The 43T Ass Dog Report

Last week I had to take Zora to the vet for her annual check-up. I have to sedate her when we go to the vet because she is so anxious. Our vet has said that dogs don’t remember exactly what happened to them at a place, but they do remember how they felt, so that sedating them allows them to have a good experience. Its not my favorite thing to do but it is in her best interest. So on the way home, she refused to get in the back of the Jeep so I decided to let her stay in the front seat and I put the seat belt around her. She rode so nicely on the way home.

When we brought Zora home almost two years ago we crate trained her. Over the last few months we have been letting her stay out when we leave for a few hours. She usually just sleeps. She is not a mischeiveous dog like Kona was. This week we went out to dinner with friends and left her out. When we got home I walked in and found the living room floor covered with stuff. And then I realized the stuff was only her toys (and the stuffing from one of her toys). We keep her toys in a basket on top of her crate. The only way to get to them is for her to climb up on my chair. She ONLY touched her toys. Nothing else in the house was touched – no shoes, no counter surfing, no garbage. Nothing! What a great dog! Kona was always getting into stuff. We had to put a baby lock on the cupboard that held his food since he would get in there and pull out the bird seed and whatever else was in there. I am very proud of our little girl. If she could just get past her shyness with new people it would be great.

Zora was incredibly funny when we were opening gifts on Christmas. She was like my nephews when they were toddlers, always had to be in the middle of the gift opening, helping all of the adults. She would grab the gifts and carry them around and then stuck her nose right in the thick of opening, she wanted to help.

I’ve been told it is Happy Dog Day. I’m not sure if that is “Happy DOG Day” or “HAPPY DOG Day” or “Happy Dog DAY”
. For Zora, any day with jumping and treats makes her a “HAPPY DOG”

we found out that Kona was dying. He was at the vet and had xrays which showed two lemon sized tumors in his lungs. I was in Phoenix, sitting on the tarmac waiting for a gate when mrrad told me. I started crying uncontrolably and once at the gate got on another plane to come home. I came home that night and sat on the floor next to Kona with his head on my knee petting him. Mrrad and I decided not to do anything yet other than make him comfortable and figure out what he wanted. We had ten great days before he died. But this is difficult today. As will the next few weeks be.

I am grateful to have Zora in our lives – she makes me laugh every day. And every so often I can see Kona in her – he checks in for a hug. He was such a great dog. I can’t believe he has been gone for almost a year. But we have just started our adventure with Zora, my little princess.

mrrad was out walking with Zora and ran into our neighbor and they started to talk about Kona. He said that Zora was smarter than Kona, but Kona was more outgoing. She (our neighbor) commented that Kona got by on his personality. LOL-true. Then she said that at the library where she works they have a statue of a black lab and that they named in Kona. Makes me teary eyed that Kona, with his big outgoing sweet personality touched people. I’m sure his is bursting at the seams in happiness about that! I so miss my boy. It has been 10 months since he has been gone.

Mrrad and I talked about it yesterday and decided that there was no need to traumatize her further. Today she would not do as well as she did in the first class because she is so scared. I was having an anxiety attack yesterday just thinking about it. I’m angry and sad. She has come so far in terms of her socialization and the dog bully has frightened her so that she can only think about staying safe rather than doing the work. The reason I take her to class is not so much to get her to learn stuff. She is very smart and does very well when we work with her. It is because I want her in those social situations to build her confidence and become comfortable around people and dogs. She was never afraid of dogs before but now she is afraid of agressive dogs that come at her barking or snarling. I feel like we are going backwards. I will take her back to another class but not this one.

Three weeks ago in class a huge shepard walked by Zora and barked at her which sent her hiding behind my legs. The rest of that day was fine and Zora did fine. Two weeks ago the big black shepard broke away from his owner and and bit Zora on the behind. She valiantly tried to work through it and continued in class and did OK but didn’t really get the benefit of the class. Today we are coming into class and that same big black shepard turns and snaps at her and she was totally freaked out for the entire class. She was cowering and shaking and wouldn’t work with me at all. All we could do was just sit there with her so she could learn to tolerate being there. She started by sitting in my lap and then moved to laying under us. When we worked on polite walking she did just fine. We are going to have to repeat the class now since the next two classes will be spent just trying to get her comfortable being there. Seems like one step forward two steps back.

Yesterday Zora was home alone with our housekeeper while mrrad went out. We keep her in her crate when we are gone. Zora is a fraidy dog when it comes to people she doesn’t know, or know well. Our housekeeper found one of her toys and opened her crate and gave it to her. Zo-zo was fine. Somehow she didn’t close the cage correctly and a few minutes later she heard Zora making a ruckus. She was just playing and entertaining herself. She then took her toy up to the room L was working and “paraded” her toy in front of her. When it was time for L to leave and mrrad wasn’t home, she told Zora that she couldn’t leave her out and she had to go to her house, which Zora willingly did. What a good dog! She is getting more comfortable with people she doesn’t know.

She was chewing her bone this morning and started to choke. Mrrad did the doggie heimlich again. She isn’t struggling to breath but her breathing sounds a little ragged (like I do when I have bronchitis). She is also incredibly subdued. I’m hoping that she is responding to the trauma—this is similar to what happened last week. She may be so lethargic because she was traumatized by it, and scared. I’m taking her with me when I go for coffee and we will keep a close eye on her today. If anything gets worse we will take her to the vet.