Three weeks into rescue dog life. We've had a case of diarrhea, the first frappuccino (those two things are not related), a trip to the vet (to get an official diagnosis of: diarrhea), 21 hours without peeing (Rosita, not me--I can't go without peeing), an escapee from the harness (of which I didn't even think possible) and undisclosed injuries (mine).
It appears that when Bandido gets the shit scared out of her, she can escape anything.
I am unfortunately "the Bandido-shit-scarer." I tripped over her and fell when starting out on our walk, only one house down the block. (The wife was out of town. These things only happen when she is not here.) When I slammed onto the pavement, it scared Bandido so badly that she ran away. (From the sidewalk view, I can tell you she was MOVING, dragging her extension leash behind.) I got up quickly so I could catch her but she was long gone. Suffice it to say, the poor thing was so freaked out that she ran onto the deck at the back of our house (yay!) , hid in the outdoor crate (yay again--not lost) with her harness and leash left behind, leash caught in the wood of the deck (oh no!). The poor thing was blurry with shaking. I can imagine it had to hurt when that harness ripped off her body (or whatever she did to get out of it--it was a Houdini move, complete with harness remaining locked/closed during the escape). It took quite a bit of reassurance (and a whole lot of treats) to convince her I am not a psycho mass murderer.
I don't think I fell on her but since I did get tangled up with her, there is potential for injury--besides psychological. She definitely has been scarred by the incident.
I know I have injuries. I can't wait until tomorrow morning when I get out of bed. I'm not sure what part of me hurts the most. Thankfully, my glasses stayed firmly on my face and Rosita stayed by my side. Had she run away and I didn't have my glasses, this would have been a totally different adventure. Everyone involved would have been blurry with fright.
I'm glad I didn't harm my hands, as I am in the midst of a major project at work which requires hours upon hours of typing. Hand injuries of any kind are not welcome.
As for Rosita not peeing, it is the weirdest thing. Earlier in the week, she went 21 hours without peeing. It freaked me out so badly that I (1) messaged my dog whisperer friend and (2) called the vet. No one seemed too concerned about the non-peeing thing. She isn't in pain that I can tell and she's not squatting like she "can't" potty, so it's probably not a UTI kind of situation.
It's just that she doesn't potty.
I've tried every command in the book, from "Go potty!" to "do your business." I've considered trying Spanish commands about going potty but I'm pretty sure that's not the problem. She just doesn't need to pee.
I was late to work last week. Why? Because I was outside for an hour with Rosita begging her to go potty. Thankfully, my boss appreciates dog woes. I am sure the neighbors were entertained by my 60 minute "go potty go potty go potty" command-begging session. Sigh. I just couldn't believe she didn't need to pee.
Perhaps she was abused and punished for peeing. Perhaps she still doesn't understand that peeing on grass is a good thing. Perhaps she has a bladder of steel and she only needs to pee twice a day, tops.
As long as she's not in pain and she's not peeing in the house, I'll go with it. I don't like it. I don't understand it. But, I'll go with it. No one else seems freaked out about it....
Bandido, on the other hand, pees every chance she gets. She marks her territory every five feet, I swear. She pees on sign posts, mail box posts, fire hydrants, plants, trees. And yes, she pees like a boy dog--she lifts her legs and pees on things. I've never seen a girl dog do this but I'm here to tell you, that's what she does.
I'm surprised she didn't pee on me while I was on the ground.
The whole dog diarrhea thing remains a mystery. Various parties believe it to be stress. Since dogs can't tell us what's up, that sounds good enough to me. I laughed when the vet asked if Rosita had had any changes during the past few weeks. I mean, where do I begin? The dog was in a shelter and then a shelter and then a foster home. She was transported 2.5 days in a trailer with 55 other dogs less than 2.5 weeks ago. She's on new dog food (I'm not cooking for them), she's sleeping in the kitchen (not in a "human bed"), she's going for walks on a leash (of which we have to pick her up to get her moving) and she's learning to tolerate cold, wet grass.
Yes, stress seems a reasonable cause of gastrointestinal distress and lack of peeing. Rosita's had so many changes in the past three weeks... it is no wonder she's been shooting the shit.
I forget they've only been here for three weeks. No sense rushing. It's still very early in the game.
I was supposed to go to the Cheddarlands today to celebrate the wife's birthday with her family. Well, a shooting-shit dog put a damper on that and thus I stayed home. We had set up for friends to come let them out but it seemed like a bad idea to have "strangers" get involved with the stresses already in play.
....You know, had I gone with the wife, I wouldn't have tripped over Bandido and I wouldn't have gotten injured and she wouldn't be so terrified. Maybe letting them stay home and be scared shitless of "new friends" would have been better than me "tripping-and-freaking" our little Mexican Street Dog.
....of course, had I gone, Bandido wouldn't have had the opportunity to have her first Frappuccino and Rosita wouldn't have had someone repeating over and over and over to go potty. Those would be pretty big losses.
Now, if I could only figure out where to put the ice on my body. Knee? Hip? Other knee? Left arm? Neck? Hell, I'll just go take some ibuprofen, eat some ice cream and call it a day. The three of us won't move off the couch. We'll just wait for the wife to come home to save us all from certain doom.
Maybe while I'm sitting here I'll start a GoFundMe page for Bandido's therapy fund.... she's gonna need all the therapy she can get. Or, maybe I'll just get her a Starbucks gift card.... a pup cup can change a sad day into a happy day....
Frappucinos are therapeutic, aren't they?
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