Monday, April 16 – we met Lizzie, a hound who has had a bit of a rough history. The story about her is incomplete, but the belief is that she was bought to be a hunting dog in Kauai to hunt the feral boars. She didn’t work out, so she was dumped.
She is sweet, good around other dogs, but is very shy around people. She was moved to the mainland in December 2017, and has been in foster care since. She does bond with people, but it takes time to build trust.
We picked her up around 3:00PM, and returned home about 5:00. She was curious of the house, but still very timid. We borrowed a crate for her from the rescue group, and she was very comfortable inside it. It is important to give her a safe space.
She ate voraciously (in her crate) dinner, about a cup and a half of moistened kibble and wet food.
After dinner, getting her into the yard was a bit of an ordeal, but gently removing her from the crate and carrying her outside, she did her business (pee and poo), and explored the yard timidly.
Then it was back into the crate.
Bedtime around 9:00PM, she was snoring soundly in her crate. About 1:15AM, she got a little restive, so I took her outside. She didn’t eliminate (pee or poo), and had a little water, before returning to her crate.
At 5:00 AM when I woke, she was still in her crate, and watchful. She did a little exploring. Before I went to work at 6:20, I did carry her out, and she had good eliminations (a large poo too).
Tuesday, April 17 – Tuesday was a bit of a rough day. As mentioned above, I got her out to do her ablutions, and then I went to work. I sent the wife a list of things to watch for, and to keep an eye on. Alas, about eleven AM, she had a bit of diarrhea, and piddle. Barb was a bit upset, but handled it well, taking advice from the internet in how to clean it up.
I had meetings until 3:30, but cribbed a ride home after that, and helped with Lizzie. She is still nervous, and most comfortable in her crate. As I still had some work to do, I was on the phone about 5:30, and I saw her run by, I tried to get to the back door, but then she turned around and headed back to the crate.
Unfortunately, she had another bout of the big ‘D’, and a largish puddle of urine in the hallway. So, hands and knees, cleaning up and while reassuring her. I still chocked that up to the change in environment (foster, to a new foster-to-adopt) and her general lack of confidence.
She did eat dinner well (we’re feeding Natural Balance LID chicken and legume). Her apetite is still good, that is a positive indicator.
About 9:00 before bed, I once again carry her to the back yard, and after some of her stalking she did have a messy, very watery ‘D’ episode. At least it was on the grass. I am beginning to wonder if perhaps it is the food not agreeing with Lizzie. I make a note to ask Alyce in the morning what her prior foster was feeding her, to get some more. I also got a couple of Immodium D’s into her, a known remedy that works as well in dogs as in humans.
Some water, and back to her crate, and she settled down. I went to bed, wearing sweats because I knew there was likely to be another late night event.
I planned to take the next few days to work from home. Also, with two accidents, I pulled the trigger and ordered a Bissel Lil’ Green Machine carpet spot cleaner. It will arrive on Thursday.
About 2:15 AM, I heard her stirring, so I quickly got up, opened the bedroom door, and kept ahead of her to the back door and let her out (HUGE breakthrough, she made it before the attack of ‘D’) and she once again unloaded.
Wednesday, April 18 – Knowing that she is good with dogs, at least a lot less uncomfortable than around people, I arrange for us to borrow Scruffy, my sister’s Keeshond. He arrived about 7:30. I took Lizzie out (still pretty much dragging her out of her crate and carrying her to the back yard), and she had another round of the D. At least it was far better formed. and an improvement. Alyce responded that she was eating Merrick Grain Free Chicken and Sweet Potato formula. Barb got a sack of that for dinner (breakfast was the Natural balance with some plain pumpkin, an ol’ favorite to help firm up stools).
About 11, I got Lizzie out and once again there was some D. One more dose of Immodium.
Again, about 3:00, I took her out. No eliminations, but we spend some quality time in the back yard, and I kept reassuring her, giving her space, and working on her anxiety.
Wednesday evening, Barb will go out of town for a hen weekend, so I will spend lots of time working carefully with Lizzie.
She again ate well. We have switched back to the food that she had during her fostering time, Merrick Grain Free Chicken and Sweet Potato formula. She ate it readily.
About 9:00 PM, I coaxed her out of her crate and got her outside. About 30 minutes of her being in the corner by the gate (sort of an alley-way) and much pets and snuggling, before she didn’t do any elimination. I did give her ample time (supervised) and finally brought her in, and went to bed.
She slept through the night easily, and apart from one head shaking event that got me up, all was quiet. She does snore. Not loudly, but it is a comforting sound. Also, she had some dreams of running during the night.
Thursday, April 19 – I slept lousy, but Lizzie was quiet. About 7:00 I got her out. She shuttled around a bit, but I didn’t observe any eliminations. I did remove the harness as I now can get her out of her crate easier (she is still somewhat shy, and needs to be “helped” out)
She had about half her breakfast in the crate, and I moved the water and food dishes to the master bath so she can access them.
Se definitely is moving outside her crate when I am not watching, as between her returning to her crate, and my feeding her, she had moves all three toys that I had removed to get her out.
I also got tons of kisses from her, a sign that is very encouraging. I know that progress will be slow, but hopefully, steady. My goals are modest:
- Get her less dependent upon her crate for comfort
- Get her to go to the door to do her business
- Eating and drinking in the Kitchen (she is a sloppy drinker btw)
- have her comfortable exploring the house on her own
At about 2:00, I got nervous that Lizzie hadn’t peed in a long time (like 16 hours), so I gently removed her for the comfort of her crate, and carried her to the back door. She then pretty quickly squatted to do her business. Holy hell, does she have a big bladder. She dumped water for what seemed like 3 minutes. I swear she must have a 2 liter tank in her.
She had a restful afternoon, and about 5:00 PM I fed her. I placed the food and water rack in the bathroom, and let her be. She quickly emerged and ate all of the food.
About 7:30 I got her out to potty before bed. Again, for about 20 minutes, I alternated between sitting with her on the side of the house, and with watering my roses. Finally I called her to come in. She is getting less “rapid” in her return to the crate.
I went to bed and nodded off by 9:00PM. At 10:20, she informed me she needed to go out, so out we went. She immediately evacuated her bowels, and then came back in, again headed for her crate. I heard her do the “nesting” thing, working on getting the underlying towels just right for her to sleep – this is a very greyhound like thing – and that was very encouraging to say the least.
She then slept throughout the night.