Nova's New Year Resolution

Nova may have made a New Years resolution she didn't tell anyone about.  Or perhaps she just woke up on the right side of the bed on the 1st... and again every day since.  On new years eve she was relaxed and comfortable with strangers in the house, then the next morning she sat inches from Ben gazing lovingly up at him and excitedly wagged her tail when he moved.  

In true Nova fashion she made all of this progress at once, on her own, when I least expected it.  Let me paint a picture of what exactly happened.  We were having three people over for New Years dinner.  As usual with a small number of people who I trust not to engage with her I didn't crate Nova.  I do always make sure when people come over she is wearing a shirt and often I give her some Anxithane- a pretty mild and relatively natural anxiety pill.  On this night fireworks were going off so Copley also got a pill, but Nova seems to care less about fireworks.

When our guests arrived Nova did bark when the door was rung, but then ran over and sat near them.  When a group of us were standing outside the kitchen she sat politely underfoot looking up.  On a few occasions I actually had to tell people not to pet her.  The thing is she did look too nervous for my comfort when people reached for her, so I decided not to let them pet her, but never before has she gotten so close to anyone other than me that they would have the opportunity to pet her.  Later while we were playing a board game in the living room Nova literally frolicked on the couch.  She has been known to joyfully bound around in the very soft throws I put out for Christmas, but only when we are home alone.  A week ago I never would have imagined her doing anything other than worriedly starring at guests from the corner of the room.

In the days since then she has even started doing tricks for Ben, not just me.  All amazing progress and I am so proud of her!  I am also pretty excited that we are going back to basic obedience class tomorrow- not because she did bad the first time per-se, but because it really helped her to go out to a class with other dogs and people.  Since she isn't really in a position to do anything other than a mild version of basic obedience I am just repeating that.  Nothing wrong with sticking to what works.

A Quiet Holiday!

Happy non denominational gift giving season everyone!  Around here we will be exchanging gifts on the 21st (the solstice) the 24th (Christmas) and the 12 days of pre-Christian tree related holiday season from the 21st to the 1st thanks to my wonderful Mom who puts together the 12 days for us every year.

Today is still the big day for us though and I just can't get over how different this Christmas was than years past.  For the first time in a long time I am living in a house with a bunch of well behaved adult dogs who for the most part avoid trouble.  As I said on Facebook earlier- there is something to be said for a house full of dogs following the rules but I just can't help but miss shooing dogs away from the presents, pulling wrapping paper out of their mouths and running behind them as they attempt to run away with the most fragile Christmas gift they can find.  No one even tried to drink my coffee this morning as I sat under the tree opening presents.  Ben even jokingly offered Kerrigan a cookie and she actually turned her head to the side, knowing it had to be a trick because she was not allowed to eat that.

For Nova this christmas could not have been more different from the last one.  The picture at the top of this post is her watching us open presents from under the tree.  She stayed a foot or two away from the action but she was interested and not scared this year.  When I woke up the first thing she did was run over to my chair for a cuddle- kinda amazing considering that last year I couldn't even touch her.  Here are a few shots of her this morning- excuse that "just go out of bed look" I thought it was too cute not to share.

 

Then here is Kerri.  She usually sleeps in that spot of sun and today she didn't let any gift giving get in her way.

Copley was literally too boring to photograph, I have enough pictures of him sleeping on the couch.  You will have to enjoy this out-take of our holiday photo shoot!

 

Happy holidays everyone!

One Year With Nova- December and January

Happy Adopion Day Nova Bear!!!

I can't believe it has been a whole year since we got Nova.  I've decided to re-cap her story month by month to celebrate and look back on the past year.  Mostly I want to say she is an amazing dog who has taught me so much about training, how dogs brains work and areas where I wasn't quite doing things right.  BUT if the person who bred her mother then let her puppies end up on the street is out there I want them to know they have done a horrible thing, and no matter how great Nova is today, she never should have existed in the first place.  The reason I ended up with a quivering disaster of a dog in my house is because I was cleaning up other people's careless messes and I wish I never had to do that.  I do however, still love her and here is our story, part 1 of 6.

 

When we first got her home she wouldn't even stand up.  She just crept along the ground and huddled frozen in any corner she could.  She was totally shut down and we had no idea what dog was under there.  So we put her in a crate, put a thundershirt on her and ignored her completely.  We would leave food for her when we left the house and it got eaten, but never when we were home.  Copley cuddled with her and Kerri whined a lot, but the people pretended she wasn't there.  The first little bit was pretty rough for her.  Being plucked off the street and put in a house had to have been like an alien abduction for her.  I do believe all she ever knew was the outdoors and I have serious doubts that she was ever owned by anyone.  It was rough too because she had to keep going back to the vet for dressing changes on her rear feet where half torn off dew claws were removed all the way.  I began to think she would huddle in the back of that crate for months.  Then about a week later I saw this.

I honestly could not believe it.  That really was the first moment I saw her stand up straight.  I'm glad my first thought was to take a picture so Ben could see how short she was.  I really had thought she was taller.

Now we had a dog who stood up.  Great.  Lets see what the next step is.  That is how we tackled everything, particularly in the beginning.  I couldn't think about next month, or next year, or how I was going to live with her, I just had to do one thing at a time.  What is the next step after crawling around on the ground in fear?  Standing up straight with her tail tucked between her legs.  Great.  Mission accomplished. 

Now that we had a dog who stood up I expanded her world a little outside of the crate.  She was in the living room right next to the Christmas tree and to be honest sometimes I thought she would live in that pen for the rest of her life.  I still could only touch her by cornering her (something that made me more than a little anxious) but she was warming up to the world.  I sat in that pen and spent hours getting her used to a collar, or at least associating good things with it.  She got a grasp of the clicker in there too.  That clicker was the only thing she connected with early on.  It was consistent, she controlled it and it was not human.  To this day it is our primary tool with her, and her list of clicker tricks is growing by the day.

You may notice a pillow in that pen.  It was there because my amazing husband was sleeping in there at the time so she could get used to people and wouldn't be alone at night.  We didn't yet realize that Nova hated him any more than she hated any other person and he thought it would be a good way to bond with her.  It was then that I realized my husband was in fact the most incredible person on earth and I could not possibly be luckier to have found him.  How many people would sleep on the ground of a dog pen for three weeks so that a chihuahua who you could not touch wouldn't be lonely?

Over the next several weeks I managed to get a collar on her.  Unfortunately she managed to get it right off again.  Or even worse stuck on something or in her mouth.  I saved her from strangulation on two occasions before we realized that collars were not something Nova would be wearing.  Or at least not dog collars.  I wanted her to wear a collar because she was a flight risk, but obviously it was not safe for her.  I got the great idea to get a quick release cat collar.  So I put it on her, she pulled it off, I put it on her, she pulled it off, I put it on her, she pulled it off and in we went for the next few months.  Did I mention that literally every time I cornered her to put it on I cringed, afraid that this would be the time she bit me?  In all the time we had her so far she never snapped at me, that is truly a testament to her temperament.  In case you were thinking of plucking your own traumatized chihuahua off the street I want you to know cornering a scared dog is a bad idea, you should never do it.  I cringe to think of some of the situations I put us in together early on, and I don't know I would do it again, and certainly not ever with a dog any bigger.

December brought us a dog who stood up in our presence, but never left a pen in the living room.  It brought us a dog who would eat while we watched, but would not sleep, or even close her eyes with us in the room.  She was scared all of the time.  Scared when the other dogs ran too fast, scared when anything new was in the house, scared of anything she saw us do.

This was during the two days we tried umbilical training.  Ben almost lost a toe and Nova nearly broke her neck.  It was a great idea for most people but you sometimes need to recognize when you are not "most people."

Near the beginning of January I tried working with her to take food from my hand.  It was not going swimmingly but she was getting closer and closer.  Then a friend came over and Nova decided he was the person that she trusted.  She ate right out of his hand and I informed him he had to move into my spare room.  Unfortunately he had his own place and wasn't looking for a job as a full time dog rehabilitator, but was over a lot and every time he came he gave Nova a handful of food.  Every time she took it.  By the end of the month she was taking food from me, and Ben if she thought she was actually stealing it from him.  If Ben looked like he WANTED her to have the food she hid.  But if he was giving treats to another dog, or eating a bowl of cereal she would try to steal that.  Baby steps.

Maybe...

 If I just...

 ABORT, ABORT MISSION

January was a pretty rough month.  It was when we discovered Nova was not a dog.  She was in fact a Ninja.  First I would come home and find her out of the pen.  At first we thought she was burrowing under it.  So we piled things around to weigh it down.  She still got out.  Then I thought she was going on top of the crate to get there so I relocated her to the spare room with the pen in the doorway.  That was when I saw her climb it.  She climbed that pen like it was not even an obstacle.  In fact she started climbing anything she wanted to get over or out of.  She was getting braver and her smarts were starting to show.  This made me happy, but it also has led to endless frustration.

The only other exciting development of January was when I was upstairs on the computer (we have a loft that at that time was blocked off from the dogs but I could see down) and I think she forgot I was home.  I looked down as her and Kerri played with a toy they got for Christmas.  It was a Martha Stewart Elf that had no stuffing but made a crinkly noise.  They full out played, we are talking play bows and throwing the toy up in the air and the whole bit.  Then Nova saw me and ran back into her crate and started to shake.  That was the day that I knew this was going to be ok.  If she can play with Kerri we have her!  She is not so broken that she is non-functional, we just need to manufacture more circumstances where she can function.

So there is December and January for you.  I will update on the next 10 months this week.

Holiday Shopping Guide

 

 Copley and his nearly 4 year old lupine collar

I know a lot of people post holiday shopping guides, but I have a lot of good ideas this year so I am going to post my list with the hopes it might help others with their shopping too!

Recommended Shopping (Stuff we have and love)-

• Barkbox!  Barkbox is a really great gift for a new dog owner or anyone looking to learn about new products.  I have several reviews on my blog (here, here and here) and have been receiving it for a long time now myself.  Some months are better than others- but every month is worth it.   I always get my money's worth in a box.  For me though the real enjoying thing is discovering new products, there are some treats and toys that we have bough more of and many have become staples in our house.  Also if you use this link you will get $5 off your first box.
• Buddy Belt- as I mentioned above we walk the chihuahuas on Buddy Belts all the time.  They are the best made, most comfortable and hardest to back out of harnesses I have encountered.  They have a non leather version called BB2 out now for the vegan folks among us or others looking to spend a little less.
• Max & Ruffy's treats-  These are great, organic treats and the Mini size is perfect for training treats and for small dogs like mine.  I also like them because if you are someone who shows or does obedience and puts treats in your mouth they are perfect for that.  They are all vegetarian and made with human grade ingredients that smell good and don't taste half bad.  My dogs who don't usually like meat-less treats love these.  I used them as the primary treats for the run of Legally Blonde with Kerrigan.  The only issue I have with their company is that they advocate a vegan diet for dogs and I don't ever believe healthy dogs should be fed a vegan diet.  So just ignore that part of the website- their treats are great.
• Star Wars!  Petco has started carrying a Star Wars collection.  Some of the items are a little overpriced and not the best quality stuff (although the t-shirts are good quality and we have two of them that have been getting a lot of use).  But come on- Star Wars!!  I got Kerri one of the cat toys that is a tie fighter on a stick and she loves crushing the empire in the living room.  I would say they are a must have for any Star Wars loving pet owner.
• Lupine Pet collars and leads-  I LOVE lupine.  They are an American company who manufactures in New Hampshire and their stiff is all guaranteed for life even if chewed.  Copley's everyday collar is the same lupine collar he has been wearing since two months after we got him in 2010.  The chis don't wear Lupine collars but they are walked on Lupine leashes and Kerri has their small step in harness for wearing over clothing.  I have bough other leashes but I don't use ant of them.  99% of the time my dogs leave the house is on Lupine.
• Planet Dog Toys-  These are some of the few dogs toys I have found that are actually manufactured in the USA (the other exceptions would be Kong and Nylabone).  Even with that said- watch out- there are a few Planet dog products (and Kong and Nylabone for that matter) that are made in China. so if that is something you care about read the fine print.  No matter where they are made I like them though.  The Orbee globe that Kerrigan has is one of her favorite toys and she has had it for quite a while.  Our blind foster dog Luke went crazy for their raspberry because it- along with a lot of their other toys- has a natural mint scent added when they make the toy- and it helped him find the toy when he couldn't use his eyes to see it.  This would be first on my list for any blind dogs out there.

I think that is most of the stuff I am loving right now.  Have fun holiday shopping!

Happy Halloween!

Nothing fancy this year for the dogs- we are going to not one, but TWO parties without them- so enjoy this collage of tears past.

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone!  Or happy Tuesday to all the non-Christians out there.  We had a great morning here.  Things were quiet it was just me, Ben, Kerrigan, Copley, Nova and foster dog George.  Our celebration started last night when I did my baking.  Thanks to cake mix that came in this month's BarkBox the dogs got some baked goods too.

 This "Puppy cake" mix was really cool.  It is made in the USA with only a few ingredients and is colored with beet powder so it gets our seal of approval.  The recipe called for 1 egg, 3/4 cup of water and 3tbs of vegetable oil, similar to most human box cake.  I decided to use coconut oil because I know my dogs love the taste of it and it is pretty healthy.  The recipe seems to have worked out just fine but I did have to melt the coconut oil because it has solidified in this winter house temperature.

 I had a gingerbread man cake pan so I used that to make little cupcakes!  They are perfect for my little dogs plus they are festive for the holidays.

 Here they are iced with the unflavored yogurt frosting that came in the pack.  Not only were they cute but they also were a big hit with the dogs.  Keep in mind Copley and George would eat ANYTHING so that is probably not saying much but Kerri will walk away from food sometimes and she gobbled these right up.

Now we come to Christmas morning.  First the dogs helped us open our gifts....  Yeah "helped."  Here are Copley, Kerri and George "helping."

Nova was petrified of the present opening process, just like most things but she did get in on the action when we opened the dog presents.  I think my dogs might actually have gotten more stuff than us this year.  First we opened a package from our friend Mosby and his humans

 We got two cool toys and some chew sticks, I think they were tendon wrapped in chicken?  At least that is what they looked like.

Nova is doing so much better.  Looks how brave she is in this picture!  She is still very uneasy around people but she is making so much progress.  When I think about how she must have spent last Christmas I almost could cry.  Now she gets to spend the rest of her life happy, well fed and well loved.  This is only the beginning for Nova and I hope next Christmas she will be able to wear a tacky sweater like Kerri and cuddle up next to the family on the couch while we watch TV.  If I could take all of her scared away right now I would, but these things take time.  Her life only gets better from here on out.

Back to the presents you will see Kerri modeling the contents of the stockings.  Each dog got a crinkly holiday toy and an organic oat and peanut butter dog treat.  The rats also got one of those treats, they are a big fan of anything with oats in it.

Nova LOVES her crinkly toy and has been carrying it around her pen.  You really never know what she will love and what she will be pitch terrified about.  Also you may be asking why there is a pillow in the chihuahua palace?  It is because my amazing husband has been waking up at 5 AM every night to change Nova's pee pads and to lay down in there and sleep for a few hours so she can get used to us but still be in her safe place.  That's right, Ben is sleeping in an X pen on the floor to help out a scared chihuahua.  I love my husband.

The last gift I have pictures of (there are more toys too, but I am slow releasing those) is Copley's favorite.  My parents sent out 6 HUGE braided bully sticks.  Even Kerri likes getting in on the giant chews.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Holidays!

 Happy Non-Denominational Holiday Gift Giving Season!  Whatever you celebrate this time of year I hope you are doing great.  Things have been very busy around here- you know new dog and all- so this will be quick.  I wanted to share our holiday decorations and how we get the dogs in on the action.  I am sure I will be posting a picture of all of our dogs gifts, they are looking to be plentiful this year and I didn't even buy many of them.

 Stockings- right to left- Ben, Annie, Copley, Kerrigan, Nova

 Holiday biscuit holders!

 Kerrigan's paw print and the "Family Rodents 2011, Nick, Bean, Tubbs and Sandy"

 Copley's Paw Print

And our holiday BarkBox!

Thank you all for reading this blog and encouraging me to continue blogging through this year.  I have plans to share with you Nova's progress day by day and I have been writing it down but time to edit and publish it is not here right now.  In the meanwhile enjoy Christmas!  We sure are.