A new member has joined the family part1
Thursday, June 17, 2010 10:40 PM , 0 comments
First off, I totally forgot to mentioned that I have actually adopted a dog from the SPCA. Yea yea you were right. I was going to adopt a dog even though i said I would not, since my previous one passed away. BUT does not mean i have forgotten my dog.
Anyways, his name is Hatari (Ataree) which means Danger in Swahili. Sorry for those which i said the name was some kind of a Greek god. It was another name (can't remember) and didn't use it in the end. Mother make up your mind with the names!
He was 2months old when i fostered him first since he was terrified of everything. I studied him carefully when he arrived at home. Letting him run in the grass, sniff here and there. My sister was around at that time =D so she helped me prepare the food and all. So i kept studying Hatari for a while, and immediately understood he must have had bad experience with humans.
He was found at the graveyard near to our office. Over there, there are workers that might have been abusing or frightened the little pup. I was told there was 3 others of him, but they didn't find. Hatari was hiding between the flower pots and managed to catch quite easily.
Hatari 2months oldWhen he was brought to the office, he has a terrible loss of hair on his face since he was under the sun too long. He was dirty, so Catarina and I gave him a bath. Poor fella, he was so scared he had his tail between his legs and his ears down and just stood there like a stone. You actually had to lift him up to get him into the right position and all of his four legs would be stiff.
My mother always wanted a black dog, I introduced her to him along with my sister. At that time his name was Sunday, since it was on that day he was found. She seemed ok with it so we took him home for fostering to see if he can adapt with such a huge area and many things that was twice his size.
Since he was scared for a lot of things, I locked myself up with him in a room which echoed. And studied him further by just talking to him by exchanging our energy. I had couple of items with me which I, purposely didn't make him smell it or notice it.
Session1:
Item:
Ball
Action:
I rolled it toward him
Reaction:
He was a bit scared but sniffed at it.
Result:
The sniffing part of something he is scared is a very good sign. It means he is curious of an object he is not familiar with but at the same time cautious not letting his guard down.
Time: 15mins
Test1: passed.
So that much he was ok with it. I put water in a bowl and patiently waited for him to come to drink.
~
Session2:
Item:
Bowl filled with water
Action:
Human Presence and test of trust.
Reaction:
He sniff and drank but still scared
Result:
Again the sniffing part is a good sign. A dog always have to sniff before knowing if its safe. Since my energy was very calm, I wanted him to trust me, he did so by drinking and accepting my friendship.
Time: 10mins
Test2: passed
All of this time I have not praised nor have I made any sound as I knew very well that he will be very frightened by just the sound and not understand that its coming from me.
Well so far so good. He seem to be ok when I was doing the test. The next session will be very difficult for him and might be frightening too. I filled up a jar full of white rocks in it and placed it on the floor.
Session3:
Item:
Jar filled with of white big stones
Action:
The limit of fear of a view of an object that can make noises.
Reaction:
He just walked around and around not noticing the jar. The eye never made contact to the item.
Result:
This reaction is pretty much new. Since he didn't ignore both previous sessions, I immediately understood that he actually knows what this item can do. He was getting stressed at a point, so I tried to calm him down with my energy before it gets too difficult for him to handle.
Time: 20mins
Test3: failed.
I took the jar away immediately since his energy was going too high and getting to a panic mode. Immediately he calmed down and as soon has he did so, i gave him a delicious treat without him seeing the jar fulled of rocks.
He is pretty much an intelligent dog for a 2month old puppy. He is very observant which is excellent for a guard dog. Very cautious
So now he is 5 and a half months old. Recovered well. Is he less scared as he was but still cautious. I still keep making noises and make him smell it that its ok. For instance;
Hatari 5months oldBut now he seems to have calmed down but still doesn't like plastic bags. Ah well, at least i know it won't be torned into pieces and will be finding them flying around in the air.
It went to fear to scare. Good progress though =) I'm so proud of him!
Well that's enough for today =) More exciting journal is coming up! Stay tuned
