A Nova Update

"I am blossoming into a beautiful flower, and using your plants as beds."

The other night I was at a fundraiser for one of my favorite local organizations Incred-A-Bull and I ran into a lot of people who I had not seen in a while and asked how Nova was doing.  Actually most of them asked about "tire store chihuahua" as she is more commonly known.  If you are a new reader you might want to check out some of my old posts about Nova, but to sum it all up she was a totally feral dog living behind a tire store until she was trapped and I got her.  It is hard to really say how she is doing in a few words of casual conversation, but what I came up with is this.  

"She is very comfortable around the house, very smart and she has taught me a lot."

All that is true, but it is so much more complicated than that.  Nova has come so far in the last year that I can barely believe it but many things are still a big challenge for her.  She has brought challenges to me as a trainer that I had never seen before and more than that she opened my mind to a lot of new ways of doing thing, and proved that what I before would have said "works every time if you do it right" I now realize is just a great place to start.  If nothing else at least every dog that enters my life from this time forward will benefit from the things I learned from Nova and the partnership we have (it truly is a partnership) in navigating the scarey world.

As far as day to day life, Nova is nearly a normal dog around the house with only a few accommodations.  She is potty trained 100% but because she will not ask Ben to open the door we have pee pads inside that she uses if he is the only one home.  She participates in barking that Kerrigan starts, but she is not an excessive barker at the outside world.  When people come over she does hop around nervously and will do some aggressive barking if she feels trapped in a room or needs to get past them for food but mostly is not at hassle to visitors.  She will take food from people, and even sit or touch for food from strangers and visitors.  She has never gone after a person aggressively, and it is obvious she is acting out of fear, but I always lock her up when kids visit.  She has proven that if she is actually cornered and grabbed she rolls over and goes to a submissive scared place, but I don't think I will ever trust that she would never go to an aggressive place.  Because of that I am never going to let her near children loose in the house.

She does do a lot better out in the world.  We have a regular walking route we take and she happily does that with me and Kerrigan.  If people approach us she sits by me as Kerrigan is petted and while on a leash generally looks to me for guidance.  Any change to our route however is a reason for panic the first time or two, then she goes with it like she is an old pro.

A few weeks ago we "graduated" basic obedience class.  She did not participate in everything at class, but was actually excited to go and I did not try to push her too far.  She LOVES her clicker and with it's help she accomplished a lot of things at class.  She walked around with other bigger dogs very close to her, she walked for a short while with someone else (our instructor) holding the leash and she did a lot of her clicker tricks in public.  Also on one day she tried to instigate play with another tiny little dog at class.  The owner was kind enough to let them go for a minute then moved on.  I am so proud of how well she did and I plan to take the class again.  Nova is a very smart dog and while nervous at parts I think she appreciated the challenge of class.

Speaking if smart, Nova has learned a LOT of clicker tricks and is enjoying going through Kyra Sundance's book 101 Dog Tricks and learning even more!  She really gets the idea of the clicker and it is so easy to shape behaviors with her this way.  The unfortunate thing is she will not "perform" for anyone but me!  I am thinking I should get a tripod and video camera then make her a you tube star.  I was thinking of getting her to act out an entire Shakespearean drama or something like that.  I say thinking about it because the odds of me having enough time in my life to actually do that is rather slim, but we can dream.

So in conclusion, Nova is very comfortable around the house, very smart and she has taught me a lot.  She continues to improve in her relations with people every day, she loves Kerrigan and Copley and she is just a joy to clicker train.  Nova may never be a totally normal dog, she certainly is not ever going to run up to strangers like Kerri does but every day she gets a little less scared and figures out a little something more about living with people.  She is a lot of work, and I can't say I recommend adopting a feral dog but for me she has been a joy.

There is a Nova update for everyone!

We Cracked The Nova Code

My apologies to all the friends I have secretly sniffed in trying to solve this puzzle.  For the record before this started I did not associate you with any particular scent (except maybe my Mom) and none of you smelled unpleasant, overwhelming, or like you wore too much (or too little) perfume or deodorant.  So sorry I had to investigate your smells to solve my dogs behavior issues. 

Nova likes some people a lot, she is neutral to most, and a very few people she just hates.  Since we got her it has been a bit of our mission to figure out what it is about those certain people that bothers her.  Our curiosity actually has a direct practical use because one of her hated people is my husband who not only loves her very much and would like to be her buddy, but also has to live with her.

Most people, an an attempt to be helpful, have suggested that she either does not like men, or the people who she doesn't like remind her of a person who abused her.  Thing is I really don't think she was ever abused.  I think that because she did not grow up around any people we are as scarey to her as any apex predator would be to any 6 pound wild animal.  People approaching her and then in the end trapping her probably didn't help her love of humans in general, but really in the end she was caught not by a specific person but in a cat trap with no one around and that is clearly the bigger trauma (or at least she shows a lot of psychological damage from that one).  It is a little annoying because instead of being helpful people just INSIST that she was abused, but really she shows no signs of it.

Also it is not men because her favorite person on the planet is a man, and one of her least favorite people is a woman.  In fact her least favorite people are different races, different sexes and are vastly different weights (one is a tiny twig of a woman and one is a huskier dude).  WHAT COULD THESE PEOPLE POSSIBLY HAVE IN COMMON???????

Well I got to thinking.  I don't think they remind her of a specific person from her past due to what I explained above.  So what if it is something the liked people have in common?  Or what if it is something more general?  What if some people are just more "people-ey" to her?  Maybe to her I am a strange alien species that abducted her and Ben is a human just like the humans she encountered on the street.  So I thought about that, and thought about that, and thought some more.  Time passed and I was back to thinking that maybe she hated people she met at 2 in the afternoon, or on a full moon or anything else.  Then months later my in laws were visiting (for the record Nova loved my mother in law, let my father in law pet her on the chin and was neutral to Ben's brother).  I'm not putting too much stock in the love of Ben's Mom because she is really pretty good with animals (having been a vet) and she literally dripped food out of her pockets/plates/bags into Nova's mouth.  It was a strategy that won over Nova and I think that at this point in her rehab she would be ok with anyone providing food in the house who I approved of.  It was not her winning over actions, but a comment she made that got me thinking.  She said "it could be something totally random like she doesn't like their deodorant."

BINGO!

I called her other hated people- and like a crazy person I asked them what deodorant they wore and what shampoo they used.  I was so excited until it all came crashing down.  Toms of Maine Apricot, Lush Powder, Suave 2 in 1, a generic shampoo for sensitive scalps...  Nothing matched up and I was off to square one.  Looking back it was so obvious.  So obvious it is painful.

A few days later we picked up one of Nova's favorite people and he got in the car.  Then I smelled it.  Old Spice.  I remembered how much she loved my Mom, and how I think of my mom every time I walk past a perfume counter at Macy's.  Then I thought of the perfume I sprayed on that morning.  Then I thought of all the products of the people who she hated.  THEY WERE ALL UNSCENTED!  Or at least "naturally" and mildly scented.  They were not antiperspirants, they were free and clear.  THEY SMELLED LIKE PEOPLE!  I smell like Elizabeth Arden Green Tea, my Mom smells like Elizabeth Arden Sunflower, her favorite person smells like Old Spice (he claims he does not actually wear the scent but apparently the deodorant smells enough that I got a whiff of it in my car so that's enough for Nova I am sure), another favorite person smells like Secret Powder Fresh.  They are not strong smells, but to a dog they must be very obvious.  I think the biggest factor is actually the deodorant, an antiperspirant with any stronger scent that we people might never smell would read loud an clear to a dog while still masking the regular people odor.

This makes me laugh because a while back we were throwing ideas around and thought maybe Nova hated hardcore environmentalists.  It was the only thing that was sort of in common among the people she disliked, but it didn't ever go anywhere at the time.  Turns out we were kinda right.  Wear ethically made in the USA organic deodorant and that dog is going to try to drive out out of her house.

Now the big question is will this make any difference in our daily life?  Has the damage been done or is Ben going to walk into the shower one day and emerge a different species according to Nova?  No way of telling until we give it a go, but I am waiting until we are prepared to do it all out before trying.

Now I am off to get some deodorant and matching cologne for my husband.  Any suggestions?  I am thinking Cartier.  Go big or go home right?

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.

Good Job Nova!

Identical twins from behind

 This week my parents, aunt and grandfather were all in town.  They didn't stay at the house, but they visited  lot and we had a few meals here.  I was a little bit worried to start with that it would be a lot to have this many people over for Nova.  Well I am happy to report that it went amazingly well.  Nova did not bark or growl at any of the guests ever.  She was a little skiddish, as normal, and she did not allow anyone to move towards her, but on her terms she let everyone pet her.  A few people pet her under the chin, a few on the back and a few even got to rub her chest a little bit.  I was beyond amazed at how well she did.

In other good news it is starting to be a comfortable temperature out at a reasonable hour of the day.  For oh so many reasons that is a good thing, but in particular it is going to give me the opportunity to work with Nova outside a little bit.  She has been reluctantly following me and Kerri down the block as long as nothing crazy happens along the way, but is no lover of the world outside my house and backyard.  My goal for this month is to make her like the outside a little more.  Since her highest value activity is clicker tricks I have decided every day we are going to go out on the leash, but only to the concrete step by the door.  There we will do our regular clicker training session then go inside.  I am hoping that this will make the outside a little more fun for her.  

 

Our first session was a success by Nova standards.  She walked out the door because I had the clicker and a bag of treats.  She was very overwhelmed by the idea of listening to me outside but did "touch" for a click and a treat twice.  Then the neighbor opened their garage door and it was a bit of a disaster.  I had about 5 bits of treats left in my hand so I just said her name and she got a click for looking at me.  I only got brief glances but by treat number five she was excited about the click and not just concerned about being outside so we called it a day and went back in.  The whole session was less than two minutes.  Slow and steady is going to win this race.

To Big Bear again- Nova's First Vacation

That right there is a picture of the first time I ever saw Nova pant because she was hot/happy/exhausted.  Not because she was so stressed out she was foaming at the mouth.  So the short version of this vacation is that Nova was with us, and had a good time.  I could not ask for anything better in my life right now than this little dog enjoying herself.

The long version is that as with all things Nova it was a little more complicated than that, and the rest of us had a BLAST!  Lets stick to the Nova part for this post and I will give you all the great vacation pictures tomorrow- sound good?

I was a little worried about taking Nova with us.  The few times we have left for one and two night camping trips I had people stop in on her here at the house.  We went on one week long vacation and Nova's favorite people (who are some of my favorite people too) stayed at the house with her.  When we got Nova me and Ben agreed she was going to just have to live our life with us.  Just because we had a timid and scared dog did not mean we would stop camping and going away for weekends, or having dinner parties and people over for game night.  It might mean that sometimes Nova stays here, and is a little lonely, or that sometimes she has less freedom than the other dogs, but either way we were going to keep living our life.  That is not to say that we would not make accommodation for her.  Believe me- I feel like my whole life is turned upside down accommodating her sometimes- but it means we were not going to let the rest of the family suffer because she was around.  Overall she has adapted pretty good to living here.  Pushing her (gently) to participate in family activities has only yielded good results so far.  So I loaded her pen and bed into the car, put her in the car bag, and toted the little thing off to a cabin in the woods with us.

My decision to take her was helped by the fact that we were traveling with the previously mentioned "Nova's favorite people".  Or should I say Nova's favorite person and his girlfriend who Nova also likes a little more than most people.  In the higherarchy of people in Nova's brain it goes a little something like this.

#1 Favorite Person on the Planet- Annie (me)

#2 Favorite Person, only person she ever liked the first time she met him- Paul

#3 Person who she will cuddle with in a pinch- Missy (Paul's Lady)

Everyone Else On The Planet

#1 Most Hated Person- Ben (Mr.DogInTheDesert)

 

Both of my chihuahuas love Paul for some reason.  I don't really know what it is but I think he needs a T-shirt that says "Chihuahuas Love Me."  I can't really blame the dogs for loving these fine folks- the humans in the house think they are pretty cool too- I just don't really know what it is about Paul in particular that Nova finds so appealing.  What I really don't know is why Nova HATES Ben so much.  But that will have to be another post entirely.  We are here to talk about Nova's vacation.

She did great.  I think in the end she actually liked seeing some new stuff.  For the most part she hung out in the cabin.  At night we would sit around the barbecue grill cooking and Nova had a good time coming out and chilling with me.  Mostly I held her and she perked up a little bit, looked around, and chilled out.  She got so relaxed she decided to take a selfie with my front facing camera but *someone* had to photbomb it.  Thanks for being creepy Paul.  Maybe that's why Nova loves him so much- he has her strange sense of what is socially appropriate.

When we went off for the day she stayed in her pen with her bed from home.  She didn't seem to mind much- and actually we spent a lot of time chilling in the cabin- so most of her weekend looked like this.

When Ben was not around it looked like that except that she was not staring at him.  She is getting better and better with him, but still always wants to know where he is.

Overall I am glad I brought Nova.  She was getting a little bored and under-stimulated sitting around the house all the time.  A change of scenery seemed to do exactly what I hoped it would- challenge her, interest her, and get her out of her shell a little bit.  Living with us she is going to be in for new adventures so getting her used to it now- and slowly- is what needs done.  I was prepared to sit in the cabin with her the whole week if I had to.  There was a possibility that this would be less vacation and more dog training in the woods, but I was ready for that.  Like everything with Nova so far she surprised me, stepped up to the plate, and while she was timid about everything new she did manage to find a safe space and enjoy herself a little bit.  If you told me she would be on vacation in June when I met her in December I would not have believed you.  Now knowing her abilities and tenacity I wouldn't be surprised if she is doing obedience in a room full of people next year.

Be sure to check out our next post about how fun Big Bear was.  Here is a little taste of how amazing of a weekend we had-

More to come everyone.

Socalizing a Puppy- In Slow Motion

There are no books or resources out there about rehabilitating a dog like Nova.  Everything about dogs who are total wrecks talk about teaching them to trust AGAIN.  Helping a dog who was failed by people, abused, who LOST her owners, who was ABANDONED by people.  Or a dog who was LOCKED UP in a puppy mill by people, or who was STARVED by someone.

Nova can not learn to trust AGAIN when she did not do it in the first place.  She didn't LOOSE people, she never had them.  To be ABANDONED you need someone to abandon you.  Being STARVED implies it was done to her, she was starving because she was on her own.  It was a state of being not something a person imposed on her.

I grasped at straws when we got her.  I tried to read more books, talk to every dog trainer in my life (and in my circles there are quite a few) and while they were helpful to a point- no one had a real solution.  This has been a learn as you go process for everyone.  Nova must feel like she was abducted and is now on an alien planet.  All she knew was living on the streets, eating cockroaches, doing all she could to survive.  While we do not really know what happened to her as a puppy I strongly suspect she was either born on the street, or dumped there at 8-12 weeks.  How does such a little puppy survive out there like that?  If you met Nova you would know.  She is smart, cunning (a trait I previously thought dogs were not capable of), strong, brave and resilient.  That is what makes me so sad about her puppies- she must have tried so hard to keep them alive.  I try not to anthropomorphize dogs, so I really don't think I am by saying this- but loosing that battle had to have been hard for her.  But for all that hardship there was no abuse.  She has no memories of bad people.  So often it is a struggle for me.  

Do I push her in this situation?  Do I hold back in that one?  From a training standpoint it is not exactly easy to make a game plan here.  That is until I figured it out.  I am socializing her for the first time.  I don't need to get rid of bad habits and experiences- for the most part I need to just add new ones!  As far as living in the human world she is a blank slate.  So I am going about socializing a puppy.  Just in SSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWWWWW motion.  Her brain is developed, so she is not as open to new experiences as a puppy is, but she is young, and for the most part game for new things, so there you go.  Since gaining this new perspective Nova has made leaps and bounds.  In my next post I will get into what exactly we are doing with her.

Nova's New Outfit

Nova's sporting a new outfit around the house these days.  She is wearing her beautiful and stylish XS Thundershirt and while we are home she will be dragging behind her a matching shoelace!

That is Nova giving me the evil eye for making her wear this ensemble.

Why am I torturing her so?  Well our trainer came by the other day and we decided it was time that Nova was forced to be a little more involved with the family.  Right now it is hard to force her to interact with us because as soon as she sees we want her to do something she runs and hides.  In order to be able to work with her more we are going to attach a long line to her collar when we are home (only when we are home, because it obviously is a huge strangulation hazard).  That way when we want to do something with her I don't have to go chasing after her and grab her.  I think it will actually help her be more independent in the long run because she will be forced to do a lot more on her own this way.  For instance when we go up to bed she will be able to walk with me up the stairs instead of me carrying her.  That brings me to the thundershirt!  With this new way of reeling Nova in I am now able to put the thundershirt on her without a long stressful chase.  If everything goes well I am going to have her wear it for most of the day because it really does help. 

We are using two boot shoelaces tied together for the long line.  It is about 6 feet long and seems to be relatively unobtrusive.  I have had to untangle it a time or two but overall the shoelace seems to be good at not getting caught.

This is a good step in the right direction for Nova.  It is good news that she finally is comfortable enough for us to force her to do more on her own but it is also a lot more work for us.  Not to worry though- I am happy to put in the work for this little one.

Fearful *will bite*

^This is at the top of every page of Nova's medical records^

We were talking with some friends the other night about wither or not they would have adopted Nova.  Most of them said yes- because she is so obviously Kerri's family.  The thing is its not really relevant- because most people would not have gotten the opportunity to adopt her.  She would have failed every temperament test out there and I don't know what the rescue I work with would have done with her if I hadn't picked her up that day.  In fact the vets office I got her from practically begged me not to take her- and I can't really blame them.  She was totally feral, scared beyond belief and probably a little bit unstable.  Now I'm not a saint here.  I can't say why I took her on, once she was here I knew I couldn't let her go, but why?  I suppose it is because me and Ben love dogs.  Alot.  But it is not just that because we have said no before.  I had a foster show up early in my fostering days with real aggression issues with men.  I sent him off to live with a single woman who was better able to deal with him.  George lived here for nearly six months and I let him go.  Coco was a 15 year old chihuahua who had had a really rough life and I let her go to a good home too.  I am not one to "foster fail."  I also know my limits and I have no guilt telling a foster coordinator "no more dogs."  Rumor on the street is I have a reputation for being a particularly patient foster home for dogs who need that extra little help.  The reason for that is I know my limit.  I only take on what I can handle and what is good for my pack of dogs.  You can't take on too much because then you are not good for anyone.

It took several years of fostering, training, dealing with my dogs and reading a lot for me to be in a place to handle Nova.  She is here because I can handle her, because Copley immediately fell in love with her and she is most certainly related to Kerri.  She is also here because an extremely nice person trapped her, a rescue I work with posted her picture on my facebook wall and a vets office held her and gave her a chance despite her less than stellar behavior.

What does the future hold for Nova?  Well she has been here for 3 months and still is not handle-able at all. She still eats her food at a speed faster than lightening. If either me or Ben come in looking different in any way she barks at us. New things are usually frightening, but sometimes not, still randomly. She really is a totally feral dog, and that is quite the thing to deal with, but you know what?  She gets better every day.  She may never be a therapy dog like Kerri, in fact she may never be out in public without a muzzle, but you know what?  Thats ok.  I will keep her safe, and help her relax and make her as stable and happy as I possibly can.  I don't know what 10 years from now will look like for Nova- but hopefully we can get that caution message removed from the top of her medical records.  That is if she is around for 10 more years... because how old is she?  No idea.

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!

Nova Update

Hey everybody!  This is going to be a bit of a dry post.  I really want to keep track of Nova's progress, and what we are doing.  I guess I could keep it in a journal but perhaps it will be helpful to others rehabbing a scared/under-socialized dog.  Keep in mind I have NO IDEA what I am doing here.  I am not a professional and when I have trouble I either call one or read a book on it.  Unfortunately there are not many books on this.  In fact most seem to say this in one way or another; "before you decide to adopt a scared or under socialized dog think very hard about it.  It is a bad idea.  They will probably bite you.  Don't do it.  You doing it?  Yeah, your an idiot.  But hey- if it works out they will love you forever."  So that's that.

Lets get to Nova day by day.

1. Friday December 7th:  This was Nova's first day.  Her rear legs were still wrapped up and she was very scared.  She wouldn't leave the crate but I gave her a pee pad and water in there.  I knew she wouldn't eat with me around, so when I left for an hour I put in 4oz of cooked chicken coated in a pro-biotic digestive enhancer and some calcium supplement made for home-made diets.  When we came home she had peed all over herself so we took her out and cleaned the crate up a little bit.  While I was doing that I put her on the couch next to me and she did cuddle up to me and the other dogs a little bit.  I think she was just scared and cold because that was the most actual contact she has tolerated since being here.  Our potty training plan had not developed at this point but she did make a run for it out of the crate and huddled next to it.  She peed there- and while that seems like a bad thing I think it was a good sign.  Even with the pad in her giant crate she really, really does not want to use the bathroom in her living area meaning she will be easy to housetrain!  Win one for us.
2. Saturday December 8th: A lot of the same as Friday, she stayed in the crate the whole day and today I gave her 5oz of cooked chicken with supplements (weighed before I cooked it).  She ate it while I hid in the garage.  Today I also picked up some Wellness 95% meat cans and have been giving her a Kong stuffed with the 95% Chicken every time I leave.  She did get up and sniff Kerrigan and was showing a little life.  Unfortunately I had to grab Nova and take her to the vet for a bandage change on her back feet.  I was able to corner her in the crate and grab her but it was a traumatic event for her.
3. Sunday December 9th.  Sunday was a good day.  Nova was still hesitant with me around but I guess while I was out for a few hours she ran around and played with Kerrigan!  She also started taking treats from Ben and particularly likes these crunchy Zukes treats I got.  While I was out I got a thundershirt- that is a whole post of its own.  But the good news is that it worked.  I put it on her and she came out and was hanging on the couch near me.  Today I only seared her 5oz of chicken a little bit, it was her first mostly raw meal and she ate it with me in the other room.\
4. Monday December 10th: Today I had to catch Nova again to get her to the vets for a bandage change and to get her stitches out.  She was pretty shy but was ok when I grabbed her.  Unfortunately she ignored me for the rest of the day.  She did grab a moose antler and drag it out of the toy box to chew on.  That was exciting because she was brave enough to do it and also because Copley let her chew on it without getting grumpy.  He really seems to feel for Nova and is more tolerant of her than he usually is, almost treating her like a puppy.  Today was also when we decided we were keeping her for sure.  She also ate 5oz of raw, bone-in Cornish game hen, her first official raw meal!  She chomped it like a champ.  I think Nova is used to eating whatever she can get her paws on without a whole lot of opportunity to be picky.
5. Tuesday December 11th:  This was a lot of the same but we did have one breakthrough!  Some friends from out of town came over and Nova was very curious about them.  She has taken to sitting on the couch next to us as long as we don't touch her but she was accepting being pet on the butt very well.  Ben took the opportunity to gently scoop her up and she snuggled into his arms for a bit.  Eventually something spooked her and she ran away but I think it was the first time she actually enjoyed the warm and petting that came with being held.  I even have photographic evidence!  It is only cell phone pictures because I turn off the sound and flash so she isnt startled.

 There is the Nova update, I am only behind by 11 days now...

Scared to go outside?

That is people, not dogs.

Since getting a "Toy" sized dog and meeting other people with small dogs I have been AMAZED by how many of them never leave their house.  Further I have been amazed by how many people don't go out with their small dogs because they fear for their safety.  Just today I was talking to a woman who never walks her small dog because she is worried about off leash dogs attacking it.  WHAT?  I even read something written online about a dog that didn't even go outside to pee on a leash because their owners were worried about birds of prey.  You read that right- the owners are worried a bird of pray is going to swoop down 3 feet from them and scoop their dog up while it is on the other end of a leash.  That dog NEVER leaves the house.  It uses pee pads inside and never, ever goes out to feel the sunshine on it's back and the grass between it's feet.  How sad for that dog.

Seriously- dogs need to go outside.  And guess what?  The outside is a scary place.  We can take precautions to make things safer for our dogs but in the end no matter what the size of our dog they really would appreciate leaving their home property.  I would even venture to say it is nessicary for their mental well being.*  I know people who are just HORRIFIED that I take my dogs hiking where there might be rattlesnakes or scorpions.  Others who think it is dangerous that I even go to agility class with a dog so small.

The biggest danger we have is probably going to the park down the street every day.  It is full of dogs- many illegally off leash with irresponsible owners.  So what do I do?  I carry mace and if a big dog comes up to us looking angry I pick up my dog and go for the mace.  In over 2 years of walking at that particular park I have never had to actually use that mace.  I am not saying there are no dog attacks.  I know several people who have been involved in them and saw two dogs go at each other once- but is the risk worth never going outside?  I don't think so.

We have to make decisions about what is best for our dogs.  And sometimes that means taking a little risk so that they can live happier, more fulfilling lives.  Someone from back east once asked me why I was willing to take my dogs out hiking with all the rattlesnakes, black widow spiders and mountain lions we have out here.  My response to that was to as her- "have you ever heard of coyotes, or black bears or brown recluse spiders?  How about Lyme disease?  Do you never go outside when there is the risk your dog could get bit by a tick?"  I should have added that as far as bugs are concerned you should probably never go outside yourself.  Brown recluse spiders are really bad, and so is Lyme disease.

 Here are some pictures of us enjoying the rattle snake filled- spider infested danger zone that is the Nevada outdoors.  The poor boy scout troop that walked by- I wonder how many of them got eaten by mountain loins while they were out there.

 If people still think I am crazy I want to ask you this.  How many dogs get put down every day because their owners never socialize them and they become aggressive?  How many are sent to the shelter to be euthanized because they are never given proper exercise or mental stimulation and they become destructive?  I bet in Nevada way more chihuahuas are killed for lack of proper socialization and mental stimulation than are killed by rattlesnakes, spiders and  dog attacks combined.  

My message is this- even smaller dogs (and perhaps because of their personality I should say particularly smaller dogs) need to get out.  They need to socialize and walk and smell different smells.  Walking out the front door is a scary thing- but how sad is a life never leaving the house?

*I already can see the angry comments from the people who own 40 acres in the middle of nowhere whose dogs rarely leave their property.  I am not talking to you.  I am talking to the 90% of people who live on live on less than 1/2 acre in a urban/suburban setting.

Big Bear Lake, CA

We took a little vacation to Big Bear this last week.  It was our second trip and I just love that place!  It is super dog friendly, lots of dog friendly cabins and restaurant patios.  Most of the activities you would do are in a National Forest- so that is a major plus too.

To start here is a shot of the car packed up.  We rented an SUV, so it worked out nicely (ok, maybe it was a little tight).  The people in the back seat could see the back of the crate to make sure everyone was traveling well.  Copley did better on this trip than he has on long trips in the past.  He mostly slept and didn't whine at all.  I think it is a combination of having Kerrigan in there with him, they are definitely both calmer in the car when they are together, and resolving the Tick Borne Disease that has been causing him so many problems.

The #1 activity at Big Bear was fishing.  Sadly even with 3 people fishing we only caught 2 fish and both were smaller than my hand.  Nevertheless fun was had by all.  This dock was a floating dock and you should have seen Kerri on it for the first time- HILARIOUS.  She walked like she couldn't bend her knees for the first 20 feet or so.  Luckily she got used to it quickly.

Here is Copley hanging out on the dock.

The cabin!  Isn't this thing adorable!

 Kerri hanging out in the doorway with me.  Then a shot of Copley hanging out in the living room.

Here are the dogs lounging in the sun while me, Ben and my Dad fished.

We went on a little hike to see the largest (or oldest- or tallest maybe?) Lodgepole Pine in the world.  I thought it was a little unfair because it branched out and had two main trunks- so really it was two trees.  It's ok that the tree was cheating though because it was not the best part of the hike anyway.  The best part was Kerri saw snow for the first time!!!  We were at a little higher of an elevation and there was this tiny patch of left over snow in the woods.

Copley could care less about the snow but he had a great time frolicking in the meadow near the tree!

Here you can see a very dusty dog.  Kerri just loves digging little holes to lay down in and it makes her quite dusty.  This hole was dug under the car after our hike to the lodgepole pine.  Luckily I don't mind my dogs getting a little dirty- they are dogs after all.  Plus their coats on raw food seem to be self cleaning.  They just take a nap and the dirt falls right off of them.

I will leave you with a few shots of Copley and Kerrigan hanging out on the dock.  Copley really wanted to chase birds and Kerri really wanted to just chill out and look around.

I hope to catch up on a lot of blogging this week!   Things have been crazy with non dog related work stuff but they are maybe calming down a bit now.  Stay tuned for updates.

~Annie