Roxie's Bad Day

Roxie and I had a bad start to our day on Tuesday. There we were, innocently going for our morning walk, all was well in the world. Ok, not all was well, but a lot was! I had overslept a bit that morning (just couldn't get my butt out of bed) so I had to cut our morning walk a bit short. So we go down a road we don't normally walk on (but have a few times in the past).

I heard a door open as we were nearing the end of the street, but think nothing of it. Next thing I know this big white dog runs right past us onto the road, her owner yelling at her from the doorway. I blink, and the dog has attacked Roxie. Looked like she got Roxie's right back leg firmly in her mouth- Roxie is screaming, I grab Roxie and lift her into the air with one hand, and am reaching for the big dog with the other. I think I was going for her eyes to make her let go of my dog! The dog's owner comes running full tilt out of the house, almost knocks me over to get to his dog. We break the hold on Roxie, and it takes the owner a few tries to grab his dog (she is dancing around out of his reach, not looking away from Roxie). Owner finally grabs the collar and drags the dog into the house. I tell him I want his name and phone number for any vet bills.

While he is in the house I am checking Roxie over. No blood, but she won't let me look at the back leg. Owner comes out after a few minutes, apologizes and says his dog has never done that before or he would never have just opened the door. He gives me a piece of paper with his name and phone number on it, and I meanwhile had left myself a voice mail with the address. He hopes Roxie is okay.

So a few minutes have passed since "the event" and Roxie seems to be limping. We head home (we were only about 10 minutes from home) and after a few minutes the limp appears to be gone. When we get in the house I do a more thorough check, and I can't see any marks on her. She is running through the house chasing her ball, with no sign of a limp. I phoned Saanich to report the attack, and left a report. Around 9am (I am at work by now) Animal Control calls me back and I give another statement. The ACO tells me the address has no prior complaints, and they will stop by later that day to talk to the owner. That's all I wanted - just to scare some common sense into the owner!!

Next day Roxie is still looking fine, but when I am checking over her backpack that she wears I can see a tooth mark - looks like the dog grabbed mostly her pack, and didn't get a good grip! Thank goodness she missed on the first run, or she would have gotten Roxie by the head or throat.....

So the most frustrating thing about all this (once I calmed down)? It was a young male with a pitbull. I am a strong supporter of pitbulls, and I am out there every day fighting the stereotype, defending the breed. And what do I run into? An owner with his head up his ass. I was so mad at him for allowing his dog to get into that situation, I wanted to go back to his house and yell at him.

So Roxie and I are out for our walk the next day. We do the full loop we normally do, and are walking up the hill to the house. We come across a guy walking another little dog. Roxie has her normal pull/bark/freakout reaction. Guy asks if the dogs can meet. I say sure, as usually Roxie calms if she can sniff the other dog. Today, no sniff, she just lunges for the other dog and tries to bite it's face. Lovely, six months of working on her dog reactive behaviours, flushed down the drain. Back to square one......

How much I love my dog

So in school we treat reward when working with the dogs. Michele suggested on class day that we feed our dogs less than half their normal breakfast, and bring the rest to class to use there (so the dogs don't get fat). That works if you feed kibble, but I feed raw so that won't work for me. Last week I had a sample of a decent kibble that I used for class, but after that Roxie was scratching a lot, and the poop wasn't so nice (ummm, not that poop is ever nice, but on raw Roxie produces small poops that are very firm, since there is no filler in her food). Anyway, Michele suggested buying some liver and cooking that as a treat.

So how much to I love my dog? I am a vegetarian, and I bought raw sheep's liver from a butcher (The Village Butcher in Oak Bay). Seriously, totally gross. Then I took it home, cut it up, froze half, and cooked the other half. Roxie likes it (which she had better, given what I had just done for her!!) The people in the butcher shop were great, very helpful. Didn't even throw me out when I told them I was a vegetarian - suggested a couple ways of cooking the liver to use a training treats.

Roxie's first day of class

Ok, so I totally forgot to talk about Roxie's first day of class, which was last Sunday. There were 4 students (a new person will be joining us this week) - 1 large dog, 2 medium dogs, and Roxie. The best part is they all had anti-dog attitudes (but not dog aggression). There was a whole lot of barking and snarling going on. Yet within a few minutes of class starting, things quieted down. We worked on "sit", "look", "leave it", "forward" and "down". It was kinda funny, as we were working with our dogs, they sort of forgot about snarling at each other (unless two dogs got too close). Roxie already knew "sit", "look", and "leave it". She pretty much knew "forward" but I don't use that one a lot - only when I have stopped her for some reason. I need to get into the habit of using it more often.

"Down" we had problems with. Roxie would either do nothing when I gave her the command, or she would back away? Weird. Michele came over and worked with us on this one. The idea is to reward Roxie if she does anything even close (eg just front end goes down, or just head lowers), and work up to a full down. By the end of class she had done 3 full "downs" and I was very proud of her. I realized the next day that I use "down" to order her off furniture, so that was probably confusing to Roxie. From now on I will use "down" for lay down, and "off" for getting off furniture.

The other thing we worked on was direction changes while walking. The technique here is to step into the "tickle spot" on your dog (very lightly) and turn their bodies, then continue in the new direction with a "forward". Because Roxie is small, I have problems with this one. I feel like I am kicking at her, so I definitely need to practice. Much easier on larger dogs! We have been practicing on our walks. I come to a stop, step in to turn her, then continue on. Coming to a stop seems to give me more control over the nudge.

Sadly I will be missing tomorrow's class, as I have a couple of meetings at the shelter. Bummer :-(

Roxie's going to school!!

So yesterday (Sunday) was Roxie's first day of school. We are working with Michele of Connective Training. I have known Michele for probably a year or so now, we met at the shelter where she has been volunteering, working with our dogs.

I had been wanting to get Roxie into a class for a while now, but because of her issues with other dogs, I have been holding off figuring she would be to disruptive and I would be too embarrassed. But last Sunday Michele invited me to sit in on a class - it was the last class for this group. The dogs were awesome, and I helped out working with a pug (some of the exercises need 2 people). Afterwards Michele was telling me that the two pugs in the class started out with worse attitudes than Roxie has. So while they didn't steal the show with their flawless obedience, when you looked at how far they had come in 6 weeks it was amazing. So I meekly asked Michele if Roxie could come when the next set of classes started up, and she said sure!

Keep in mind as well that Roxie and Michele have spent some time together. On occasion we got to Thetis Lake for some off-leash hiking off the main trail. We are quite the group - Michele and her 5 dogs (Mya, Charlie, Parker, Dylan, and Pepper), Roxie, and me. Three of her dogs are weimaraners and they go tearing around on their long legs, bowling each other over. Always makes me think of very young horses. Once a week when she is able Michele also takes Roxie for a few hours without me. This is great because it gets Roxie more exercise and more socialization. Also, Roxie will be having a week long sleepover in March when I have to go to Vancouver for work, so it gets Roxie used to Michele's house as well.

Roxie to date

So. Roxie. She is nigh-on almost perfect. I had wanted a big dog, and definitely got big dog attitude in my little dog (be careful what you wish for!!) In the condo she is great - she is quiet (unless there is someone in the hallway). She is completely house trained. I love her. She loves to play fetch with a tennis ball. She has no resource guarding issues with people. I can take her food and toys away from her at any time. She rides well in a car - if you don't tell her otherwise, she will immediately go into the back window of the car and lay down. She knows "sit", and I have taught her "leave it". She walks pretty well on a leash, as long as there are no distractions. Whenever we go out, she wears a backpack. This has 2 purposes - by carrying weight she is working harder on her walk, and it keeps her a bit more focused on the walk (she has a "job").

Ahh, distractions. There are so many. Squirrels, for example. Apparently Roxie is aware of a terrorist plot by the squirrels, and feels strongly that they must be eliminated. Squirrels really get her going. Oddly, so do seagulls (but not other birds). And dogs. Oh lordy I dread coming across dogs when we are out walking. Let me clearly state that Roxie is not dog agressive - I would say she was not properly socialized as a puppy. When she sees another dog, she really really wants to go meet them. To the point she will choke herself on her collar. If I don't let her near the dog, she starts to bark. A lot. Very embarrassing. If I do let her near the other dog, she charges right up to them (absolutely no manners), does the polite bum sniffing thing. Then most of the time she loses interest and would like to continue walking. If I stop to chat with the other person, she will eventually start to bark. Some dogs, she has issues with. And being the dominant dog she is, she will usually snap in the face of the other dog after the mutual bum sniffing. Now, I know that is just dominance behaviour, but most other dog owners don't seem to know this and freak out a bit.

Roxie had her first vet visit about a week after I got her. You get a free vet checkup when you adopt an animal from the SPCA. And I had noticed that a bit of her spay scar seemed infected, and her lower lip on the right side was inflamed looking. I couldn't see a cut on it, but Roxie didn't really want me looking at it. So in we went to McKenzie Vet Clinic. Roxie weights just under 12 lbs, and overall is healthy. She is a bit underweight, but regular meals will help with that. So about a quarter inch of her spay scar definitely was infected, and the swollen lip is a sign of allergies. Once the vet asked, I did recall that she spent a fair amount of time scratching. He also found small pimple-like bumps on her stomach that are also a sign of allergies - comes out as a skin infection. When she was spayed through the shelter, the vet that did it noted that she has combination yeast/bacterial ear infections and put her on Surolan. He said the ears looked like she has reoccuring ear infections. My research (and my new vet) both told me that ear problems can also be due to food allergies. So Roxie left her vet appointment with antibiotics, Epi-Otic, and instructions to avoid food/treats with grain, chicken, or beef (the 3 most common alergens). Vet also said it takes about 3 months to clear the allergen out of her system, so if I give her even a treat containing those things, it resets the clock.

Thankfully when I got Roxie I asked around about food, and decided to put her on raw. I buy Natures Variety from Your Pet Pals and I feed her the lamb. So having switched her food before the vet visit, I was heading in the right direction about her allergies, but I didn't think of treats. Amazing what many of them are made of.

Flashback - Roxie's first full day with me

So here is Roxie in her new kennel I got her. What an exciting day we had. I got up at 6am and took her for a walk. It was dark, and it was pouring out! I knew then that she was staying, because I really had to like her to get up early and walk in the rain!

I didn't really have a walking route planned out, so I figured I would walk down to Tim Horton's, grab a coffee, and walk back. That should take about 40 minutes. I believe that you should walk your dog at least twice a day, for a minimum of 30 minutes each time. Letting your dog out to run around the yard is not enough - as Cesar Millan says, you must "master the walk"

So - it's dark, it's raining. I take Roxie to the little park beside my condo for a quick pee before we start. She has lots of energy, so she is kinda bounding around, rolling in the grass, having a great time. I give her some quick pets, and we are off on the walk. As we are walking, every once in a while I get a whiff of something very unpleasant smelling. I figure perhaps I stepped in something in the park (thank you irresponsible dog owners who do not pick up after their dogs!). Think nothing of it (after all, I do work and volunteer in a shelter so I am no stranger to poop). About 5 minutes from Tim Horton's, I go to wipe the rain from my face and realize that my hands smell bad. Really really bad. Like something died, was eaten, got pooped out, and started to rot. Seriously, I think I almost threw up a little bit.

We get to Tim Horton's, I tied Roxie up outside. I slink into the washroom, and wash my hands. Smell is still lingering a bit. Oh ick. Get my coffee, rescue my dog who has assumed I have abandoned her and is completely freaking out, barking her head off. Hurry home. Get in, and in the light notice my mostly white dog is now mostly not-white. Bend towards her and sniff. Oh yeah, that's the disgusting smell. Lovely. Who knew dogs really rolled in dead smelly things!?! Ok, why didn't anyone tell me?!!

I tried to wipe her off with a damp towel, but The Smell was having nothing to do with that! It was both mighty and powerful. And Roxie then thought it would be fun to rub The Smell into the carpet! Yay!!

Put a very quick stop to that, and into the bath she went. She is pretty good in the tub - she just assumes you are going to kill her and meekly accepts it. After a good scrubbing, out came my dog, back to being mostly white, and not nearly as smelly!!

Flashback - September 29 2007

I walked into work on September 29th, and immediately the staff sent me to go see the new dogs that had just arrived that morning from up north. Everyone knew I had been looking for a dog, but was not having any luck. I am a big dog person (love pit bulls!!) and my condo has a 20lb weight limit on dogs. I just don't relate to little dogs. I wanted something I could take out for walks and not be embarrassed!

We had a number of small dogs into the shelter over the past few months, but they were either not housebroken, or couldn't be left alone all day, or tiny chihuahuas, or tiny chihuahuas that weren't housebroken and couldn't be left alone all day.... you get the picture. I even had some of the other rescues in the area looking for a pittie cross under 20lbs.

So I go into the kennels and start looking at the dogs. Big dog, big dog, holy crap really big dog, big dog, wait.... back up. Hmmm, medium sized dog with tiny short little legs...... quick assessment tells me he is over 20lbs (turns out that guy was around 30lbs). Next kennel has this little white and black thing, bouncing around on her back legs, trying to look all cute. See? Little dog, jumping around, flailing about...just don't see the appeal.

So, I grab a leash and take this little thing out for a quick walk around the shelter. We went down to the Goose and hung out on a bench for a bit and watched the people go by. I touched each of her feet, looked at her teeth, rubbed my hands all over her - looking for any injuries or signs of aggression. None, she was pretty okay with the whole thing.

I took her back to the shelter, and brought her up front where the rest of the staff were. We closed the gate beside the reception desk so she could be off leash. We took turns playing with her, and talking about me maybe fostering her to see how it works out. In the space of an hour I went from "if I take her" to "when I take her" to "my dog" without even realizing it.

First thing on the agenda was a name change - we didn't have her name, and the other shelter named her "Panda". Ok, that's so not going to work for me. Megan suggested the name "Roxanne" as we all felt this little girl needed a tough chick name. Roxie...I like the sound of that. And the thing that sealed the deal - she was over playing with Megan, and I called her (by the new name she was just given) and she came right over to me, sat at my feet, cocked her head to the side, and looked me right in the eyes. I think my heart melted just a little bit :-)

I put her back in her kennel when the volunteers came to walk the dogs, and once I was done all the janitorial stuff I had to do, I went and got her out, and she spent the rest of the shift with me. I brought her home that night - I opened the side door of the work van, and she jumped in and went right into an open kennel. At home I put that kennel in my room and she slept in there. I closed the door as I wasn't sure if she was house trained. She whimpered for about 30 minutes, then settled in and went to sleep.

I woke up the next morning with a migraine. So I took Roxie back to the shelter with me and left her there. Didn't think it was fair to keep her with me, as I wouldn't be able to look after her. Hell, I can barely look after myself when I have a migraine.

Monday Oct 1 - after work I went straight to the shelter and got my dog!!! And she has been with me since.

Here is her SPCA mug shot :