Life Changes

Well, Poor Leia has been through it all in the past few months. First she joined us in Tampa, FL for Tom's Bar Exam. What an experience! We stayed at the Sheraton River Walk and let me just say they are not just "pet tolerant" up to 80lbs; they are truly pet friendly (and incredibly pet owner friendly)! The manager came up to Leia not once, but 3 times to say hello and ask how things were going. They also have an awesome goodie bag if you just let them know you are interested in the Pet Goodies. Here are some pictures of what they brought us:

Cute gift bag with some gloves, 2 tiny capsule poop bags, a tag,
and a cute bone shaped poo bag dispenser full of bags.
We were allowed to keep these!

 

There was also a nice little door hanger that said "let sleeping dogs lie" that way people and staff knew not to knock. 

They also brought her a doggy bed, bowls, and a bowl mat for us to borrow while at the Sheraton.

We loved the hotel, and they loved us. Leia especially loved the balcony and enjoyed watching the boats and valet guys. She learned to love her doggy bed, but normally defaulted to the crate, just because it was safe and smelled like home.








During our stay I discovered the BringFido App. Let me just say, this thing is amazing, and if you ever take your pets anywhere, you should have this app (or The BringFido Webpage bookmarked.). I even emailed a suggestion to have Emergency Vets listed and they let me know they were already working on creating a "Find a Vet" feature.

Lunch at Columbia Café

We used the features one BringFido and discovered that a Columbia Café is dog friendly so we went to eat there.... a lot! Leia Loved that they brought her a water bowl and  I brought her dinner when we ate dinner there. They were very understanding of her shyness and she even did fairly well with other doggy patrons. She still thought that maybe she should eat them, but she didn't and generally calmed down.

Dinner at Columbia Café

Back to the Sheraton, may I say I also appreciated that they catered to my coffee habit, hehe. We find out next week how Tom did on the Bar. Fingers crossed.

"Pack dis...."

Our next adventure was moving. We have finished school and it was time to return to our home state of Virginia. Leia was less than thrilled about all the packing. On the second to last day we  got the truck and packed most of our things. The rental furniture was taken, Leia had a fit, but she liked that we all slept in one room, her in her crate, us on an air mattress. 

The day of moving we loaded everything except her and her crate into the truck. Leia screamed and cried. I mean you would of thought we'd shot her or stolen puppies from her. Nothing we said or did could console her... that is, until she was put in the car, and her crate in the truck. She lay right down, curled up, and gave the most contented sigh I have ever heard. 

We drove a little over halfway and stopped in Florence at the Best Western for the night. They had nice rooms with plenty of space, they allowed large dogs, there was plenty of space to park a moving truck, and there was a Ruby Tuesday across the parking lot so dinner was easy to carry out. The Best Western also had breakfast which made travel easy.

We arrived in Virginia just in time to get 6 inches of snow... twice! It was Leia's first time in full snow coverage, so the lack of smell and sound was a bit puzzling to her. After about a day she adjusted. She was clearly made for snow.














The final adjustment was one we didn't expect... My husband and I were about to go out for the evening when one misstep on the stairs led to a fall and an ER trip... I broke 3 bones in my ankle and have surgery coming up. When I fell down the stairs Leia shrieked, and then had to be held back, as she was upset that I was crying. She had to adjust to a Mommy on crutches, and then Mommy in a wheel chair when my one "good" leg (I have no good legs, lots of knee dislocations) started to get weak after a few days on crutches. Leia is getting use to it but did avoid me most of the first few days. Now she will come up for pets.

So all in all, plenty has been changing in life. Leia is doing well rolling with the punches.

Could she be..... (guessing the breed)

So, I did some research the other day, and saw a picture of a dog which reminded me far to much of a little furry girl I know. So, I pulled up a few links about the breed. I started off with the basic article on Akitas: Akita (Wiki).

Some of the temperament notes sounded familiar as well as the whole "fastidious and somewhat feline in their grooming nature" thing.

Then I saw a dog on the Wiki which looked VERY familiar. It was called a Japanese Akita, so again, the research began, and I found the Japanese Akita Club of America.

I read about the Japanese Akita Breed Standards and then read about the differences between Japanese and American Akitas:  Akita (Japanese vs American)   Comparing the American & Japanese Akitas.

Top 3, Japanese Akitas. Bottom Left, Japanese Akita. Bottom middle is a golden retriever Japanese Akita mix.
Finally, Bottom right is a cream colored golden retriever.

 Finally I double checked the breeds who are known for having a spotted tongue, and what did I find? That both Golden Retrievers and Akitas are known to have spotted tongues: Dogs with spotted or blue tongues.

And here is the final Analysis.
Left: Japanese Akita, Middle: Leia, and Right: Golden Retriever.

Leia's 1 Year Adoption Anniversary and 3rd Birthday

 Well, can you believe it has been a year already? One year ago today Leia came home and stepped tentatively in to our apartment.

Since then she has gained some confidence and become affectionate to us. She talks a bit now and will try to call me across the room to pet her belly. She now knows how to sit, lay down, give paw, give other paw, and "pound it."

We celebrated  by taking 3 good walks today, one in the morning, first thing, another a lunch and one right before dinner. Leia found ducks hiding in a bush and was so proud of herself, but didn't bark or try to scare them away. The ducks were startled but seem to understand she wont harm them (Lucky Ducks!).

Bellow are some pictures from her walks.

















After Lunch Leia opened her Birthday card from my mom and discovered she got a gift card to PetsMart which will likely fund her green Dentastix habit. We made a cute video of Leia and I opening the card together.

Then, after dinner Leia got to have a "Frosty Paws" frozen treat. OH MAN did she love that. She did, of course, refuse to keep it in her food bowl and instead smeared in across the carpet but who cares, it's her birthday, she's allowed.

When she thought I might take it (because I was putting the bowl under her mouth to catch the ice cream) she tried to scarf it down so I just left her alone so she could enjoy it.

Then, she crashed like a ton of bricks, and Tom and I enjoyed the lemon cake I made earlier in the day. Notice who is out cold in the background. We believe this is her third birthday, and her first anniversary with us.

Next week she'll see the vet for her yearly exam and then later in the summer she'll get to experience the beach, possibly for the first time in her life. We'll be moving back to Virginia before her 4th birthday and 2nd anniversary with us and will adjust to a new home. She'll have to make new friends, as her Buddies Chief and Ellie Mae won't be able to come with us... She'll see a lot more of Mr. Henry and our families as well.

I am so excited for her. . .  

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl. 

Mommy Loves you!

Today, I listened to my dog.

Concerned at the wind.

As I walked Leia tonight I found my  mind preoccupied with how she always seems to get fearful when another dog sniffs her. most recently, she whirled around growling (like she was prepared to fight, but didn't want to) and then, when corrected, went as far away as possible and sat down. I was so concerned she might become dog aggressive that for two days I had been plotting and planning all sorts of ways to socialize and get her used to dogs and increase her responsiveness to commands outside the apartment. As I walked alongside the lake, the wind blew, briefly distracting me from my thoughts as Leia trailed along beside me. The she stopped suddenly and gazed up at the tree tops. The palms moved in the breeze and she stared, panting, at the trees. The next thing she did struck me so profoundly I decided to write this post about it... Leia flinched.

Sniffing everything.

It was so profound to me, in that moment, that I don't think a truck driving out of the lake could have created such a change in my thinking. Leia was scared. She was SCARED. Anxious, unsure, whatever you want to call it, she wasn't confident.

Inside the house she plays, bounces, spins, wags, can sit/give paw/lie down/etc on command, and loves just about everything, but outside the wind (The WIND!) stopped her in her tracks. I stood there, looking at my dog with new eyes and then walked her to the bench beside the lake, and sat down. We sat for about 15 minutes and she walked around on her 5' leash, sniffing and sniffing, looking at the trees, the wind, the lake, me, people, the pool, everything. The we walked alongside the lake, in the grass, and let her look into the lake. I showed her the fish and tossed them flower blossoms to make them kiss the surface. Leia was stunned, and a bit nervous. It was one of her first times meeting the fish. She almost fell in the lake for all the exploring. Then we continued our walk. Occasionally we would pause and practice sitting, giving a paw, "pound it," etc to work on concentration and it took a lot of patience on my part as this brand new world she was in was very distracting.

Looking at the water and fish.

At one point a palm branch smacked the side of a building causing her to jump and spin toward the sound as if she had been shot. It wasn't a quiet sound but a car door shutting is louder. Yet again the understanding sunk in, if the sound of a tree scares her, no wonder she growled at the dog! Was it ok? Well, maybe, after all she was essentially saying "You scare me! Get away!"   What was worse was that I, unknowingly set her up. She wants to meet other dogs, but then gets anxious. I need to slow down the meet. Maybe start by walking them past each other at a distance, then closing the distance until they walk alongside each other and then eventually do the introduction, but just walking up isn't working yet.

A Hopeful Looking Sunset

As we returned from the walk the new plan solidified: Build Confidence.  She likes people, meet people. Be outside more. Get comfortable out there. We don't have a yard but maybe on cooler days I can let her chill on the tennis court and watch the world, or make a long leash and sit by the lake and just let her adventure. We can take big walks to new parts of the neighborhood and maybe walk through the mall until she isn't so scared. We'll work on basic training both inside AND outside so she knows she needs to listen to me in both places, and have to security to be able to focus. We're going to work on recall and waiting to build patience and responsiveness. I am still expanding the plan, and it wont be easy, but she is so worth it, and I only want the best for her... We'll go slow, so as not to overwhelm her, but at the same time we'll keep moving forward so we don't stall. Hopefully Leia will come to love this new order.

She's Just Like her Mommy, Unfortunately.

Well, Most of the people who know me know my nickname, Lil Gimpy. I earned this name because from about age 7 until the present, my knees have been dislocating due to some bad genetics. I have shallow knee grooves, and hyper-flexible joints which means that my knees dislocate very easily. 

Unfortunately, at our most recent vet visit, we were told that Leia's mild limping was due to the fact that both of her knees in the back are out of place. The vet tried to put them back but they will not return to their position. This makes her about stage 3 of 4 (higher the number, worse they are) of luxating patella in dogs. Anything above stage one (which is where the knee just slips out and back in to place) is normally a candidate for surgery, at stage 3 it is strongly suggested because if not, they will continue to deteriorate and probably suffer with severe arthritis later in life. The only stage worse is where their back legs don't bend. at all and they "cowboy walk."

Surgery can be dangerous. Especially dealing with anesthesia. There are several different surgeries but the most likely one we'd be facing is where they deepen the groove that the knee sits in so it has a better foundation to sit in. Recovery time is 6-8 weeks. The difficult part is that unless the dog is under a year (which Leia is not) they have to have one leg done at a time (which means twice as much anesthesia, twice as much recovery, 16 weeks recovery with a few extra weeks thrown in for the time between surgeries...  and the part we're struggling with, it is over 3k per leg... and possibly up to 10k if we discover hip problems too... We're students, and we don't have that kind of money on our own...

For now, we are doing comfort care (glucosamine chondroitin and pain meds when necessary {so far not necessary}) until we can take the next step which would be a specialist appointment where we get Xrays and an expert opinion. Unfortunately Xrays also probably mean anesthesia as it is very hard to get an 80 lb girl (that's right, she weighted in at 82lbs at her last visit and is now on a diet for her joint health.) to hold still for an Xray.  It's gonna be a rocky road, but I pray she will be strong enough to see this through. We're doing our best to be strong for her and do all we can to make her happy and healthy. 4 feet or 2, she is our baby girl and even though we've only been together for 6 months I can not imagine life without her. She has met the whole family: our parents, my sister, my aunt, neighbors, all love her. 

We'll do our best to do whatever is right by her and as we always promised, we will love her for the rest of her life.

Leia Becomes a Philanthropist! - Paws for Peace 2012

Why we up so early?

Excited to be going too!

Leia was confused when I stumbled in to the living room at 6am. It was time for a short walk and some breakfast. This is totally off our normal schedule (where she eats around 10am) but she was happy to get to walk in the cool weather.

She got nervious when I started packing the car with a few things (a jug of water, and her "baby bag" stuffed with treats, a pop-up water bowl, several doggy poop bags just in case, and some yellow ribbon to let people know she is still learning to socialize.

Leia poked her head through the garage door "Coming too?" Normally it is just a wish and then she is in the crate but today I called her out. She wiggled the whole way and was psyched to leap in the car.





 What she didn't know was for the past week and a few days we'd be bombarding facebook with invites to join our team or to donate to a fundraiser called Paws for Peace. This worthy cause is raising money to build a shelter for pets. This shelter will house the pets of survivors of domestic violence so when the family leaves their abuser they can all get to safety, instead of having to leave their pets to a grim fate.
Here are some facts about Domestic Violence, families, and pets:

• 48% of domestic violence survivors delay leaving an abusive home because they don’t have a safe place for their pets.
• Battered women have been known to live in their cars with their pets for as long as four months until an opening was available at a pet-friendly safe house.
• According to the American Animal Hospital Association, an estimated 88% of pets living in households with domestic violence are either abused or killed.
• 71% of pet-owning women entering women’s shelters report that their batterer had injured, maimed, killed or threatened family pets for revenge or to psychologically control victims.
• Pet abuse is often a retaliatory action of abusers. Animals are used as leverage by the batterer as a means to control their victims or as part of a pre-emptive strike to gain or maintain control.
• Abusers kill, harm, or threaten children’s pets to coerce them into sexual abuse or to force them to remain silent about abuse.
• Of all survivors who enter shelters to escape violence, 57% have had a pet killed by their abuser.
• Harbor House will be the only shelter in Central Florida with a kennel for pets of domestic violence survivors. Pets are not Pawns!

Before we continue with our story, I have to point out how crucial this cause is... In September 2012 alone there were 10 deaths due to domestic violence in Orlando... Who knows what stopped those people from leaving, or if they were trying to escape when they were killed... Now more than ever, we need this shelter.

If you are interested in Donating here is Our Personal Donation Page &  Our Team Donation Page.
Also here is our Team's Facebook, just for the record.

When we got to the event we checked in at registration and waited for Amber and Rachel to arrive. As we waited Leia had her picture taken by and event photographer and a lady told me that Leia looked so much like her dog. She then told me her pup recently and suddenly passed at 9 years old. She began to tear up as she patted Leia's head. I offered her a hug and she accepted. As I hugged her she quietly said "At least I know that here, people understand." Leia just smiled and wagged, loving the sweet attention. She met several pups including  a chow who's name means "Smart loving bear" (which was perfect for her!).

The registration booth!

It is called "paws" for peace and
here is our Kitty representative!
What a brave girl!

Opening Ceremonies: The release of the butterflies

 Right about 9 Rachel arrived with her dog Kilo and her boyfriend Jayson and right after was Amber with her dog Jack and her boyfriend Allen. Our team of 8 was assembled!  The pups all sniffed each other and then we were off to opening Ceremonies.

In honor of the 10 people lost in September, The Harbor House crew released 10 butterflies in their honor. Shortly after the opening words and introduction of special guests it was time to walk!

There were tons of people and pets walking through the park in a long caravan of wagging tails and noses in overdrive. Within the first 10 meters it was a good thing I brought extra poop bags as our entire team relieved themselves all at once (the girls thanked me for bringing enough bags to share). From there we were off again and walked with dogs of all sizes (and one brave kitty!). Along the route were signs with stats about domestic violence.

The long trail of walkers goes around the loop and over the bridge.

Jack was excited about free samples!

We finished our first lap quickly and decided to do another two. For some reason none of our dogs wanted to drink from the doggy watering stations so I whipped out our collapsible water bowl and everyone had a drink.

When it was time for closing ceremonies we parked the dogs in the shadow of one of the vendor booths. Lucky for our dogs, it turned out to be the Pookie's Pet Nutrition & Bow Wow Bakery booth!

The dogs lined up for free treat samples. Leia loved the apple cinnamon treat but also tried a beef treat and has a peanut butter one waiting for her in her bag. The Ladies from Pookie's were so very nice to all of our pets and were more than generous (Thank you!).

As we rested a small, small little girl, probably under a year, toddled over to Leia. I watched both very carefully and sat with them, making sure everything was ok. I showed the little girl how to hold out her hand for Leia to sniff and then I petted Leia's ears while she petted Leia's back. Leia was awesome with the little girl and totally unphased. She was just happy to have the attention. I didn't snap a picture because I was too busy monitoring the situation but it was an awesome moment to see Leia interact with such a small little girl so gently. The little girl was equally gentle and clearly has been raised with dogs. She wasn't afraid of Leia at all, even though Leia had a good 8 inches on her when Leia was sitting down.

Our Team at closing Ceremonies

Amber, Allen, and Jack

Rachel, Jayson, and Kilo

 
We stayed through the raffle (Jack got to see a toy dog {a stuffed animal} on a leash and was very curious!) and by this point all of the dogs (not just our team) were getting tired a tiny bit cranky; they were hot, tired, and needed a nap! Everyone got one last sniff in and then it was time to head home.

All in all it was a great day and we raised a lot of money toward the shelter:

Leia and I raised $250!
Our Team raised $300!
And the event raised $16,500!!

Thank you to everyone who donated, supported us, and made this awesome event possible!!!

Additional Pictures

Leia taking a nap at home. Tired girl!

Kilo looking awesome!

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We will still be updating her blog, but mostly with big events and updates.