One Week and One Day

Scout has been living with us for one week and one day.  She has amazed me several more times with her bravery and willingness to trust.  Scout now lets Mike hold her leash on walks and will come in the door past him (if I'm in the house.)  She also got in the car with much less trepidation twice today - it only took about 5 or so minutes each time as opposed to 30 very stressful minutes a few short days ago.

Today, Scout saw our veterinary chiropractor for the first time.  Think about that.  One week and one day ago, she was running loose, uncatchable and facing a long cold winter without shelter to speak of.  Today, she had a chiropractic adjustment.  Just when it seems that things are at their lowest point and we have no trust and faith in anyone - we never know who might pull into the drive thru lane.  Our lives can change in an instant, just like Scout's life did.  Often we focus on how our lives could change "for the worse" in an instant, though the opposite is also true.  We might just glance to our left at a stoplight and meet our spouse to be, we might take a "write-off" elective course in college and make a connection that affects our career, we might turn right instead of left and see a double rainbow, we might decide to order fries at the Wendy's on Route 71 at Exit 151 and meet a new teacher.  We just never know. 

All we can do is learn from Scout - Try Trust and see what happens.  It could be GREAT!

The Tail Ends of Operation Silsby 2012

There are still two beautiful kittens living with us who were rescued as part of Operation Silsby this fall.  The other four kittens that fostered with us have all been adopted and are thriving in their new homes.  Operation Silsby will resume in the New Year, though for now, these two girls are the Tail Ends.  Chippy (left) and Whirly (right) have an interview tomorrow night.  They have gotten to be quite good friends and love to play together, so it would be lovely for them to stay together.

We love them both and are looking forward to helping them find their people.  Whirly is super snuggly and playful and fine with dogs, too.  Chippy is a bit more shy and reserved, though she loves to be held and petted.  Chippy was ill several times and had to take a heck of a lot of pills, so I'm sure she still sometimes looks at me like, "You again?  What are you going to do to me NOW?"  She loves her purple mouse toy and both kittens have been playing with and socializing with our cats - learning the ropes, so to speak.

It will be tough to see them go to their new home though, because there aren't two cuter Tail Ends around...

Scout's First Few Days

When I got home Tuesday night, I realized that I had a dog coming to stay with us for a few days. Yikes, this is quite a day I'm having... Thankfully, it's a dog and owner that I know well, some of you might recognize the little fluff ball in the picture below.

 



Scout apparently (so far) loves all dogs.  She and Chaille are fast friends and Chaille was even trying to play with Allie and Scout this evening.  Chaille doesn't play with ANY dogs that I know of, so this is pretty cool.  I think Chaille was asking for a little more than she bargained for, though she was game to give it a try.  When Scout tries to play it often involves dramatic play bows and some big, flailing paws :)

Things Scout is Good at:

• Playing with other dogs
• Looking adoringly at me
• Snuggling
• Riding in the car
• Going on walks in our woods
• Chasing and being chased by Allie
• Taking treats and food gently
• Being adorable
• Tail wagging
• Sleeping and dreaming
• Sharing - food, treats and affection
• Going to the vet's office
• Rolling around on her back on the bed

Things Scout is Learning:

• Uncle Michael is a Nice Man
• Doors are not all scary
• Mom will come back
• Food comes twice a day - in a bowl
• Eating from a bowl
• Noises are not all scary
• Getting in the car does not mean that I'll be left somewhere by myself again :(
• Telling Mom that I need to go out is a Good Idea
• Kitties are Good and the People like them - so I'm not to chase them :)
• No one is ever going to be mean to me again...

So, there are some hurdles ahead of us.  Scout has had some accidents in the house, though at least a few of them have been my fault since I've become accustomed to Allie's freakishly perfect skills in that department.  Also, I'm suspecting that she's had some unfortunate interactions with a man or men in her short life, since Mike couldn't get near her at first and it's still not possible for him to walk her without me present.  She panics and tries to get away - not good.  Considering she may have never seen a cat before, she's doing pretty darn well.  Jinx and Archie are nearly normal around her, just a tad more "aware" and she does a little chasing, though calls off readily and is easily redirected.  We're playing a game called "See a Kitty, Get a Cookie" - that's helping a lot.

The really sad parts are how she wouldn't come in the house the night I brought her home and her fear of getting in the car.  The night she came home, she would NOT go through the sliding door and when I managed to pick her up, she struggled and wiggled and resisted until I had to put her down.  We ended up going to the side door and even then food had no effect, she was just terrified.  I wondered if she had ever been in a house.  Eventually I was able to pick her up part way and get her front end in the door, then her back end and she was just still, she was so scared.  I had to lift her front end up on the stairs and then she just stood there for a minute, not sure what to do.  After a bit, she figured out how to get her back legs up and poof, she was in the kitchen.  Then she flipped a switch and got REALLY happy :)

The car is different, she resists it more strongly.  She is going readily in and out of the sliding door now (for the past few days) though I have to catch her to pick her up to get her in the car.  She runs away from me to the end of her leash and food, my voice, Allie, nothing can get her in the car.  Allie is able to get her close to it and then she pulls away.  I'm going to spend a lot of time this week working on our car skills.  I can only guess that she was dumped from a car and just remembers that it all started when she got in.  She rides quietly and happily once she's in, so I don't think it's the actual car that scares her.

Soooo....Everyone wants to know if we're going to keep her.  The jury is still out on that question, mainly because I have to keep my promises to all of my cats as well as the promise that I've made to Scout.  Also, speaking of cats, I still have two kittens who need homes - any takers?  More on them tomorrow.  There are many more Scout stories to tell and it's only been 4.5 days - I'll post to Sam's blog and Spiritual Foraging tomorrow, too.

Good night Scout - she's sleeping at my feet on the bed right now.  Sleep tight...

And Then It Was Tuesday...

We arrived back at Exit 151 around 11:30am on Tuesday morning.  As Allie and I drove around the Wendy's building, I did not see the dog.  I parked near where I had parked the day before and went inside to quiz the staff.  "She's here, she's been here all morning", they said.  Okay, so where is she?  I went back outside and...there she was.  I get Allie out of the car and the dance begins.

Allie and I approach and the dog bounds over.  She play bows and runs around Allie - avoiding me.  At one point I was sure we were making progress, it had been about an hour and I was sitting down in the grass with Allie and the dog near me.  Still, she was not willing to be touched or approached.  The wonderful Wendy's staff have been feeding her all morning, so food has no impact on her right now (I should have told them not to feed her in the morning, as caring as they are.)  I periodically have to get into the car and turn it on to warm up and when we disappear into the car, the dog heads away.  After a while, she begins to seem a bit dejected when she leaves.  Sort of like, "Yeah, everyone always leaves..."  I would warm up as I watched her to track where she went.  When she got to a "certain distance" I would hustle Allie out of the car and get Allie out into the field so that the dog could see her.  Then I would whistle my "dog whistle" - the dog would look and come BOUNDING towards Allie from wherever she was.  So, accidentally, she was responding to my whistle cue and doing a recall :)

At this point, Allie and I would walk around the field with the dog and an observer might have thought that these were both my dogs and that the loose dog was the better trained since she didn't require a leash!  That's how close the dog stayed to Allie and me.  She just orbited us play bowing to Allie and running with us.

Eventually, the dog started to sit down near the car when we were warming up.  Once or twice she even laid down.  I had been able to start approaching her, though she still would not let me touch her.  One time she laid down with her back to me near the front of my car and I duckwalked my way towards her inch by inch as I squatted down between cars.  I talked to her the whole time and she looked at me occasionally.  "This is it!", I thought as I held the leash clip open in my frozen hand - then she ran off to chase some birds.  Drat!  I had left the rear door open with Allie in the back seat and the dog had approached and appeared to consider jumping in before darting away.  Drat!  At another point, she would follow me around the car, though she would not let me touch her.  It had been about 2.5 hours when I felt a change.  I told the dog that I had to go to the bathroom (I knew once we entered the last phase a bathroom break would totally mess everything up.)  I told her that I would be right back.  She followed me towards the door to Wendy's, I actually turned back towards her and took a couple of steps thinking I should "make hay while the sun shines".  She backed away though she kept looking at me.  Okay, I'm taking my bathroom break and then we'll dance some more.

When I left the Wendy's building, the dog was nowhere to be seen.  Nowhere.  Not in any of the spots I had seen her go to that day.  I scanned the grassy field and the stubbly crop field nearby.  No sign.  I scanned the roads.  No sign.  I scanned behind the Marathon station and the small repair shop.  Wait!  What was that?  I saw movement and knew it was her.  I quickly got Allie leashed and out of the car and we headed in that direction.  I no longer saw any sign of the dog, we continued anyway.  We walked across the whole field, behind the Marathon station and the repair shop and I whistled the whole way.

As we got to the repair shop, I saw her.  She might have been coming up out of a small creek or drainage ditch - to get a drink maybe?  When she saw Allie she came RUNNING towards us.  We were back on track!  We played her all the way back over to our car and then I walked Allie (and the dog) up to the drive thru window - it is time for hamburger.  I knew she hadn't had any food for several hours and that she was used to getting snacks all the time from the window.  I sat by the open car door with the hamburger and she took tiny bits from my hand - extremely gently.  I tried sitting in the back seat with the door open, the front seat with my door open.  She would take the bits of hamburger though she showed NO signs of getting into the car.  Then something startled her and she moved off.  I closed the doors and sat down near her as she sat on the grass between my car and the car next to us.  As I fed her hamburger nibbles she seemed to relax a bit.  After some time, I knew that my chance was at hand and I carefully moved both hands towards her with the open clip to our spare leash in my left hand.  As I clipped the leash on her collar, she pulled back a little and felt the leash.  At that point, I reached towards her and touched her cheek and she melted.  She closed her eyes.  I rubbed her cheek and then was rubbing both cheeks and kissed the top of her head.  I looked over my shoulder and saw almost the entire Wendy's staff in the little drive thru window jumping and cheering.

However, she still wasn't in the car, though the leash was obviously a HUGE step forward.  The Wendy's staff yelled out the window that they could bring me more hamburger if that would help and could help me lift her if I needed.  I told them that I would rather not pick her up if we didn't need to though more hamburger would be great.  I should note that the manager had been supplying me with hot tea the entire time that I was there :)  Several staff members came out and brought some burgers.  They were so excited to see the dog on a leash.  I had decided the dog was likely a "she" since her collar was pink - thank God for that collar.  The dog was nervous though she let them approach.  I told them they could pet her and a couple of them did.  One of the women danced back into the building and I heard her saying, "I touched her!  I touched her!"  Now, the car.  The dog obviously wasn't going to just jump in.  She was pulling away from me whenever she got startled.  I inched her towards the car with hamburger and opened the rear door.  No deal.  Not even with Allie in there.  She was adamant.  NO!  Her version of adamant consisted of sitting down and refusing treats or pulling back - pretty clear.  At one point I moved toward the car and she moved closer to me (i.e., closer to the car.)  Then I got an idea - what if I climb in to the car?  As I climbed into the back seat with Allie, I saw paws on the seat behind me and before I could turn around she was in the car with us!  Of her own choice.  She jumped in.  I petted her and fed her treats and then carefully climbed back out and closed the door.  I turned toward the drive thru window and that time we ALL jumped and cheered. 

I went inside to talk to the staff and use the bathroom one more time.  I kept looking at the car and I just saw two dog heads looking back, casual as can be.  The manager gave me a sandwich and soda for the trip home and after I got settled in the car I backed up into the drive thru lane so that they could all get one more up close look at "their dog." 

I have since communicated with the Morrow County Dog Warden who is a great person and also with the Wendy's staff.  They are all aware that "the dog" now known as Scout is doing well and is safe and healthy.  Scout did not have a microchip, so unless someone comes looking for her we don't have a way to find her previous owners.  The Dog Warden said that she had been running loose in that area for 6-7 WEEKS and no one had been able to catch her and she had avoided their humane traps too.  What lies next for Scout remains to be seen.  There is more to this story and I'll keep posting...  She has some challenges from her time running wild and probably from her past life, too - don't we all?

Not coincidentally, our spare leash that helped tame Scout has a slogan embossed on it - Life Is Good.  For Scout, life is good - and getting better!  Stay tuned...

(Un)Willing Dog Angel?

Just a harmless visit to a friend....with my dog...no big deal, right?  Allie and I are driving down Rt. 71 (merrily) and she begins to smell the vent and whimper.  Hmmm...  She's never done this before.  I keep driving.  She again gets up and smells the vent and whimpers.  Hmmm...does she have to go out?  I keep driving.  Again, same routine.  "Alright, I say, we'll stop at the next exit.  I could use a break too."  The next exit comes up and we exit.  Choices, choices, McDonald's or Wendy's?  Wendy's wins because it's closest to the exit ramp.  We pull in and I quickly get Allie's leash on and get her out of the car (because now I need a "walk" too :)  She does her business, I scoot her back in the car and then jog into Wendy's. 

When I return to the car, I say to Allie, "Well, maybe we'll go through the drive-thru, I could use a soda."  Fateful words, little did I know.  As we make the turn from the order booth to approach the payment window, Allie whimpers.  What's with all this whimpering?  I see that she's looking outside, so I look too.  What's that in the field?  The thing in the field turns its head.  Uh-oh.  It's alive.  The thing gets up and trots off.  Crap, the thing is a dog.  I immediately begin to tell myself that the dog belongs to the small repair shop nearby.  I am beginning to convince myself of this story and then I notice the woman at the payment window waiting for me as I'm staring off into the field.

I pull up to the window and apologize, explaining why I was distracted.  "Oh, that dog has been around here for about a month.", she says.  "We feed it so it doesn't starve.  No one can catch it."  Crap.  There goes MY story.  I'm watching the dog as I'm waiting for my Coke and fries (yes, I succumbed to ordering fries, too.)  Before my food comes up I whip the car into a parking space and head out towards the dog.  It comes near, though obviously will not let me touch it.  It's a nice looking dog.  The woman in the drive thru window yells over to see if I want my food.  I answer, "Yes", and wave her off.  Later, I think, later... 

After getting a decent view of the dog and "reading" it, I get Allie out of the car.  I, of course, have to be careful not to set Allie up to get injured and you just never know what a stray dog may have been through.  The dog is VERY interested in Allie.  I keep Allie very close to me and the dog comes right up to sniff Allie - very politely, tail wagging.  She play bows vigorously and dashes about with a couple of little barks.  Still having nothing to do with me.  I get out some kibble and toss it.  No interest.  I feed some to Allie from my hand - the dogs gets curious.  The dog takes a couple of kibbles from my hand.  This is major progress!  I realize, however, that this is going to take a while.  I decide that the dog has been here for a month, it'll be here tomorrow when I come back through and have more time (and food and treats to offer.)

I go up to the drive-thru window and tell them my plan.  They are excited that she's eaten from my hand (they watched the whole exchange, of course.)  I give them my cell number in case anything happens overnight and I tell them that I'll be back mid-day on Tuesday.

Allie and I drive off into the sunset - no wait, it was only 2:30pm...  To be continued...

Search and Rescue Kitten

So, my idea was to send out a search and rescue kitten to bring Chip back home.  Sort of like a cross between a Saint Bernard with a barrel on his collar, Lassie, and a border collie...  You've heard the term herding cats - well instead of herding cats, maybe a cat can herd.  Okay, so I know it's a longshot.  Hmmm....which kitten might be willing and able for this mission.  Preferably a friendlier kitten so that I don't end up crawling under the futon with four eyes staring at me.  Pumpkin!  He's a great little kitten, if anyone can do this, he can.

Pumpkin was definitely up for the job.  He had been on walkabouts in the Room previously and was pretty good about coming back to his crate for food.  I released him and he definitely went to check out Chip.  He even moved her around the room.  She came out from under the bed, though I didn't get a chance to pick her up.  He even followed her - I'm going to go out on a limb and say he herded her :)  However, it seems that Pumpkin got a bit sleepy and decided to take a nap - under the futon.

 

After that he sort of lost interest in his assignment and I eventually rounded him up, thanked him, and gave him some chow.  The next day, Chip jumped up into the crate that Pumpkin was in during meal time and she was uneventfully recaptured.  So, I'm still thinking that my search and rescue kitten idea has some merit.  I might just need to start with a perkier kitten - I'll let you know how it goes next time :) 

Chip's Big Adventure

 

So, it was bound to happen.  The least friendly kitten always has to escape into the wild, wild, wilderness of the Spare Bedroom...  Chip finally managed to time her jump perfectly and escape my lap during a feeding and socialization visit.  She was not interested in being caught again AT ALL.  If she hadn't still been on antibiotics, I probably wouldn't really have tried too hard, but I didn't want her to miss her medication. 

So, there I was under the futon with a flashlight and there she was, sitting absolutely resolutely out of my reach.  I managed to touch her once or twice before she skittered away to some other desolate corner of Under-Futon-Land.  "Fine!" I eventually said.  "When you're dead I'll pick you up."  Yes, I said that.  I really meant it for about a second or two and then, of course, didn't mean it.  However, I did decide to leave her be.  I knew she would get hungry and come out and that I would catch her then and if she missed a dose of her antibiotic that would just have to be okay.  I had tried to use a trap to catch her, however she was still stuffy in her nose and perhaps not smelling the food or not feeling well enough to be THAT hungry.

So I had to wait... and wait... and wait...  Hmmm... I have an idea - see the next post for my idea.

This is a picture of Chip with Spook, Little One, and Whirly during some snuggly socializing with Mike...