Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everybody!
Today is my first xmas out of the puppy mill and I'm soooooo happy! I have a warm bed to sleep in, nice fluffy pillows to lay on, a warm radiator to nap by, delicious food, and foster brothers that like to sleep by me. Mom and dad are taking good care of me even if I have a hard time showing it.

I have good days and not-so-good days. I like to have my foster brothers and sisters around and when they're not I will start barking. When the come downstairs in the morning I'm so happy to see them that I run around wagging my tail. It's clear that I don't know how to play like other iggys. My foster brother Dinky tries to get me to play but I don't know what to do. There wasn't much joy or playfulness being in a wire cage so I never learned to play with other dogs. Sometimes I let my foster parents lay by me and approach me other times I don't. They're very patient with me.

I want to tell you about my foster brother Dinky. Dinky is one of the Wisconsin 57, which was a small house where 57 dogs lived without ever going outside. The house was so bad that it was condemned and destroyed after the dogs were taken out. There were dead dogs in the house and in the pool in the back yard. The floors were rotting from years of urine soaking through them. Some of the dogs were confined in crates in a damp basement and they had never seen the light of day. Those people appear to have been trying to breed Chi hua huas with Italian Greyhounds creating a very small iggy which is sometimes called a "chiggy". Well the product of that breeding is very cute - I must say! When Dinky was rescued he was originally going to be euthanized because he was a fear biter. Thankfully Carol S. (of IG rescue Wisconsin) took him into foster care. He's pretty much over his fear and now he thinks he's the alpha dog in this little pack. Mom and dad got him in June of this year. Dinky is very mischievious and he keeps mom and dad on their toes. He's always getting into something. The Chi hua hua side of his personality is that he only likes his people and no one else. Iggys are often standoffish at first but will warm up fairly quickly but not Dinky. He's been around the grandparents for 6 months and just recently he'll let granny pet him. They certainly cannot pick him up and he won't come to them.

This is Dinky's first xmas out of the horrible conditions he was in too.

Merry Christmas!

My One Month Anniversary

I know it's hard to believe, but it's been a month since Lisa & Glenn took me home. Even though I've come a long way, I have a long way to go. I'm learning how to be an iggy living in a real house with nice people and nice (most of the time) dogs.

My potty habits continue to be pretty good. I go outside to potty but mom or dad have to carry me out there because I don't care much for winter (and I can't go down stairs yet). Especially when it's windy out. I'm learning that if I just get out there, do my business quickly, then I get back in front of the warm radiator fast. Wendy had started to train me to use a piddle pad and it must've stuck because I sometimes go to my ex-pen area, where there is a piddle pad, and use that. Foster mom is very happy that I don't potty other places in the house.

I love to eat and I'm usually starving in the morning when I first get up. Foster mom is being careful to not overfeed me so I won't get fat. I'm at a good weight now. I'm still have some fear issues and I haven't been taking treats from anyone's hand. I don't like to be picked up still and sometimes I'll pee out of fear. Once I am picked up I am pretty relaxed and will sleep on the people. I sleep reliably in my crate and will only rarely potty in there.

I'm more curious about my surroundings and I'm roaming around the house more. I have learned to go up the stairs to the second floor and sometimes I'll do that when the gate is left down and no one is looking.

My biggest issue continues to be my fear. It's not really shyness - it's fear. I will run away when people approach me and I won't come when called. The foster parents have been having people over and bringing me to the foster grandparents but I'm slow getting over this. If you have any suggestions as to what I can do to get over this please leave a comment.

Clean and shiny chompers!

Hi everbody!
Yesterday was my first dental and I didn't feel much like blogging when I got home. Foster mom took me and my foster sister, Maxie, to the Animal Medical Center in the morning. Dr. Mead did my dental and said that I had ALOT of tartar on my teeth. But what did she expect? I've never had my teeth cleaned. I also had one front tooth removed. Foster mom says that's pretty good considering she's brought other rescue dogs to the vet and one had to have 14 teeth removed. YIKES!!!! I have to take antibiotics for another week because my teeth were so bad. Mom is going to try brushing my teeth next week. We'll see how I like that. I got home from the vet, ate, and hung out in front of the radiator. I seem to have taken a small step back though. Up until yesterday I was letting the people come up to me without me running away. I would let them lay by me on the pillow. Today, though, I don't want much to do with them. I tremble when I'm picked up and I run away when they approach. Except when it's eating time. Then I'm hanging around the kitchen with the other dogs. I had a heartworm check at the vet's (negative) and I was given my distemper and rabies shots.

My poor foster sister, Maxie, had to have one of her large upper and lower canines removed from one side. She had to have stitiches to close the gapping holes. She's on antibiotics too. Today she acts like nothing happened as she's running around and yapping like she always does.

I found out a little more info on the puppy mill I was at. Wendy told foster dad that they shoot dogs that they don't want anymore or defective puppys. I'm so lucky that somehow I got out without being shot. How can people be so wildly opposite? How can there be people in the world that confine dogs to wire pens, starve them, deprive them of medical care, breed them over and over, and then shoot them? And then there are people that selflessly give of their time and love to care for these same dogs? I don't think I'll ever understand people.

Week 2 - So good so far!

It's been one week since I blogged last. Nothing earthshattering this week unless you are the type of "dog nut" that gets excited when a dog poops outside for the first time! Yup....I pooped outside, IN THE SNOW, this week!! The foster parents were so excited. So excited that I thought they were going to take a picture of it. Fortunately for all of you they didn't.

My stomach has been good. I'm very hungry, especially in the morning, when I first get up. I think what ever I had is gone now. I have to start taking clindamycin tomorrow in preparation for my dental next Wednesday. I finished the other antibiotic I was on.

So let's see, what else happened this week..oh ya..I found my voice and have been barking. Foster dad leaves me in my crate in the morning while he gets the other dogs settled and then he takes me out. Well I don't like to be left in my crate so I've started barking when he leaves me in there. It's not a bark like the other iggys - more like a hound dog bark. Foster mom says that it'll become more like an iggy as time goes on.

My favorite thing to do is to lay on the pillow by the radiator (see pictures). I like to spend most of my day there. In fact if mom and dad put me in the ex-pen I'll get bratty and bite and pull at the gate so I can get to MY pillow.

I'm still very skittish around people. I will run when approached and cower when reached for. I don't fight when I'm held and I will sleep in their lap once I'm there. I just don't like to get there. Others in rescue say that puppy mill dogs, like me, cower when reached for because nothing good ever became of being picked up at a puppy mill.

I went to the foster grandparent's house for an afternoon this week. Mom says I need alot of socialization so they are taking me to new places. I had a fun afternoon with Molly and laying on the couch.