Tito update (!!!), SPCA fun

Wow, what a coincidence that I told you all about Tito last week! We've been getting gorgeous weather here in Victoria lately, so on the weekend we took our dog Arlo and met a bunch of friends at Dallas Road, which is a very popular dog-friendly park, for a walk. In the middle of our walk, I was having fun watching all the off-leash dogs zoom all around when one of them caught my eye. It looked like Tito! I pointed and asked Mark if he thought the dog was Tito and he said "no way". No big surprise Mark didn't recognize him - the dog was filled out nicely and his head didn't look waaay too big for his body, like skinny Tito's had. Well...I went over to say hi, and it was indeed a beefy, healthy looking Tito! Arlo went nuts, jumping all over him, and I surveyed the humans walking along the path, looking for the owners.

A nice couple approached and I introduced myself, explaining that we had fostered Tito for a little while. I asked LOTS of questions and those patient people were good enough to chat with me for a few minutes about their pooch. Sounds like he's doing great! The separation anxiety has been avoided due to their careful observation of Tito's anxiety levels in different situations, and probably due to the fact that he is now in a stable, secure home. It sounded like they were one big happy family, and I was so glad to be able to see him so happy and healthy!

His owners got a kick out of the fact that I had known Tito when he had a tail. :)


Anway, that was our Saturday. Because the beautiful January weather continued, we went out to Dallas Road on Sunday too, this time with our friend Megan who works at the SPCA. We met her at the shelter as her shift was ending and took along a shelter dog, Diva, so she could get some exercise and socialization at Dallas Road.

Diva is a 6 or 7 month old little Rottweiler mix. She is a sweet girl who got along perfectly with all the dogs we met on our walk. She was also very good for me the whole time, except for trying to jump up to say 'hi' occasionally on other people that passed by. I don't consider that to be horrible behaviour, especially from a puppy, so really she was very good. Apparently this sweet girl is a bit of a manipulator though, and if she thinks she can dominate her human companion, she will do so. However, I walked her in a crowded park for three hours and she was as sweet as sugar to me, the other dogs, and every human we encountered. Diva needed a few corrections when I first took her out of her kennel, but she responded well to correction and settled down, happy to follow me now that I had made it clear I was the leader.

Overall we had lots of fun at Dallas Road, and so did Diva. After having walked her, I can honestly say that - given the right circumstances in my life - I would seriously consider adopting her. She seems to be a go-getter with no aggression issues, and has such a cute little rotti build, but is the colour of butterscotch. Sweetness!!

Tito!

If we could have adopted gorgeous Tito, we would have. He was our kind of dog - loving, cuddly, curious, handsome, and an "underdog" breed that is often misunderstood. We SOS'd him for a short time from the SPCA as he was one VERY stressed out boy. He was an adorable cuddle monster who always had a tail-wag for anyone who looked his way. Unfortunately, he had so many tail wags that he damaged the end of his tail. The tip was ruptured and kept bleeding whenever it hit any surface, and with all the wagging, that happened way too often. It was a little disturbing when he wagged it too hard and got this sides of his own body full of blood. Being a white dog it showed up very well. It simply did not have an opportunity to heal over, so the SPCA eventually made the decision to have most of it removed! Fortunately the surgery went well and healed perfectly.

Tito had very bad separation anxiety so we could not leave him home alone. With both of us working, ours was obviously not the house for him. As he was not neutered when we started SOSing him, we could not leave him alone in the house with our male dog (although they got along fine for the most part). We tried separating the two by putting Tito in our large bathroom, but he PANICKED as soon as the door was closed, crying and scratching at the door and wall, and chewing on the doorknob. He wasn't in there for more than a few minutes - we knew we couldn't leave him that way. Poor boy!

Separation anxiety is a behavioural issue that can be worked through with almost any dog - it can be "cured" with patience and the right methods. We were not equipped to do this at the time though, because working full time is not compatible with un-training separation anxiety. So many otherwise wonderful dogs are raised irresponsibly from puppyhood, and issues such as this one are un-knowingly trained into them. Then, when the owner feels it is too inconvenient to deal with any more, the dog is given away, problems and all, to be either euthanised or given to a family who must then work extra-hard to correct the ingrained problem. The world would be a much nicer place if people took the time to educate themselves about training methods and animal behaviour as soon as a problem is perceived, instead of just saying "I don't like this" and getting rid of an animal that they themselves have "wrecked". Take your dog to obedience! Call a dog trainer for advice! Even just look it up on the internet! AAAAHHH!!

Despite his issues, we could see that Tito was a darling boy with so much love to share. He had been dumped into the rescue world and was obviously upset at the upheaval in his life, and likely also mourning the loss of the family who had surrendered him to the shelter.

While he was recovering from his tail docking (and neutering), the SPCA staff kept him with them at the front counter at the shelter. Before too long, someone fell victim to his shining puppy-dog eyes and endearing "smile" and he was adopted. I'm sure his new family put in a valiant effort to ease his separation anxiety, because we never saw him back at the shelter again.

Yay Tito!

The story of Holly

When we lost Moses, our dog that we had had for almost eight years, the house felt very empty. We found ourselves avoiding being there because there was nobody to greet us at the door, and the place was eerily quiet without him around.

One of our friends who works at the Victoria SPCA, knowing that we needed a canine presence but that we weren't ready for a permanent dog yet, told us to come to the shelter to meet Holly, a husky who was stressed to be there and was attracting all the wrong attention. Everyone who was interested in her seemed to be looking for an "image" instead of a new family member. Young Holly, with her stunning ice-blue eyes and beautiful wolf-like coat, could not seem to catch the attention of anyone who was likely to raise her responsibly.

We SOS'd her, which stands for "Sleep Over and Socialize". An SOS dog is taken from they shelter every evening and spends the night in a home environment, and is returned to the shelter every morning so that she is there during adoption hours.

Darling Holly turned out to have a wonderful personality - she was sociable, enthusiastic, and loved other dogs. Despite her youthful enthusiasm, she was very gentle with other dogs. We came across a tiny poodle mix during a walk one day and Holly, vibrating with glee, laid down so that she could be on the same level as the little dog when they greeted each other. She was great in any environment - we walked her downtown and she didn't mind the traffic or crowds at all. We took her to the SPCA Paws for a Cause walk and she enjoyed herself among the other dogs and the crowds of people.

We took her into the shelter the first Saturday that we had had her and stayed around for a while in order to spend time with a new arrival that was lonely and depressed. While we were there, our friend who works at the shelter appeared and told us that a very nice family was asking questions about Holly!! We talked to them and told them what we knew about her. They had recenly lost their german shepherd and were looking for a new dog. Their shepherd had not been good around other dogs, and they were skeptical when we told them how great Holly was with other dogs. They did want a dog this time that they didn't have to worry about when they were out and about. They filled out an application and took her out for a walk to get to know her. We were excited! They were a very nice family with three teenage kids. They owned a house in a nice neighbourhood and seemed very stable and responsible.

They came back from their walk and told us all about how nice Holly had been when they encountered another dog - they had to see it for themselves, but now they believed us! The decision had been made and they took her home!

Our experience with sweet Holly affected our decision when we adopted our own dog. Arlo has similar looks and personality as Holly, and we may have overlooked the lanky goofy guy if we hadn't had such a wonderful time taking care of Holly. After we adopted him, one day we went to a different location for Arlo's obedience class than we usually did...and there was Holly! We had a nice chat with her owner and it turned out that they LOVED her and were having lots of fun, and had changed her name to Paige. It was a perfect match and we were happy knowing she was part of a great family and would be for the rest of her life.