nipping

So my friend came over who is going to watch Ziggy and ... it wasn't the most successful.  I got home late, she got here early, and this is a bad Monday for Ziggy so she was out of control. She even nipped my friend and ... I have to take some responsibility but I was pretty annoyed with the person.  She was supposed to be here two days ago and she wasn't, and I dont' care the reasons, you're going to get a different dog when she's upset about being locked up all day after having several days with me. 

The thing is, I don't care how annoyed I am, I don't want Ziggy reading that as license to nip.  And of course the friend didn't listen well enough to me about turning away, not pushing her down, etc.

Y'all, seriously.  IF SOMEBODY SAYS THAT'S HOW YOUR DOGS HAVE TO BE TREATED, THEN TRUST THEM.

I think they'll be fine - Ziggy is a survivor and my friend does love animals.  I said not to be stingy with treats (most people are) and to lock herself in the bedroom if Ziggy is out of control, to be calm and patient and she does calm down and just wants to snuggle and be pet. 

But it would be so much easier if Ziggy were just a more normal dog.  If I could leave her at the kennel and let her have doggy daycare time.  If she could stay with friends with dogs, or sitters.  Instead, I struggle every single time I have to travel wtih what the hell to do. 

I reached out to a veterinary behaviorist in TX.  There's nobody anywhere near and I'm at my wit's end.  I would drive there for an appointment, six hours away. 

Ziggy is easily trained, but dealing with her reactivity is beyond me. 

another dog?

I'm thinking again about getting another dog and I even put some feelers out with rescue societies.  The little ones that work hard and know their fosters well.  Because the right fit is super important. 

I think about another dog because I worry about Ziggy's lack of social skills.  She wants to do better, and she's learned to do better with me and slowly with my friends, but she doesn't have dogs to teach her.  If she had a patient, calm, fun-loving dog around, life could be very good.  Crazy and hairy, but good.

But ... two dogs? Sheesh, that just sounds like way too much for me.  I've always been a one-dog kind of woman because I like the bond between one dog and one person.  But maybe I'm too small-minded.  So, I'm open to the possibilities. 

If I don't get another dog, I will think again about getting a roommate.  I just think about how busy this semester will be and I worry about the Zigster.

what does your dog eat?

"That's a lot of chicken wings," said the Costco cashier as she scanned the ten pound bag.

"Yeah, it's for my dog ..." and I quickly realized that's not what I wanted to say.

Feeding her raw food like chicken wings and marrow bones is actually cheaper than kibble, which has preservatives and the like.  I'm not planning on feeding her ten pounds of raw chicken in a day - this is more like over two months.  They're individually frozen to accommodate me when I want to pull out a few to thaw. 

Ziggy has always been pretty good about not overeating, but before I started supplementing with a lot of raw, whole foods she was not unlikely to eat because she was bored.  Now, she really only eats when she's actually hungry. 

So, I'm not really embarrassed about spending $19 on raw chicken to feed to my dog.  I just don't need to tell people about it.

Her kibble is Taste of the Wild and I vary the type.  Most of it goes into her treat ball and the rest in her bowl, which she only eats when she's really hungry.  She gets on average about two marrow bones a week, which I've had cut down to few inches.  She gets a bit of cooked chicken each time I leave her in the kennel and a drumstick or wing whenever I think about it, every couple of days.  I give her bits of fruits and vegetables such as bananas and raw zucchini, and she loves some yogurt so she gets the dregs of a container (only plain, with no sugar or flavors added).  She seems healthy, but I should probably get her some supplements in case we really go to mostly raw foods.  I'm not going to obsess about keeping it totally well-balanced, I have too many other things on my mind.

We tried some other kibble but she didn't like the first one very much (ZEssentials).  Then I wanted to just get the Whole Foods brand which seemed fine at first but then there was a bad batch that made her pretty sick.  Whole Foods insisted that it wouldn't harm her, it was just a manufacturing glitch, but I promptly returned it for a refund and swore it off, which is sad because that was really the most convenient for me.

humping

When I first got Ziggy, I got a fleece on one side dog bed for her.  She only ever used that for two things: using as a ginormous plushy toy to drag and throw around and chew on, and to hump.*

It was very peculiar to me as I'm not accustomed to spayed females who hump things, though I wasn't at all surprised that her BFF (before he moved up north) was a humper because he was almost two years old and still not neutered.

It usually proceeded like this: she would start playing and it would escalate and her brain would seem to misfire out of control and she would grab it and hump it with this look of desperation on her face and it would calm her down.  Fortunately this was not something that I failed with, like I did with so many other things with her.  I would let her ride it out and not make a big deal of it.  I was honestly pretty relieved that she was able to calm down and not attack me, which she was doing pretty regularly.  Not attack like seriously, but a fun attack which usually was absolutely no fun for me - lots of jumping on me, mouthing, scratching - all puppy fun but awful for me.

That lasted maybe a month, maybe two, and she hasn't done it once since.  I just think of how confusing that time must have been for her - she was spayed a week before I got her so her hormones must have been out of control.  Did she ever have puppies?  When I had Selma and got her spayed, she had horrible hallucinations from the anesthesia and it really fucked up her head for a few days.  Fortunately she was very young, very resilient, and very loved, so she got over it.  But Ziggy?  IN such a stressful environment, while at the shelter?  How awful. 

I will never know Ziggy's past, but I do know that there were a lot of fuckups in her transition to life with me. Most of them committed by me.  I was so naive, thinking she was well-adjusted. 

If I had it to do over again, I would know now to watch her stress levels.  She was giving me all kinds of signals that she was stressed off the charts but I didn't understand.  I wouldn't take her to an obedience class for damn sure - that was the most stressful of all.  I wouldn't have people come meet her in the first couple of days, I wouldn't take her out so much.  No dog parks, no Petco (that was a disaster), no driving around with my classmate on school assignment with her constantly attacking us.  Jesus she just had no matters at all - what a mess.  And so while she still can sometimes lose it and think it's ok to paw at me and jump on me and try to wrestle with me, that's far less often and sometimes because she's trying to tell me something very ardently (usually: go to bed, and she's usually right).  Now she stays in the backseat of the pickup and sniffs at a passenger and kisses them if they like it. 

She's made tremendous progress, sometimes I forget how much because there's still so much more to do. 

And yesterday I said she was very responsive but I have to edit: only at home.  Outside in the world, she's still a wild beast.  A dog was barking aggressively behind a fence and Ziggy went insane; somebody was backing out of their driveway and afraid of going anywhere because of her lunging - as if she would drag me into the street where they could hit me.  Oh lord no, people.  I am a seasoned pro with being dragged by this Catahoula.  My two-handed leash anchoring system works very effectively. It would of course be better if she were not flipping out on me, but we're working on it.  IF that dog were better behaved and ignoring Ziggy who was clearly not approaching the house, then Ziggy wouldnt have lost her cool.  Other dogs can be fire propellant or fire retardant with her, and obviously I cannot control other dogs at all. 

We'll figure it out. 







*Now it is only used to store toys on when I'm vacuuming.  NOt a very useful item for us.

Bedtime

"It isn't my fault you are tired in the mornings. I tell you clearly when it's bedtime and you ignore me."  -Ziggy Stardust, trying every strategy she can to get me to go to bed and then finally giving up in fatigue and disgust with my mental slowness

Options

"I want you to invite me inside. Or to come outside and play frisbee. Those are your two choices."

put me in, coach

Days like today are kinda awesome, kinda challenging.

Ziggy is in an extremely receptive frame of mind and wants nothing more than to be a little helper.  She's so proud of herself for everything we accomplish together, how she escorts me to get the laundry off the line and then does a superdog catch of the frisbee. 

She's not eager to please me, she's eager to be part of a team.  She wants to be valued and appreciated. 

Today is not a day to scold her, no matter how much she gets on my nerves for being constantly underfoot.  She is sensitive right now.  And so I thank her for her contributions and scratch behind her ears.