Tansy

Tansy ’ s Story

Oct. 20, 2007

Jen writes: Foster Girl (yet to be named) is here safe & sound. She is really timid, but Tallie & Olly are both fine with her and she seems fine with them. We have diapered her up as she is in heat & put her in the dining room which is sectioned off. Not a peep out of her, she can see both Tallie & Olly through the baby gates. She is really scared, won’t stand up, won’t really walk around, just lays there…..very sad.

Oct. 21, 2007

Jen writes: Well we made it through the first night. Oddly enough Lilly must be a popular name as that was what we were going to call our foster too, so we are now trying to think of a new name. Our girl is in heat so she has been sporting the doggie diaper, which she has been fine to let me put on. Tallie & Olly both think she is marvelous, which is a change for both of them to like a dog that visits, (usually one likes the visitor and the other doesn't. I have our guest staying in the dining room with babygates, so she can see our guys and us. She is not at all interested in water, food, or our dogs or even moving for that matter. She has only gotten into a full upright standing position once, otherwise she is hunched up a kind of slithers around. Her muscles seem very tight with a low range of motion in her legs, so I have been massaging her which she quite enjoys. She cowers when we approach her and will turn away from us. I haven't had much luck getting her to eat. I hand fed her two handfuls of food and then she lost interest. She has done all her duties outside and had no accidents. She really struggles on the leash, actually just will not move. She will not get up and walk, so I carry her out to the back deck. Once outside she will walk down the stairs and explore the yard, really it looks like she is trying to find a way out. The sacrificial Pug - Olly (such a good sport) - will go out with her and let her follow him around. Tallie is a bit much, jumping around and wanting to play with her.
She is eerily quiet. Tallie is talking away to her (making all the typical boxer sounds) and she has not even let out a whine, whimper or a bark the entire time she has been here. And there has not been one wiggly of the tail at all. They are definitely not puppies, but I wouldn't think based on her teeth and feet that she is not older than 18 months. Physically she is in remarkably good shape, she is well fed, no callusing on the elbows and she has a nice coat, although it stinks and I think a bath would be very traumatizing. She let me put some dry bath on but was really scared. So now, I have to figure out a name.....stay tuned....maybe all the girls should have flower names.
 

Oct. 22, 2007

Jen writes: Much like Lilly, I have not really been able to get Tansy to eat, and I have tried everything. She took two handfuls out of my hand last night but other than that, she has not eaten anything else or drank with the exception of what she drank when in the bath. All her pees and poos have been outside which is great. She even went to the door and Jeff put her out with the diaper on & she squatted with the diaper still on, but it was outside. Jeff & I gave her a bath and once we actually had her in the tub she was really good just stood there. She smells soooo much better now, cannot even describe it to you. We picked up a crate from Barb it is all set up, but she has yet to actually cross the threshold into it, been to the door stepped 1 foot in and then came out again. Currently she is wandering around the house with her "diaper" on. Just as a heads up......unaltered female dogs that live together often go into heat around the same time! Watch out Angie and Lesley! I have no idea how to tell if she is at the beginning of the heat, middle or end, apparently the level of bleeding does not vary much throughout the heat. That being said, at least if they go into heat they aren't pregnant! After visiting three pet stores I now have a good supply of XL doggie diapers and Jeff has been changing her to make sure he is comfortable with it while I am away Wednesday & Thursday. (He actually suggested he change her, so he knew how to do it.....yeah Jeff.) Tansy has enjoyed being out in the yard, prefers it to being on the leash. On the leash she only knows reverse and lie down.

She is absolutely in love with the TV, she will sit and stare at it and cock her head back & forth (this is the only emotion we have seen so far). Jeff thinks this is great as he is also in love with his flat screen TV.

Took the dogs for a walk and left Tansy at home in the crate, and she went in, laid down and went to sleep. Just out of curiosity have Lilly or Darcy barked, whined or whimpered at all? Tansy is really oddly quiet it is actually a bit spooky. Tallie chats away to her and she just stands there. She is definitely not deaf, because if I whistle she looks at me. Tallie has also been trying to get her to play. Tallie flopped out on her back in front of Tansy & pawed at her & Tansy ran away petrified, so Tallie thought, "Oh, you prefer chase, well I like that game too...." then when Tansy curled up in a ball Tallie seemed to go...."what are you scared of me?" and instead decided to clean her face with kisses. This is very cooperative behaviour for Tallie with another female....it is almost like she knows that Tansy has had a tough time.

So hopefully she will eat at some point, but she is a dog, so I am sure she will eat when she is hungry.

Managed to get her out with Olly on the leash, she checked out the front lawn and then laid down. She attracted a lot of attention from the kids on the street (about a dozen of them), but I told them she was too new to have them petting he so they all stood on the sidewalk and told me how pretty she is, and Olly ran from each of them for a scratch, (he was thrilled, thought they were all there for him.) She definitely seems more comfortable outside than inside.

Oct. 22, 2007 (later)

Jen writes: Tansy has eaten! Well, topped with some boiled chicken, steamed rice & cheese (as per my 8 year old neighbour’s suggestion - the namer of Miss Tansy) Tansy ate half a bowl of her kibble. I held the bowl in my hands otherwise she just wouldn't go near it. She is starting to come around us a bit more. Now that it is dark she does not want to be outside. She will walk up beside the couch where Jeff is sitting watching football and lean against the arm. If Jeff moves she scoots away. If he sits still, (does not cheer or clap for his team,) she will eventually lie down there. Olly tried to get her to play (a big step for Olly as he rarely plays) he put his little butt up in the air and did his chacha dance and ran around the coffee table, she ran the other way to the crate :(

Not sure how it is for everyone else, but Tansy is shy and unsure, but by far the best behaved (manner wise) foster I have ever had. That could easily change as she gets more comfortable, but she currently goes to the door to go out, does not jump, has not barked whined or whimpered, and does not go anywhere near the furniture. Lets me hand feed her and touch her anywhere, even change her diaper. Probably too good to be true.....

Oct. 23, 2007

Jen writes: Well last night we had our first night in the crate. Went out at 11pm and did our business, Tansy is getting a lot braver in the yard and will actually walk out the door without cowering. Went into the crate at about 11:15, not willingly, did the pancake and we managed to slide her in. Once in she lay down and went to sleep. The first sounds of Tansy. Hasn't barked, whined, whimpered or cried, but wow can this lady snore! She sounds like a grizzly bear! But she has finally relaxed enough to really fall asleep which is nice to see.

1:30am I woke up to barking just one loud long bark! She can talk! Came downstairs and took her outside, barely got the diaper off her as she ran to the grass (we have a pool in the yard, so the grass is at the very back of the yard) and she had a poo & pee, so she was waking me up to let me know she had more business to do.

Tansy has eaten a bit more, probably about a half a meal each time, and only if you feed it to her, she is scared of the bowl. We have tried different bowls, and even tried a plate....no she likes your hands. She has finally drank water out of the bowl rather than licking it off my hands as that bowl is pretty scary too. She watches Tallie drink some and then got really brave and slithered up to the bowl. When she was done she had the biggest slobber chops! Tallie licked it all off for her, being the oh-so-helpful big sister....Olly and I thought it was pretty gross but both the girls seemed happy.

Tansy is moving around the house a lot more, cautiously, but always returns to her blanket in the dining room after about five minutes. I worked from home part of the day and was out the other part and crated her when I was out and things seemed to be fine.

She is pretty unaware of where she steps and has stepped on Olly about three times now (don't think she means too she just doesn't notice him). That being said Olly doesn't quite get it so he snapped at her and gave her a growl the last time, and she did the pancake, absolutely petrified. Can't yell at Olly because that scares her too, so he got to go to the corner, (which he knows pretty well - I say no and point at it when he is bad and he slithers off). She also stepped on one of Olly's squeaky toys and it scared her so much she pee'd her diaper! (Only noticed as it came down her leg a bit!)

Tansy seems pretty tired, not sure if it is just so much going on or if she is actually a bit lethargic, is anyone else noticing this?

She does look at me when I call her. She will also approach me now and stand about a foot away from me. If I sit still she will come over and lick my hands. She walks away if I try to pet her, but if I sit on the floor by her blanket she will move towards me and let me pet her. Tonight we heard a funny noise in the dining room and peeked around the corner to see her rolling around on her back. She looked like she was having fun, but as soon as she noticed us watching she stopped, sounds like she started again when we walked away. Tallie likes to lay close to he. She doesn't want Tallie to snuggle with her, but it is OK if Tallie lays about a foot to the side of her. They both seem to like this.

All in all she has been very good, no accidents in the house (diaper is on for the heat,) but with the exception of the peeing from the squeaky toy she goes to the back door.

Tomorrow she will have a half day on her own as I am working from home until my flight. Then she is on her own with Jeff. Jeff has been trying to arrange his schedule to work from home a bit so she doesn't have to go eight hours in the crate, (I didn't even have to ask him he just started juggling things around). Half the neighborhood has offered to come over and take her out halfway through the day, but she would be way too scared and I don't think they would ever get her back in the crate as you have to lift her and she is like dead weight when she doesn't want to do something. She has become famous from all the kids telling their parents about her, all the stay-at-home moms have left me messages offering to help if I need it.

Nov. 2, 2007

Jen writes: Well, it will be two weeks on Saturday since Tansy arrived at our house, and I have to say she is a totally different dog. Really quite remarkable the change, she has come around much faster than I expected. Last Saturday when we searched for Darcy was a huge turning point for us. It was the first time I have been able to get her outside walking without laying flat as a pancake. Tansy is now eating, (double what she had been, but still not as much as she was). She will go outside into the back when I open the door. (Earlier she would not walk through the doorway, she would cower and we had to carry her.) She runs around the backyard with Tallie now; Tallie is searching for squirrels, Tansy is just running because everyone else is. Tansy now comes when you call her name, and will search you out to snuggle with, which is a huge improvement as only just over a week ago we could barely touch her without her running away. She has spent the last three days in the crate for about 6 hours each day and done really well. And finally her heat is almost over!

Nov. 10, 2007

Jen writes: Tansy is now out of her doggie diapers, her heat is coming to an end. With that it has become much more obvious that she has no clue about house training. When the diapers were on, she did not ever go to the bathroom unless we had taken them off, and that was only when she went outside. Now that she has a bare bottom, she is not opposed to squatting on the hardwood if she has to go. As she does not bark, or basically make any noise, if I don't see her go towards the door, she will wait about two seconds then pee right there. She also has no concept of holding it, she could have been out only an hour ago and will still pee on the floor, even the tiniest bit. So really she is a full grown dog with the skills of an 8 week old puppy. So we are now treating her like an 8 week old puppy and she is going out every 30 minutes when we are home, and every 3-4 hours through the night.

She has a lot of trouble in the crate, rocking it to the point she almost tips it and excessive drooling, so we have only done short spurts in there, trying to get her used to it a bit more.

Tansy now walks like a trooper, loves to go out for walks, still hates having the harness put on, which we then attach the leash to both the collar and the harness just in case, as every now and then she does a little bucking bronco act on our walks and leaps in the air, backs up, spins around and essentially acts like a wild animal for a reason she seems to be the only one aware of. Tallie & Olly just look at her like "what's your problem?" Tansy has also been on a few walks on her own and has done really well.

She has met many dogs now and loves all of them, she will approach any dog, and now wags her stubbie when she see's other dogs or when Jeff or I come home. She has started to snuggle with Tallie a bit, but only when Tallie isn't looking. Olly is not quite sure what to make of this as Tallie is his snuggle buddy, so he will often wedge himself between the two of them, or climb onto Tallie's back.

Tansy went to the vet on Wednesday, and I wasn't quite as smart as Lesley and I took her on her own. She had to be carried, I don't think I have ever carried a dog so much, and she now weighs about 48lbs. She seemed to be about 42-43 when she got her (Jeff stood on the scale with her). She was a total trooper about the shots, didn't even flinch sat with her head in my hands.

She is now microchipped, and up to date on all her vaccines. As Tansy is just coming out of heat she can't be spayed until about Christmas time. We also ran into another boxer on our way out of the vet clinic - Charlie who was a very tall lean boy who was (even though he was neutered) very smitten with Tansy.

I am out of town this week for work until Wednesday night, and Jeff just found out he has to go to New York very early Tuesday morning, so my Mom is headed down and has been updated on the Tansy situation and she will spend Tuesday and Wednesday here with her. Olly is being deployed to Grandpa's house as he has his Nursing Home Therapy Dog Visit Schedule Tuesday & Wednesday anyways, so he will sleep over at Grandpa's. So my Mom will just have Tallie & Tansy which will be a bit easier.

Tansy has had yet another bath, and the stink that she came with is starting to subside. She is very well behaved in the bath.

She is a celebrity in my neighborhood, she stands at the front door (we have glass down our front door) and watches the kids walk past our house each morning on their way to school. Some of the kids have even left her cookie bags, so that she can gain weight, they are very worried that you "can see her bones." She is very drawn to kids and will sit and let them pat her and not duck or cower like she does for a new adult. All the kids are very concerned about her all the time, wondering if she is eating enough, gaining weight, who will adopt her, will they understand that she is shy.....I have never had so many questions, and most of these kids are under 10. One little neighbor - she is 5 ½ years old) has come up with quite a plan as to how Tansy could stay with Jeff and I. I had explained to her that Tansy would be adopted to a new family when she was ready. She had asked why Jeff and I wouldn't keep her and I told her (easy answer) it was too hard to walk three dogs. So today she came by after school and offered her services to come on walks with me everyday, she said she could walk Olly because he was little, and then if she helped me Tansy could stay. So then in my brilliance I thanked her but told her that we just didn't have enough room for three dogs, she suggested we "build our house bigger like we did before," (we put an addition on a couple years ago). And then finished it up by saying, "you must have room, you have no kids." The infinite wisdom of a 5-year-old. ?

So I think there will be some sad little faces on the street when it is time for Tansy to move on. (And now every kid without a dog is asking their parents if they can adopt her.)

And yes, as you can see in the picture, against all foster dog rules, she has wiggled her way up on the couch a bunch of times with Tallie. If I catch her doing it I have her get off, but often she is up there with Tallie out cold already.

Nov. 11, 2007

We had a Tansy break through last night. For the first time Tansy played with a toy. Although the black toy may look a bit like she has her mouth wrapped around Olly, it is our Ant Eater toy, which makes the most annoying noise out of any toy in the entire house. In the picture she is eyes closed giving the Ant Eater everything she has to make the noise. When he makes it she will leap back and then start again. (Aso featured is the lamb which she has figured out jingles when she shakes it.)

She attacked the Ant Eater for about 30 minutes. She was so excited she stopped to throw up and went back to get him again (think it was a bit too much excitement after dinner). went back to killing the Ant Eater the noise was driving us nuts, but she seems to be having way too much fun and we figure she won't stop until she considers him dead. Not sure how they kill this guy as Tallie has been trying for 6 years to kill him with no luck.

She eventually got tired and went to bed, only to start again at about 3am, but we both laughed as she seems to have so much fun doing it.

Every morning I say "who wants to go for a walk," Tallie & Olly skid to the front door, and Tansy hides in the family room. Well this morning I was bent down putting on my shoes and said "who wants to go for a walk," only for Tansy to be the first one to skid to the door and actually knock me flat on my butt and proceed to try and lick my face. We had walked her yesterday for about an hour and a half in Sunnybrook Park and apparently she really liked it. She now wiggles around in excitement when I put the harness on, where she usually runs away when she see's it.

I am so proud of her!

DEC, 03 2007

Well, Tansy left us this past Saturday morning for her sleep over, things went so well, and with the big storm Sunday, she is staying with her new family. I will go up in about a week to get the adoption contract and to say good-bye.

She will be living in Aurora (about 10 minutes from my Grandma's house,) with Kelly & Ron, their 3 teenagers, and her new dog brother Josh. Kelly and Ron adopted Rudy from BRO years ago and unfortunately lost him to spleen cancer. Her name has officially been changed to Alli, and since that sounds so much like Olly, she actually turns to look at you when you say it.

I couldn't be happier with the home she ended up with, they are just perfect for her. They bought her a new collar, harness, bed, a ton of toys, bones etc....she ended up with an early Christmas. They already have a stocking hung on their fireplace with her name on it.

Kelly said she was pretty shy over the weekend, but they continued to bribe her with the hotdogs, and on Sunday morning she did get brave enough to try and jump into bed with Ron & Kelly. She misjudged the height of the bed a bit and scared herself by not quite making it.....but they quickly picked her up and put her in the bed with them.

She is trying really hard and has not had any accidents since she has been at her new house!

So looks like another happily ever after........(Jeff is totally bummed she is gone!)

After all the fostering I have done, this one was really tough to say good bye to, maybe because it was such a big transformation in the time she was here, but it was even harder than the first foster!