Fascinating.

That is what my new trainer called Jax during our very first session (twice!).  I have been meaning to post about our lesson for a while now, as it was two weeks ago, but I have been so focused on Callie's updates, that I am just now getting around to it. 

Basic obedience was put on the back burner with Jax, for a couple of reasons.  Mainly, it was because he had such fear issues that we focused solely on gaining his trust and building his confidence.   You can't successfully train a dog that is afraid of you anyway (I know many disagree, but I firmly believe that intimidation has no place in dog training), so we focused on making him comfortable with people and situations instead.  The other reason is pretty simple.  I just didn't know how to train him.  Although I have trained many dogs, none of them have been deaf and what a difference it makes.  After almost six months, I couldn't even get him to "sit."   

I didn't think that we could get enough personal attention in a group class.  Having participated in dozens of different dog "classes" at different levels, at several different "schools" over the years, I already know everything that they would teach us.  I take the dogs for socialization reasons...and because it's fun:-)  I needed personal guidance this time, someone to teach me to teach him. 

It wasn't easy to find someone willing to help me with him and I honestly grew very discouraged. It hurt my feelings that people didn't feel like he was worthy of training.  I actually had one "professional", whom I was quite excited about, tell me that she would give us 30 minutes (her regular sessions are 60) and if we made no progress by then, it wasn't worth it.  I have been in classes with people who made no progress after 8 weeks!  All dogs, hearing or deaf, learn at different paces. 30 minutes is ridiculous.  Oh, and If I'm not mistaken, this was the same person who asked me "well, are you SURE he's deaf?"  (I felt like saying that I've lived with the dog for the last 5 months and either he's deaf or I'm a frickin moron!)  She told me that maybe he just couldn't hear my voice and recommended that I tried using a clicker!  Needless to say, I kept looking.

I finally found someone, totally by chance, and she is great.  She runs the pet store in our neighborhood and her center is in the basement of the store!  I had actually talked to her many times before.  I had no idea that she was a trainer.  Her name is Colleen. She has over 30 years training experience and has studied under some of the top trainers in the world-people who I have read about in books!  She was born in Alaska, into a family who trained and ran sled dog teams.  She has trained police dogs, Search And Rescue dogs, therapy dogs, specialized aggressive cases, agility, and of course, obedience.  She has pretty much done it all.  Now that she is (in her words) "getting older" she focuses on training family pets.  She also has ten dogs of her own!

She if full of knowledge and I hang on her every word. She thinks that Jax is fascinating (did I mention that?)! I knew Jax was extremely sensitive.  She agreed and told me that we don't ever want to overwhelm him or stress him out with training.  "Sit" seemed to be the thing that made him the most nervous.  We will move at a very slow pace with him while overcoming his obstacles.  She gave me a few things to work on, and when I think we are ready, we will go back for another session.  No pressure. No time constraints.

We had been working on sit, exactly the way she showed me, once a day, everyday.  Last week, I was eating a sandwich and he came up, looked me in the eyes, and sat.  He had figured out that it was the behavior that I desired and he always got rewarded for it.  His big success came when we weren't even trying.  I was so proud of him.  That was my first short-term goal for him and he didn't disappoint. 

He is a very smart dog and I have high hopes for him long-term.  I would love for him to become a certified therapy dog.  Can you imagine how great it would be to bring him to visit with deaf children?   Dogs need to pass a series of tests to become certified, and they are not easy, even for dogs without disabilities.  I won't be disappointed if we never get to that point, but it is something to reach for.

One step forward, two steps back.

We had our recheck appointment yesterday and the results were not so good.  

First of all, my heart sunk when she hopped on the scale and she had gained only three pounds.  I knew our progress was slow, but it was even less than I had expected.  I feed her more than I ever fed Jax or Laila when I was fattening them up and she is a way smaller dog than either of them are.  This is worrisome.  With normal blood values, she should be gaining steadily.  There may be another underlying condition.  I am going to add high-calorie canned puppy food to her diet and see what happens in the next two weeks.  I'm hoping that she was just so physically damaged, that it's taking longer with her.

Secondly, my suspicions of an old injury were confirmed.  The x-rays revealed that she has had a broken hip.  There are multiple fractures that were never treated and have fused together improperly.  It nearly brings me to tears thinking of the pain she must have been in for so long after that happened.  Not to mention, this injury is certainly over a year old, and she had her last litter of pups only six months ago! It disgusts me. She was nothing but a puppy-making machine to that awful woman, no matter her condition.  Although it can not be proven by x-ray, there is a possibility of some nerve damage with that injury as well, which may be the cause of some of the weakness in the hind end.  The x-ray also showed an abnormality in her lower spine, possibly an infection.  We are treating her with antibiotics for that, as well as some Glucosamine and anti-inflammatory drugs for the hip.  Time will tell if either of those will help.  She will never be a runner, but many dogs live happily with bad hips their whole lives.

Another new discover was a heart murmur.  They didn't hear it last time, likely because her heart rate was so slow.  Now that she is stronger, the murmur was very audible.  Not all murmurs cause problems.  However, boxers are prone to heart diseases, particularly Boxer Cardiomyopathy (hello, underlying condition). This is a disease that is very familiar to me because nearly a year ago, my Asia died of an uncommon form of it.  The problem is that without extensive (and expensive) testing, there is really no way to determine if her murmur is indicative of this.  She could live normally for years with Cardiomyopathy, but eventually, it would be the cause of her death.  Maybe when she was 4, maybe when she was twelve.  You just don't know.  The drugs to treat it would be life-long and are very high-priced.  We are not going to do anything for the murmur at this time.  She shows no typical symptoms of heart disease.  We want to see if she gains the weight.  If she doesn't, then we may be forced to accept that her body is working so hard to take care of her heart, that the rest of her body is unable to thrive. 

I'm sure some people wonder if we are going too far.  She has so many problems.  She is now taking seven pills a day.  I assure you. Callie's well-being is my first priority and if I thought for one minute that she was suffering, I would let her go.  Although she is in rough shape, she doesn't know it.  She feels good and is happy.  She is loving life.  Until yesterday, I wondered if she had actually bonded with us.  I got my answer when I picked her up from the clinic after work.  She was so happy to be "home" that she was smiling the biggest doggy smile ever while she bounced around with the other dogs.  She deserves a fighting chance. We are doing the right thing. 

That said, I know that her not making it is a very real possibility.  If, in the end, that is the outcome, I will have no regrets.  If these are her last days, at least she is getting to feel happiness and love and is a part of a family. 

Slowly but surely.

Callie improves daily, physically and mentally.  Her body condition is still far from normal and had you not seen her 2 weeks ago, you would be appalled at how skinny she is.   I was hoping she would be further along physically, but slow and steady is all she can take.  Still, I can't believe the changes.  Tonight, she had her first  (probably her very first ever) bath.  She did great.  I'm sure she knew that she couldn't possibly get out of the tub anyway,  but she never struggled and even seemed a little relieved.  It was like she was letting part of her old life go down the drain with the dirt.  Which, by the way, there was a ton of!  Boy was she proud when she got out and dried off.  She scrambled around the yard faster than I have ever seen her go.  In the dim evening light, she actually looked like a normal dog for a while.

She has really taken to Jonathon.  She is the first foster that hasn't been afraid of him in the beginning.  She is also doing fine with the other dogs.  She has snapped at Dixie a couple of times, but never anything to worry about, she just wanted her to back off a little.  Females tend to be that way toward other unknown females, particularly in boxers.  They have both picked up on the fact that she is fragile and even Jax is careful around her for the most part.  She really wants to run with them, but she falls down so often that I don't let her for fear that she will be trampled.  Some day.

We go in for her follow up vet appointment on Wed morning.  I'm anxious to see how much weight she has gained.  Thankfully, she has four sponsors!  I don't know how much money there is or how far it will go, but I already have the okay to get x-rays done on her legs.  Now that she is stronger, it is evident that there is something wrong with the left rear one.  We think it might be the hip, even nerve damage.  I think that at some point she had an injury, possibly a car hit her or she was kicked, and it was left untreated.  If it is surgical, the rescue will have some decisions to make.  Some orthopedic surgeries can cost over $2000 and that is a lot of money to spend on one dog when so many others need help too. 

If she can get back on her feet, she will make a great family dog.  She seems pretty smart and is definitely eager to please.  She loves to snuggle and doesn't seem to care what you do to her.  She has a gentle nature about her so I'm sure she would be good with kids.  This is thinking WAY into the future, but I hope she gets there eventually. 

Here are some new pictures!

Shining!

Her coat, her eyes, and her personality! 

We have made so much progress over the weekend.  The high-calorie foods that we have been feeding have been working wonders.  She is gaining strength every day.  Her dull, dry, lifeless coat is now beginning to shine like a healthy dog's coat should.  Her eyes are no longer glazed over either.  She is very alert and present now.

I think that the rescuing shelter did the best that they could for her.  I really do.  Most shelters would have euthanized a dog in that condition upon arrival.  But it just was not enough for a sick dog.  She was living outside in a community pen with a dozen other dogs.  I think that she was throwing up her food and they weren't noticing.  Any hungry shelter dogs would eagerly gobble up a recently eaten and expelled meal without a second thought (sorry to be gross, but it's true).  That is why she continued to get worse even though they saw her eating.  I honestly don't think she had 48 hours left in her when we got her.  Her body was rejecting the food and her vitals were all low.  Now that she has the meds she needs to keep the food down, her digestive system is up and running.  Her temp is normal, which means that her blood is circulating well again.  Her medical problems are mostly pointing to malnourishment so far. 

Oh, and most importantly...she tries to play with us now when we take her out to potty.  It's pretty pathetic looking, but she is feeling well enough to be happy and initiate play!  She is learning to be a dog!

A good day.

I feel like Callie is a day to day case, so I will do my best to post her status frequently.  Thank you for all of your well wishes and prayers for this sweet girl. 

Today was a good day.  The medicines and pro-biotics are working! She is keeping food down and it shows.  Her spirits are higher.  She was strong enough to spend some time awake, and even come out of the guest room for a while.  She is learning quickly that being around us is a good thing and we no longer need to have food to get a tail wag!  She even cried for us a little tonight.  It was the first time I had heard her make a sound.