their convenience.
She likes to lay in corners. I think it gives her some security. We pretty much let her do what she wants. She LOVES going outside! It's so cute to see her run - she runs like a bunny with her back feet together like a hop.
This morning she actually ventured into the room where my dh and I were. First time on her own! Normally she stands in the door way and looks in.
For only being with us a few days, I feel that she's already making progress and my hopes for her to become a "normal" dog are pretty high! I know she may always have quirks - she's almost 7 years old... but I think she can enjoy life in the coming years. : )
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She's here!
Comments (41)Iris, you sure will have to catch up! The older girl is Madison, more commonly referred to as Madi. She's 20 months old. They are both Ashley's, Amanda's kids are now 7 and 9, they'll be 8 and 10 in October/November. I retired a year and a half ago, and I remarried 5 years ago. Dad passed away and I bought the farm I grew up on, we're hoping to build there in the spring. We just sold Elery's house and are hoping to have mine on the market in another month or so. Lots of things are happening, LOL, but I missed you and I'm glad you are back. So, how are you? Well? Happy? Still working or retired? Annie...See MoreNew dog and old dog not getting along
Comments (10)Fl-CountryB, You are in a difficult situation. You miss Rocky. You miss her more than Holly does. Holly misses her but dogs seem to have a sense of acceptance about death that we as humans don't. I suspect bringing Buddy home was more for your comfort. This is okay. Thousands of dog lovers do this. We can't help it. We love our dog packs. I have had the good fortune of always adding a puppy to the pack. The puppy has to work for and learn who is boss. I will say I have one male who still tries to challenge the top female. She is old and frail but she is still top dog and number 2 knows this. No one has ever bitten. But there was plenty of wrestling, playing and at times a nip would occur that would make someone yelp. Biting means they have forgotten you are the TRUE boss. It's easy to do. You had two old dogs and they knew the routine. Now, you have to start all over. I would not fret too much. Things will work out but you have to be the Top Alpha in this pack family of yours. Hard work but you can do it. There are two ways to go with this. Different dog trainers use different paths. 1) The first path is You are the alpha who choose the totem pole order.... Holly needs to respect your orders not act like she can push Buddy around. This does not mean that Buddy should not be pushed. He needs to learn your top dog. Buddy is trying to find his place and push her to the max. He wants to find his boundaries. All new dogs and puppies do this. And you can decide which should be number 2. If you decide it is Holly. Buddy will need to visit the crate more often for time outs, he will need to be fed 2nd, get in the car 2nd, he will need to be leashed more and respectful of his place. Since you are the alpha you dictate who does what, where, when, how. Holly will feel happy not to be displaced. She might even be nice to Buddy when you are not looking. And in time she may come to take a nap next to him. Give her time to realize her place will always be #1. Buddy will have to accept this and he will come to respect Holly or he goes to the crate. I personally think this path is the best in your situation because Holly is older and needs your support being top girl. And with her happy, Buddy will fall into acceptance. he is the new roomie after all. 2) The second path or dog training option is to let them work it out.... ( I do not think this path is for you but let me explain so you can decide.) This may be the most difficult . It hurts to watch nature. This is easy to do when adding a new puppy. Puppies never challenge an alpha so the order is set. 2 adult dogs vying for the Alpha spot. Holly has a lot to loose and Buddy wants to survive. All interesting dynamics with a violent nature. If you have a big yard that is the place to "fight it out". Have a friend nearby to help watch them play and possibly call 911 if you get hurt separating them. They COULD work it out. I say COULD because with two adult dogs the fighting could start up again a month from now. Or even 6 months from now. The unknowns are there. If Buddy does win you need to let him be the new top dog. This means Holly has given up. She may be injured when she does this.. I must warn you it is painful to watch. It will be very hard because you are still mourning Rocky. We mourn our dogs centuries later. I still miss my first. But this is the nature of canines. If Buddy becomes number 1 he will need to be treated as such. You will mourn this change terribly with Holly. This is my personal reason for thinking you should go with number 1 path. You are the Alpha in number 1 and making a natural pecking order. Easier to do. Best of luck and don't give up on this. You can make a great home for both. Sorry to be so long, but I truly understand your woes. ~boxerpups...See MoreMy dog shivers - but she's not cold
Comments (3)In a 10 year old dog, I'd be worried about focal (petite mal) seizures. These aren't your full-blown down and shaking with loss of consciousness seizures; sometimes focal seizures can be just a twitching in one limb or the face, other times it can be just behavior changes, other times they can just tremble all over. Since of course she won't do it at the vets, if there is a way to video tape the episodes and show the vet it would be the next best thing. Pain is also a very good thought. We saw a dog referred to the neurology service at school for these head twitches. Turns out he had cervical disk disease and was in pain. Luckily the owner brought in a video of the dog's episodes because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to properly diagnose it without running up HUGE bills. They had already run up quite a bill at their regular vet, but didn't have the video tape of the episodes for her....See MoreMy dog yelled when she was put to sleep!!!
Comments (21)I worked at a humane society where we euthanized over 1000 animals a month. Most went peacefully, but there was probably 1 a month where things didn't go as easily. The drug that is used to put our dogs to sleep is a sedative. It is similar to being put to sleep for surgery, only getting a larger dose. The brain is slowed down to a point where it stops telling the lungs and heart to keep working. I don't know why it happens, but I take solace in my own experiences with anesthesia and pain. I had a surgery and was under anesthesia and apparently had difficulty breathing. The surgical team had to put in a breathing tube. I don't have any memory of the breathing tube being put in or the difficulty breathing. I just woke up with a trach tube. I also had an injury that caused enough pain that I became delirious. I was vocal, I was saying nonsense to my husband, and again, I have no memory of that state. My only knowledge of the time from when I became delirious to the time I woke from that surgery was my husbands account of the situation. I really believe that when things go terribly wrong our brains have the ability to shut down and not consciously register any pain or distress even if our bodies are experiencing something that would normally cause us pain and distress. The first time I saw an animal not go down peacefully it was distressing. I had to process the information, think about what happened, question why it happened and I was working with two people who had experienced this before and knew what to expect and understood what was happening (as much as any of us can understand.) For many veterinarians this is something they may only experience once in their career or may never have a euthanasia that doesn't go peacefully. They don't have people with them reassuring them that this sometimes happens. They have to be in control of a situation that they don't fully understand. I am sure they want to be compassionate toward their client, but they are concerned first with their patient and trying desperately to process what just happened. They are not jerks, they are human....See Moreshare_oh
4 years agoshare_oh
4 years agoThank you all! You've brought tears to my eyes with your kind words... and I appreciate the advice! We'll be trying different things to see what works or not.
Here are a few more pictures - the corner where she spends most of the time. We put her in a pen in our room at night to sleep but during the day she has free roam of the house and found herself this corner. The other picture is of her and Sadie our 1 1/2 year old pup. They don't play but they get along good so far.
share_oh
4 years ago
Judy Good