Update; back online

Well, it's a long story, but our stupid ISP (which has a monopoly on the
cable technologies) has finally, after three weeks in the new house,
restored our connection.

Saskia settled well into the new house right away, and her anxiety levels
dropped dramatically, as I knew they would, as soon as she started getting
that good twice-daily run across the street in the park. She has many new
friends, including George the Leonberger who is several centimeters taller
than her, outweighs her by 20 kilos, and is one year old. She was terrified
of him the first two meetings, but he's just a big cuddly goofball like her
and now she rushes to the window wagging her head off if he walks by, and
runs straight to him for a game of chase if he's out when she is.

There have been no repeats of ANY kind of negative or even neutral reactions
to Walter. Of course we are still doing the NILIF, and she doesn't have any
chew toys when he's around (for that matter, hasn't seemed too bothered so
hasn't really had any at all since we moved), we don't let him startle her
or manhandle her, etc., and she is not allowed on the furniture--which she
hardly seems to notice since we got her the giant sized Doggy Bagg
cedar-filled bed a few days before the move.

There is a professional trainer who regularly walks her setter (Irish;
Saskia also has a new Gordon Setter friend) over in the park and has
observed Saskia's interactions with us, Walter, and other dogs. She says we
have nothing really to worry about in her opinion, that Saskia doesn't have
an aggressive bone in her body, but does agree with me that we should still
consult a behaviorist and have at least several sessions in house, and
approves of all the moves we are making to minimize any chance of a dog-baby
accident, because of course even where aggression is not an issue, she's
still a big, clumsy, young dog. We have finally located a (reputedly good)
behaviorist, through our new vet, and I'll be calling this week.

Meanwhile, Saskia has had a bit of a rough time of it in other ways--she
stepped on glass or something two weeks ago, and it is a really weird cut.
It was very deep, very oddly shaped. I have a lot of experience with this
sort of thing (I've assisted vets), and so I deemed it not quite worth a
late-night trip to the emergency vet, and got it all cleaned and bandaged,
with some betadine on it. In the morning I called our new vet, who said they
were full up and had only one vet and a student on duty, so we had to take
the animal ambulance to the fill-in vet.

The ambulance technicians decided to help me get her into the van when she
hesitated. I sure wish they hadn't done that . One grabbed her by the
collar, the other by the harness, and as would be expected with a dog with
her shyness issue, she downright panicked, and was flailing all over the
place and fear-grimacing. I knew that of they let her go she'd bolt right
into traffic, so I had to let them hang onto her, and I just kept calling
her from inside the van. As soon as she finally heard me, she jumped
straight in to me and Walter, as I knew she would do, and sat down and
leaned on my knees until we got to the bank where I needed to get some
money. The technicians then let her get out with me, even though I asked
them to get in the way so she'd stay in the van, and I told them in no
uncertain terms not to help and not to try to put her back in. They were
dubious, but as soon as she hit the end of the lead and I said, "Back! With
me!" she heeled over to the bank machine with no trouble and sat quietly
while I withdrew money. I warned them again to back off and not help, and
they did, and she followed me straight back into the van.

Then she walked straight into the vet's for me, and became a statues while
her foot was examined. The vet said I had done everything right but that it
was a tricky cut. She gave me a bunch of bandages and some antibiotic cream
and said to rest her for a week or so, to use my judgment. When we left the
vet's, Saskia made a bee-line for the ambulance and jumped in ahead of me.

After a week and a couple of days the cut was closed up but still looking a
bit tender, so I wrapped it up good and solid and let her run again. Two
days of this and the edge was off again and she wasn't spending the entire
day plastered to the window (she can see the other dogs playing about 20
meters away). So then we were out day before yesterday, and she saw a big
sheepy-dog sort of mixed breed, and did her usual
dash-in-to-about-five-meters-and-slam-into-a-play-bow-and-clearly-say-"chase-me"
thing, and ran away playfully. Damn thing ran right up and bit her on the
ass! It's really just two scrapes and a tiny puncture, and wasn't worth a
vet visit (it's healing up nicely now), but it was darned rude, I tell you.
She yelped and ran, but tried to go back to play again after a few minutes
and isn't showing any signs of trauma around other new dogs. The owner was
already walking away, and I hadn't been near him to begin with, so I yelled
that his dog had bitten my dog, and he just shrugged and kept walking. There
is NO rabies here at all, so I just let it go, and have since heard similar
stories of this dog from other owners. Luckily the dog is never there at the
usual times we go; this was an odd day after the cable guy had been and
Walter had had his nap. I just won't go at that time again.

The cut on her foot has a stubborn corner that WILL keep oozing serum but
nothing looks infected, feels hot, has become redder, etc. Still, if it
isn't significantly better I'll be taking her in for the vet's morning
walk-in hour on Thursday. So she's been on one run instead of two while we
let that finish healing up, but she still seems much more relaxed than she
was just before we left the old place, when the Walter incidents happened.
She also seems to be handling separation better--maybe because she can see
the street from this apartment and so keep a watch for us if she feels like
it. In the entire three weeks she has lightly torn one piece of newspaper
while we were out, and we often find her asleep when we get back--we can see
her through the front window.

So that's how we're doing.

--Katrina


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Its happened again...
    ... > So Saskia has been nothing but love and deference toward Walter until ... > by praising for no reaction when he got near, but her trainer feels ... Any breed of dog will get up on the furniture if you allow ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: One more thing the trainer said
    ... > working with the baby and the dog. ... > from Saskia when she is lying around, and treating her while he is ... You can even have Walter hand her the treat:) The main goal ... I can also be consistent. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Update; back online
    ... Saskia settled well into the new house right away, and her anxiety levels dropped dramatically, as I knew they would, as soon as she started getting that good twice-daily run across the street in the park. ... There is a professional trainer who regularly walks her setter over in the park and has observed Saskia's interactions with us, Walter, and other dogs. ... I have a lot of experience with this sort of thing (I've assisted vets), and so I deemed it not quite worth a late-night trip to the emergency vet, and got it all cleaned and bandaged, with some betadine on it. ... One grabbed her by the collar, the other by the harness, and as would be expected with a dog with her shyness issue, she downright panicked, and was flailing all over the place and fear-grimacing. ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Saskia update
    ... Saskia is a tad on the small side at a svelte 51 ... point he decided to check out Walter. ... showing a lot of snappy teeth and really driving that dog; ... Every time Saskia drove him off, ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • Re: Heartworm Positive Shelter Dog -- Questions
    ... afford the treatment and like this dog, ... really risky to be bringing him home to a house with kids and stairs ... spent money on the pup that we didn't have, in getting it vet checked ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.health)