Esperanza

January 11 Update: Esperanza got to play wih Kaylee briefly today, but Kaylee plays just a bit too rough, and we had to break it up before it got too much for someone. But she really wants to play with the other dogs, so I feel that's good. She just needs someone who understands when to stop.

We've switched her to a regular martingale collar this evening - she's healing very quickly! She's starting to bathe herself, and she's showing a lot more interest in her environment. I found her with her head in one of my boots, just snuffling at it, not trying to chew it. Even though we crate her, I don't think she needs to be crated.

We're transporting her to her new foster-to-hopefully-adopt home on Saturday. We'll miss her, but she'll be so much happier in a home where she can hang out with the family and not shut away for her own safety.

January 10 Update: Espy is still just a really sweet dog. She has only one bad habit that we've found so far - she whines and barks for attention. We're just ignoring her when she does it and she does eventually settle down. Plus, she'll quickly learn that that sort of behavior doesn't get her any attention. I don't think she'd do it if she had the run of the house, but since we have to keep her separated in a different room, she's not too thrilled. But, dogs are pack animals, so it's understandable. Plus, I may have inadvertantly taught it to her myself - on her first day, when she barked, I let her out. Now, we have to re-teach her because of my mistake. But it's so hard to tell when they have to go out at first, and that's not something you want to get wrong!

We've also discovered she likes to hang out outside for a few minutes before she pottys. She just likes to check stuff out before she gets down to business.

We've started on some clicker training, and she very quickly learned that if she looks at me, she gets a treat. Not bad for her first try! She's a very smart girl and will be easy to train, as long as you're nice to her.

Her skin already looks better. A lot of the scabs have started to come off, and she's not so pink. Plus, I think the black on her nose might be fading. So that's all good.

We went for a walk last night and she was very good. She only pulled a little, and she very quickly figured out that I wanted her to walk on my left side. She met a cat and some dogs and was fine with everyone.

January 8: Esperanza is a short-term foster for Shar Pei Savers. She is a sweet, sweet girl who I just picked up this morning (01-08-2005) from Franklin County Animal Shelter. From there, Espy went straight to the vet.

The poor thing has bilateral ear infections, plus bacterial and yeast infections on her skin. Those will clear up easily enough with medicine and baths, though. She's almost blind right now, just because her entropian is so bad, but the vet had a look, and she says that once Espy has her surgery, she should have no problems seeing - she followed her and doesn't have too many scratches.

She can see well enough not to bump into things right now, but she still gets a little confused about what she's seeing sometimes. Like if she walks beside a car, when she passes the shiny hubcap, she'll stop to look. I think she mostly sees light and dark, and movement.

Some of her sores are pretty nasty-looking, especially around her neck, so she'll be wearing a harness for a few days at least.

She's a very nice girl, temperment-wise. She was a good girl at the vet's office - she only got bratty when they poked her for her fecal, but she was excellent about everything else, including pulling off a few scabs so they could do a skin scrape.

She was interested but not agressive toward a cat and small dog in the waiting room at the vet's. She was concerned about a big collie that was there, but it wasn't fear, just caution. She didn't startle easily at any of the loud noises, and wasn't afraid of any of the people.

She likes me, even after giving her a bath - which she did not like. Of course, I took her out for a hamburger, so I'm the best person ever. :-)

We're still not sure what color she is. Even after a bath, she's still dirty. However, we think she's either red or apricot. It depends on if her nose is just dirty or actually black. She's a horsecoat, but her coat is really patchy right now.

She seems very adaptable. She wasn't too fazed by anything she went through, and after less than an hour at our house, she was asleep - deeply enough to be dreaming. She doesn't seem to have much of an opinion on our pets yet, even though they were pretty obnoxious when we first brought her in.

And here's where she'll live for a week or so until she goes to her longer-term foster home. Our house is small, but we have a whole portable set-up that works for fosters. That's a cheap peice of linoleum on the floor with an ex-pen attached to a crate. It's a decently-sized area, and we don't really use our dining room for dining anyway! We are happy to give it up for a while.