#pupicture

[ravynfyre]

my neurotic senior girl, Diva, having a nap in someone else's crate

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Scarlett was enjoying the fluffy softness of Gracie. :)

[ravynfyre]

So. Now that I am home from the Unexpected Road Trip To Iowa that was conceived of literally less than 24 hours ago.... The explanation.

A very dear friend of mine from all the way back in my prehistoric high school days called me yesterday. Now this is a gal that I have kept in contact with because we still love one another. Usually when she calls, though, there will be Shenanigans of some type happening. She knows me very well, and knew, pretty much before I admitted it, that I would not be happy without a maligator in the house. Since she's married to a firefighter, she's got a lot of emergency service contacts and friends, so she approached one of them at the annual fire department christmas party and asked if he would keep his ears open for a malinois looking for a home.

Literally yesterday, he got a call from a cop K9 trainer he decoys for on the regular in the far off reaches of northern Iowa, asking if he knew anyone who was looking for a malinois who would do okay with a cop dog wash out. BAZINGA! He calls my friend, who had not had a chance yet to let him know that I had found Diva, and let HER know.

But friend knows me well, as I said, and knew that she should still throw the offer at me because 1) I love my crazy ass maligators, and 2) I am insane enough to tackle bringing two brand new psycho dogs into my house at the same time. Spoiler Alert: she was right.

Now she was very VERY clear that there was no pressure, and no harm, no foul if I decided to be sane for once, but, eh, sanity is overrated. I've done dumber things with less preparation before. Fuck it.

Hence the phone tree sorting out getting Rajah from the far reaches of Corn Land to me. It wasn't all finalized until pretty close to 10 or 11 pm last night, but finalized it got... and Rajah has come home.

Scarlett isn't exactly pleased... she's an intact bitch and I think she was rather hoping for *less* malinois craziness, rather than *more*... but they are quickly sorting their hierarchy out (Scar on top) *without* bloodshed and a minimal amount of snarking. And Rajah is already having a positive effect on Diva - which was something I had hoped for.

See, some breeds of dogs "know their own"... Sighthounds know fellow sighthounds, even if they are a different breed... Malinois know malinois, and also know that German Shepherds are NOT malinois. It's kinda spooky, sometimes, watching them interact in a pack, because they genuinely do throw different behaviors for fellow mals than they do for non-mals. And I was really hoping that Diva could use Rajah as a more confident role model... it seems to be working, because, for the first time since I brought her home, Diva found a spot NOT IN A CRATE to settle down and actually RELAX. Up until now, if she wasn't locked in a crate, she was pacing and fretting and worried and unable to just *stop*.

And she's stopped right now. Has been for close to an hour now. She even ventured out and grabbed a toy to take back to her "throne" that she's relaxing in. I love it.

Going to have my hands full, but I never do things by half measures, as was pointed out to my by a former SAR K9 teammate. LOL. I'll try to remember to post pictures and updates! Thank you all for putting up with my crying and mourning over the last couple weeks. I love you all!

[ravynfyre]

My friends know me a little too well. Everyone, meet Rajah. She's a two year old cop dog dropout and an unexpected gift from a dear friend.

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PROGRESS!!!

This may not look like much... it's a dog chewing on a nylabone. Big deal.

Except that Diva came from a neglect situation, into a rescue at a shelter where she was scared and overstimulated and she just shut down. I'm not sure if she ever had toys, period, but I do know that the first time I tried to offer her that bone - very carefully, with open body language, and presented flat on open hands, because I have suspicions - she refused to come ear me for nearly 20 minutes after that.

She won't accept toys from hands, is scared of things in hands, and only accepts food from hands half the time. It has to be a particularly high value food to get over her nervousness. She has to be crated because 1) we need to work on the cat issue and 2) she starts the next phase of her heartworm treatment next week, and will be on strict crate rest for the next few months during that.

So I tried just setting toys in the crate before even putting her in it after we came back inside from a potty break and play session... and she immediately plopped down and grabbed the bone to start chewing. This is kinda a huge step for this timid, fearful little girl. It didn't last long, and she acted almost as if she was afraid that she'd done something wrong when she caught e watching her... but it's a step.

I hope to al the gods that I have what it takes to help this girl heal and be happy. I've never lived with such a soft, fearful dog before. I have a lot to learn from her. Wish us luck. But seeing her playing with my other pups, and playing with a toy, just made me so damn happy, I had to share.

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Duchess Diva informs me that her name is just plain Diva, thank you. She's home safe, had a very long few days, and will be spending the next few months decompressing and getting her heartworm treatments... but she's such a dainty, tiny, adorable little thing and is so sensitive and sweet!

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She is on the road!!!

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So. Since it seems to be a done deal now, I won't make all y'all wait until friday. Let me introduce you to Duchess:

She comes from a neglect case in Tennessee, and I was officially approved to adopt her just this morning. She's joining a transport of 9 other senior dogs coming up fro the south, that will arrive Friday.

This past week has been... really hard. It's been 20 years since I haven't had a malinois in the house... and I love my sighthounds, and I love my pyrs, but there is just an energy that is *missing* now, and I wasn't coping well. but then a friend reached out to me because a rescue they follow was desperately seeking a holiday miracle for Duchess, because she was handling life in the shelter about as well as I was handling life in a quiet house. Some quick scrambling and some paperwork, and 24 hours later... and we have a miracle for *both* of us.

Friday, I pick Pyro up from the mortuary. And after that, I meet the transport to meet and pick up Duchess. None of my dogs have ever "replaced" anyone that came before them, so that's not what will happen here. But just knowing that I'm going to have the crazy back in my house, even muted as it will be, has made today feel... so much less dark and hopeless. I hope that I really can be the miracle she needed.