Millie emailed to say that there�s an adult Springer at a Birmingham animal shelter. She was wondering if I could help transport her to the vet clinic in Opelika, until they can find a foster home for her. I emailed back and said that I could help transport any time this weekend.
Saturday, June 3, 2006
Millie called last night and said Kris would pick up the dog from the shelter and meet her in Clanton, where Millie would drive the dog to meet me in Montgomery.
This morning, as we were driving toward Montgomery, Millie called and said they got stuck on the interstate because of traffic, but she said the dog was doing fine in the crate, looking at the people who had came out of their cars, although she said the dog probably would not need a crate (which was a good thing, because the large crate I have does not fit into my compact-size car).
Millie and I met in a restaurant parking lot, and she said the dog has no name, does not seem to have been vaccinated, no heartworm or fecal test done, and not sure if she was spayed. Millie let the dog out of the crate, the dog first licked Millie's face, and within 30 seconds of meeting me, the dog licked my face also. Then I put a harness on the dog. I asked Millie if the dog's okay with other dogs, and she said she was housed with another dog (female?) at the shelter, so we think she's okay with other dogs. Millie also showed me the dog's teeth and ears, both in pretty good conditions.
Before taking the dog into my car, I walked her on the grass for about two minutes, she did not potty. In the car, I tied the leash onto the car door handle, and she jumped onto the backseat by herself after a little bit of coaxing. The dog appeared curious but not hyper or scared. The first ten minutes, she continued to sniff around, eventually put her front end on the center console. When I pushed her back and said "Off", she stayed in the back and went to sleep and remained sleeping for 30 minutes until we got off the freeway. I thought about names for her as I was driving, the first name that popped into mind was Jenny, from Forrest Gump. But I decided to call my sister to ask her to look up more "J" names for more options. She looked on the internet and offered "Jasmine", one of her favorite names, and I thought that would fit in perfectly with the series of flower names we are having with Alabama foster dogs. So Jasmine she is. Anybody's welcome to change it, but right now she has Jasmine on her records at the vet clinic in Opelika.
We stopped at a gas station in Opelika. While I was filling up my car, Jasmine looked at me with her pretty eyes, and I stared her back, to test her, and she looked away after about 15 seconds. After that she just looked at the people coming in and out of the convenience store.
When I was walking her around the vet clinic, she pulled on leash a little (the leash was attached to harness, no collar on), not terribly. But with the "stand like a tree" technique, Jasmine stayed near me a little bit more. But I would say she would need additional training on walking without pulling. I will test her walking with collar next time. Also, she would jump on me trying to get me to pay attention to her. She seems to be at a perfect weight, not fat or too thin. I would say she's about 45 pounds right now. Jasmine definitely needs a bath. I would say she has a "saliva" smell, but I've also smelled the same scent in a dog who needed anal gland emptying. So I asked the receptionist to ask the vet to check her anal glands. I've also asked them to do heartworm and fecal tests, as well as all the standard vaccinations.
In the vet clinic waiting room, there were three men and a little boy (4 or 5 years old) in there. Two of the men had a cat (not in carrier), and the other men with his son had a Doberman Pinscher. Also in the waiting room were two crates with five kittens for adoption. I'm not sure if Jasmine saw any of the felines. The little boy stayed away from Jasmine, but his dad called out to Jasmine, and she went to him and enjoyed petting from him. After the men and the little boy left, two women with a small dog came in, as well as a man and a woman with three cages of small critters. As I was talking to the receptionist and filling out forms, Jasmine was sniffing the rats in one of the cages. She was very curious and pulled on leash, but did not appear to trying to kill them. Then more people came in, and I kept Jasmine near me, as none of them appeared to want to pet her. As each person came in, she would wag her tail. I'm still not very good at determining a dog's emotions by looking at tail alone (Stanley Coren's How to Speak Dog book has a whole chapter about "Tail Talk"), and it's harder to tell with a docked tail, but I would say Jasmine's wagging was happy wagging. As she waited and nobody came to pet her, Jasmine started whining, so I told her Sit, and that seemed to settle her down a tiny bit. Then a dog in the back barked, and Jasmine heard it and started barking nonstop (not rapid barking, but maybe one bark every five seconds). So I used Coren's technique to make her stop. She didn't have a collar on, so I just pushed her upper lip in and said "Quiet". I did that three times and she stopped after that. She went with the receptionist willingly when she took her leash to take her to the back.
I will take her to my apartment for bath and grooming on Monday morning, at the same time test her with Keely and Anastasia (my cat). The next visit after will probably have to be Thursday.
Liana emailed to say that there is an approve applicant whom she had asked about foster-to-adopt Jasmine. This adopter originally indicated in her application that she was interested in Keely, and Angie in Montgomery did the home visit. However, after talking to Angie, we figured that this applicant works full time, she�s interested in getting a canine buddy to spend time with her at home, and we think Keely, who would require training time and more parenting, not exactly a buddy, would not be a good match for her. But this applicant, Kathy, sounded very nice in her emails, as she said that she will also consider which dog Liana thinks would be the best match for her. After Liana sent her Jasmine�s photos and the first day of update that I sent, Kathy filled out a foster application, and of course was immediately approved to be a foster home for Jasmine. Jasmine appears to be a submissive and smart dog, this mean she won�t require too much training time, and this would work out great for Kathy. Also, Kathy mentioned that the dog needs to be good with visiting kids, since she has very young nephews. So far Jasmine seems to be good with kids in public, so this is another good match between Jasmine and Kathy.
I went to the vet clinic at 8 AM this morning to pick up Jasmine. The receptionist said she has been vaccinated, but both fecal test and heartworm test results won't be back until tomorrow. I will call tomorrow to find out, however, I won't be able to see Jasmine again probably until Thursday morning. When I took Jasmine this morning, the kennel guy said she's very sweet. I asked him if she messed up her kennel or if he thinks she's house trained. He said she was pretty good, knocked over the water bucket a couple times, but otherwise she kept her area pretty clean (didn't exactly say if she pooped or peed inside her kennel). When we got to the grassy area outside of the clinic, the first thing she did was she pooped. No diarrhea. When we were in the car, Jasmine's definitely more anxious today, she even whined several times during the 10 minute car ride (I just ignored her). She appeared to be much more active today.
When we got to my apartment complex, we walked around outside a little bit, and she peed. Then I brought her into my apartment. Keely has the run of the apartment now when I'm not at home, so when I opened the door, Keely and Jasmine sniffed each other briefly, then Keely stood still while Jasmine sniffed her a little bit more. Keely didn't mind when Jasmine sniffed her behind, but when they were nose to nose, Keely let out a growl and Jasmine walked away. On our way to the bathroom, Jasmine saw my cat, Anastasia. She sniffed the cat for two seconds and walked away to sniff the rest of the apartment. I kept Jasmine locked in the bathroom for about 60 seconds, while I gathered dog bathing stuff and gave Keely a treat, Jasmine did not make any sounds during the 60 seconds.
Then I put a collar and leash on her, and tied the leash onto the big table in the bedroom, while I cleaned up the bathroom. Jasmine started whining and barking after about 2 minutes not seeing me. So I stood in the hallway (she was not able to see me), banged on the hallway closet door and yelled "Quiet!" She stopped whining and barking for about five seconds, then started again. I did the banging and yelling three times, after that she was quiet for 20 seconds, then I went to the bedroom with a bag of treats, found her lying down on top of the big table (!) and spread some treats on the carpet. I didn't hear any sounds from her for about five minutes as I continued to clean up the bathroom, and after five minutes when I went back to check on Jasmine, she had lied down on the fleece mat on the floor. I think the food calmed her down a little bit, so I spread more treats and went to take a shower myself. I did not hear any barking while in the shower.
Keely, Anastasia, and I waited until 11AM, finally the carpet people came. I took off from work today so I could be with the dog and cat, so they wouldn't have to be boarded at the vet while they change the carpet. The apartment manager had told me that it would take all day, but I didn't believe her because I thought my apartment is only 500 sq. ft., and I've moved all my stuff into the kitchen and bathroom before they came, so I thought it would be only three hours tops. So I packed up Anastasia in a crate and Keely on leash, we waited in the fenced in pool area in the shade. After two hours, they called us in, asking if we would want to wait in the bedroom, so it wouldn't be so hot sitting outside. That's when I realized they are replacing the whole flooring, not just the carpet. So we stayed in the bedroom until the workers left around 5 PM. They were all pretty nice, they saw Keely and petted her and said she's very pretty. She's very friendly today too and acted happy and enjoyed the attention. The guy downstairs was wondering what all the noises were about (he has three adopted cats and is an animal lover too). He moved in one month after I did, so he's been here for almost five years too. He said he had his carpet changed 2 years ago and was very happy about the new one.
In the picture is Keely enjoying the new carpet. We have new vinyl kitchen and bathroom floors too. Before I was not happy about the prospect of paying $30 more a month in the coming up school year, but after I see the results, I think it's worth it. When I moved in five years ago with Penelope and Oscar, they didn't have time to clean the carpet, so it was covered with dog hair from previous tenant. I tried so hard to vacuum once a week and bought a carpet cleaner to help clean up all the mess when Anastasia came to us very sick, and then also Penelope got sick twice from chemo, and of course all the foster Springers had peed and pooped and vomited on the carpet, not to mention myself spilling drinks. I think it was time for the change. If Keely shreds up the new carpet, I'm going to have her "declawed" (just kidding, I'm against declawing cats too).
I then tied Jasmine back to the bedroom table to clean her ears and brush her fur. She started to have "saliva" smell again and she licked her behind. So I called the vet clinic to ask them if they had done the anal glands yet. The receptionist checked her chart and said they were very busy on Saturday and was not able to do it, but they will do it today after I bring her back. I didn't ask if the vet thinks she's spayed or not. Jasmine's ears are very clean, but I cleaned it anyways. She's very upfront about wanting attention, she's pretty much "in your face" type. It took me 5 minutes to clean her ears, because whenever I touched her, she would try to lick my hands and face. If I turn away, she was pretty persistent about circling around me to get me to pet her. I didn't give into her demands of course, but it still took a while to settle her down. I also brushed her. Found one small mat behind each of her ears. Again it took me a while to settle her down enough to cut them out, and while I was brushing her, she kept trying to lick my hands. But I would say she's a very smart dog, highly trainable. She does remind me a lot of Jackson, so I'm not sure if she would be good with Kathy in Montgomery who works all day. However I do think Jasmine is smarter and more trainable than Jackson, and Jasmine doesn't mark urine indoors like Jackson did. Also, I still feel bad that I didn't learn anything from my experience with Jackson, I still can't figure out why he wasn't afraid of men when Mickey picked him up, and was not too bad when I put him in a crate when he was at my apartment, but when he was returned from FTA in Tuscaloosa, he ended up being afraid of men and horrible in crates. I really don't know what I should've done different with him and if there's something I should've learn to apply to Jasmine. I know some dogs are good in wire crates and not in plastic crate (and vice versa), don't know if that would've made any difference. Anyways, I have a plastic crate, I think Jackson's FTA also had plastic crate, but Millie transported Jasmine in a wire crate.
Then I took Jasmine and Keely out for potty before I took Jasmine back to the vet clinic. It was okay walking them both on leash. Jasmine was very curious about everything (a little hesitant about going up the stairs, but not freaked out like Jackson), even though she did not pull on leash much, she did walk from side to side a lot. She got into Keely's face a couple times, Keely growled once and Jasmine backed off and didn't bother Keely again for the rest of the visit. Jasmine pottied on the grass outside. One of my male neighbors and his wife were walking toward us, and the guy called out to the dogs, Jasmine went up to him, sat automatically, while he petted her. Keely saw that and went up to him also. He said they are very sweet and pretty dogs (Jasmine's fur is very shiny in the sun after the bath).
Back inside the apartment, I remembered that Jackson ignored my cat when she stayed still, but tried to chase her when she moved around, so I wanted to test that with Jasmine also. I picked up Anastasia from the dog bed and made her walk around. Jasmine was curious and followed her, but when Anastasia turned around and stared at the dog, Jasmine whined and backed off. I really think she's a little afraid of the cat, and I think she should do okay in a household with calm cat (Anastasia rarely runs, she's pretty slow in her movements usually). Then I had breakfast, Jasmine did sit right in front of me and stared at me as I was eating. Also, while I was in the bathroom washing up, Jasmine put her paws up on the bathroom counter, not sure if she would do it with a kitchen counter.
Then I took Jasmine back to my car to drive her back to the vet clinic right before noon. She was not as anxious this time in the car, but still tried to get into the front seat (leash too short for her to do it), again when I pushed her back and said "off", she stayed in the backseat, but sat up to look around. While in the vet clinic, near the door immediately after we came in, a guy and his son (about 3 years old) wanted to pet Jasmine. Jasmine immediately went up to them, she sat again automatically, both the guy and his son petted her at the same time, she first licked the guy's hands, then turned her head to lick the son on the face. The little boy was a little shy when I started talking to him and hid behind his father's legs, but he really liked Jasmine, and twice came out to pet her. Jasmine licked him on his hands while he was petting her. Not sure if she would be okay with a live-in child, but she's definitely friendly with kids in public.
Regarding my concern over Jasmine�s whining, Liana said that Kathy appears to be more dog-savvy than Brad and Lensey (Jackson�s foster-to-adopt in Tuscaloosa). Also, Heather emailed to say that Jasmine appears to make fast friends and loves everyone, so she might adapt to new situations more easily. Whereas Jackson took longer to warm up to people and then �obsess about the person he connected with�. Heather said that Jackson�s foster mom, Beth, brought him to Heather�s house the day before adoption for grooming, and he was a bit upset when Beth went out of sight; Heather had to hold him to calm him down, but it appears his new family is dog-savvy and prepared enough to help him through the transition period.
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
I just called the vet clinic, and they said she's negative for both heartworm and fecal tests. The vet did not find a spay scar, so they do not think she's spayed. Also, they expressed her anal glands and found them to be infected. So she's on antibiotics for ten days for that. I asked if I should go ahead and call the vet clinic to have Jasmine spayed before going to Kathy, waiting to hear back from Heather, Liana, or Millie.
Kathy emailed to ask me to give her a call about possibly picking up Jasmine on Sunday. I didn�t get home from the vet school until 9 PM today, but I decided to give Kathy a call at 9 PM anyways, just in case she�s not interested in getting Jasmine after talking to me, then we would be able to start looking for another foster home as soon as possible.
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Kathy emailed yesterday with her phone number, so I called last night. She said she went to AU too, so she sort of knows where my apartment is. I asked her if she has any questions. The first question she had was if Jasmine is good with little kids. I told her that she seems to be fine with them in public, and I'm pretty sure she would be okay with visiting kids (Kathy's nephews), but I told her if with her own kids, she might have to watch out for her jumping on them. She said that's fine. Also she asked if it's okay to use the bed she had for her previous dog, Cola, for Jasmine. I told her that's fine. I told her about Jasmine's latest vet news, and she said she doesn't know anything about anal glands, but I told her she might have to watch out for anal glands discomfort in Jasmine for the rest of the dog's life, and also I recommended her to take Jasmine for recheck after she's finished with antibiotics, she said that's fine too. I asked her if she wants the dog spayed before going to her, she said that sounds good especially if Cathryne's going to pay for it. She said even if that means she has to pick up on Monday, she's flexible with that too. But I told her Sunday would be better so she would have some time to spend with Jasmine before she works full time on Monday, she said that's she was planning too. She said she will spend 5-6 hours with Jasmine on Sunday, and then leave for grocery store shopping for an hour or so, and leave Jasmine at home and see how that goes. I asked her if she has a crate. She said she does not, but she said she's planning to fence off the kitchen area with a pet gate, so the dog would have kitchen area plus doggie door to the backyard. She said she will bring out the pet gate today and figure out how it works and will have it ready by Sunday, and then go from there. If the dog's house trained and is not destructive, she's thinking about eventually letting the dog have the run of the house when home alone. About Sunday, she said she's pretty flexible with that too. So I told her I will pick up Jasmine on Saturday and keep her for the night, and then Kathy can pick her up on Sunday morning. Kathy sounds very nice on the phone, and like Liana said, she definitely sounds more dog-savvy than Lensey and Brad.
Millie emailed to say go ahead with the spay surgery. I called the vet clinic this morning, and they said they are full for surgeries today, but will do it either tomorrow or Friday, and said Jasmine will be ready to be picked up on Saturday. They asked me if we want to do pre-anesthesia testing or pain medication, I said No for both, unless she shows signs of pain after surgery.
I will try to go see Jasmine this afternoon, will get one dose of Heartgard and one dose of Advantage from them to give to her. I have an extra microchip that I bought for my sister's old cat, so I will take Jasmine to the local humane society to have her microchipped too.
I was able to get to see Jasmine for one hour today. I got there around 4:30 and I asked for Heartgard and Advantage for her when I asked to pick her up for an hour. The receptionist said they don't sell Heartgard just by one dose, but she said they mix up their own ivermectin with vitamin and give as liquid, they sell that by one dose if I want that. I thought, that sounds like some sort of horse dose that I saw from a catalog, or it might be some kind of generic drug, so it might be cheaper than Heartgard, so I said yes. I asked them to give both to her and she said okay. She also said they will spay her tomorrow. Jasmine didn't smell at all today, maybe the antibiotics did the trick.
Jasmine appeared to be a little anxious today, still excited, moved around a lot, curious and sniffing everything, but she did not even try to get into the front seat today. Then we drove to the local humane society to have her microchipped (an extra one I bought several months ago for my sister's old cat). At the humane society, Jasmine was still appeared to be a little hyper, jumped on two people who tried to pet her, both said she's looks very pretty and is sweet. They said they didn't mind that she jumped on them, but I tried to pull her off to start teaching her not to jump on people. There were several cages of guinea pigs in the waiting area (ever since Petco opened, there seems to be a lot more small critters for adoption at the humane society; there needs to be more education about this, there are small animal rescue groups too, so it's better to adopt than buy, even with guinea pigs and rabbits and ferrets). I'm not sure if Jasmine saw the critters, because she did not pay any attention to them, even when we were two feet from the cages. She was curious about a litter of puppies in a cage though. While we waited for one of the workers to bring the scanner and help me microchip Jasmine, another worker brought out a big German Shepard, Jasmine started barking at the dog, so I told her "Quiet" and "Sit", and she did after I told her twice. I held Jasmine while the female worker injected the microchip. Jasmine did wiggle a little bit as the needle was inserted, but we did it.
After we drove back to the vet clinic, I walked her around for about 10 minutes in the neighborhood. She doesn't pull on leash at all, but still walks from side to side a lot. Also I wanted to practice basic obedience a little bit with her, actually just the "Sit" command for now. When we stopped, again she tried to jump on me, so I immediately turned my back and walked one step away, so she barely got me (nail scraped my back) and did not get the attention she wanted. We did that three times, and after that, she seemed to know not to jump. Again I think she's very smart. Also another thing we worked on was after I told her to "Sit", she would put her paws on my arms, almost like trying to "climb" up on me (instead of a jump). Again as soon as I saw her doing that, I removed my hand, and tried to teach her "Shake", because I thought if I can teach her when to do it, then it would be easier to teach her when NOT to do it. Sure enough, she got bored of me kept telling her to "Shake" and actually stopped putting her paw on me after a few commands. And of course I only pet her when she sits nicely and not trying to knock me over.
I am not planning to go see her tomorrow, since she'll be in surgery anyways, unless she wants to see both Keely and Anastasia at the same time too (I'm getting my apartment re-carpetted, so I have to keep them with me for the day). I'll try to come see her Friday.