Simply awesome!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Feed Hungry Dogs
This is a great site... everyday that you visit and answer the trivia question (right or worng), 20 pieces of kibble will be donated to feeding homeless dogs. There is a link on the site to feed the cats too...
Simply awesome!
Simply awesome!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Quote:
"Love the animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled"
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Dinky
It is now day 6 with Dinky, my new foster dog. She is absolutely beautiful and still so afraid.
Turns out her story is even more sad than I orginally thought. I thought we were bringing 4 dogs (Oscar, Harry, Pinney, & Dinky) back on Monday because they were not thriving. Nope... Turns out the group that took them in Dublin was going to put them on Death Row, as "their time was up." Talk about harsh...
Actually, the four of them are already Nevada dogs. Sometime in 2007, a lady passed away in Gabbs, Nevada, that had 150 dogs. She came to Nevada from Montana with 30 dogs. She felt that she would rather have the dogs brought to her than dumped in the desert. Very noble... except when she passed it was a difficult situation. Luckily, her landlord and family tried to help out. Her landlord is a great guy. They never released his name, but he was in no hurry for the dogs to leave and from what I hear did not charge rent and even helped to capture some of the dogs. Capture?? Well, the lady had quite a bit of acerage (mostly fenced) but with only one person caring for the dogs, many were afraid of people. Anywho... a group called Best Friends from Utah, oversaw the massive efforts to get all these dogs out of Gabbs. Majority definitely stayed on the West Coast... Arizona, California, Utah and of course Nevada. By the way, the last dog was finally caught in March of this year.
Anywho, all four dogs we brought back are so sweet... of course they all need help in gaining trust in humans again. It was amazing that not a single one was aggressive. Which is surprising since they had just gone through about a 4-5 hour car ride, get to Carson, have their cage man handled and moved, get put right into another cage for the next leg to their final destinations. They were all quiet and calm... and I think happy to be back to their home desert.
The gentleman that brought them to us was awesome. His name is Robin, and he was working with all four of them in Dublin. He was quite upset that the "shelter" lost their patience with these wonderful dogs. He stated that they just need a lot of love and patience. Dogs cannot come around on our schedule... we just have to be patient with them. If he had the space, he would have taken all four... but we saw his pack that made the journey with him... 9 dogs came with him for the ride. All were so great and well behaved.
On day 1, Dinky (aka Annie) spent most of her time on my bed. She even spent the first night on my bed. She must go outside on a leash as she spooks easily and I don't want her climbing the fence. On occasion, I will let her go (with leash on) to have some time to explore, but she cannot be left outside alone.
Day 3 was pretty tramatic for her. It is my fault. She was so calm inside (as long as I was not within 5 feet of her) and just kept quiet under my bed, that I felt she would be okay if I left for a couple of hours. Boy was I wrong... I do not know what spooked her, but my house looked like a tornado hit... literally. The blind in my living room and bedroom were destroyed. Pillows from my coush were everywhere... broken bowls from the counter... it was a disaster. I was so frustrated with myself for leaving her. When I leave now (and when sleeping at night), she is crated... and it seems to work well. I think she feels safe crated.
I have learned a few things...
#1 - when a dog is freaking out, do not talk to them to calm them down. Taking to them only reinforces the freaking out behavior. Instead, just stay calm and let it pass on its own. It is completely out of our nature to not say or do something, but it works. Robin taught me that.
#2 - Without making eye contact, just read to the dog. Keep a calm voice and just let them get used to hearing you. From Robin too!
As I said earlier, it is day six. Dinky is still quite nervous, but she seems to be less afraid of me. I can get closer to her than before and right now, she is even exploring the living room while I am on the couch. I know not to make eye contact and just ignore her and for now that is okay. I cannot wait for the day that she just relaxes and knows that I will not hurt her.
I know she will come around, and that it is just going to take time. My biggest fear for her now is that one day she will find a forever home and she will have to start this process over with a new family. I hope this does not happen. I hope that once she learns to trust me, it will help with the process of transitioning to a new home. Only time will tell...
Below is a picture of her after her bath... it was Day 2 and probably the 2nd most tramatic experience for her. :)
Turns out her story is even more sad than I orginally thought. I thought we were bringing 4 dogs (Oscar, Harry, Pinney, & Dinky) back on Monday because they were not thriving. Nope... Turns out the group that took them in Dublin was going to put them on Death Row, as "their time was up." Talk about harsh...
Actually, the four of them are already Nevada dogs. Sometime in 2007, a lady passed away in Gabbs, Nevada, that had 150 dogs. She came to Nevada from Montana with 30 dogs. She felt that she would rather have the dogs brought to her than dumped in the desert. Very noble... except when she passed it was a difficult situation. Luckily, her landlord and family tried to help out. Her landlord is a great guy. They never released his name, but he was in no hurry for the dogs to leave and from what I hear did not charge rent and even helped to capture some of the dogs. Capture?? Well, the lady had quite a bit of acerage (mostly fenced) but with only one person caring for the dogs, many were afraid of people. Anywho... a group called Best Friends from Utah, oversaw the massive efforts to get all these dogs out of Gabbs. Majority definitely stayed on the West Coast... Arizona, California, Utah and of course Nevada. By the way, the last dog was finally caught in March of this year.
Anywho, all four dogs we brought back are so sweet... of course they all need help in gaining trust in humans again. It was amazing that not a single one was aggressive. Which is surprising since they had just gone through about a 4-5 hour car ride, get to Carson, have their cage man handled and moved, get put right into another cage for the next leg to their final destinations. They were all quiet and calm... and I think happy to be back to their home desert.
The gentleman that brought them to us was awesome. His name is Robin, and he was working with all four of them in Dublin. He was quite upset that the "shelter" lost their patience with these wonderful dogs. He stated that they just need a lot of love and patience. Dogs cannot come around on our schedule... we just have to be patient with them. If he had the space, he would have taken all four... but we saw his pack that made the journey with him... 9 dogs came with him for the ride. All were so great and well behaved.
On day 1, Dinky (aka Annie) spent most of her time on my bed. She even spent the first night on my bed. She must go outside on a leash as she spooks easily and I don't want her climbing the fence. On occasion, I will let her go (with leash on) to have some time to explore, but she cannot be left outside alone.
Day 3 was pretty tramatic for her. It is my fault. She was so calm inside (as long as I was not within 5 feet of her) and just kept quiet under my bed, that I felt she would be okay if I left for a couple of hours. Boy was I wrong... I do not know what spooked her, but my house looked like a tornado hit... literally. The blind in my living room and bedroom were destroyed. Pillows from my coush were everywhere... broken bowls from the counter... it was a disaster. I was so frustrated with myself for leaving her. When I leave now (and when sleeping at night), she is crated... and it seems to work well. I think she feels safe crated.
I have learned a few things...
#1 - when a dog is freaking out, do not talk to them to calm them down. Taking to them only reinforces the freaking out behavior. Instead, just stay calm and let it pass on its own. It is completely out of our nature to not say or do something, but it works. Robin taught me that.
#2 - Without making eye contact, just read to the dog. Keep a calm voice and just let them get used to hearing you. From Robin too!
As I said earlier, it is day six. Dinky is still quite nervous, but she seems to be less afraid of me. I can get closer to her than before and right now, she is even exploring the living room while I am on the couch. I know not to make eye contact and just ignore her and for now that is okay. I cannot wait for the day that she just relaxes and knows that I will not hurt her.
I know she will come around, and that it is just going to take time. My biggest fear for her now is that one day she will find a forever home and she will have to start this process over with a new family. I hope this does not happen. I hope that once she learns to trust me, it will help with the process of transitioning to a new home. Only time will tell...
Below is a picture of her after her bath... it was Day 2 and probably the 2nd most tramatic experience for her. :)
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