4 Years with Nova

It is hard to believe we have had Nova for 4 years.  The day I picked her up from the rescue's vet they warned me not to take her home.  She had been living feral, scavenging food behind a tire store for at least six months.  She had two puppies who both died a few weeks before she was trapped, was malnourished, upset and her first interaction with people directly was being trapped then going through surgery.  She was scared and skinny and it was hard to say what kind of dog was under all that scared.  It turns out now, 4 years later, she is actually a really amazing little chihuahua.  She is very smart, cuddly (with me), and she has great dog skills.

Her life isn't exactly the normal that a lot of other dogs experience.  She won't voluntarily let anyone but me touch her, however she will let me hold her for someone else to trim her nails and just a few weeks ago she made it peacefully through a vet exam and a rabies shot.  Nova does things on her schedule, so we try to concentrate on the important stuff and everything else comes with time.  

Most of Nova's day is spent wrestling with Kerrigan, throwing toys in Kerrigan's face and sleeping cuddled up next to her.  Those two are the best of friends, it is hard to imagine how we would have gotten Nova through these four years without Kerri.  Nova is still wary of new things, you should check out our facebook live video from her cake eating this morning.  The cake was new, and the setup was new so as you can see she is pretty unsure what to do.  Eventually she realized the new object is food and she calms down.  Letting her work through things that in return are self rewarding has been a great strategy for helping Nova learn to live in our house.

Most of her day to day life is actually very joyful.  When she is comfortable (which is most of the time) she is a fun, silly dog.  She wakes me up in the morning by bouncing on the bed, play bowing and jumping around.  As I mentioned she throws toys around to play, loves to cuddle and gets very, very excited when she sees her clicker.  Learning clicker tricks has given her a lot of confidence and is one of the things that has really helped us bond.  Giving her some control over her own life, and learning new things through positive reinforcement has been the key to her success.  It has been a long journey and sometimes it took weeks just to get to the next little step, but me and Nova worked together to get her where she is today. 

After our rather chaotic Facebook video this morning I decided to grab an interview with Nova.  She is in a much more comfortable enviroment in this video and the clicker is in my pocket.  I think it captures a little more of the excited and happy essence that is the real Nova I get to see every day.

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.

Happy Adoption Day Nova Bear!

I can't believe it has been two years since Nova came into our lives.  Two years since she was handed to me at a vets office as they warned me not to take her.  Two years since her bony little body shivered in the back of my car crate and I put on gloves to get her out.  Two years since we realized she was not adoptable, she was not a foster dog- she had landed in her forever home.  Two years ago we wondered if she would ever stand up straight, if she would ever eat in front of us, if she would ever pick up a toy.  Looking back on that time I'm not sure exactly what we were thinking was going to happen.  Personally I did not have a lot of faith in what kind of dog she was going to turn into.  I just knew that there was something about her that I knew deserved a chance, I knew Copley loved her immediately and more unconditionally than any dog he had ever met before and I knew she was family.  Not even metaphorical family- she was found within a mile of where Kerri was dumped and other than her height they look identical so who knows?

I was worried about her, and worried she would never adjust to living inside with humans.  I talked to our trainers and they helped, our vet came the house and had so much faith in her- maybe the most of anyone.  Still, the first week we had her this was what we saw-

Then she started standing up and walking around so we expanded her world to this pen-

Where she made a best friend

 

Then relaxed just a little bit and celebrated her first Christmas inside with a family.  She had a stocking and her Grandparents sent her gifts.  More importantly to her she was warm, and safe and full

 

Then tail tucked, backed into a corner she started eating in front of us

Four months later she played with me for the first time- with that green bone.

Slowly but surely she made progress.   Every day we worked on clicker tricks and she got more and more confident.  Then one day she let me pet her.  Just a little scratch under the chin.  Then a little later she sat next to me on the couch.  Then I pet her some more and before I knew it she was coming over to be pet every day.  Finally one day about a month later she realized she was not just a feral dog, she was a chihuahua!  And my lap has looked like this ever since-

With her nickname being changed from "Cheney" to "Snuggle Muffin" she celebrated her second Christmas with us.

 She even had a Secret Santa-

 

Then she started taking fun trips to the park

She took her first vacation- where we broke down and everyone got a little bit hot

Next she graduated obedience class

And finally she is all snuggled up ready for her third Christmas as a member of our little family

Some things are still a struggle for Nova but every day she gets better, even now two years later.  These days more often than not she is frolicking with her sister, cuddling on my lap or dropping all the toys in the house behind the couch.  She knows many tricks and loves learning so much I have to hide the clicker when we are not using it.  There is barely a trace of the scared little dog I brought home that first day.  I am so grateful to be Nova's person, she has taught me so much as we worked together to turn this scared dog-

 Into this silly, happy, smart and beautiful one!  (Who is perhaps a little pushy when she wants to play with her sister)

So happy adoption day Nova!  Also thank you to everyone with A Home For Spot (who still know her as Tire Store Chihuahua) who helped trap her and get her to me, particularly Diana, who trusted me with the more difficult dogs like Nova.  I am also forever grateful to my husband who slept on the ground in her pen for a month when she was too scared to go upstairs but unhappy when she was alone and loves her just as much as all our other dog even though she still wont let him pet her.

P.S.- For more adorable Nova pictures follow us on Facebook or Instagram @doginthedesert  In addition to being cute in real life Nova is very photogenic and gets a lot of posts dedicated to her adorable face on there!

Why My Dogs Shouldn't Exist

I first posted this in 2013 in response to people on a message board who either wanted to breed their chihuahua simply because they are "cute" and it would be fun to have puppies or wanted to get a dog from a pet shop, puppy mill or otherwise shady and irresponsible breeder even though they know better.  When I wrote it I was angry, ranting, and more than a little bit upset- but my ramblings seem to have touched a few people so I have edited it and re-posted it again.  I share it today because this Thursday is Remember Me Thursday.  A campaign to remember the thousands of animals who have lost their lives in shelters and to shine a light upon the many waiting right now for homes of their own.

I am sitting here with three dogs that me and my husband love more than anything. They are family and I am so incredibly grateful to have them in my life. Copley was my first dog and he taught me to take a break and look at what is important in life. He gave me friendship, a hobby, and a reason to get out of the house every day. He has brightened my world in a way that ho human can and I LOVE him. And Kerri- she is beautiful, just gorgeous, so happy and goofy! She not only brings sunshine and light into my life but into the lives of so many other people as a therapy dog. Then Nova, my beautiful little diamond in the rough. She has been through so much in her short life yet she still has so much enthusiasm and desire to love!  They are just amazing wonderful creatures.

But dogs don't have to suffer for us to have them in our lives. In a perfect world I would be sitting here with three different dogs. Dogs who didn't go through hell to get where they are today. Dogs bred by responsible, caring breeders who know what they are doing. Copley has structural faults so bad that he is sure to get arthritis later in life. In fact he already sees a chiropractor! And his teeth- they are so messed up. He is like you took random parts from two totally incompatible breeds and just glued them together.

But people will always say that their pet store/puppy mill dog is healthy, has good knees etc. So lets say the puppies will not have totally messed up joints and teeth. Where will they go for the rest of their life. Can their homes afford to fix them? Will you be able to keep track of every one of the puppies and know how everything works out for them. If not I have news for you. Odds are one of those puppies is going to get thrown out a window in a supermarket parking lot, left at a bus station or dumped in the desert. In fact the LUCKY abandoned dogs are the ones that end up at the pound. The unlucky ones get out and fend for themselves, half starving out in the elements. The unlucky ones get used as bait dogs in a dog fighting ring. The unlucky ones get locked in a kennel for the rest of their lives being bred.

Some dogs win the rescue dog lotto. In my county sadly it is only about 50% of abandoned dogs who ever get a new home. Those 50% get picked up by people like me, and other wonderful rescuers who are cleaning up the dirty messes left by irresponsible breeders. We take the traumatized, beaten, abandoned dogs of the world and we spend the rest of their lives trying to convince them everything is going to be ok. That they can finally relax a little bit and enjoy life.

And what about me? One day I want to have a dog that has never been abandoned. A dog that has been raised properly and right by caring people who love it and are smart enough to keep it safe. I want vet bills to come from unexpected accidents and illnesses that no one could have predicted- not from lack of health testing and vet care. I want a dog with really short nails- you know that have nice short quicks because they have been trimmed regularly from puppyhood. I want a dog that I didn't have to drag terrified from a shelter the day I met it.

So if you want to breed your dog because it is cute, it is friendly and it would be fun to have puppies- wake up!!!!!!!! I know you may not think right now any of your puppies will end up abandoned- but they will. No one breeds their pets with the intention of them ending up unwanted- but it happens.

The absolute terror that guides every decision Nova makes is the responsibility of exactly one person- the one who bred her, or her mother, or whatever generation in her line first ended up on the street. But the saddest thing is that I bet that person is still doing it. Because they are living- like most other people- in ignorant bliss. They have no idea that the cute puppies they sell end up suffering these horrible fates. The best tool we have on our side is education. I can volunteer and save as many dogs as possible and it still won't stop the problem if we can't get to it's source and educate people.

So to responsible breeders- keep up the good work! The more puppy parents that are educated by good breeders and the more dogs sold to responsible owners and with spay/neuter contracts the better!

EVERYONE ELSE- wake up and smell the roses. My dogs may be the bees knees but I still wish you never bred them. The tired old argument "well my dog wouldn't exist without a puppy mill/BYB so therefore I can't say they are all bad" does not work on me. You don't need suffering to have a good dog- in fact they are much better off without it.

Please take the time today to think of all the unwanted pets out there and make sure you are not one of the people unknowingly making the problem worse.  If you are then what better way to honor the lives lost than to start doing something about it!  Spay or neuter your pet before they have another litter, educate yourself about homeless animals and think twice before you "rescue" that puppy in the window at the pet shop.

Nova is Amazing

Last night for the first time Nova ran to the door, scratched at it, ran towards me to make sure I saw, waited at the door while I opened it and then barked when she wanted back in.  ALL BY HERSELF.  No Kerri, no Copley, just a Nova wanting to go outside.  She saw a cockroach on the patio and wanted to eat it.

To you this may not seem like a big deal.  For Nova this is a momentous occasion.  So exciting that I have dropped what I am doing to blog about it.

Nova is only housetrained because she goes out with the other dogs and has a DoggieLawn in the house for when she can't wait till someone else has to go out.  I let her out sometimes when I have the inkling that she wants to go, and if I open the door and call her over she will run outside if another dog goes with her and she has to pee.  I have never pushed this issue with her because this is actually not a housetraining problem, it is rooted in a much much bigger Nova issue.  She will not take any action that she believes will cause a person to stand up.  Even when she initiates play with me she does it in a way that she is sure will not cause me to stand up and move around.  If I do she puts her ears back, tail down and crawls into a corner or crate.

She scratched at the door- knowing I would get up.  Happily waited for me to do so then she barked to come back inside- knowing I would get up to let her in.  My mind is totally blown, this is one area that I thought was never going to change and then she goes and proves me wrong again.

I have no idea why tonight was the night she decided to take this leap, however like all things Nova it appears to be the new norm.  It is like she waits until she is ready to do something all the way before she does it at all, because she asked to go out again this morning, once again like it was no big deal.  I have responded by not making a big deal out of it but inside I am jumping for joy every time she trots over there.

Finally I have to share what Ben said about this.  "Are you sure it wasn't actually Kerri?"  I am sure, because she did it again.

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!

What's in your training bag?

I always see people (me included) lugging bags full of stuff to training class.  Some people even carry giant toolbox like bags around with them.  So it got me thinking, what does everyone have in those bags?  I am probably a bad example because I 1) loose bags all the time and leave stuff places, so my bags tended to be a bit of a mess and 2) Get  free stuff that is a little bit useful but I would never buy on my own if I didn't have a blog.  However I just got a new bag and packed it up for Nova (she is starting obedience class tomorrow!) and I wanted to share it's contents with the hopes that you guys would share too!  

This will be my third time sending a dog through basic obedience so I like to think I have a little bit of an idea of what I am doing.  My bag for agility or for Copley would be a little different but this is what I thought Nova will be needing.

For starters dog bigger than bag.  I think that is pretty normal, even for the border collie people.  Excuse the blurry picture, Nova is hard to photograph.  

Now here is the contents of the bag.  Nova has a lot of new stuff, mostly because I was so excited that she was finally starting class and I went a little overboard.  Kerri mostly went to class with free stuff out of referral barkboxes and hand me downs from Copley.  Funny how it worked out that I am blogging about the bag that is neat because I haven't used it yet and that I actually put time and money into putting together.  No one wants to see it once I am digging treats out of pockets and Copley has chewed a hole in the corner.  Er... I mean my training bag always looks JUST like this.  Well moving on, here are the contents of the bag...

1. The bag.  A free bag Ben got with his gift membership to the Sierra club from my Mom.  They accidentally sent two so the dogs got one.
2. A bowl.  Ya know, for water.
3. Slip lead.
4. Leash signs.  Probably wont need these for class, but I do use them walking.
5. Folder with shot records and other paperwork.
6. Yellow lanyard (that I made) and yellow ribbon on a leash clip- because Nova is a Yellow Dog!
7. DAP calming pheromone spray.
8. Moist towlettes.  I would just have baby wipes if I hadn't been sent these for free in a subscription box I reviewed.
9. Clicker
10. Treat pouch (I got a washable, silicone one and I am oh so happy about it)
11. Extra collar, cause Nova wears a breakaway and harness.
12. Treats.  Carnivore crunch (aka Dog Crack) and beef treats.
13. Poop bags
14. Licks calming goo stuff.
15. An off brand thundershirt (she has a thundershirt too)
16. A tube thing for the dispensing of liquid treats.  I will be filling it with baby food before we go in the morning.

Of course Nova will also wear some gear to class.  Her breakaway collar, buddy belt harness and a leash.  I got her a new leash to go with a collar she got for Christmas.  It says ""Judge me by my size, do you?" and has a picture of Yoda it.  I hope she channels a lot of Yoda energy at class.

 So what's in YOUR training bag???  Blog about it or just tell me in the comments!  I am actually really curious!

We Are Making Progress!

I meant to include it in the last post, but I wanted to give you an update on my recent post We Cracked the Nova Code!  Ben is now wearing a strongly scented antiperspirant and Polo "Sexy" cologne and it seems to be working.  Nova is for the first time in a year approaching him and cuddling between us on the couch.  I am actually trying to slow her down a little bit here because she is getting in over her head.  She will see Kerri go over and get pet, then run over to Ben as if to say "pet me."  The problem is that when he looks at her she will often growl and run away.  She is conflicted and does not know what to do, so I am trying to giver her options before she starts to get upset.  Like with all things Nova this is a learning moment for both of us and I am trying to balance her new found bravery with enough caution that she does not get in over her head.  Hopefully this will all lead to a better relationship between Ben and Nova.  He wants so bad to be a part of her life (down on their luck chihuahuas were his thing in the first place, not mine) but I was beginning to doubt they would ever move past peacefully ignoring each other.  Who would have thought the answer was behind a perfume counter at a department store?

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?

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- February and March

The dogs motto for these two months is "Thank you dear friends."

I spent a good chunk of that time (looking back at the calendar it was 22 days) away from home with my Grandmother.  She fell ill while visiting us during Thanksgiving of 2012 and passed away on March 21st, the first day of spring.  She was one of my biggest supporters in life and she was a woman who I looked up to very much.  She loved her family and spent a lot of her life raising us.  I say "us" because my family has an "it takes a village" view on child rearing and Grandma had a hand in at least four generations of that village.

As far as the dogs go over that time Ben would probably be better suited to write this.  After one stint away from home when my wonderful husband reported every day things were going "great!"  I came home to a husband with a bloody hand and a makeshift dog catcher pole in the corner.  I suspect that "great" might not adequately describe the state of affairs at the house over that time.

One Nova highlight I DO remember is that near the beginning of March we had a bit of a breakthrough.  Nova came over while I was petting Kerri and let me scratch her under the chin.  It was like a lightbulb went off in her head and she realized petting was great!  Literally overnight she went from a dog who I could not touch to a dog that was becoming pushy and possessive of my lap.  I started scratching her back, and her chin and her butt and literally every moment she could Nova would come to me for attention.  We quickly nipped the possession problem with Nova by immediately removing myself any time she was possessive.  I did the same thing with Kerri- who not as overt with her jealousy about sharing my lap- still had a little bump here or there.

I am actually surprised that Nova did as well as she did with me out of the house so much.  Speaking of "it takes a village" though- we had a LOT of help during that time and I could not be more grateful.  Nova's favorite person and his girlfriend helped Ben while I was out of town and stopped by the house to feed Nova while we both were away for 3 days for Grandma's service.   Mosby's parents took Copley and Kerri at their house with less than 24 hours notice but Nova was not in a state to take a doggie vacation.  I am just so glad we have friends who are willing to help us out.

Not much of a Nova update eh?  Well I will have much more to tell you in the April and May post.

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.

Follow Us By E-mail

Hey Everybody!

I finally figured out how to add a "follow by e-mail" option to the blog!  It is on the left hand side at the top of the page.  If you are a regular reader please follow us so you can be sure to catch all our blog posts!

Also enjoy this video of Nova relaxing and playing with me and Kerrigan (it's pretty cute).  There was a time when I never thought she would be relaxed and playing like this, now it is an everyday occurrence.

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.

Nova Update!

Since I am stuck on the cell phone for blogging right now (ya know- sitting backstage at the theatre waiting for one of Kerri's cues) I thought it might be time for a little Nova update.

It has been almost 8 months since Nova was trapped behind the tire store, 9 months since her puppies died, and about 7 since she came here.  When I put it like that it is actually pretty amazing how far she has come.  Lets start with her health status right now.  For starters she finally has a full set of straight whiskers.  When she came here her whiskers were very curly and brittle.  If you pulled on them too hard they fell right out.  My personal theory on this is that she robbed her body of all fatty acids in order to develop the brains of her puppies.  She was eating mostly cockroaches and trash as far as I can tell.  In the last few months, for her pregnancy and maybe a bit before she was being thrown occasional food from the workers at the tire store.  I assume this meant dog food, but actually I am not entirely sure.  Even if it was dog food I am confident it was just the cheap stuff you can buy at the gas station.  No matter I bet it was not really enough to sustain healthy puppy growth.  A few months on a good diet of mostly local, mostly grass fed cattle and other critters, with a good dose of green lipped muscle oil for Omega 3s and she is like a different dog.  Smooth, soft coat just like Kerri, straight long whiskers and a healthy weight.  She is also now on a supplement for tendon support to help with her luxating patellas and poor structure.  The theory is that her joints did not form the best because of a combination of genetics and poor nutrition.  The good news is that now with this diet and supplements she is much more stable.  When before she was skipping once every 20 or so steps, now she goes whole days without me seeing a limp at all.  I am confident that there is no need for any surgical fixes in the near future.

As far as her behavior goes things keep going in a generally positive direction, or at least not going backwards.  She continues to excel at clicker training.  We have mastered sit, down, high five, touch and crawl.  She LOVES the clicker because it is something that is predictable, consistent and she has control over it.

Her relationships with people seems to be improving- but she still has trouble with Ben.  We are working on it, and it has been slow going.  I don't worry that she will bite him anymore, but every time he talks or moves around the house she starts barking/growling and goes on the defense.  I control this by crating her a good bit when we know it is going to happen and we can't deal with it.  When Ben is able to deal with it we have had to resort to the spray bottle.  First I tried spraying her for barking/attacking him but that made her very nervous.  We have settled on Ben spraying her.  I am not entirely sure how much good it is doing for her love of him- but she was getting to the point of actually attacking him and we needed to stop that at pretty much all costs.  It is impossible to live in a house with a dog trying to rip your legs up.  The more confident she gets about the house the more defensive she started getting with him, luckily the spray bottle has put that to an end here.

If anyone has any suggestions about dealing with selective human agression like this please let me know.  The answer however IS NOT "she hates men."  For some reason everyone I talk to is just *convinced* that I need to socialize her to more men.  If that is true explain our neighbors who she takes treats from, or her favorite person on the planet (a man).  The problem is not men, the problem is Ben.

Ben is really the last big hurdle we need to solve.  Other than trying to attack my husband at every turn Nova is a really fun dog to have around.  She is smart, cunning, funny, playful, smart, fun to teach and did I mention smart?  Her and Kerri are practically twins, sleeping together, playing together, acting the same- those two just crack me up.  I am hoping that once a year comes around we will be in a decent place.  The next big decision is when to start obedience class... would be good for her to get out but I don't want her to totally freak.

That bring us to our last issue.  Nova is getting bored and we all know what happens when smart dogs get bored.  It is extremely hot out and Copley and Kerri have been getting walks at higher elevations and on the treadmill.  Neither of those things are options for Nova because she is intensely scared of the treadmill and walks... well...  Before it got super hot out we worked on going on short walks  but I really can't get her much farther than the little park down the street right now.  I am happy with that- she is going a little farther every week and her level of comfort outside has gone up a lot, but it isn't exactly satisfying her need for stimulation.  In better weather we would be making a lot more progress but in 110+ degree weather we can only do so much.

If anyone has made it this far thanks for listening to my trials and tribulations as the owner of a feral dog.  Perhaps once this whole thing is done I should write a book about it. 

(Did I just say done?  That's funny.)

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.