I got to Heather�s house a little early. Heather was out, so I waited in the car for a few minutes. There were some dogs barking in the converted garage room. I saw three dogs jumping up through the garage window; I could tell two of them were Heather�s own dogs, and I guessed that the other one must be Kiwi.
When Heather came back with her friend, she let Kiwi out. Kiwi�s so small! Maybe about 30 lbs. Definitely she�s the smallest Springer I�ve cared for so far. Kiwi sniffed me and I petted her and she jumped on the sofa in the livingroom, but when Heather went to get Kiwi�s stuff from the basement room, Kiwi followed her. In Kiwi�s records, it says that her previous owners took her to the University of Georgia at Athens Veterinary School�s behaviorist, trying to solve her issues. The clinician there gave them a lot of information, but basically just to reinforce basic obedience so that Kiwi would see them as the leaders of the pack. The vet also recommended that they start treating Kiwi as the alpha of the two dogs. On the follow-up report, it says that things had calmed down a little bit. But Heather said maybe we shouldn�t give all these information to Kiwi�s adopters because obviously whatever her previous owners did, it did not work, so they had to give her up. The UGA vet also prescribed Prozac to help with the behavior issues. Also, there�s some records from Kiwi�s regular vet about vomiting, so she was prescribed Tagamet and recommended special diet.
I asked Heather how�s Kiwi with her dogs, and Heather said Kiwi has displaced (redirected) aggression with Chloe, her own female Springer. She said sometimes when Kiwi�s not happy, she would give an evil stare at Chloe. Heather said but Kiwi is fine with Tully, her alpha male of the dog pack, so she thinks Kiwi might be an alpha female. I asked Heather if Kiwi has bitten any human or dogs, she said Kiwi has never bitten any person. With dogs, Heather said sometimes Kiwi gets excited seeing her car going up the driveway when she comes home, and if Heather gets out of the car too slow, then Kiwi would bite Chloe�s floppy ears, sometimes scrapping it and cause it to bleed a tiny bit. So Heather would keep them separate if she knows ahead of the time that it would take her a while to get from the car to get inside the house.
Heather gave me a big jar of the Wellness Chicken kibbles that she feeds to Kiwi (Heather doesn�t like Science Diet either, but she said Kiwi has been doing really well on an all-natural diet that she feeds to all her dogs). When we were getting ready to go, I could tell Heather was a little attached to Kiwi and was a little hard for her to say goodbye to a dog she had for four months. Heather didn�t have this reaction when she gave me Brenna (well, it�s understandable, considering Brenna bit Heather�s Tully, a week before she gave me Brenna). So I knew that Kiwi must be somebody special in Heather�s eyes.
Kiwi had one cup of the Wellness dry food that Heather gave her last night (I bought another small bag at the pet boutique, and it says 2 cups per day for Kiwi's size). I had Kiwi sit before giving her the bowl. While she was eating, I picked up the bowl, and put three Old Mother Hubbard treats in it, and returned the bowl to her. Kiwi had no problem with it. Then I grabbed another OMH treat in my hand and formed a fist, and put my fist between the bowl and Kiwi's mouth while she was eating the rest of the food, and dropped the additional treat into her bowl, with my hand in her bowl, she had no problem with it either.
After dinner, I let her out with leash attached, so I could stop her easily if she urinates inside the apartment (which she did not). Then I brushed her and cut out the mats. She was pretty good throughout most of the brushing, but she does not like her hind end to be brushed. We'll have to work on that more. I found a penny-size lump on her right abdomen area (Heather called this morning and said her vet had already seen it and said it's probably fatty lump).
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Kiwi was wonderful in the car, although she did sit up and look outside and stayed in the backseat pretty much throughout the whole three-hour trip (like Heather predicted), including when I went to lunch for half an hour in Atlanta before going to meet Janet. It was sunny but cold outside yesterday, but I found a shaded spot behind the building next door and parked there for Kiwi and Anastasia while I had lunch. Then we went to a pet boutique in Atlanta to get dog and cat food (more Wellness just in case). I took Anastasia inside with me and left Kiwi in the car (didn't want her to start barking at another dog when I have armful of canned food). I didn't hear Kiwi bark in the car. I think she just sat up in the car and looked out. This is good because so far no signs of separation anxiety. Kiwi did sneak in a couple short naps during the drive to meet Janet. We met Janet at a parking lot in Hogansville. Janet had her two Spaniels in her car. I took Kiwi out to meet Janet. Kiwi sniffed Janet and let her pet her for a few seconds. But Kiwi as of right now doesn't seem like "in your face" type of Springer (jumping all over people). I then picked up Kiwi and let her see Janet's Springer, Bonnie, through the glass window. They stared at each other for about five seconds, but no barking or growling from Kiwi.
Penelope's old fleece pajamas on Kiwi. Kiwi did not mind dressing up at all. Before letting her out of the crate, putting on the leash, letting out of the front door, I had Kiwi sit before all these. She was a little stubborn and tested her limits with me the first time in the crate. We just stared at each other for a whole ten minutes before she finally sat for me for me to open the crate door for her. The next time, it was five minutes. Now it's about one minute. Definitely improving.
