Dog Training

It’s been a long time coming, but I have embarked on a new phase of training.  It started because we are watching a friend’s dog and Zoe has become a shrew.  Zoe is 12 years old and hard of hearing, so it is more difficult. 

There are many methods of dog training and I am not a fan of the ones that are harsh.  A harsh method was used on Riley and I believe that made his issues even worse.  Once the person who was helping me ‘train’ him stopped, Riley got better.

There is a show on television called “It’s Me or the Dog” and the trainer is Victoria Stillwell.  She believes in kind, compassionate training and I love her!  I put the show on my Tivo lineup and tonight she was discussing a method to get a dog’s attention and keep it when there is something that is distressing the dog.  You are supposed to have a small treat and place it up by your eyes and say “look at me” or “watch me.”  So I brought my container of tiny treats to bed tonight and every single time Zoe growled, barked, or snarled, I held a treat up to my eyes and said “look at me.”  Only when Zoe stopped growling, barking, and/or snarling, and looked at me did she get the treat.  Of course, I had to give a treat to the other dogs each time, as well.  It was pretty amazing to see the difference in her behavior in such a short time!  Last night it took an hour of petting her and yelling “NO!” to get her to settle down.  The anger she exhibited was frightening!  Tonight I never raised my voice, but used the scent of the treat to get her attention.  It took about thirty minutes.  Now everyone is peacefully asleep. 

I am not foolish enough to believe that one session on training is a cure-all, but I am looking forward to using Victoria Stillwell’s methods in other areas, as well. 

Volunteering

I volunteer for the Las Vegas Hot Diggity Dachshund Club & Rescue (LVHDDCR).   I have been fostering since August 2011 and I have been the Adoption Coordinator since October 2011.  I had to stop fostering in early 2012 because I adopted three of my foster dogs!  I cannot trust myself not to fall in love with these precious dogs and want to adopt them. 

I love doing the adoptions.  I get to vet prospective adopters and find dogs a great home.  I get pretty hyped up when the process works.  It is better than Christmas for me.  I get to take the dogs to adoption events and hold them and play with them.  I get to take them to meet their new family.  I get to see the joy a dog brings to a family. 

Volunteering with LVHDDCR has also been therapy for me.  When I began this ‘job’, I had been a recluse in my home for over three years.  I went very few places, saw even fewer people.  My social world consisted of my husband, daughter, and my dogs.  I saw my parents and my best friend about three times a year when I went to California.  I was more than happy to be home and not go anywhere.  There were times when I did not leave the house for a week or more.  My longest period of time in the house was nine days.  I would have to force myself to go out.  I usually gave my husband the list of things I needed at the grocery store and he would pick them up.  Occasionally, I would have a panic attack when I left the house.  On a few occasions, I would have to return home right away, not even making it up to the corner of our neighborhood.  It was after these occasions that I realized I needed to change something, but I did not know what I should do.

In January 2011 I had a biopsy on some lesions in my breast.  It terrified me.  It turned out to be normal, but that event began a series of events that have led me to where I am today.  The day I got the results of my biopsy, my husband ended up in the emergency room.  The doctor had him admitted and Mike stayed there for seventeen long days.  After numerous tests, diagnoses and changed diagnoses, Mike had open heart surgery to replace the atrial valve with a titanium one.  A portion of his heart was removed because it was dead.  He was also given the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.  He will be on blood thinners and heart medications the rest of his life. 

When Mike got home from the hospital, he was under strict orders to rest and be off work for six to eight weeks.  He fought me and the doctors tooth and nail over this and ended up going back to work at the beginning of week five.  Through the rest of the year, Mike was admitted to the hospital three times and taken to ER by paramedic several times.

At the beginning of March 2011, I noticed that my dog, Buster, was not feeling well.  His face was so thin it was bony.  With all the stress of helping Mike recuperate, I had not noticed my baby was ill.  I took him to the vet and told her I wanted her to do surgery because I would not let Buster go without a fight.  The next day he had surgery.  The vet called me and said it was cancer.  He had lesions all throughout his belly.  It was really bad.  She said she could sew him up and send him home, but he would be very sick and in a lot of pain; or I could let her put him to sleep.  I was devastated!  Buster was my soul mate, my best friend.  I loved him so much.  I told her to put him to sleep and I sobbed.

The spring and summer dragged on and Buster and Zoe’s daddy, Dudley, was getting worse.  I had always thought he would go first because he had been failing the last year or so.  In August we realized that his end was near.  Our vet said he had cancer, like Buster.  He would shake and looked miserable, but he always had that twinkle in his eye when we hugged him.  The only thing that stopped the shaking was putting his fleece jacket on him, even though it was over a hundred degrees outside!  Having already lost our sweet Buster, we put off the inevitable with Dudley and we watched him suffer.  It was horrible.  On August 24th, Mike took him to the vet, thinking he would have to have him put to sleep.  The vet gave him medication and sent him home because she could see how devastated Mike was.  We had four more days with our sweet Dudley.  Finally, I could take it no more and we had him put to sleep.

After Buster’s death, I was so devastated.  I saw on facebook that LVHDDCR needed foster parents so I filled out an application.  It took a couple of months, but they finally got back to me.  We got our first foster dog, Butch, on August 24^th. 

It was shortly after Dudley’s death that we found out that my mom had lung cancer.  She was thin and frail and her cancer was so bad that regular chemotherapy would have killed her, but her Oncologist insisted that she try a different therapy, one that was “like chemo, but not chemo.”  She began that the week before Christmas.  It nearly killed her!  She went off of it Christmas Eve, but still could not eat or hold anything down the next day.  It was so hard for her to even enjoy the holiday she loved so much. 

Mom was in and out of the hospital after that, her health declining by the day.  Some days were good, most were not.  Her doctor, once again, insisted she try a lower dose of the poison that nearly killed her in December.  Once again, it nearly killed her.  Hospice was called when she refused to take any more of the poison.  Exactly one month later (April 28, 2012), my dad, sister, daughter, and I gathered around my mom’s bed and watched her die.  I miss her so much!

My mom’s death has been hard on the entire family.  She was the glue that held us all together.  My sister and I no longer speak.  I have not spoken to my brother for even longer.  I talk to my dad as often as possible, four to five times a week.

What keeps me going?  My dogs; I have five now: Zoe, Ziggy, Butch, Mozzie, and Riley.  My work with LVHDDCR.  My schooling; I am studying online and have six more classes to go until I graduate.  I write, usually as a prayer to God.  My daughter, Bekah comes over and hangs out with me once a week, or more.  I see my dad and my son, David, and my best friend, Cindy, when I go to California.  I struggle with depression a lot and Cindy listens.  It has been hard.  But God reminds me that He is in control and will not leave me.  I can only take one day at a time.