A Year of Miracles

Sofi on August 11, 2008

Sofi on September 1, 2009

Sofi's one year anniversary with us came and went, along with all the flurry of Back-to-School Week. It did not go unnoticed, unappreciated, or unobserved. There was no grand party with doggy cake or anything like that, but we all took time to appreciate how far she has come!

When I look back at the hardest times in my life, it seems like I'm remembering someone else's life. I don't know if it's true for others, but I tend to put those difficult times when I was pushed to the limit out of my immediate consciousness as soon as I've moved into smoother waters. Funny how the first few months with Sofi has become one of those types of experiences for me! It seems like we've always had this bouncy dog with a bottomless pit of happiness in her heart barreling down the hall, taking down children and cats in her path. But all I have to do is go back to the first entries in this blog to see that we couldn't have possibly envisioned this reality one year ago. We were in way over our heads and were not particularly optimistic, once we got a few weeks into our task!

Our biggest problem with Sofi at this point is the ever-present worry that she will do us physical damage when one of us returns to the house from an absence--she gets so excited and starts throwing around her 70ish pounds with reckless abandon and sheer joy, until she is instructed firmly to "Go sit and stay" til she gets a handle on her emotions. She will sit there, wiggling and shaking, waiting as patiently as she can for a hug and chest rub, then all is well in her world.

I had intended to take some photos of Sofi on her anniversary, and two weeks late is not too bad. I hope you will enjoy seeing a few photos of Sofi enjoying her life (and Tucker, too!).

--Nikki

Not all dogs like to go for a walk!!!

As I look back on the early posts about Sofi's Journey it is hard to imagine that the dog we have now is the same huddled, broken, stinky, matted, antisocial basket case that we brought home 9 months ago. She has overcome so many issues to become a sweet and loving participant in our strange little tribe!!

Her latest triumph has taken the better part of 2 months to get through, we realized very early that she would most likely never be able to go for walks. A bad hip and generally a complete wreck when attached to a collar and leash!!

Challenge one: she does not like to be caught, that makes sense considering her experience with people and whatever happened to damage her body so badly. She also had issues with being in confined spaces, since she most likely spent most of her life before coming to us in a cage. She does not like to be followed or chased, and finally she is afraid of open spaces and trash cans!

The idea of teaching her to go for walks really started as a remedy to my frustrations with her potty issues(read previous posts for details) and wanting to be sure she was not eating what she was making. This was more an issue for me than her.

When I first started using the leash she would pee on the floor, shake, and generally freeze in her tracks. The first three or four days I just hooked her up, encouraged her, gave her treats, and got her outside(then came back in to clean up the mess).

After about five days we were able to go outside and then she would pee. At this point I decided that I was going to invest whatever time was needed to get her to go on walks. The first step was to go out and pee, then walk around the yard. She did not like the walking, she would pull and desperately try to get away, I kept reassuring her and giving her cookies. Finally after about a week of doing this for 30 to 45 minutes a day she was able to complete a circuit in the yard without freaking out. I realized through this process that certain areas of the yard scared her more than others. We focused on those scary areas, by moving very slowly and stopping and having cookies to show her that nothing bad was going to happen. We also had a safe place that she always got a cookie so that she had something to focus on.

One day she seemed to be at ease so I marched her up to the back gate and out we went, we made it to the front of the house and she froze up, I had to almost pull her to get her going again, but once she started moving she was ok for about half a block, then she put down her anchor. We turned around and went home for lots of cookies.

I kept up with this routine for about 10 days and we progressed until we could make it around the block. Now going around the block was one thing, but she is up to 65 pounds now and was still pulling my arm out of the socket, or leaning on my legs like we were magnetized!!! She was not enjoying it, she was not sniffing or wagging her tail. The next step was to add Tucker, the other dog of the house, he added a new distraction. He is not known for being an exceptional walker, and has a tendancy to start and stop often, and bark, and squeak, and pee every 5 feet. Amazingly though he helped Sofi keep moing forward and provided just enough leadership to calm her, or more likely to distract her. After about a week she started sniffing every once in awhile, and finally she started wagging her tail!!!!!!

We maintained the same walking course for a week or so and then I started changing the map, at first this threw her off, but with time she began to trust me. We have also addressed many of the situations that used to frighten her--cars parked in driveways, trash cans, barking dogs in yards, and loud noises. When something frightens her we slow down and then stop so she knows that she does not need to run away. She has stopped pulling on the leash at this point and I would say that she is one of the best walking dogs I have had the pleasure of knowing.

I look forward to our nightly walks, and I know she enjoys going out too, but she is still frightened every time I go to put the leash on her, which makes me think that what ever happened to her before she came to us must have been truly unimaginable!!!! Shortly after she is on the leash she will be happily wagging her tail as we cruise around the neighborhood facing new and exciting challenges!!

She and I have become close and I am very proud of her!!!!
Andre'

Thoughts on an(ahem) unsavory subject

We got through the holidays and even managed a five-day trip to Colorado, thanks to the house-sitting efforts of the amazing Lindsey with backup from her fantastic family. Now we are back into the working-day groove with Sofi spending most of her day with me in my (our) office. She's happy, healthy, and really doing well with most things.

One thing we are still struggling with is the coprophagia. This is a problem that has expanded into Tucker's sphere, so to speak....we discovered this about a week ago when Andre came around the corner after having let both of them out, face white as a sheet, having witnessed something that disturbed him terribly. It seems Sofi has taken an interest in Tucker's......well, leavins. And Andre witnessed a scene that apparently traumatized him greatly. I will spare you the details.

At that moment, I vowed to redouble my efforts to solve this problem. I did some more research on the topic, and was once again reassured that this is not as disturbing a problem as it seems...it's not a dangerous habit, just really supremely repulsive to human sensibilities. Most dogs who exhibit the behavior grow out of it eventually, unless it is spurred on by some obsessive/compulsive drive...and I think that's probably what we are dealing with.

None of our solutions have worked up to this point, including the For-Bid food additive, even shaking cayenne pepper or meat tenderizer onto her poop as soon as it hits the ground. Some people recommend enzyme treatments--adding fresh pineapple or even alfalfa pellets to the food to help break down undigested matter--but I think Sofi's problem is a learned and compulsive behavior, not nutritionally motivated.

I awoke the other night with an idea! We have some air freshener that is made of pure citrus oil, and the dogs hate the smell (we've been known to tease the dogs by offering them orange peels and watching them turn up their noses at the unpleasant smell). We've been spraying the trash cans with this spray to keep Tucker from eating kleenexes out of it. So--why not follow the dogs around, wait for them to poop, then spray it with the orange spray?!?! Brilliant, right? Turns out this works, actually!! It completely diverts Sofi's attention from her less than savory activities. She loses interest completely as a result of the spray.



Well, this plan requires me to get up at the crack of early, put on my boots, fuzzy robe, and coat, and run around the back yard at 6am in the dark, poised and ready for either or both of the dogs to poop in the bushes or trees, then descend upon the poop with my spray can before anything disturbing can happen to it. I come back in the house and remove twigs from my hair and assess my face for new scratches and abrasions. I repeat this process a couple more times over the course of the day.

How long can I keep this up? I'm not sure at this point. It's already getting a bit old, as you might imagine. But I'm committed to at least trying to break the habit and hoping that Sofi can be conditioned to associate poop with an unpleasant citrus smell. I'm definitely open to suggestions, if you happen to have any. In the meantime, think of me at 6am, crouching in the bushes in my fuzzy robe with my spray can, waiting for a dog to poop.

Snow Dogs!

The view from my desk

This is a common sight for me during the day, particularly between 3 and 5pm, as the dinner hour approaches. Caramelly brown eyes and a soft muzzle, ready to endure as much back-scratching as I'm willing to administer, leaning into it for maximum effect.

Sofi is a joyful, hoppy presence who chooses solitude with less and less frequency. I worry about her mountain goat antics in the back yard, doing superdog leaps off tall rocks and screeching around corners on two wheels, but she has not hurt herself and I don't ever see her limping. Her cornering is much more effective on the left side than the right, and she does fall occasionally, but for the most part her leg doesn't slow her down a bit.

We've moved her bed into the bedroom next to Tucker's and she has adopted this as her new spot. The two of them can be found there each night, snoring and making dog-dream noises (and manufacturing gag-inducing odors) alongside each other. She is learning to play more gently and is getting more playtime with the kids, now that she is not trying to gnaw off their appendages and facial features. Not as often, anyway.

One cute behavior she has picked up from the cat apparently, is rubbing up against our legs as she walks by. She kind of arches her back and leans, then keeps on walking. Very sweet.

She still definitely has her "turtle" moments. I've given up on walking her altogether for the time being, and she had a panic attack when Bear, the 120lb sheepdog came over for Thanksgiving. We will keep working on that relationship, because I think they will enjoy playing together tremendously once she is a little more accustomed to him.

I'm looking forward to the first respectable snowfall--I know she is going to love that, and I will have my video camera ready.

Tis the season for soft cozy beds

I had my doubts during the first couple of months we had Sofi that she would ever set foot on a soft, cushy surface. She was wary of the foam pad we gave her to sleep on, opting instead for the cool tiles. So when I ordered a bed for her, I figured Tucker might be getting a stylish daybed. But within 12 hours of pulling it out of the box and fluffing it up (and after kicking Tucker out of it a couple of times), I came around the corner to find a little dog deposited in the bed's soft center.

Since then, her "princess bed" has become her nighttime sleeping and daytime lounging and napping spot. I still have to kick Tucker out of it a couple of times a day....

Placement is very important to Sofi--I've tried moving the bed out of the congested corner of my office where we first placed it, to closer to the bedroom, where it's warmer at night. No dice. She will curl up behind it, but not in it. So it's back in the corner, wedged beneath my printer and in front of all my office supply drawers.

Sofi continues to do well, although I notice her limping a bit now if she doesn't get her dose of Rimadyl. She's off the anxiety meds, is totally house-trained (I just jinxed that for sure), and we're trying to do a 15-minute evening session of "make the dog lie down and be petted on the living room floor while we all watch something on TV" which is helping her be more social in the evenings.

We're trying to figure out what we are going to do for Christmas--we are in need of a highly sensitive and committed housesitter who is willing to be aware of and deal with all her idiosynchracies for about four days while we go to Denver....oh yeah, and take care of the five other labor-intensive souls hopping and lounging about our house. Good luck with that.

In Honor of Eliot Day

Our dear Eliot left us a year ago today--All Souls Day. I've felt his presence frequently during the past year--it seems like he's never too far away from us. I began feeling his presence more during the time when we were considering adopting Sofi, and I believe he had a hand in sending her to us. I think of him as her guardian angel.

Eliot had all kinds of unique personality traits, one of which was coming up under my arm when I was working at the computer and flinging my hand off my mouse in an attempt to get my attention. He also dearly loved getting a big sloppy drink and then wiping his drippy libbits on the pants of whoever happened to be closest to him. I didn't see it as any coincidence when Sofi began doing the arm-flinging behavior this past week, or when she went over and got a big drink just now, then came over to me and rubbed her face on my leg. I just know that Eliot is still communicating his love in little ways all around us. It is said that the veil between the worlds is thinnest around All Soul's Day, so perhaps it's just easier for us to be aware of him right now.

I can't even put into words how special Eliot was. He was an old, wise soul who taught me all kinds of lessons about myself. I miss him very much, but every time I think of him free from the limitations, pains, and challenges his body confronted him with in his final years, I can't help but smile and be grateful. I believe his soul is happy.