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Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Getting on with life

There have been a lot of changes in my life since I lost my beloved Allen.  Some of my fires went out, and new ones started up.  Allen loved my knitting and encouraged me a lot, but without him, I have not been doing much knitting.  Thus, no posts.

Instead, I became lonely -- then did something about it.  I met someone new, and we have embarked on a life together.  Then we combined our households in a new home.  Now we have adopted a small rescue dog.

I have not had a dog since my kids grew up.  I always said I was finished with babies and pets.  Well, Bob changed that!  He wanted a dog very badly, and I finally agreed on the stipulation that it would be a rescue dog.  (I have friends and family involved with rescue pets and rescue organizations.)   He agreed and I started to search.  We ended up with 2-3 year old Tiffany, a small terrier mix.  She is sweet, quiet, house broken, and affectionate.  However, she obviously has been abused.  She is trusting of us, but has some problems.  (Anxiety around strangers or leaving the house.)  As a result, I have been consulting with my rescue savvy friends and Tif's foster mom, as well as reading a lot of books on dog psychology and how to help her leave her abuse behind.  We have been a family for 7 weeks now.

We had a problem this morning when she had her first accident in the house.  She had a few accidents early on due to separation anxiety, but solved that by putting her in her crate when we leave.  This time, she could not wait for me to get my robe on before "going".  Took her outside anyhow, and did not scold her.  She seems to know that she did something bad, but I have not made an issue of it.  Aside from that, she is a great cuddler.  She gets assertive when we are on the sofa or bed by wriggling in between us.  She thinks her spot is always in the middle.  Her spot is definitely in our hearts.


As for her anxiety, I have been detailing it on my Facebook account.  (The Foster mom suggested this so she could track her progress.)  Today has been a very bad one for her because we have painters in.  Major anxiety on her part.  I have to stay close to her at all times.  I am doing a lot of mothering today, and Bob is at the pet shop picking up some doggie Prozac for her.  She is going to need it because the painting means we must sleep in the guest room.  Tif will not like that.  She likes her routines.  But she will still be in bed with us, and that will help her.  

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