Tara

Tara

Tuesday, January 2, 2006
I just bought a new baby/pet gate. I was browsing at Big Lots, and saw this metal one. Even though I did not have success trying to set up plastic gates before, I thought I would give this style a try. I did it! As I was setting it up, Tara was in the living room with me, and Anastasia was looking out of the window in the bedroom. After the gate�s up, Tara walked toward the bedroom and ran into the gate twice. I think she was confused to the new �furniture�. But after that, I think she learned quickly and did not try again. Anastasia, on the other hand, is the persistent type, and she tried for about 20 minutes to find ways to come join Tara and me on the other side. I took the gate off after about an hour. If I overnight a dog, I can put up the gate to separate the dogs. But I bought the gate mainly to separate the cats if Oscar comes to visit, as it seems Anastasia isn�t able to jump over the gate. Two other new things: When I was in Atlanta about a week ago, I bought a bottle of vision supplements when I was at the natural food store. The supplement is powder in capsules, and the powder is made of the five or six typical herbal and vitamin supplements to help with vision. I just sprinkle it on Tara�s food during meal time, along with the milk thistle (for liver; she had been taking milk thistle powder once a day for about a month now). I know it�s a bit late to give Tara the vision supplement, but if it helps her cataracts not to get any worse, I think it�s worth it. Also, yesterday Tara finished all her previous dog food, and started on the new bag of Nutro Ultra Senior formula. I think it has already started to help her stool to be even a little firmer. It seems like she had persistently slightly soft stool on Innova�s Senior formula, strange.

Anastasia sniffing Tara�s tail as the dog�s sleeping.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007
A few days before Christmas, Kathleen, the owner relinquishment coordinator, sent out an email to the list to ask for evaluation of two female Springers in south-central Alabama. Kathleen wrote, �Two 4 year old females are not getting along and need to be rehomed. The owners have already posted "Free to good homes" posters, hoping to get these girls evaluated ASAP before they get dumped. The owner wants them gone sooner rather than later.� I was busy with processing horse samples at school, even worked on Christmas Day. But I did not see any reply from Kathleen to the list, about someone volunteering to do the evaluation, and I know we don�t have ESRA volunteers in that area. I finally finished processing all 500 horse samples on Wednesday, December 27, so I emailed Kathleen, to ask if she would still need help with the evaluation. Even though it�s a 2 and half hour drive each way to the location, I felt bad about not being able to help with rescue at all for the past six weeks, because I had been working non stop with the horse samples. So I thought it would be a good way to help out. Kathleen emailed back and said that she had not heard back from the dogs� owners since she sent out the first request, but she will try to contact them again (usually this is a sign that the dogs had been adopted and the owners don�t bother to let us know). Finally, today she emailed me again and said she had just heard back from the owners, and that he is still interested in relinquishing the two dogs. So Kathleen gave me the dog description form that the owners had sent, and put me in touch with them. I guess it was good that Kathleen had not contacted me earlier, because I had caught a bad cold and was pretty much sleeping the past week off to get better. But today finally I am back to my regular schedule. Since we don�t have volunteers near there, I told Kathleen that if the dogs look alright, I can help transport them somewhere on the same day that I evaluate them too (so nobody need to make an extra long trip just to drive down there to get the dogs), but Kathleen said we don�t have any foster homes lined up yet, so she said just to evaluate them and to take some pictures.

In the dog description form, it says that the dogs are called Faith and Glory. One of them is 45 pounds, and the other one 32 pounds (small for a female Springer), and one is liver and white, the other black and white. Their current owner said that the reason for relinquishment was �They are sisters and they have begun to fight with each other. I am in the military and travel a lot. They are not adjusting to their new home need room to run.� The place they live in is near an army base. He also stated that the dogs don�t have any medical conditions, all vaccinations current, house trained, crate trained, good with kids, has not been exposed to other dogs, not good with cats, but rides well in the car, and is good at the groomer�s. He said that the dogs are left outside during the day, and sleep in crates at night. �They are good dogs but I need to find them homes fast. They will do best if they are separated and put in families that only want one animal.� He said the reason he had not replied earlier was because he was deployed and had been on vacation and just got back.

I emailed the owner my cell phone number and he called, and said that if we can wait until the weekend, then they might be able to meet me halfway so I won't have to drive so far. But I told him that if we meet somewhere right off the road, the dogs might not behave the same in unfamiliar environment than in their current home, so I said I could come. He said his wife is home in the afternoons, so he's going to ask her if tomorrow at 1 PM would be okay with her, and then call me back after he talks with her. About an hour later, he emailed and asked if tomorrow around noon would work out with my schedule, and I said yes.

Thursday, January 4, 2007
Just got back from meeting the girls. The house is at the end of a small subdivision. The house has privacy fenced yard (about 1/2 acre?) and next to their property is hogwired fence property, that looked like acres and acres of wooded lot. In the driveway is a car and a truck, both new-looking and shiny. Next to the curb on the street is a small but new-looking and shiny boat.

The husband opened the door for me, and he held the two dogs back. After he closed the door after me, the two girls jumped on me trying to get me to pet them. He told the dogs to get down. I then got to meet his wife. The livingroom is nicely decorated and clean also. The wife is a little big, but I didn't want to ask if they are expecting a baby, in case she's not (not sure if the real reason they are relinquishing is because they are expecting a baby). Then I kneeled down to pet the dogs. Faith is the liver and white, Glory is the black and white (pictured above).

Anastasia even pawed Tara�s tail. I don�t think she ever got this close to the dog before. Then Tara wiggled her tail and that scared Anastasia off.

I petted Faith first, the wife sat on the couch, and the husband was petting Glory by the dinning room table. Both dogs are on the small side (bone frame wise), I would say probably Faith should be 40 pounds, Glory probably 35 pounds, but as of right now, both of them should lose about 5 pounds, as they are a little chubby right now. They said they had the dogs spayed in the past year. Both dogs are very very sweet. Faith stayed near me while I petted her. I first checked her ears, they don't have infection smell, but I think there is some brown debris in there. The wife said she bathed the dogs yesterday (they keep the dogs shaved), and she thinks Faith might have an ear infection. I asked if they have had ear infections before, they said Faith has had a couple in the past, all started after they moved to Alabama (from Kentucky). They said somebody told them it's probably allergy related, but it's not serious enough and they didn't put the dogs on steroids or antihistamine. I touched Faith all over and she didn't have any problem with that. When I stopped petting, Faith nudged me with her nose once. I asked about the dog fights. They said there had been two, first one was six months ago, second one was three months ago. Ever since, they've been keeping the dogs separated, and today is the first time they've had the dogs together in the last two months. The husband said they think when they moved to this house, it's privacy fence, and their previous home was chain link, so the dogs would run along the fence and look out. But with privacy fence, they can't look out, and he thinks they get frustrated that way, and twice they've dug out of the fence, which they had not done with the chain link fence. He said both times he called their names and they came back immediately. He said he wishes he has more time to spend with the dogs (to exercise the dogs more I guess), but he's been deployed. I asked about the seriousness of the dog fights. The wife said she first tried to stop the fight with water spray, and then with broom handle to separate the dogs, neither helped, so she ended up having to physically pull the dogs apart (I guess she was at home by herself when the fight happened; she said they were in the backyard when it happened). She said Faith grabbed onto Glory's face, Glory ended up getting a puncture wound in the cheek. They had to give antibiotic for her. We can still see a scar on Glory's right cheek. I asked if they took the dogs to the vet after the fight, they said yes both times they took them to the vet. They said Faith started out as the definite dominant one, but recently, they think Glory started fighting back, and that's when they think the dogs started fighting. I asked what they think started the fights, they said they couldn't tell, but Glory does growl if Faith gets near her food bowl during meal times. They said when they were younger she didn't do that, but maybe she's tired of Faith kept going after her food, and decided she needed to protect her own food. They said somebody told them maybe Glory could sense that Faith has ear infection and thus not able to fend for herself as well, and that's why Glory fought back. So they've been taking Faith to the vet to have the ear infections treated. (I also smelled "saliva" smell on the dogs, so I would recommend the foster/adoptive parent to take them to the vet to have their anal glands checked to make sure they are not infected). The husband also added that they don't think Faith and Glory would be good with other dogs, because they haven't really exposed to them with other dogs, since a dog attack incident when the dogs were puppies (around a year old). He said they were at obedience class, and a GSD and Faith stared at each other, and the GSD attacked Faith, and she ran under a table for cover. He ended up having to get her out from under the table.

They also have a third dog, a male Chihuahua. They let the dog out for me to see how the three interact. They said it seems Rocky, the Chihuahua (about 5 pounds, very agile), is dominant over both girls. They said Faith and Rocky has no problem whatsoever with each other. And when Glory's eating, Rocky could go up and eat from Glory's bowl, and she's okay with that. I also got to pet Glory, and I told her to down and she flipped over for me to pet her tummy. She's also a very very sweet dog.

The husband and the wife said the dogs know sit, down, stay. They are good when the husband tells them to come, but only comes sometimes when the wife says it. I asked and they said they think Faith and Glory would probably be okay if the foster/adoptive home has a smaller male dog. They had family visit and they were fine with the male Pug. They don't know about larger males because they haven't let them interact with other dogs at all since the GSD incident. I asked about cats, and they don't think they would do okay with cats, because a tomcat has been walking along the fence, and after the dogs were chained, the tomcat actually has jumped into their yard to tease the dogs, but they don't think the cat would survive if the dogs got hold of him. I asked about kids, they said the dogs haven't been around babies, but the wife's sister came to visit, and the dogs were fine with the two year old. They let the toddler pet them and were okay with the toddler ran around, but when they first met, they did jump up on the toddler and knocked him over, so they don't think the dogs should go to home with very small children. They said the dogs ride very well in the car. The dogs are housetrained and crate trained. The husband said the first thing after they got the dogs was crate training. So at night, they tell the dogs "place" and they would go in by themselves. And the dogs are really good in the crates and don't whine at night (they keep the dogs in crates in laundry room at night; I think Rocky sleeps in bed with the husband and wife at night). But in the morning, when they walk by in the crate, the dogs would whine a little bit, they think it's because they need to go out potty. So during the day, they chain the dogs in the backyard so they don't have to worry about fights, and the husband said they are really good about going into their dog houses too. He also said the dogs each have their own leash and crate (so I guess we can take them with the dogs if we want to). They said they just got back from vacation, and they boarded the dogs when they were on vacation. They told the boarding kennel to keep the dogs apart (so I think it would be okay if the dogs go to separate homes, even though they are littermates and have been together their entire lives). They said when they boarded the dogs after the first fight, they told the kennel to keep the dogs apart but the kennel people didn't, and they dogs ended up getting into a small fight.

I saw a feeder with dog food in the kitchen. They said they leave the food out for Rocky. But I didn't see any of the dogs eat that food. The husband brought out some treats, and immediately both girls sat perfectly in front of him. So I think they are food motivated. After the girls left (to go to me and the wife for petting), Rocky sat in front of the husband for treats too. The husband said he's not sitting down because if he does, then both girls would be in front of him trying to get him to pet them, and they don't want another fight to start from that. From what I've observed, they've been keeping some distance between the dogs. I mean it seems they are okay in the same room, but probably it's a good idea to keep them at least a foot or so apart at all times. Personally, I think if they could exercise the dogs more, probably that would solve the problem, so that the dogs wouldn't be so frustrated. But I can also understand that their neighborhood isn't very dog-walking friendly. It's a small subdivision right by a four-lane county highway. And right now the husband doesn't have time to play fetch with the dogs. I also checked both dogs' ears and put my fingers in their mouths to check their teeth, no problem from the dogs. Faith's teeth are greats. Glory's teeth, on the left side, the back two teeth have tartar on them, but otherwise in great shape too.

Right before I left, they told the dogs to "place" and the dogs stayed in the laundry room (even though they didn't close the door, the dogs just stayed in there by themselves). The husband said the rescue person asked him which dog they want to give up and which they want to keep, and he said it's too hard for them to have to pick one, so they decided to give both up for adoption (but I wonder if they would feel okay if the foster/adoptive parent pick one and they keep the other...?) They said at first they thought about dropping the dogs off at the animal shelter, but found out that the shelter only keep the dogs for three days, and there's only one no-kill shelter in the area, and it mainly takes in small sized dogs and it's already full anyways. So the husband went online to find a rescue group. The wife asked me what's our policy if the foster or adoptive home doesn't work out. I told them that if foster home doesn't work out, we'll find another foster home. If adoptive home doesn't work out, in the contract it says they have to return the dogs to us, so the dogs won't ever end up in shelters. The wife said she was relieved to hear that, because even though she doesn't want to chain up the dogs in the backyard, she would rather chain them up than having them end up at the pound.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws