And Puppy Makes Three

I finally have a dog. Let me rephrase that: I FINALLY HAVE A DOG!! And it only took 3 months! Well, 3 months and 25 years. Chris and I adopted a greyhound from Greyhound Pets of America (GPA) on May 16th, 2010. We waited so long for a grey and we felt like parents expecting a baby. We had the kennel all set up in our bedroom, complete with bedding and stuffies to play with, and we had all of our greyhound necessities neatly stored in a plastic container: 6 months of Frontline, grooming tools, toys, treats, toothpaste, and toothbrush.

We were expecting to get a grey from the recent haul of dogs that came from Sarasota, FL, and were thinking it would be well into June before we could take one home from foster care. But we got an even better deal. As luck would have it, there was a little girl in foster care since the haul from February who was being held for someone but it fell through on Wed, 5/11. On Thursday we were contacted about meeting this little one-year-old named O Ya Angel, or Angel. We were a little apprehensive about this, but we agreed to meet her with an open mind. That same day we talked with her foster mom, Lori, and the adoption coordinator, Luana. The more we learned about her, the more we loved her and the more perfect she seemed for us. We were especially glad she had been fostered for 3 months, which is very uncommon for a grey to be fostered that long, but apparently she needed those 3 months to work on her manners and learn about life as a house pet.

I decided to start a blog about our experience with her, as it is a very special time. Exhausting, frustrating, and challenging, but worth every minute. I will try to summarize the first week, which was a complete whirlwind. Also the longest week of my life. But it's better every day, tenfold, and becoming extremely rewarding.

DAY 1: ADOPTION DAY!

Foster mom, Lori, and adoption coordinator, Luana, brought Angel to our apartment on Sunday 5/16 at noon. We were anxiously waiting outside the building, watching each car that passed: "Is that her? Is that her??" It was a really special moment for us and I don't think we'll ever forget those final minutes of life as we knew it, just the two of us. We were acutely aware that our lives would forever be changed, but unable to fully grasp what that meant. And we didn't care. We were finally going to have a dog.

Lori's SUV pulled in and we could see Angel in the back seat anxiously needle-nosing at the tinted window in the back. When Lori opened the back to take her out, she immediately decided "No, I don't like this. I don't like this at all." She cowered in the back of the car, refusing to budge. When Lori finally coaxed her out, she went into panic mode. Lori said it was most likely due to the big day she had, having stayed at a friend's house all weekend while Lori and her husband were out of town, and then getting picked up from the friend just a short while before coming to meet us. There were also people talking loudly and laughing on a nearby balcony and it was scary for her, not knowing where the voices were coming from.

She scooted around anxiously in the parking lot, tangling herself in her leash with her tail between her legs, adrenaline pumping, her brain clearly trying to decide between fight or flight and her body just trying to keep up. We decided to give her space and not force her to greet us. We led the way inside the building and she stopped dead in her tracks just outside the door and sat back on her haunches like a stubborn mule. Lori pulled and pulled and she was not having any of it. "No, I do not like this at all." Same routine when we got to the apartment door, her brain locked into FLIGHT! FLIGHT!

With enough encouragement and pulling on the leash, she came inside. The deck door was open, exposing just the screen door. She entered the apartment, ears straight up like little satellite dishes, eyes wide, nose in overdrive. She spotted the open deck door, quickly trotted right up to her supposed escape route and ran right into that screen door, her head bouncing right off the screen, leaving her startled and confused as she stared inquisitively at the invisible barrier, feeling quite let down by her elusive escape route.

That whole first day is a blur to me. We signed the paperwork while seated on the floor with our new houseguest stepping all over the papers and sprinkling them with droplets of saliva as she thoroughly explored the living room. She explored very carefully, as if at any moment some inanimate object in the room was going to spring to life, jump out and eat her.

During the signing of the papers, she decided that the couch looked like a good place to lie down, so she stepped up with her front paws before she heard a sharp "no" that startled her back into hypervigilant pacing. As she calmed down more, Angel warmed up to Chris first, coming over to him and giving him sweet little nudges to his hands, asking for some petting. I knew she would come around to me. I had been observing her eyeing me cautiously, trying to decide if I would give her attention or jump out and eat her. She eventually decided I would pet her, which I did. And that's when I fell in love.

When Lori and Luana left we all three just sort of stood around looking at each other: "Now what?" Then it started to sink in: Oh my gosh, there's a dog in our apartment...and we are solely responsible for her well-being for at least the next 12 years. What have we gotten ourselves into?! Actually, Chris was much more calm and laid back about the whole thing. She was very quiet and still tense but also wanting our attention. After a few minutes she jumped right up onto the couch, stretched out to 2/3 the length of the couch and let out a deep sigh. I sat down next to her quietly and she looked up at me, then nudged my hand to get some head petting. Then she laid her head in my lap heavily, accepting me as a safe human to lay on.

We decided on the name Luna, Lu for short, and it only took her a couple of days to learn her new name. She also took over the couch so she is now restricted to her dog beds, though I occasionally invite her up with me when Chris isn't around :)

The rest of Sunday was very stressful, as I was by myself with a nervous nelly and Chris was at work until midnight. It was up to me to teach her everything for the first time; to break her in - and get her to potty outside, which was more challenging than you'd think. She was very nervous, antsy and vigilant, and above all she had yet to grasp the concept of pottying while on the leash (at foster home she had a yard). She didn't potty (number 1) until late at night, after one kennel accident. I think we took her out about 10 unsuccessful times a day for the first couple of days, even though she was clearly on the verge of exploding. She finally did the big 2 the next day with Chris, on her way back inside. She couldn't hold it anymore and laid it right on the pavement, which has began a trend of ONLY doing the #2 on pavement, not grass. I guess we'll tackle one step at a time. At least she's not going in the house.

Later in the evening on Sunday I was so stressed with an anxious dog, wanting so badly for her to just understand that she's safe and that I love her. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, she wouldn't potty, she wouldn't relax, she didn't know if she was here to stay or here to stay for the weekend. I felt like I was taking care of an infant by myself. It had been a very long day that had no end and required constant attention and patience. I knew it was going to be challenging but this was so hard it was almost comical. I finally hit my breaking point on unsuccessful-outside-potty-trip number ten, and had my first doggy meltdown at about 7pm. I could not wait for Chris to come home so I could get a break! I even considered calling him at the hospital and begging him to come home. But I had a ways to go until midnight and I realized that this was hard for her too, so I decided I had no choice but to keep going.

At about 7:30p I took her for a walk and while she was spooked by a lot of things she eventually settled in and relaxed on the lead. She heeled well and stayed calm, with the exception of being afraid of the fire hydrant that jumped out of nowhere: she was sniffing around by the fire hydrant and all of a sudden she became aware of the tall red and white poll that extended from the top, which apparently was very dangerous to her. This sudden awareness caused her to jump back and twist up in her leash. She had been by that hydrant at least 6 times prior to this, but this time it was a serious threat. She still does that, suddenly developing acute awareness of something that has been there the whole time and she gets startled. However, now she is more curious than nervous and startled.

When we got home from our first walk that evening we both laid on the couch and watched TV and pretty soon we were both sound asleep. There was a doorbell on the TV show that kept ringing, and every time it rang she would snap her head up and eyes open, looking around for the source of the noise. Whenever she heard anything that day she would immediately look at me to gauge my reaction in order to determine if something was worthy of anxiety or not. She did this constantly (using us as an anxiety gauge) for the first few days and it took a lot of acting to help her realize that all those little things and sounds are just normal parts of her life now (e.g. the off-limits bed, the neighbors walking upstairs, the door closing, the washing machine running, the cupboard shutting).

When we woke up from our nap she seemed very different - more relaxed and calm, nudging me for petting and wanting lots of attention. That's when I knew that things were going to be okay and we were in this together, she and I.

THE REST OF THE WEEK

How can I summarize the rest of the week? Well, I'll say that waking up at 5am to let her out after all 3 of us have slept for only a few hours is super fun! Not. She still gets up at about 6:30am to go out but today it was 7:30am so that's an improvement. She wakes up early after sleeping very little and then she's been wide awake in her kennel until we get up at about 11am. However, she doesn't sit quietly in her kennel, waiting patiently for us to sleep. She whines and moves around restlessly, even chewing on the kennel bars. Most importantly she is WIDE AWAKE. We tried putting pillows over our heads, listening to the iPod with earbuds and I even resorted to moving out to sleep on the couch. Twice.

We are still working on the boredom and anxiety in the morning while we are still sleeping, for which we have discovered a temporary solution: melatonin. We read that it was very helpful for a lot of dogs who have anxiety. Turns out, it works! The morning we gave it to her after taking her out at 6am, she sat around in her kennel calm and quiet, happy as a clam. She was "smiling" and panting and completely content to just sit and lay around quietly. It was only 3mg of Melatonin, which is what the literature recommended, but we decided maybe half a tablet would be enough. I'm not sure if we'll continue this, but it helped us FINALLY get a full night's sleep. We were so sleep deprived and exhausted that we had to take turns napping and sleeping. Hopefully that is in the past.

Neither of us can remember much of this week, but we know that today she is a completely different dog. Every day she would become more calm, confident and affectionate. Last night she had this burst of puppy energy and decided to attack her stuffed toy, which we'd never seen her do before (we've been trying to encourage her to play but she hasn't done as much play as she normally did in foster care). She started acting completely nutty and jumping and wanting to play play play! I call it her alter ego, Spazzy.

Not only is she now calm and recognizes us as her leaders and her caretakers, she also has a potty schedule! Every day she does goofy entertaining things and shows more of who she is and we love her more every day. She is SUCH a fast learner and very food motivated. She remembers everything she's been praised or rewarded for and when the treats are out she will go through all of her tricks/commands that she remembers getting rewarded for. For example, she will sit, get a treat, stand up and then sit again. Then she will paw at you (trying to "shake") thinking that's all she has to do to get a reward. If she gets praise for laying down in her bed in the living room, she will get up and go lay on her other bed too! And all she needs to learn that something is not okay is for a gentle but sharp "no" or "aaah" and she stops what she's doing and usually won't do it again.

GASSY WALK ON SUNDAY

Today we took her on the GASSY walk, which is a weekly walk for greyhound owners and their dogs around Lake Harriet. Lu has been to many of these with her foster mom, and we wanted to continue to socialize her so she could observe the other greys doing greyhound things. She could also see how much attention they get from humans and hopefully approach humans confidently as well. It would also be her first time in our car, which we were nervous about and had a very well thought out plan of how to get her in the car if she resisted. We were nervous as we approached the car but when the door opened she hopped right in! Turns out she loves car rides! We underestimate her sometimes.

Dogs truly are pack animals. She did beautifully on the walk. She fit right in with the other hounds and owners. She walked with the pack and was visibly happy and smiling the whole time, gently brushing against the other hound owners for a little ear scratch. She approached people like she'd done it a thousand times before, even approaching a fisherman with his back to her, greeting him with gentle sniffs and nose nudges from behind to his surprise. Maybe she was getting a little too comfortable with strangers.

At one point all the greys and owners went down to the water and the hounds went right in the lake and laid down in the water - plopped right down - so Lu did the same! One grey, a little brindle girl, laid right down in the water and Lu watched and copied her. When the brindle girl got up, Lu got up. When the brindle girl shook herself off, Lu shook herself off, and so on. It was so fun to see her learn from her new friends. I have to add that Lu LOVES puddles. She loves to walk through them and piddle in them. She will go out of her way to walk in water, no matter how dirty.

When we got home from the walk we went to her potty spot, where there are usually puddles in the parking lot from the sprinklers. She splish-splashed her little paws as she pranced happily through the puddles. Then she piddled in the puddle (typical Lu). Then she squatted and I quick tugged her leash to keep moving as Chris and I laughed and shook our heads. Chris insisted she was going to "do the 2" in the puddle but I insisted she was going to try to lay down in the puddle. So just to prove my point I led her back to the puddle and sure enough she sat down. Then she laid down and stretched out in the dirty water. We both burst into laughter, and just as she was about to lay her long neck in the water to cool her head and ears, I pulled her up with a quick "let's go!" That water was a whole lot filthier than I thought. She was SO DIRTY and smelled like it too. We brought her to the bathtub and somehow got her in there (she had no idea what we were trying to get her to do but was very patient with us) and we rinsed her off. She tolerated it. She tolerates most things if she is getting consistent praise for it (brushing, drying her feet, etc) and she stood very still while we dried her off. She pretty much just waits until she is excused from whatever it is we are doing to her and then trots away happily.

She is a completely different dog than she was a week ago and I am so proud of all three of us for getting through the week. We are especially proud of her for how brave she has been and how hard she has worked. It is so wonderful to see her change and grow every day. She truly just wants to please us and works really hard to try to understand what we want her to do, and then repeats it. She is so smart. You can just see the little wheels turning in her head. She still has a ways to go and so many things to experience. We have been reassured that she won't always be shy and apprehensive, so we will just keep working at it. I think we are all three learning together through this process and that makes us a family, I guess. Our little family.

Most recent picture of Lu, taken Sunday night, with her favorite squeaker toy. Like I said, she tolerates whatever we do to her :)

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