Feb 5, 2012
Life is good. Elvis has been with me since September. As I look at the photos that I have taken of Elvis during his time here with me, I see so many changes in him. The frightened little face is gone, and he is bright and happy now. He has grown an adult coat, which you probably can’t tell from the pictures. It is shiny, has just a little bit of a wave to it, and is beautifully soft. That round little belly and sluggish moments disappeared once he had fully recovered from the hernia surgery. I was surprised to see that his has a lovely high tuck to his belly now. His energy level has picked up, and because of it, he’s burning more calories.
Elvis came with me when I took Jax in for his update on vaccinations. I also wanted to weigh him. I take every opportunity to introduce him to people, and he’s doing better. He’s very good with the staff at the vet clinic. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the staff is trained on how to meet and greet dogs. They adore little Elvis, and even the staff has asked if he is a purebred. They’ve never seen a Border Collie as little as Elvis. And did I mention that he is really cute?
Elvis weighed in at 27.4 pounds. He’s dropped about five pounds – which is a lot of weight for a dog his size. It doesn’t sound like a lot. But follow this equation: 27/32 ~ x/your weight. Multiple your weight by 27, and divide that number by 32. That will give you X, and how much equivalent weight you lost based on your current weight. We humans tend to think a pound or two is not a big deal and then forget that we tend to be a lot larger than our dog or cat.
Today he feels pretty darn good, but I’m adding a little more food because his energy level has picked up and he’s going to continue burning more calories than he did in the past. He’s in the best shape he has ever been in, and that is one reason for his big smiles now.
Usually, Sissy gets the empty peanut butter jar, but this last time, I gave it to Elvis. No dog gets to clear that jar out unsupervised. I don’t want one of them getting their head stuck in there. Elvis was delighted to have the jar! He loves peanut butter. After Jax and Sissy have emptied their Kongs of it, he collects them and makes sure there isn’t a molecule or two left behind.
He still likes to hoard his favorite things, but the pile of stuff he
collects and puts into the snuggler has changed. This week, the only thing in it were tennis balls – all the tennis balls in the house. Every one that he could find. About 30 of them. At the end of the day, after I’ve put Elvis to bed, I pick up the snuggler and dump all the balls back into the big toy basket. By the end of the next day, all the balls are back in the snuggler. I don’t see him doing it either, and then, if he isn’t playing with them, he tends to lay on top of them. Kind of reminds me of a nest full of yellow eggs and he’s trying to hatch them.
Elvis had visitors this weekend. He did very well with the strangers coming into the house, and I was very happy to see so much improvement from Christmas. It didn’t very long for him to warm up to yesterday’s company , and soon he had them playing tennis ball with him out in my snowy/muddy backyard. I scooped him up after the company left, and took him straight to the doggie bath tub to wash the mud off. Before he was even dry, he was bringing me tennis balls again.
“Enough for the day, Elvis,” I told him. I picked him up and settled him on my lap for a nice massage. He was tired and I knew it. Like an over stimulated little kid. Once he yawned, I set him down and fell asleep at my feet. He played hard yesterday, and he’s been dozing in his snuggler all morning, very relaxed, too comfy to gather up tennis balls, except for one ball. Just in case someone wants to play, you know.
Sept 10, 2011
This morning, I have been thinking about the progress that Elvis has made since his first day here. He freely wanders through the house now and will go in and out the backdoor without stressing out about it.
When I sit down, he will come to me and lightly touch my fingers with his nose. He likes to have a hand running lightly over his face, and he enjoys being scratched under his collar. When I stop petting him, he will put his front feet up onto my chair and ask for more attention.
When I’m sitting down, he has the courage to withstand direct eye contact, but not when I’m standing. Elvis flinches when he hears the first few words spoken to him, so my voice is always low, soft, and soothing. Presently, high-pitched happy talk is not a good thing. It only seems to rev up his anxiety.
I have taken him for long walks with Sissy and Jax, and he dearly loves the walks. When he sees me putting the harnesses on them, he forgets his fears and pushes his way between Jax and Sissy, and he does his best to tell me, “Me too.”
Sept 5, 2011
Joe place his broad hand under the rib cage and scooped up the little Border Collie from the crate he been hiding in. He carried him over to my jeep and set little Elvis into the extra large, molded crate in the back. I was so used to fostering the normal-sized, 45-poundish Border Collies, and Elvis was just so ... small. The crate seemed to swallow him up.
He rushed to the back of the crate, as far from the humans as he could possibly get, and sat against the back wall. His eyes were solemn and his black prick ears were spaced wide apart. He was frightened because the comfort of his life – his world – had been torn apart again.
He had what looked like either an eye irritation or the beginnings of what I call “Goopy Eye.” I was already thinking that I would put an ointment into that eye before it got worse. However, direct eye contact was a frightening thing for Elvis. He pushed himself against the back wall of the crate and froze. I could see the fear growing like a dark shadowy monster about to eat him up. I looked away.
Elvis was so quiet all the way home. Perhaps he thought I would forget that he was in my jeep. I rolled down the windows and let the pleasant late summer winds blow through the jeep. Perhaps the scents coming from the fields of ripe corn, the sweet alfalfa growing along the roadside, and the sounds of chittering birds would wash away some of Elvis’ concerns. I added my own chitter, hoping that the drone of my voice would help him get somewhat used to me by the time I pulled into my driveway.
For me, opening the crate door is always one of the most intense moments when there is a new and unknown foster dog inside the crate. I set my hand on the crate door and paused. Only a week ago, I had offered to foster a beautiful 10-month old blue merle named George. A kind-hearted woman emailed me saying she took in strays when she could and asked if I could take this sweet little dog. I said yes. After that, George had bolted out of the vehicle transporting him to a vet clinic. He was a timid dog, and now he was gone. No one has seen him since, and I fear that he is dead now. I almost had him. I almost had him safely with me.
The end of Elvis' leash strung out from beneath the crate door, and I picked it up, hoping that he had not chewed through the leash during the ride home. I cautiously opened the door. Elvis pressed himself to the back of the crate and stared at me. The leash was still intact.
“Elvis, come,” I said gently.
He scurried to the front of the crate, put his front feet out the door, and froze. His whole body went stiff with fear.
“Elvis, come,” I repeated. He was stuck halfway through the door with his body locked up in fear. I gave the leash a little tug and he pulled up his courage to leap out of the jeep.
I led him through the gate into my backyard and dropped the leash. Elvis could relieve himself and explore the backyard. Once again, Elvis locked up and stood on the sidewalk just inside the gate unable to move as though his feet had grown roots. I picked up the leash again and walked him onto the grass. Then I sat down on the deck and ignored him.
After an hour and a half, he was walking tentatively about the yard. I opened the backdoor and let my sweet Sissy out. She greeted Elvis warmly, touching noses with him, then came back to welcome me home. I let Jax out a half hour later, and he trotted over to the new guy with his tail wagging, and then promptly ignored Elvis.
For the day, Elvis preferred to spend his time in the crate I had set up in the kitchen. I left the door open for him, but he chose not to come out. Sissy sprawled out on the floor in front of the door, giving him enough room to get out if he chose to do so. She had decided she would take care of him, and lying there on the floor, she gave him the reassurance that she was there for him without intimidating him.
Elvis has been here six days now, and Sissy has been gently watching over him, giving him courage without pushing him to do anything he cannot emotionally handle.
April 20, 2011
A nice man with a love of Border Collies decided that he would like to raise and breed registered dogs. With good intentions he acquired a couple males and females of sound health and temperament to get his breeding program started. He took good care of these dogs and grew very attached to them. At first things went well and he sold several of the puppies to good homes.
But things changed in the man’s personal life and conditions began to deteriorate as he was unable to find homes for the remaining puppies from the initial breedings. The situation really began to spiral out of control when the dogs began to randomly breed and inevitably inbreed as all the dogs ran together and none of them were spayed or neutered.
Over the years neighbors complained to the local animal services concerned not only for the dogs but also for the man’s health and well being. The stress of having to care for and clean up after 50 or so dogs is tremendous. The man’s house was overrun by dogs and the stuff they dug in and tore up, not to mention the mud and feces that got tracked all over. The local animal services authorities had no control as the man lived outside the city limits and there was no limit on the number of dogs that he could have on the property. They could try and seize the dogs but the man was not technically breaking the law and the shelter was small and not equipped to handle so many dogs at one time. The shelter asked a volunteer to go out and talk to the man asking if he would be willing to surrender the dogs to rescue and after much discussion and persuasion about how the animals would be better off he reluctantly agreed to give up some of the dogs.
When the rescue volunteers arrived in October 2010, they were not surprised that the conditions they found were typical of an animal hoarding situation. The dogs were competing for limited resources resulting in fighting (dog on dog aggression) with the more fearful dogs living on the parameter of the yard being too scared to venture forward for their share of the bag of food that was dumped on the ground daily. Their only source of water was whatever rain the plastic kiddy pool could collect. Since the dogs liked to play in the water it was also full of mud and filth. The dogs had never been socialized with, or for that matter touched, by a human and were very fearful. Most tried to hide or run away. Some would freeze in their tracks and make themselves as small as possible so as not to draw notice to themselves. The dogs ranged in age from 6 weeks to the original breeding stock that were now about 6 years old. In total there were about 50 or so dogs running around the yard and house.
Once the dogs had been captured they were taken to various veterinary offices to be given a full exam and work up. All of the dogs had parasites of various kinds and intestinal infections, some even had heartworms since they were never given any type of preventative. With so many dogs and so many parasites they stayed at the vet's offices where they could be cared for and given all the medicines that were required for each dog depending on their individual health issues.
The word went out across the country "foster homes needed immediately!" It took a lot of emails but finally foster homes were found for the dogs. I chose a little black and white male they were calling Spot because of the black spot in the blaze on his forehead. They were very concerned about him as he seemed to be getting more and more scared from all the voices and people that were in and out of the kennel area to take care of the dogs. The information given by the hoarder said that he was one of the pups born during the snowstorm of February 2010. Their mother was not given shelter or help to birth her puppies.
Finally it was time to move the dogs to their foster homes but some of them were close to a thousand miles away. How to move them with the least amount of stress? One volunteer from Border Collie Rescue of Texas – the group that organized and executed this particular operation – loaded dogs into his SUV, drove hundreds of miles and missed way too much sleep to deliver these poor souls to their foster homes. Thank you Sam. He had already been in the car for about 20 hours, starting his trip in Dallas TX, and driving all the way up to southern Wisconsin and back down to Utica, Illinois somewhere southwest of Chicago when I met up with them to get Spot. I pried him from the crate in Sam’s SUV to transfer him to yet another crate in my minivan. With a big thanks to Sam we headed off into a typical Michigan snowstorm, and a trip that should only have taken 4 hours took 6. It was now 10pm and Spot had been traveling for over a full day. I once again pried him from the crate and since he still refused to walk, I carried him into my house and placed him in yet another crate where he could hide from the world for the night. I went to bed that night thinking this little boy needs my help – I just hope I can get through to him. His rehabilitation is going to take quite some time and he needs a new name.
The next morning I awoke to a horrible smell and found the source to be Spot's (Elvis') crate. He had finally gone to the bathroom; unfortunately he was now covered in poop and pee. Off to the bath we went. It was like bathing a vibrating statue – he was shaking with fear but didn't move from his curled-up form the entire time it took to get him clean and somewhat dry. During the day I would leave his crate door open while he cowered in the back of it. I talked to him so he would get used to hearing my voice since voices were one of his stressers. I also left the radio on whenever I was not in the room. Watching him out of the corner of my eye I could see him watching me directly very curious of what the heck was going on but too scared to do anything about it. This would be the pattern we followed for the next few weeks. On the one hand I had the cleanest Border Collie ever and he got used to me handling him since he refused to walk anywhere with humans nearby. He would just freeze and short of pulling around with a leash I carried him where ever he needed to go.
12/19/2010
It was getting close to Christmas and we still hadn't thought up a new name for Spot so I thought since he was small like an elf and howled like a hound dog why not Elvis. He seemed to like it so Elvis it would be. In all the excitement of getting a new name and holiday events Elvis decided that he would dart out of his crate and hide behind the chair next to him. This was the first time he had left the crate on his own. It's been 2 weeks and I am despaired at ever making progress with Elvis. He still won't take treats from me even when I throw them within his reach from across the room. He gets carried outside a couple of times a day now to go to the bathroom so at least he isn't going in his crate or needing a daily bath.
12/23/2010
Elvis went to the vet today to get the last round of his vaccinations and to be neutered. He was so scared I had to carry him all the way to the back and put him in a holding crate. Poor boy, I hate to leave him but it is necessary.
1/14/2011
Took Elvis to the vet again today to discuss trying medicine to help with his fears as some of the other foster homes that had taken dogs from the same hoarder had had good luck. We arrived at the vets office and I once again carried him in since he wouldn't walk on his own. We stopped at the desk to check in and I sat him on the floor next to me but with all the people so close he got so scared he peed all over himself. That had never happened before. After a short exam and discussion of his behavior we decided on Prozac starting at 10 mg a day and after two weeks I was to up the dose to 20 mg a day.
1/20/2011
Well Elvis has been on the Prozac for 6 days now without much change. He has darted out of his crate into the center of the room where the other dogs were playing forgetting that there are people in the room. I hope it starts to help more as we are leaving today for the Mid Winter dog show in Novi, MI.
1/24/2011
We're back from the show and Elvis did really well. Friday we started out with him in the crate under the table covered with a tablecloth letting him get used to all the noises. About half way through the day I pulled the front cover up so he could see what was causing all the strange noises but still have that feeling of hiding. Saturday I opened his kennel door and left it up to him whether he wanted to come out or not. He actually ventured out a couple of times when there were no people in the booth. By Sunday he actually let 2 strangers pet him after they sat on the floor talking with us for a while. He was so brave. By the time the show finished and we packed the car he was crashed out in his crate.
2/04/2011
It's been a while since that last update but we have been making progress. Elvis now likes to go outside and play with the other dogs everyday almost all day. He still won't walk to the door by himself but that will come with time. He has even stopped hiding out in the dog yard although people still make him nervous. He will run away from the fence to leave alot of space between him and the scary people. He is also coming to me when I call him but does not come right up to me – he stops about 3 feet away and only when I squat down and make myself small does he come closer. Elvis has been with us for just over 4 months now and we are finally starting to see his personality come out and boy is he a goof ball when he relaxes and just acts like a dog.
2/07/2011
Elvis has been on his full dose of Prozac for about a week now and I have been seeing him out of his crate quite a bit, he even plays with the other dogs now as long as no humans except me are close by. He has even ventured into another room of the house on his own. He will come up to me when the other dogs crowd around me but I still can't reach for him. I am now able to lead him by the collar to take him outside for his potty breaks. He even likes to stay out and play with the other dogs and he doesn't know the humans are watching him.
2/24/2011
We leave for the dog show in Chicago, Illinois today. I have high hopes – Elvis has been walking on a leash as long as another dog is with him.
2/28/2011
Wow, what a weekend. Elvis did awesome. Thursday he stayed in the van while we unloaded and set up since there really wasn’t anywhere to put him. Friday he came inside walking under his own power all the way, although we did have to stop a couple of times until traffic thinned a bit. He once again was in a crate under the table covered with a table cloth and I left the door open and let him decide if he wanted to come out. As long as there were no people in the booth he came out to investigate, smelling and walking around a bit. Saturday the show was swamped and he only came out a couple of times but he was watching with the look of curiosity rather than fear as to what was going on around him. By Sunday we were all pretty tired and the show was again very busy but Elvis decided that he would tolerate people close by as long as they didn't try to touch him and as long as we kept feeding him treats constantly. Finally his want for food is greater than his fears.
As part of Elvis's rehabilitation I will be taking him with me to weekend long horse shows where he will have people walking by him all weekend. I am hoping that having people walking by and stoping to visit will help to lessen his fear when people approach him since he still gets really scared.
Elvis is being fostered in Wisconsin.
