Home from being spayed!

I'm relieved to report that Sofi's spay is over and done! She went in Tuesday morning and we picked her up on Wednesday. The experience didn't seem to set her back at all, actually.

I expressed some concern about her anxiety around barking dogs, and Dr. Bradley gave her a private exam room for the whole day while she waited for her surgery (an emergency pushed surgeries to the end of the day). We had planned to bring her home that night, but ended up waiting until Wednesday.

It's been a bit of a challenge to keep her from over-exerting herself, but she's getting plenty of rest and lots of hugs. Her zipper looks pretty good at this point. And, you can tell that her dog suit is filling up with proper dog stuffins!! The scale at the vet confirmed my own crudely-conducted weigh-in at home--she's gained 13 lbs.

Dr. Bradley thinks she is finished growing, at least structurally. We will make a plan to move her off the puppy food, and hopefully onto the food Tucker is eating in the coming weeks.

I'm trading voice mails with someone at K-State, and I have lots of "what if we don't do this" questions to ask them. Dr. Bradley added a consideration this week--since the head of the femur is actually above the hip joint at this point, with lots of established muscles keeping it there, would she be a worse candidate for the hip replacement, since the muscles would have to stretch a greater distance during recovery than in typical cases?

All food for thought at this point, but I'm just glad to get this first surgery obstacle marked off the list!

Update long overdue

What a tremendously long time it's been since I posted an update on dear Sofi. I keep meaning to write a few lines, then life and work gets the better of me. Also, it seems like the triumphs these days come in very gradual progressions, as opposed to the dramatic breakthroughs of our earlier days together. But looking back at the last few weeks, I can see that our progress is pretty dramatic.

Highlights:

• Sofi now weighs 57 lbs, up 13 lbs from when she came to us
• Sometimes she gets so excited to see one of us after a short absence that we are afraid she will hurt herself jumping around
  
• She has recently started to seek out affection pretty assertively--pawing at me until I give her a good rubdown
• She will actually come over to me while I'm working at my desk and rest her head on my lap and gaze up at me with tail wagging
• We've had hit and miss success with walks--ranging from happy-go-lucky trotting to full-fledged panic attacks when there is too much dog and car traffic around us
• She's lost most of her interest in poop-eating, though every once in a while she falls off the wagon
• She is spending more time in the living room if we are all out there, although she still ultimately prefers her "room"
• She loves to be hugged!

OK, when I look at the list, I do realize we've come a long way together in a relatively short time. We have all fallen hopelessly in love with Sofi, and I think the feeling is at least somewhat mutual. It is beyond gratifying to have our affection returned by her.

She is still on anti-anxiety meds--we will start backing off of them after she goes in to be spayed on 10/21. I have a message into K-State to discuss a plan for the hip replacement. I hate to do it to her, since it seems she is doing so well the way she is, but who knows if she is in pain? The X-rays indicate she should be, though you'd never know it by watching her move. I'm still not 100% convinced it's the best course of action.

Sofi and the rest of us made it through a four day stretch of me being gone without a single hitch! She did great with Andre and she even learned a couple of new tricks while I was out of town. All in all, she is turning out to be a well-behaved, eager to please, cheerful, sometimes very Tigger-esque dog.

We are nearing the date when we need to schedule her for a spay and also decrease her dosage on the anti-anxiety meds. I need to call K-State to discuss the possibility of the hip replacement. Right now it seems insane to subject her to something that would require her to be severely limited in her actions for 6-8 weeks!!!! What on earth would she do with all that energy without being able to bounce around the yard several times a day? And, it just doesn't seem like she is dealing with pain issues at this point, or if she is, she sure is not letting on. One thing at a time I guess--and the spay is next on the list so I'm going to shelve the other surgery for the time being.

Sofi still has a few things to conquer before she earns her certificate of good citizenship around here....she did pee in the living room yesterday, while I was making my lunch. That was disappointing because I thought she had that one wired. And speaking of wires, she chewed the one for the overhead lights in my office (thankfully they were unplugged at the time) to shredded bits. I guess my rabbit-proofing skills are going to come back into play here. We've still got to get her comfortable on a leash again and some car rides would not be a bad idea either. All in good time I guess. In the meantime, I think we are all just enjoying a predictable routine with her each day and her smile, which she displays with more and more frequency.

I guess an update is long overdue! We are settling into routines around here and things are going pretty smoothly overall, with minor glitches here and there.

The morning routine is getting better, Sofi is responding to gentle corrections when she does things like almost gnaw my hand off during a play session or engaging in a little session of "nuisance barking." She did pee on the floor in the living room on Sunday, but I caught her in the act and I think she "got it" that the location was not acceptable. Since then I haven't worried so much about that happening because it seemed to click for her.

I have perfected my recipe for "poop seasoning" that sends her running in the opposite direction (a heavy lacing of black pepper was not even enough to deter her from her problem behavior...) The base is black pepper, and I added cajun seasoning and ground cloves! It works! But I still have to creep around and spy on her, then descend upon her with my little shaker while she is pooping and before she gets a chance to eat it...hopefully this will not have to go on indefinitely, because it's not one of my more dignified skills.

And, the news we've all been waiting for...the verdict is in on the surgery plan. The toggle wire plan is not an option, according to the orthopedic surgeon. This leaves hip replacement and FHO. I am not feeling comfortable with the FHO option, given that the hip replacement is far superior in several ways. So, we will plan on spaying her in about a month, then we'll wait another month or so before we do the hip replacement. This would be a K-State deal, and just the transportation part seems very daunting to me, let alone the expense, but I know we can get through it. And hopefully, we will have given her the gift of a long life without pain in her rear quarters, at least.

Sofi still has bouts of low self-confidence and fear, and she now refuses to go for a walk at all. We're backing off of that for a while, but I really hope we can get her back on track with that. Her progress far outweighs her challenges at this point, which makes me very happy.

Old Fears Persist

I'm doing my best to embrace Cesar Millan's philosophy that dogs want to live in the now, and it's our job to help them leave behind whatever happened to them in the past and be the dog they want to be right now. Overall, that is working well. I have more confidence in dealing with her and encouraging her to confront her fears. Sometimes my confidence and encouragement are not enough though.

She did not want to go on a walk last night AT ALL. After much coaxing and a little dragging, she did come along, but was anxious and reluctant for most of the journey. When we arrived back home, she retreated and withdrew for the remainder of the evening. Also, she still will not come when called (except for coming inside, for which I am extremely grateful!) and still cowers whenever someone walks towards her. She has not sought out any affection yet, either. I am willing to accept these things if they don't change, but I really hope things will continue to improve.

Some Recent Photos