best served cold

Lest I give the impression here that life is a bed of roses, let me give a fuller picture.

Walking her is always a challenge.  First there's her obnoxiousness when we first head out and convincing her that pulling isn't going to get her there faster, and then there are all the things she'll lunge at and all the dogs riling her up. 

She riles up.  Desperately so.  There is a lot of two hands on the leash and wrapped around for a good grip.  She is not a calm dog, at all.

Nor is she compliant.  She was proudly bringing the frisbee inside and I told her no, confiscated it and threw it out and she just brought it back in and jumped on the bed with a daring look.  So I took it and put it on top of the dresser and walked away.  She could have gotten it, but she's quite good about not ever taking things from on top of furniture, even if it's hers. 

But what she did do is grab my flip flop and run out the door.  "Fair is fair.  Eye for an eye, shoe for a frisbee," she taunted. 

This dog.  Sassy pants. 

I've had a lot of dogs who were revenge-motivated.  We would always joke about how Selma would make us pay later for anything.  But Ziggy?  Oh, this dog can hold a grudge and plot. 

puppy gone good

We went to visit friends tonight and Ziggy was AWESOME.  She hardly jumped or mouthed at all.  She was happy and friendly and sweet.  She sat at people's feet for them to pet her.  She was adorable and charming.  She came whenever called, she sat whenever asked. 

THIS IS THE DOG I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT.  I KNEW SHE WAS IN THERE.

And now she's exhausted.

She was happy to get there, she was happy to be there, and she was happy to leave.  Mostly happy to leave.  But she was glad about it all.

Finally I feel like I can take her places.

So ... what next?

Well, we have to deal with her obsession with cats.  She's out of control about that.  I'm afraid the only thing that will cure it is getting her a cat.  And honestly, I tried.  A friend was adopted by a teenage tabby and good god I want that cat.  It is so adorable.  I've begged and pleaded but the friend is beyond smitten.

Why can we have our own kitten show up?  Ziggy would be Over The Moon.

OK, progress.  Bit by bit.  

weekends

As the weekend progresses, Ziggy becomes more connected.  She has to investigate everything, always be present.  She tries to stay out of the way, but even if I'm just crossing the room, she has to cross the room and see what's up. 

By Sunday evenings we are so close, I swear she can read my mind.

And then Monday comes, and I leave her for many hours and every Monday evening is the pits.  She's belligerent and rough, won't mind at all.  Obnoxious and hyper and naughty. 

And she calms down through the week, and then it all starts again.

city mouse

I long to move out to the country, a cabin in the woods with 100 acres of my land and adjoining a national forest.

But Ziggy?  Nah.  She just wants to roam free in a subdivision.

She's been really amped up this weekend and I knew we needed to go out this morning, have an adventure.

We headed out.  I hit a dead end at railroad tracks and saw lots of open space so out we went and I let her off leash and rather than running free in the wide meadow like area she beelined straight across the street (more of an alley, with no traffic anywhere) and ran to a big boat in a yard and got super excited.  So apparently in Ziggy's past she WAS a water dog, but on a boat.  Then she went to the front door of the house and stood staring in through the glass door with her tail wagging and a smile on her face as though they just forgot to open the door for her; I'm sure that the inhabitants of the house were very surprised to have such an outgoing Catahoula trying to convince them to let her in.

She would look over at me but she was NOT coming back over to the side without people and she took off down the block.  I caught up with her a couple houses down where she was trying to burrow under a fence that had a dog on the other side who was very confused with this whole situation.  She turned around to see me walking up with a very happy look - "Oh good, you got here!  Give me a hand - let's go under here!" and wasn't too happy when I clipped her leash back on and insisted on not breaking into the yard, but she was ok.

Then I kept driving out to where I planned.  We tried to go to the road that I really want to walk on (gravel, little or no traffic, no houses around), but it really is under construction (which is what the strongly worded multiple signs said that forbade entry, but I had to try) and I saw people working with heavy equipment, so we turned back around.

We went where I let her run off-leash before and she ran right down to the swamp and I heard a lot of splashing so she was chasing something in.  She was running fast and free and when she got too far up I called out and told her that and she cheerfully looped back and started to run back to me but then something caught her eye across the street and she beelined down the ridge and over.  I shouted but she was not coming back and then a car appeared so I didn't want her to run back .  I followed and she was investigating a bunch of garbage somebody had dumped (that's such a thing here, ugh), and she peeped out from behind an old mattress.  "Look!  A treasure trove!" she was delighted to report.  I called her to me and she came and I gave her a treat and some water and clipped her back on.  Sigh.

Then we walked along the levee and it was fine because it's really cool right now - a big storm just rolled out and another looks to be rolling in.  Usually it's miserable to walk on a paved levee in the summer, it just radiates so much heat and the direct sun is unbearable.  But this was pretty enjoyable, but she kept trying to pull me down the levee and over to the houses where there were people and dogs.

Ziggy loves people and dogs more than she loves being alone with me.  She is very gregarious and thrives on a party.  She is so NOT like me.

But maybe I need to get over my idea that we need to live off the grid somewhere, letting Ziggy have a life of chasing wild animals.  She is a city dog, who loves population density and Popeye's.  Unfortunately for her I will not ever intentionally let her run free on city streets, which is her very favorite thing to do.  Fortunately for me, whenever that happens she comes back and/or cheerfully lets me catch her pretty quickly.

It's pretty clear from today - she has no interest in running away from me, she just wants to have fun.  Even when she was taking off away from me, she was keeping a close eye on where I was and making sure I was following her.  If it weren't for roads, I likely would have run the other direction and called her and I'm 95% sure she would have followed.

Now, I need her to not take off at all, and I need her to 100% come when called, and I need to be able to trust her judgment (that she won't piss off alligators who can eat her).  She will always want to have fun, which is really pretty darn charming.  She delights in life.  This is what is good about having a dog, the belief that the world is a fun place to explore.  I have a sidekick for whatever comes down.

And she is not to 100% obedience yet, and maybe she never will be, but she will continue to improve.

And we will keep trying to find good places to let her run free, because that is the only thing that can take the edge off for her ... and probably for me.  She is the city mouse, but I am very much country mouse.  We'll find our common ground.

my little protector

"No more!" Ziggy said, forcefully pushing my laptop off my lap and then sitting herself in that position - something she has never done.  I can't remember her ever sitting actually on my lap before.  She'll sometimes have her chin on my thigh, but never like this. 

She could feel my rage rising - seeing David Duke running for Senate is really upsetting.  So she made me stop reacting to it, and just sit and pet her. 

"We'll be ok.  I can take out the Klansmen in their stupid sheets. I've been practicing, didn't you notice the gnawholes in those sheets?"

the bond with the vet

I've recently learned of a small vet practice not far from me and one of the vets is into yoga and such.  The vibe from their website and reviews is totally me and Ziggy, and they're near which is so nice.

My current vet is a haul away and I don't like his staff very much with the exception of the "professional hugger" who meets Ziggy in the parking lot and sneaks her in the back way for me. 

And the vet is ... he's old school.  He's not interested in giving Ziggy medications, he says I need to train her with a choke chain.  And I disagree with that method especially with her (the choke chain, not the training obviously), but his vibe with Ziggy is really good.  He loves animals and he sees all the good in Ziggy that is sometimes hidden.  He may very well have saved her life - I went to him for her post-quarantine rabies check after The Bite, and when I very upset asked if I should give her back to the shelter, he was just not having that.  At all.  But instead of calling me out (and to be fair, I'd only had her a couple of weeks and she was WAY more than I knew how to handle), he just ignored that as something that did not compute.  Of course not.  She was my dog and I would train her and she would someday be good.  She was obnoxious, but she was a Catahoula rescue puppy, within normal parameters for that.

Had I taken Ziggy back to the shelter after she'd been investigated as "dangerous and aggressive" ... well, I can't even think about that.  So, he probably saved her life by taking that option entirely off the table.  And this was right before I had to travel for work and I realized I couldn't leave her at any of those doggy day care places while I traveled, which had been my plan.  He made suggestions and said that while his facilities wouldn't be the most desirable for her, he would board her any time, no problem. He took what seemed impossible and made it all possible. 

And, his prices are the most reasonable.  I always feel like I'm getting a good bargain for the quality of care.  And my understanding is that he volunteers a lot of surgical care for rescue societies.  He's good people whom I want to support.

So, to give him up just because the drive there is awful, and it's hard to manage with Ziggy in their parking lot and office because there's no time that's not busy? 

When we were there last, the vet tech said the vet was asking which dog was coming up and the vet tech said, "The really aggressive and dangerous Catahoula," and they both laughed at the absurdity of that.  And I could laugh then too (this was months later, when she cut her paw), but they did not make light of my situation in any way when I was there for that.  They wrote exactly the letter that needed to be written to the animal enforcement, and they faxed and mailed it and gave me a copy and told me what number to call to follow up, and exactly what to say.  He was all business, while I was so overwhelmed, and it was exactly right.

So, yeah.  Maybe if he retires I'll look for a vet closer, but until then, he's clearly our guy. 

over there

We are sitting here on the couch, my pup and me.  I invited her up when the rain came down and she is resting against me so long as I pet her.  "Isn't it nicer to have a home like this than to live on the street," I ask her, but she's still weighing pros and cons. 

How long until this dog decides to choose me?  Will she ever?  Was the rift caused by other(s) abandoning her too deep to ever heal? 

I like to take off her collar because that's where she sheds the most so I want to brush her neck, and she looks better without it and it lets her neck rolls be less bunched up.  But she hates having it removed, she gets really nervous and today it looked like she was trying to put it back on herself.  HOw on earth does she make sense of any of that?  She can't possibly understand her name tags on it or any of that. 

She left me to sit on the chaise near the window, to look out.  Not convinced she's where she wants to be.