Browsing the Internet a few years ago I found this site called petfinders.com. I was mourning the loss of my dog of 15 years that had recently passed from cancer. I mean, in our house the pets are family, even the fish. It was bad.
Google leads me to pet finders somehow in my search and I'm looking at all the homeless animals, yep you guessed it, I just had to save one! It didn't take me long at all to find one that I thought looked just like my angel that passed and it had this little heart icon beside her name that said Urgent!! She was to be euthanized in 10 days and counting!
I e-mailed them and told them nope, don't kill her that I would adopt her. Proceeded to tell them the story of my dog that had recently passed and how this little dog looked a lot like her and I wanted to adopt her. They answered my e-mail and I could tell by the reply they weren't quite sure if I was some Internet weirdo or if I was for real. I have that effect on folks somehow.
Shortly thereafter I received in the mail an adoption application. It asked for lots of information. Family reference, friends, and local vet. I filled it all in never thinking they were going to contact these people just standard information, just in case.
Ha, it didn't take long before my phone was ringing off the hook. It's my mom asking if I was sure I should do this. I assure her that yeah, absolutely. I'd never been so psyched on something in a long time. Yep I was going to do it and was feeling really good about it. Then I hear from my best friend and the local vet. Yeah, the vet guy went through a lot with me when I was going completely insane when my other dog died.
My best friend comes over and I have the photo of the new adoptee posted to the refrigerator and she's looking at me half cocked like she was wondering if maybe I'd fallen slightly over the edge. I assured her nope, I knew what I was doing!! She's looking at hubby out of the corner of her eye trying to get a clue if he supported this idea.
After a lot more checking and rechecking and talking to the adoption service I'm going to get my puppy and it's D day. My best friend, being the best friend that she is, piles in the car with me and off we go. When my adoption process started my new doggy was in Parkersburg animal shelter but since then her euthanization time had come up during the process so one of the really nice ladies that volunteered there took her home and kept her till all the paperwork was finished. She arranged to meet me up on the interstate for the exchange and we would finish the adoption at the animal shelter in parkersburg. Off we go, the whole way my friend is still looking at me half cocked but she's a loyal friend so she goes along with me, reluctantly!
The trip of 3 hours had passed and with a phone call or two for directions we were at our destination and there standing on the side of the road is my new daughter. She was beautiful, a little older than I expected but real pretty. The lady told me they had named her Cha-cha and she was a really sweet pit bull.
We follow her to the shelter to finish the paper work and the fees were dropped since I traveled to get her and I wouldn't be able to take her to their local vet for spaying and shots. They give me cha-cha's belongings which consisted of a little bed, a collar, leash and a toy. A bit more chit chat and looking around and my friend, the logical one, was thinking of adopting a new kitty so we looked at all the kitty's and she decided well maybe she should wait because we had a long trip home. In hind site, I think that was a very wise idea for the health and well being of both of us alone in a cavalier, 3 hours from home with an unknown origin pit bull. Nope, bringing a cage to put her in was never a thought that crossed my mind.
First stop on the way home was Burger King and cha cha got a cheese burger and fries. She loved going through the drive thru and the smell when we were at the window was almost over whelming to her. She was happy and friendly. My best friend sat there and fed her french fries just about the whole way home so actually no problems what so ever on the trip home. We filled her belly and she slept and thankfully no car sickness either. She seemed to be a natural for riding in the car, she loved it.
Home at last. I brought her in on a dog leash inside the house and she bounced around like a kangaroo. My friends kids were there and one of them opened the door to the deck and out she goes and without hesitation jumps about 25 feet to the ground from the highest point. I figured she was a goner but she hit like a cat and just kept on going. Now, coming when called hadn't been addressed yet so several hours later when she'd run herself tired we finally caught back up with her and brought her in the house and for the rest of the evening all seemed well. I have to say she was pretty good when she was asleep.
My big old white tom cat was not impressed with the new addition to the family so he had been staying in the basement but the following morning seemed like as good a time as any to start getting used to each other so I bring up the cat and cha-cha starts uncontrollable drooling, you know like so tasty I just can't control myself kinda drooling. Poor kitty goes back into the basement and was quite happy to go anywhere that cha was not. Watching cha's reaction to cats made me very relieved that we didn't decide to bring one home with us in the car.
Friends and kids come back the next day and for some reason when you tell a kid, "don't tease the dog" that makes it so much more fun for them to....tease the dog. I mean, if we'd said nothing it probably wouldn't had been near as much fun to tease the dog.
But of course they proceeded to aggravate the dog and she didn't seem to be in the mood or it was an open invitation to play so as one of them was doing the teasing she started jumping as high as their head, pulling their hair and pinching with her two front teeth. Kid is now scarred to death as are we. Catching her to gain control was being somewhat difficult. OK, we couldn't catch the wild insane animal in our front yard and listening wasn't one of her strong points. Hubby grabs the child and holds him high over top of his head. Dog could jump from the ground all the way as far as hubby could reach and pich the child in the buttox. Not bite, she pinches. Course everything is happening so fast, it's just chaos and my brilliant plan is not looking like such a good idea anymore. We're realizing that this isn't going to work. For a temporary fix, and to ensure no one got hurt, till I could access the situation better, I decided I would buy a kennel cage to put her in when I couldn't be right on top of things or have her on a leash.
The cage for cha cha was like witnessing a exorcism. I can remember my sister and I standing over the cage looking in at cha as she barked, growled and hissed. Teeth showing, snarling, really pissed off puppy dog. So I did what any reasonable person in the same situation would do. I let her out. She looked at me in disgust walked upstairs balled up on the couch and went to sleep. I'm telling you, she was really good.....when she was asleep.
So I'm a wimp and didn't have the heart to cage her so the next step was to hire a dog trainer. I don't give up easy, admit defeat or believe that any living creature is incorrigible. No dog trainers in the phone book but there is one in the trading journal so I call her up and she tells me a short bio. She is a student from a group in Rocky Gap that trains police dogs. Her rates seemed more than reasonable so I had hired myself a bonafied dog trainer and I was going turn this little misfit into mush.
The dog trainer looks like Britney Spears. She's young, beautiful and speaks in a soft mellow voice. She meets cha cha listens to our concerns and agrees that I need help. She goes over a few of the basics with us. Tells me what kind of collar she'd like to train with. What type of leash to buy. To get an indoor kennel cage, which I had already done. Talks a little dog psychology with us. You know, ya gotta show em your boss routine. After our first meeting I was feeling a bit better, cha cha seemed to like her and she was encouraging that we were going to make a well behaved dog out of cha. Cool That's what I wanted. A well behaved obedient dog, or at least one that I wasn't afraid to go to sleep and her be in the same room.
After a trip to the farm store to get a choker chain and leather lead I was ready for lesson No. 2. Britney arrived ready to go to work. The first lesson was to learn to walk on a lead. She slips the choker collar on cha and places her lead and we go walking around the yard and when cha would go to fast, stall or loose attention she would give the chain a little jerk and say no, cha was responding well and I was feeling encouraged. She left with instructions to practice that for a couple days and she'd be back on Friday.
We worked hard and when Friday come I was sure Britney would be pleased. It was raining Friday so we worked inside in the basement. Today Britney was stepping up the authority and the little jerks turned into rips and tugs. Once cha rebelled and grabbed the lead in her teeth and she jerked it so hard I was scarred that she was going to break a tooth. This training session was not for one with a weak stomach. It was really aggressive. Cha and I both were scarred. When she left cha threw up and a pooped clear jello looking stuff. I was not longer feeling optimistic and I was questioning the choker chain method of dog training.
Cha and I spend the next several days starring at each other. When Britney calls to set our next appointment I told her we were sick and to keep the payment. I talked to my vet and he said yeah that kind of training was fine, for a police dog but probably not so good for your average pet. He suggested I watch the Dog whisperer to get some ideas for training. Other than that we don't really have any dog trainers in our area he could recommend.
Cesar Millan is my hero. I watched his shows and applied it to cha and it was so easy and effective. Cha spent the next several months practically glued to my side. If I had to leave, she went with me. We went to the park on a leash (not a choker chain leash) to practice being around other people and animals. We'd take the cat and put him in the carrier and sit him in the living room and just let her check him out. I'd reach my hand in and pet the cat and just let her drool. We did that every day for about a month. Cha needed a little love and attention. She needed guidance and like any child needed to be corrected when she played to rough or didn't listen when it was important that she pay attention. She has trained me well as to what she wants and can tell me just about anything with her bark or body language.
I don't really know where she originated. I don't know if she was abused or if she was just neglected. I do know that she has turned into a gentle loving creature that wags her tail when shes see's another dog passing through. Will dance with joy and eager to meet any guest we may entertain and she sleeps with the cat. As with people, I think animals are a product of their environment. I don't think she knows she's a pit bull or even a dog for that matter, she thinks she's a princess.
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Topic: My adopted puppy (Read 1622 times)
