Freddie meets Rocko and his Ears are Standing Up!

This is Freddie being really, really brave.  He is sitting about 20 feet from Rocko, the huge, scary bichon frise next door.  This is as close as he has come until today.  Just after I snapped this he got really brave and went to the fence.  They greeted each other with brave sniffs and that was it.

But check out these ears.  Yesterday they sort of inflated, going up a little more as the day went on.  Today they were totally up except for a tiny corner of one ear.  He is so precious!  I walked with Freddy and Bubbles and Merlin this morning and Freddie did an outstanding job.

Freddie’s Fantastic Forever Family Finally Finds…

Freddy is an 8 week old GSD, seen here sound asleep in Bubble’s arms after a good scrub in the tub.  He came home today after a two day debate over whether we could afford him, who his mommy would be, and if he presented a danger to Merlin.  Ultimately, our hearts were softened, Bubbles will be the mom, and the kids kicked in $50.00 from their savings accounts towards his cost.  He is beautiful, sweet, laid back and very smart.  He is sitting in my lap as I type so he might be a lap dog as well.

The alliteration in the title is courtesy of Bubbles (the “mom”) and Freddy, my son.  The whole naming thing does present a dilemna as we now have “Freddy-the dog” and “Freddy-Zelda’s son”.  Actually, Freddy the dog is going to be known as “Sir Frederick”, “Freddy” for short.  Freddy, Zelda’s son, is really not named Freddy, so it might only be confusing for Zelda.  But she is not real so it might be just the reader who is confused.  Oh well.  We kind of like it because way back when I got married (16 years ago this month) I brought a dog (July 16 update- don’t you hate it when posts justs stop mysteriously?) named “Jackie” into our family which now included a daughter named “Jackee”.  Confusing?  Yes it was.  Chance (who bye the bye, actually made it out of boot camp and into advanced training) used to differentiate by saying “Jackee-my-sister” or “Jackie-the-dog” when referring to either one in conversation.

Now we have “Freddy” (the human, my son, whose real name is not Freddy anyway) and “Freddie” the dog.  So pay attention to the spelling or you may be confused!

Daisy and Her Red Ball

I woke up this morning at 5:30 by what I thought was Daisy jumping on me and licking my face.  I thought that was really odd because she was supposed to be in her crate.  It took a few moments of serious and collected thinking to realize that I had been dreaming.  Yet it was so real that I was shaken for a good portion of the day.  She seemed happy, excited, and eager to interact.   She didn’t seem the least bit dead.

 

I am going to interpret this as a visit from the Rainbow Bridge to let me know that she was there and ok.  Call me crazy, or wishful, maybe even just hopeful, but I feel a connection was made.  Rest in peace, beautiful creature.  I hope Heaven is full of red balls and strong squeaky toys.  If, by some freaky stroke of luck she is still alive, she was honing in on my brainwaves with some fierce canine telepathy.

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t note the caliber of the human forces fighting to save Daisy.  A lot of people saw tremendous potential in her, and a vision of how things could be different for her.  I was struck by the irony of the deep commitment of wonderful people, and how there are so many (human) children in this country/world that don’t have one hundredth of the resources that she had.  How the world could be different, not just one dog or one cat at a time, but concurrently, one child at a time.

 

She Has Her Red Ball

Last night our story with Daisy took a tragic turn.  It is not over yet but it doesn’t look good for her.

The guy came to pick her up to go to her temporary foster home.  We did the paperwork and put her stuff in the car and I went to get her.  I chose to have him meet her outside because I thought she would feel less threatened.  I told him that she was not going to be happy to meet him.  He took off his baseball cap and waited by his car hatch.

I brought her out and she got all barky, but not like I’ve seen her before.  She wagged her tail and seemed curious.  I approached slowly, all still seemed good.  She sniffed him and he raised his hand up as if to pat  or greet her and she bit him.  On the hand.  It wasn’t really clear to me that he was hurt until he raised his hand.  The wound looked just like Merlin’s nose, only on his hand.  I took her back inside, Ursula crated her.  I got our first aid kit and covered his wound.

Eventually, after some phone calls, he said that she would have to stay with us for now and gave me back her stuff.  He said that someone would be in touch with us.  He left.

We were all stunned.  That is a major understatement.  “Stricken” comes closer.  This poor guy comes to pick up Daisy and do a good thing, and she bites him.  She, on the other hand, seems terrified and protective when it comes to strangers.

Long story short, at 9:15, the animal control guy rings the bell.  It never occurred to me to call the police to report it.  I guess maybe because I’ve never had this ever happen.  The cop says that the Dr. called the dispatcher to report it and they had to quarantine her for 12 days.  From there it gets more grim.  The Rescue guy called and said that they would not take her back, we should have her be put down.  The cop heard the phone call.  He really wanted to help and you can tell he is one of those guys with a passion for animals.  We all just stood there looking at each other.  Then the phone rang again and it was a lady from the rescue saying she was taking over.   She said she will have Daisy evaluated and asked me to ask the cop if this was ok.  He was fine with that.

He allowed me to muzzle her and put her in the truck.  She never had the stress of being dragged out or even knowing that he was there.  He let me say good bye.  I felt like Judas tricking her into the cage.  There was a crumb of her favorite treat in my pocket.  I let her whiff it and put it in there.  I looked down and realized I was wearing the same shirt that I was wearing when Lily died.

She made so much progress with us and had so much love.  I know that will be with her no matter what the outcome.  I went to the shelter today and brought her favorite toys, including her special red ball.  I thought they might help keep her stimulated.  I didn’t see her because I didn’t want her agitated by my presence.  Freddy was with me and I sent him out when the boss cop wanted to talk “reality”.  His point was that she has now bitten an animal and a human.  She is unadoptable from their perpective.  Both of them said that she might be well managed by a Level 3 dog trainer, but they just don’t exist for practical purposes where we live.  They said that she might have been abused before she was turned in initially and that they can’t rationalize “why” an animal exhibits a certain behavior.  They need to consider public safety etc. 

Back at home, the cats have come out of hiding, Merlin is looking for her and we are so sad.  I have clip of her playing with her ball.  I will post it tomorrow.

 

Daisy is Leaving Today

http://www.youtube.com/v/nrcgl7bZnGc     This is Bubbles walking Daisy

We are so sad.  I found myself in tears yesterday, more than a few times.  I have poured so much energy into Daisy and being successful with her.  It is a real shock to me that this didn’t work out.  Yesterday she had some absolutely wonderful moments, playing, sleeping at our feet, working on her “stuff” and each time I caught myself analyzing the scene.  The key?  She was the only animal in sight.  Alone, she is wonderful.  Then, the tranquility would be disrupted by a cat (INSTANT chaos) or the doorbell (an unsuspecting friend dropping by) or Merlin climbing in Daisy’s crate to escape.

The cats all survived, though Zoe had a VERY close call with snapping teeth and a hasty retreat UP the venetian blinds.  The friend never made it in the house.  The foam factory was in full production.  Daisy gets so frenzied that she can’t hear what we say.  Freddy removed her from the area.  Merlin is terrified (when he is not actually playing with her – he is still faster) and retreats to HER crate.  She allows this and lies down next to the crate with him in it.  Bottom line is that I have become a full time german sheperd nanny.  Not conducive to getting anything done.  And I am playing my own home game of Fear Factor.  When I am out, I think that the very next phone call is going to be a damage report, involving blood.  This is not a way to live.

Having said all of that, I think that Daisy is trainable, but we have too many distractions.  My personal thing is that once there is blood spilled, it’s over.  That doesn’t make it any easier.  We will miss her.  She has come a long way from being an outdoor dog 100% of the time to being out for play and potty. 

She Looks so Innocent…ASLEEP!!

To give you an idea of how big she is, that is a male size 16 shoe on the top right hand corner. 

Ursula wants me to say how wonderful Daisy is.  She truly is.  But…she needs to be with larger animals that can hold their own.  She terrorized Merlin again today, and trapped one of the cats.  Fortunately there was no more damage, but she is lightning quick and knows what she wants.  We are so sad that we can’t keep her.  Here is some more info that might help you make up your mind that she is the perfect dog for you.  I am being honest and totally candid in my observations.  She deserves a forever home where she can relax and thrive.

Daisy is a fabulous dog.  She is beautiful, elegant and 150% goofy puppy.

She is totally crate trained.  She sleeps there at night and when we go out.  She has no problem going in her crate.  It is rare that she is in it during the day because someone is almost always here with her. 

 

She has had only 1 potty accident.  We all work with her every day for at least 15 minutes (to get her to respond to all of us) and I walk her 1 to 2 x per day.  We try to take her out at least hourly to try and burn off energy.  (I set the timer during school hours).  She is very active, loves to play and shows no aggression toward humans about food.  She is vocal and has her own language to communicate her needs (and wishes).  I take her in the car M-F morning to drop off and pick up one of my kids.  She is terrified of people who walk by the car so we have been desensitizing with hot dog tidbits if she sits quietly as they walk by.  She loves riding in the car, it’s the parking lots with people she can’t stand.  She has total human contact and thrives on it.  The problem is with the other animals who interfere with her happiness.  She does play rough with Merlin, but this wasn’t play it was pure assault.  We have a very definite daily routine and she has adapted to it very well.  She is very smart.

 

We are heartbroken, she is wonderful with us (emphasis “us” ) but has no tolerance for outsiders.  She is “ok” with one of our cats, but the other one she wants to eat half the time and play with the other half.  The cat is less than interested in playing.  She has learned to open most of our doors (sliders, screens, and bedroom) and which window to look out to see what she wants to see.  We got a gentle leader harness and she works almost perfectly with it (even with Bubbles).  She is food motivated and a pleasure to work with without distractions.  She loves the car, certain toys, and makes up her own games like rolling down the hill, or watching her ball roll down the hill and then fetching it.  She has shown zero aggression towards us, but looks scary (foaming mouth, deep growl) to those invading her space.

 

We have tried everything we can think of to help her 2 incidents in two days are just too much.  I think she would be an ideal dog for a single person or couple without other animals or children.  She is absolutely devoted.  A little too devoted.   She thinks her job is getting us all together and keeping us that way.

 

So why did I give her a chewy bone with a history of dominance with Merlin?  It was very early, Merlin wasn’t up yet (he sleeps in) and I wanted to see if she would actually eat it if he wasn’t around instead of burying it (in the couch).  I thought she had  eaten it.  Until Merlin jumped on the couch and Daisy flipped out.  I immediately knew where it was.

Poor Merlin, the photo I took of his wound actually didn’t do it justice, I had his snout in my other hand and the flap was not hanging down.  He loves to play with Daisy and doesn’t understand when she is mean.

 

 

Merlin’s Nose, $200.00 and 4 staples later

He had to be knocked out for this. I guess stitches are old school. Staples for poor Merlin. He also has anti-biotics and pain killers. And very sad golden eyes.

Merlin’s Nose

Daisy has attacked Merlin before, it sounded ugly but there was never any blood (my barometer for how extreme the situation is). The other two times it was over a chewy bone. This time, I was careful to separate them to eat them. I *thought* that Daisy had eaten hers, but apparently she had buried it in the couch. When Merlin came back in the room he hopped on the couch and she went ballistic. Freddy got a broom and I used all of my strength with a knapsack to pry her off without getting in the way. Poor Merlin was so sad. He had no idea what he had done. Obviously he needed patching up. Bubbles was distraught, she thought Daisy would be put down and begged me to forgive her.

This is Daisy! (She needs a [sniff] new home – please help)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLZ9TFYlhk

Daisy is a wonderful dog.   She has a lot to offer the right family.  We thought she was right for us until the last few days.  She would do better in a home free from pesky cats and with less human traffic in and out.  We believe that the incident on the hammock was an accident, but the assault on Merlin was not.  She would do great with as an only pet (she would thrive), but she loves to play with other dogs, Merlin, the neighbor’s, the other GSD’s that came to play.  We feel that they should be closer to her size. 

We are heartsick that she will not be able to stay with us.  We really thought she would be with us forever.  If you are reading this because you were referred by the Rescue and would like to talk with us in person, please ask them to contact us, they know how.  We would be happy to help in any way we can.

Apparently I am not smart enough to make the You Tube link show up as a picture, but if you click on it, you will get the video.  I will do some more tomorrow and practice my technique.  Maybe I can tape the broccoli growing too.

Daisy Maisy in front of the EMPTY Pots (and She Didn’t Eat Bo)

Bo was over the other night and bravely offered to follow the Dog Lady’s advice.  Daisy was all offended that he was back.  She clearly thought that she had scared him away for good.  (The dog lady thinks that I am letting my nervousness spill over onto the scene and that Daisy picks up my vibes).

So I sucked up my courage and Bo stood his ground, Daisy went ballistic, Bo stuck out his fist and said “hi, Daisy” in his best I-am-not-scared-but-I-really-am voice.  And she immediately stopped barking, sniffed, wagged har tail and moved on to something else more interesting.  He wasn’t here long, so I can’t say we are out of the woods yet, but this is way more encouraging!