Lucky Is Tall

I’m going to show you this picture, and ask you to ignore the obvious fact that I did NOT clean my windows before I took this picture.

I’d like to claim that the grass in the backyard only looks brown in the picture because of the dirt. Not because of the extreme heat and the fact that I’m too lazy to water it. I mean I’m conserving water, which is also why I haven’t washed my windows yet this week. Let’s go with that. Actually, if you don’t mind, let’s ignore all those things and talk about the dog looking in the window, assuming you can see him through the dirt. Notice how tall he is? That’s Lucky the Great Dane mix, and he always stands on his back feet like that to look in the window. It looks like he’s about to turn the doorknob with his paw and just walk right in. However, that pathetic look in his eyes is due to the fact that he hasn’t yet figured out how to actually turn the doorknob with his paw. He doesn’t like having to wait on me to get to the door when he wants to come inside. So he stands there on his back two feet, and looks at me with that pathetic look. And if I don’t get to the door quickly enough, he barks, while still standing on two feet. Oh yes, Lucky the deaf dog does love to bark. Then, when I open the door, he promptly races around the room as though it’s his own personal ice skating rink. He loves to go sliding across the laminate floor, and then crashing into whatever piece of furniture or human or other dog gets into his way. Then he’ll pick up his favorite sterilized bone and throw it and go skating across the floor after it again. He’s kind of strange, this Lucky dog.


Lucky and I have been attending agility classes for a few weeks now, and he’s become a bit of a class clown. His favorite obstacle is the tunnel. He’ll run through it at top speed, then go racing in circles around the room after he comes out the other side, as if he is so excited he can’t control himself. He makes everyone laugh. I am hoping this silly, happy goofball of a dog gets a home soon. Then I can go back to only having nose prints on the bottom half of my windows.

My Ziggy Rant

As most of you know, I’ve been fostering Ziggy for two and a half years now. It is more due to a feeling of responsibility (I chose to pull him from the shelter where he was going to be euthanized as a puppy, so I am responsible for his life) than it is because I like having him here. In fact, most people know I would gladly give Ziggy to anyone who would take care of him. I’ve even been known to offer cash rewards to people to take him. Everyone thinks that I love him and I do, but many people also think I’m happy that he’s with me. I’m not. I try so hard to get him a home because he doesn’t fit here and it’s not fair to him or to me that he’s been here for two years. So today, I’m going to not worry about who might read this or what they might think; I’m just going to take this opportunity to whine and feel sorry for myself. I try not to do that often, but after the news from the vet a few days ago, I just can’t help myself.

Puppy Ziggy

For the past two years, I’ve tried to do what the experts suggest when it comes to getting a dog adopted. I’ve promoted Ziggy at every turn, even creating and maintaining his website and Facebook page, and buying him business cards to advertise around town. I’ve tried to stay positive and share all the good things about Ziggy. I’ve tried to make him more adoptable through basic training, working with various professional trainers, earning his CGC, learning tricks, and participating in dog sports. I’ve been honest with potential adopters about his issues, but I haven’t dwelt on them excessively. I know this is true because I constantly hear “I can’t believe he’s not adopted yet” – mostly from people who don’t know him well. I just want to shout “Then you take him!!” But I know they have other dogs, or cats, or children, or breed restrictions, like most of the rest of the world. The truth is, as much as I want him to be, Ziggy is not really adoptable. And since I’m tired of always talking about the good side of Ziggy, today I’m going to break all the rules and tell you about the bad side of Ziggy, and about the reasons that he isn’t adopted yet, and probably never will be.

Basic Hurdles

1. Ziggy is a pit bull – the breed is banned many places.

2. Ziggy is deaf – this makes it more challenging to communicate with him.

3. Ziggy needs to be only pet – most experienced owners have other pets.

4. Ziggy needs an experienced owner due to his behavior issues (see below).

5. Ziggy needs a home with no children – he is not child friendly.

Behavior Issues

1. Ziggy guards food, water, bones, and toys from others. With training, he no longer guards from me, but still guards from all dogs and cats.

2. Ziggy is mouthy, especially when excited. He knows better with me, but sometimes with new people he forgets and tries to grab their hands.

3. Ziggy is a counter surfer. No matter how much we work on this, he still steals food off of countertops whenever he can.

4. Ziggy is demanding. He barks loudly in an attempt to get his way.

5. Ziggy is chewy. He has to stay crated to keep him from chewing furniture, shoes, boxes, TV remotes, or whatever else he can get his mouth on.



Not to mention his drinking problems.



Medical Issues

1. Ziggy has food allergies – he is allergic to almost everything under the sun (and probably a few things in outer space too).

2. Ziggy has grass allergies – he gets red and itchy after lying in the grass, walking on grass, or looking at grass.



"Where's my benadryl?"

And this week at the vet I found out that Ziggy also has a bad knee joint which has ended his agility classes. And when the vet told me that he should avoid stairs and that he needed to be on a glucosamine supplement for the rest of his life, she was really confused when I started laughing hysterically. Because glucosamine supplements aren’t expensive, but it was just one more thing that Ziggy had wrong with him – one more thing that would make him harder to adopt.

My options have not changed. I can keep trying to find him a home, or I can have him euthanized. Please don’t judge me for whatever I decide unless you take Ziggy yourself! Some of you, especially those who rescue, will see the wisdom in giving up and having him euthanized, not only for my own sanity, but also so I can save many, many other dogs in his place. I have other dogs, and I have cats, and he lives in a crate most of his life because he can’t be out around the other animals. It’s not much of a life, and with such a slim chance of him ever being adopted, it’s not much of a future. But those of you who love Ziggy, don’t worry, I’m not at that point yet. I think of that option almost every time I think of Ziggy, which is often, but the truth is I do love him, and I don’t think he is suffering, so I’m not ready or willing to make that decision. I’ll keep doing what I can to make his life happy, and even if he can no longer go on bike rides with me or do agility, we’ll find other ways to spend time together. In the past I’ve contacted many sanctuaries about Ziggy, with no luck, and no other foster home or rescue group has been able or willing to take Ziggy either. So for now I’ll keep trying to find him a home, and keep sharing all the positive things about Ziggy. But I’ll let you in on an inside joke (is it an inside joke if the only person who knows it is me?) Every time I see “Ziggy-the-adoptable-dog” on Facebook, my mind always changes it to “Ziggy-the-unadoptable-dog”. For some reason, that makes me smile.


Please pray harder, Ziggy!



Update on my fosters... part 2

In addition to the foster pets in yesterday's post, I also have the following:


Molly

 Molly is a Puggle/Min-Pin mix that I've been fostering for three months now.  She's very talented at jumping, she furiously tries to scare away the vacuum cleaner every time it's turned on, and she loves to bark ferociously at Ziggy - but only when he's walking away from her.  Molly has become very attached to me, and she will not look at anyone else during adoption events.  This makes it challenging to find her a home.  I also can't leave her alone during the events because she gets snippy with people (imagine a three year old child throwing a tantrum and screaming "Where's my MOM?  I WANT MY MOM!")  That's Molly.  I'm taking her to training classes and we continue to work on socialization (other people are nice too, Molly!) as well as basic obedience.  She's a very smart dog, and one of these days I'm sure she's going to figure out that the vacuum cleaner really won't hurt her. 




Ziggy, the deaf and slightly famous pit bull, is continuing to work hard at agility classes, and was recently promoted to the Intermediate-Advanced class!  Okay actually he's still in the intermediate class because there is no intermediate-advanced class, but when I asked his trainer when we'd be ready for the advanced class, she said he was at an Intermediate-Advanced level now, so I'm considering that a promotion.  Ziggy is proof that pretty much any dog can do agility.  Not because he's deaf, but because he's slow and not very athletic.  Other dogs get all excited in class and jump around and run - Ziggy just patiently waits for the treats to appear, and does the agility routines solely because it gets him food.  Oh every once in awhile he jumps over an extra jump when he doesn't have to - but even then I doubt he's doing it for fun - I think it's because it's the shortest way to get to me and the treats.  We still have a lot of fun together though, and it's good exercise and good mental stimulation. 

Allie

A rescue friend recently invited me to go with her to a shelter.  She wanted to pull a young dog as a friend for another young puppy she had recently rescued.  Of course I said yes.  I know some rescuers who hate visiting shelters because it makes them so sad, but I enjoy going there as long as I can take at least one of the animals home with me.  It's great to take them from their small steel cage where they are scared and alone, facing an uncertain future, and take them home where they can live in a house and get all the affection and attention that they want.  I know that their uncertain future just became a whole lot more certain of a happy ending, and although it's hard to leave the others behind, I always focus on the joy of the one I can save.  In this case, I knew my friend was going to pull a puppy, and I decided I had enough dogs at the moment but could take in a cat.  So off we went to pull a dog and a cat.  We looked at the dogs first.  It didn't take long until she found the puppy she wanted, but we finished looking at the few other dogs that we had not seen yet and quickly saw a second one that we both fell in love with.  I agonized over the decision for several minutes (okay actually it was more like 10 seconds) and then said she should take the first pup and I'd take the second one.  She quickly agreed that sounded like a fantastic idea, and I said "at least it will keep me from pulling a cat".  The idea being since I was pulling a new dog, I really didn't need to pull a cat as well.  But even as I said those words, I felt sad about leaving without a cat.  So while the paperwork was done for the two puppies, I headed over to look at the cats.  And I guess you aren't surprised to learn that I came home with both Allie the puppy and Theo the kitten. 

Unfortunately both Allie and another puppy who had been pulled previously came down with pneumonia.  They both ended up at the emergency clinic overnight, but are doing better and are both back at their respective foster homes now.  Allie is getting two different kinds of medicine, and she's having to get a nebulizer treatment three times a day, but she's feeling much better.  I'll have her for at least a few more weeks while she fully recovers, then she'll be able to go to the vet to get her vaccinations and be spayed, and then she'll be ready for a home of her own. 

  

Allie


So those are my seven foster dogs currently.  I was going to give a status update on my two foster cats as well (Theo and Charlie) but Charlie really needs a whole post of his own, so I'll share that another day.

Ziggy Learns Agility

Ziggy just completed a six-week beginning agility class at Infinite Pawsibilities.  You may wonder how a deaf dog can do agility.  Ziggy is happy to demonstrate:

Here's Ziggy going up the A-Frame.  Many dogs find the A-frame a little bit scary at first, but not Ziggy.  This has been one of his favorite from the very beginning!

Then there's the dog walk.  Ziggy can walk just as well as any dog, and he's pretty much fearless, so he has no problem with this one either!

There are two different types of tunnels in agility.  Like most dogs, Ziggy loves the tunnels!

The hardest obstacle for Ziggy, other than the weave poles which he is still learning, are the jumps.  Because he is so intently focused on me he forgets to watch where he is going and sometimes runs into the jumps before realizing that they are there!

 Being deaf does not stop Ziggy from learning Agility.  I use a flashlight instead of a clicker to let him know when he's doing something right, and he's so food motivated that he will do anything to get me to "click".  We've started sequencing the obstacles together, and he's doing very well with that.  Being deaf does cause a bit more of a challenge, because I can't tell him where to go ahead of time (which obstacle to do next) with a voice command.  He has to be looking at me which distracts him from the obstacles.  So he may never be an agility champion, but we're having a great time together and that is what counts!  One of my good friends is also in the class with her Airedale Terrier, and it's a lot of fun to take the class together.  Next week we will start Intermediate Agility!

So if you ever see this dog:

Lexi

or this dog...

Ziggy

please make sure to congratulate them for their hard work in completing Beginning Agility!