Update! - Almost 2 months in rescue.

Yup...it's been almost two months since I was rescued from the puppy mill. The 24th will be the actual anniversary. So much has gone on that I couldn't wait to blog. First of all I'm continuing to make progress. I come when called now, I can follow directions like when it's time to go in my crate for bed or if it's time to eat, and I will actually walk up and smell the people. I've been starting to play some as well. I will chase my foster brothers around a little bit. Dinky is always trying to be a little "amorous" with me and I have to chase him away. He doesn't know that I'm so done with that. I'm all done with boys now that I'm out of the mill. Dinky and Sid pick on me a little so I have to stand up for myself. They aren't mean - they just want me to play. My potty habits continue to be O.K. I will potty outside when I'm brought outside and I will use my piddle pad very reliably. I don't potty in my crate anymore. I'm liking my foster parents more and I won't always run when they come by me. I know it's a little thing but I'll let them lay by me and pet me. I still will not take a treat from their hands though.

I have a new foster sister - Zoe. Zoe is a 6 year old female that was surrendered one week ago. She was brought to us by the kind Stan K. who graciously transported her from Minnesota to us in a snowstorm. Zoe is a very petite girl who is camel and white. She has had most of her teeth removed so her tongue hangs out of the side of her mouth. In a cute way though. Zoe will be with us for a short time before she goes to her foster home with Joan P.

Now for some bad news. In the last post I told you about the "Doggie Lama" - Lucy. Well she had had a biopsy of a lesion from the underside of her tongue during a routine dental that turned out to be cancer - fibrosacrcoma. She's in perfect health and it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all. There may be nothing that can be done because no more really can be taken out of her tongue and radiating her mouth isn't a good idea.

Happy New Years!

Happy new years everybody!! Not much has happened since christmas. Mom and dad try to keep my life structured so that I can feel comfortable with a routine. I like to lay in the T.V. room where everyone else goes now. Before I would pretty much stay by myself and either sleep in my ex-pen or on the pillow by the radiator. Mom and dad would pick me up and put me on the pillow in the T.V. room (or whatever room they're in) as I wouldn't go there on my own. Now the first thing I do when I come in from outside or come downstairs is to run to the big pillow. I'm starting to enjoy the company of everyone else. I'm hypervigilant though and I always lay so I can keep my eyes on the humans. Trust is a big issue with dogs that have lived likeI did. Mom and dad are careful to approach me from the front and are always talking to me when they pick me up. I still will not take treats from their hands - even (and I know you'll find this hard to believe) hotdogs!

Mom has been doing a little more research on puppy mill dogs and she's learned that I may be harder to rehabilitate because my spirit clearly has been broken. If I was aggressive towards people or a "fear biter" I'd be easier to work with. But with me, It's like the light has gone out inside my soul. People have treated me so bad for so long that it seems impossible that I could ever be just a regular iggy. Mom and dad are confident though, that there's an iggy inside me that just needs a little time and nuturing to come out.

The pic is my foster brother Sidney and my foster sister Lucy. Lucy is another story too. Mom and dad adopted her 8 years ago. Lucy spent the first years of her life as a brood bitch who was confined to a 55 gallon drum without ever being let out. She had to stand and lie in her own excrement for who knows how long. Once she was rescued she was found to have two bad knees (luxated patellas) and a seizure disorder. She had one repaired surgically and the other only locks some of the time. She came into rescue with her last litter of 3 or 4 in 2000 and all of those puppys are dead, except one, from seizures. Lucy's seizures are controlled with diet and now she only has one a few times a year. Mom and dad call her the "Doggie Lama" because she's so at peace with everything. She's let her past go and now she's happy and contented like I hope to be someday.