Day 33!

Dos' favorite day of the week! Dog food making day! After work, I came home to a wagging tail at the door. Five wagging tails, really, but Dos acts as if she hasn't seen me for years. She does this if I go outside for too long, too. 

Dos spent the next two hours with her eyes glued to me in the kitchen, next to the oven where she could smell her food cooking. 

During the grueling fifteen or so minutes it took for it to cool in her bowl, she stared at the table where it was.

Dos has had no training, or so it appears..and that doesn't surprise me in the least. (Anyone who lets their dog get that bad health wise obviously doesn't spend much time thinking about or caring about their dog) . She also is quite the scavenger. It's almost like having a puppy in the house, having to puppy-proof everything again. We haven't had to do that for so long, it's easy to forget that a dog who is likely used to only eating scrap food or scouring the floor for anything edible may not have a second thought about getting into things. 

Part of Dos' rehab is learning boundaries and the rules within her new pack-no getting in the trash, no taking things off tables, no eating an entire roll of toilet paper, no matter how delicious it looks. (She went straight after the toilet paper when I brought groceries home the other day, taking a roll and trotting off with it.)

So, while the food was cooling, I watched her, making sure to tell her NO each time she edged her little face up to the table or tried to climb up one of the kitchen chairs. I have to be very careful the way I tell her no, as she is very sensitive to any form of scolding.  Thankfully, gently setting her paws back down on the floor and telling her "no" in a quiet firm voice did the trick. After a few minutes, she patiently waited without trying to grab it off the table.

And when she finally got her dinner, she grunted and slobbered happily like a piggy.

Dos food: chicken, beef, salmon, brown rice, carrots, liver, a spoonful of peanut butter, a spoonful of yogurt, a fish oil pill, and egg-shell calcium powder.

I've never seen a dog so happy to eat!

(I'm going to delete some pictures from my phone tonight, so I can have room for more Dos pictures-sorry its only her dinner tonight..but I thought the "Dos eye view" would show you why she is so happy :)

Day 32-Final Determination on Pregnancy

Sitting in the waiting room of APA! while Dos got her X-rays was probably one of the most stressful moments since Dos has been with me. Previously, they had thought she was not pregnant, but needed to make sure, so X-Rays it was.


Dos got into the car, this time without too much fuss, but she insisted on riding shotgun. She really, really likes to look out through the windshield. She was very alert. She let out a few little grunts, too. Totally backseat driving!



They took Dos back to the X-ray room, and I waited in the lobby. I heard mention of maybe two puppies.
I then heard 'blurry' and 'retake.' At this point, I almost had a heart attack and was hoping the vet techs would be able to revive me.

Ten minutes later, they come out, with Dos wagging her tail, and declared her not pregnant. NOT PREGNANT! The first Xray had come out too blurry and had needed to be redone.

NOT PREGNANT!

So Dos' spay date is next Thursday, when I will drop her off at 8 am, and pick her up late in the afternoon.
I have dropped dogs off before to be fixed...but I know when I drop her off I will be a nervous wreck.


MOVING ON!

ONE MONTH MILESTONE!

Dos has made it to her first month milestone!!!!  31 days into recovery! 

SHE HAS MADE IT AN ENTIRE MONTH!!!!!!!!

      (Obviously done with the party hat)

From a month long treatment of antibiotics, mange treatments, eye infection treatments, assumed deafness, bacterial infections on the skin, full body yeast infection, swollen mouth,  an emergency vet visit, pregnancy scare (which isn't reaaaally over yet), shots, kennel cough, head tremors, at LEAST four baths, crazy skin exfoliations, to her first walk, her first meetings with strangers of different kinds, her first bark, her first time crawling up into the couch to find "her spot", her first interactions with the other dogs in her new pack, her first "playtime", to her now being eager to eat, eager to drink, eager to walk, eager to get on the couch and crawl into my lap, eager to be pet, and even feel comfortable enough to come to bed with the rest of "the pack". 

Dos has come a long way in just a month-and has had a team of people from all over the country(and beyond!) rooting for her, sending her well wishes and love, and following her story. A lot of people have come together to help this sweet little girl, and have endured her trials and successes right alongside her. 

Tonight, she will have her 2nd Heartguard pill (keeping the heartworms from getting any worse) and look forward to the second month of Dos' recovery and all that it will bring!

Thank you to everyone who has been with her along this journey, and I look so forward to sharing her next month long of growing, changing, healing, and continuing to learn how to be a dog.

Day 30!

We are one day away from Dos' month anniversary of the beginning of her recovery. Yyeeeow!

Today, Dos got reacquainted with my friend Nora, who is known as "The Austin Fur Whisperer". Nora is the one that gave Dos her first bath when she came to us. 

I actually was looking through old photos and found the picture of Nora giving her a bath. Dos could barely hold herself up, and as Nora was giving her the bath, Dos had slowly hoisted herself up onto the side of the tub to bury her head in Nora's apron. 

Nora has a lot of experience with rescue animals, and didn't even flinch or think twice about the possibility of contracting whatever infestation was on her skin.

Dos seemed to recognize Nora, wagging her tail as a dog does when they see an old friend. 

And! Today was Dos' last day of antibiotics! She is no longer on any medications! 

Of course, she is still getting fish oil and calcium supplements in her food, but that will happen for a long time to come, and for good measure, the rest of her life:)

Keep goin, Dos!

And no, not EVERY piece of food is or you, Dos-at least not coffee ;)

Day 29! Another Saturday!

Another Saturday for Dos-and almost a month!

Today I came across something from Dos' first day with us- something I had hidden away for reference and to never use with her so as not to bring up any bad memories for Dos.

I had placed in a bag the tie out she was brought into the kennel on. I've since cleaned it off, but the thing was caked in mud and smelled much like Dos did when she came to me..just the smell of it brought back the whole first day of her being at our house-and realizing how much better she has actually gotten. 

Essentially, it's about the length of two leashes tied together, but it's just one piece, and it has a clip on each end. 

I had no idea what it would clip to, I've never seen a lead like this...

It was wrapped around her neck since se didn't have a collar- and my guess it that she pulled all the way to the end of it because in he early days of her recovery there was a very obvious ring around her neck.

I just thought it was a weird find-just under a month of her recovery-just a reminder of her progress. I want to get rid of it, but I feel like there is a reason I should keep it-maybe just to destroy it the day she is cleared of heartworms.(one day, hopefully soon!)

Here's to almost a month with this little girl, this little pig walrus dog that has become a cuddly, ornery, happy, excited to be still alive little (big?) dog.

Day 28-Still might be pregnant?

Today,   I went down to APA to schedule Dos' spay.

Apparently, because she didn't have an x-ray done, there is still a possibility of pregnancy, so back to the vet on Tuesday we go, to get an x-ray and get a final answer on her pregnancy once and for all. So, again, I'll be a ball of stress until Tuesday when we can know for sure. AH!



Miss Dos is starting to regularly have more energy and want to be more active-and she's started gimping pretty hard on her right front leg. She had a limp when she came to me, but now it's more pronounced.Dos likes to keep me on my toes, for sure.

No matter how much she seems to want to investigate things and play, Dos does NOT like the yard. I can't really say I blame her. I don't like the yard much, either. It's a dirt yard from a combination of Texas drought and doggies running all over it.

Maybe she'll like it once we replant some grass....but for the time being, all she does is stare at me through the gate, or try to hardest to push through it.

She's a smart dog, and she tried to hop up on her back legs and nose open the latch....

Smart and ornery....

Day 27-thunderstorms and peanut butter..

OHow these posts keep not posting, Ill never know. Ah!

Day 27-wooowza almost 4 weeks.,

Dos had a pretty uneventful afternoon, snored on the couch,  rolled on the driveway, ate a late lunch. Rinse repeat.


Until the storms.

Dos, as I learned before, does NOT like thunderstorms. She silently shakes and buries her head between her paws. I imagine its from being outside in them so often.

Between her shaking an Francis shaking and whimpering, it was a sad sight. She tried to cuddle up to Francis, and rest her head on his. Francis accepted that for a moment, then shook her off to pace around. 

So for an hour of storms..I wrapped my arms around her and tried to make her feel secure. 

After the storms, Dos got a visitor! My very good friend Wayne came over and brought her some peanut butter. 

She liked Wayne, liked the petting, loved the peanut butter. When he gave her a spoonful of peanut butter, Dos ate it, and then proceeded to gaze at him for a long while, before going to the couch to take a nap. Wayne was the number one person I thought of to come over to meet Dos-as someone who dogs are naturally drawn to, and Wayne being a man with a big voice, I thought this would give Dos some further desensitizing to men . She was completely at ease-and happy, as she fell asleep with peanut butter all over her nose. :)