Adopt 2010 Contest

I havent been with my new family very long. Mum adopted me at just 7 weeks old back in September. In reality if it wasnt for dogster mum probably wouldnt have found me. Here is the story;

Mum had been on the look out for a puppy and since she works at the local shelter she was just waiting for the right one. Well one of her dogster pals all the way from Canada was coming to visit so mum took the week off work. Well mum wanted to show the other dogster mum what shelters look like here so they stopped by for a quick look. That was when mum saw me. I was the first one that caught her eye chewing on her fingers and mum fell in love instantly. However she had to wait a week to go back and see me. Every day she checked the website to see if I had been adopted yet. Finally a week passed and mum went down to the shelter. I was still up for adoption and mum knew I was going home with her. So really if it wasnt for dogster the dogster mum wouldnt have come to visit, mum wouldnt have met me and I probably would have been adopted by someone else.

It hasnt been easy at all for mum because I hve aggression issues. Discovered about 3 weeks after I was brought home to be food possessive. I was also very fearful for the first month. The first day I was brought hom the neighbour started playing piano and I just started screaming I was so scared. Eventually mum got me past my fear issues and is still working on my aggression issues. It's been a tough journey and it's not over just yet. Also not having the best start in life, being seperated from my mum at 5 weeks then transferred to the shelter mum works at at 6 weeks.

At around 6 months I developed mange and eventually all the hair around my right eye was gone. Mum has owned me for only 6 months and I've already cost her close to $1000 in vet bills.

Even though I have behavioural and medical issues mum is glad that she is my mum because alot of other people would have given up. She sees it all the time at the shelter. The people cant afford vet bills or this dog snapped when it was eating. Mum knows I most likely would have ended up back in the shelter. But she believes once you adopt a dog it's forever so she's going to keep working with me and continuing to grow. I have a very special bond with mum and we both cant wait to have many more years together.

Update on mange

Well mum left the vet $120 poorer. I indeed have demodectic mange and alot more than usual for such a small area. I've been started on injections that will continue for the next 6 weeks, one every fortnight. Also a malaseb bath twice this week then after that once a week. After the 6 weeks is up I'll go back for another skin scrape. If the mites are still there then I'll be on the baths weekly and the injections once a month. Mum hopes this clears up quickly.

Mange :(

Mum thinks I have mange. A few weeks ago I started loosing hair around one of my eyes but her mum said to wait and see what happens. Because her mum is the only way I can get to the vet mum had no choice but to wait even though she knew it wouldnt get any better. Well it's starting to get worse now and spreading, starting on my other eye. Mum even thinks the hair on my chest is getting thinner. So mum is using the money she's not supposed to be touching and taking me to the vet tomorrow. She hopes this isnt going to be a huge problem and that it will go away quickly.

I'm home

Well mum just went to pick me up from the vets. She said it was very strange not having me around the house all day. The vet said the surgery went perfectly. Right now I'm still very groggy and just looking for food because I hadnt had food in almost 24 hours. The vet said I should only have a small meal at first so mum gave me half my usual portion which I was so happy to have. Tonight mum is going to keep Shandi and I seperate so we dont play rough and I do something to my stitches. I'm sure to be back to my normal puppy self in no time.

I loose my manhood today :(

Well today is the day that I get neutered. I knew something was up when mum fed me early last night and I didnt get any breakfast this morning. Then she took my water away. What is she doing, trying to starve me!?! I need my food!

So she put me in the car and off to the vet we went. I was very anxious and I didnt like the other dogs trying to jump all over me. Then mum took me through to the back and there were alot of BIG dogs in cages. I was scared and I didnt know what else to do so I started barking at them. I didnt know what was going on but I didnt like it one bit. Then the nurse unclipped my leash and put me in this small cage. Then mum turned around and left me there.

Mum knows it's a very simple procedure and she's seen it done many times before but she still cant help but feel a little worried about me. The vet nurse said mum can come and pick me up anytime after 4pm this afternoon. I think it's going to be a long day. Mum knows how I hate being away from her and Shandi.

I shall update when mum picks me up.

An emergency trip to the vet

So it's almost 6:30pm and I was sitting on mums lap on a chair haing some cuddle time. Shandi got a little jealous and came over and of course I wanted to play with her so I jumped over mums arms and tried to go over the arm of the chair. Well my plan failed and my leg got caught in the arm of the chair and twisted. The screaming that came out of my mouth was like nothing had ever heard before. Shandi rushed to my side trying to see what was wrong but I didnt want to be touched. I held my leg up hobbling around screaming and screaming and mum was crying seeing me like that. Mum's mum kept asking her why she was crying and mum said "Because he's my baby, you'd cry to if I was screaming in pain like that."

So mum imediatly said I was going to the vet, she didnt care if it was just twisted or sprained she was taking me. So she called the vet which was just about to close and they said to bring him in. I was still limping but not crying anymore. The only vet there happened to be the one that mum extremely dislikes and usually asks not to see but she had no choice. So after being checked over it was determine that I had torn some muscle, injured a tendon and have a little bit of nerve damage but mum was so thankful it wasnt broken.

So I got an anti-inflamitory shot and I've been put on rest for the next few days.

As soon as I got back from the vet Shandi gave me a once over to make sure everything was ok and then she gave me lots of kisses.

Right now I'm asleep inside on my mat just relaxing.

My first session with the trainer

Today was my first session with my new trainer. Mum didnt exactly have high expectations considering how aggressive I was to her last time.

So the trainer comes and first thing she does is have a sit down with mum and just explain her methods, the equipment that they use, correction scale etc. Mum was also taught the magic word which is Ahh. A loud clap and Ahh sound mean hey, stop what your doing. We started with the scratching on the door and charging through. Mum was shown to open the door a little and if I tried to run through to close it fast and say Ahh. after about 3 times I sat patiently on the other side and mum came out without any problems.

Next thing was jumping, again another loud ahh. I only jumped once, mum ahhed at me and I didnt jump again for the whole session.

Mum was shown some really good recall exercises and then we moved onto the big issue. The food aggression.

Mum was taught 4 different ways to deal with it and she got to choose one that she felt most comfortable using. Can you believe that on the first try she got me to walk away from my food bowl and let her pick it up without showing any sign of aggression. She was completely shocked and so proud of me. The trainer also said that usually it takes dogs a while to catch on but she was so impressed at how smart I was.

The whole session I was relaxed and super calm. Mum has never ever seen me this way, I was a completely different dog.

My next session is in two weeks and mum has alot of homework to do between now and then but she's not giving up and she's going to try her hardest. She knows I can do it now, she needs to gain back leadership.

A new friend and a trainer..

Well mums friend got a new puppy today called Ruby. She's a 9 week old Standard Poodle and she's just as big as me, I'm 14 weeks :O She's going to be huge when she's fully grown. Tomorrow mum is going over for a photoshoot and I get to play with her again.

Mum found a trainer last week to work with me on my food aggression issues. Tomorrow is our first session, she's coming over for 1-2 hours. Hopefully everything goes ok and mum doesnt become emotional if I show signs of aggression. Lets just hope all goes well and I'm on the way to being a better behaved dog.

I'm sorry mum....

I'm sorry for what happened tonight but I was just protecting my food. Please dont think I dont love you mum, you know I do. Food is just so important to me and I want no one taking it away from me or even coming close to me.

Banjo's mum here;

Tonight Banjo tried to attack me multiple times, I am extremely distraught to say the least. I've been working with Banjo's food aggression for weeks now. I've tried different methods such as hand feeding and dropping food in his bowl. Tonight I walked past to drop food into his bowl and it was like Banjo was a different dog. He growled and tried to lunge at me. Following the advice of someone I tried scruff Banjo to show him that behaviour is not on and that was when it went from bad to worse. He kept coming at me over and over, growling and lunging.

I completely broke down. Starting bawling and hyperventilating, I couldnt breath and I started to get dizzy. This lasted about 20 minutes until I was finally able to calm myself down and now my head is pounding. I am just so hurt that my own dog would do this and I know it's not his fault but it just makes me feel horrible.

No matter what I do nothing is working. Not only is it not improving but it's getting worse. I dont know what to do anymore. I dont want to give up but I am so worn out.

A trip to the vet

Well I went for my second round of vaccinations today at the vet. I was little nervous of all the big things and not really being to a vet before but I was happy to see any person and I was gladly giving them all kisses. The receptionist just loved me, I got to go behind the counter to get some cuddles from her. So I went into to get my shot and it made me really itchy. I didnt like it at all and I was whining but then the vet came back in with some treats and I was relaxed after that. The nice ladies at the vet made up a puppy pack which mum got, it also had a free worming tablet in there so now mum doesnt have to go buy that.

I have to go back in another 4 weeks to get my third and final round of shots. The girls all said they cant wait to see how big I'm going to grow. They'll be seeing a fair bit of me around there, more shots in 4 weeks and then about three weeks after that I am going back to get neutered.