March 2018
Sophie, Fena, and Tessa have been here for a month now, living in the garage. Progress has been slow and we have come to realize this will be a very long term project. We moved the cars out, picked up a lot of junk, and put opened x-pens around the perimeter so they couldn’t chew on things like the furnace wiring and gas line (call us cautious). When we built, we insulated the garage so a small portable heater, raised to the top of a metal cabinet and lashed to the wall, is keeping it warm. That means we can leave the door open to the house so they can come in and explore the laundry room as they get braver. There is a gate between it and the kitchen that lets them get even closer and experience normal noises in the house.
At first, all three girls were nearly feral and afraid of their own shadows. They seem to have never experienced human contact, or at least positive human contact. At two years old, and having had litters last November, they were totally unsocialized. We took turns sitting with them in the garage, just being there so they would see us as benign, and offering treats. Within a week or so, Sophie was willing to cautiously approach to take pieces of cracker. Fena has occasionally come close enough to take something, while Tessa hangs back.
The girls escaped once by going under a fence, but it was from one yard to another so they didn’t get completely away. It happened the first week when they were still terribly afraid of everything. We herded one back into the garage, and the other two hid under a trailer. Kathy crawled under and got leashes clipped to them. While we were getting one out, the other ran back into the garage and we shut that gate. It was a real adventure for both dogs and people. Since then we added panels of hog fencing to the area we have given them, and they only have access when we are monitoring them.
We asked our vet to do a house call, which happened late in February. Each girl donated blood samples, and two gave up fecal samples because they were so scared. The results showed they had roundworms, and Fena has heartworms. This is our first experience with heartworms, and we have begun a month of Doxycycline in preparation for the heartworm meds. Sometime soon we will take her for a chest x-ray so we can determine the severity of her heartworm problem. These are turning into very expensive dogs.
Recently Kathy was able to sit next to their beds with a jar of peanut butter, doling it out until Sophie began to accept some petting. The others dozed next to her, so we considered it a breakthrough. There will be good days and bad days for months to come.
We still have Nanuk. He would be good in the right home, but at ten years old we had no inquiries and we ended up keeping him. At this point he has settled in so perfectly, and plays so well with Rowdy, we’ll keep him here for the rest of his life. Herbie is going on 15, still the sweet old man he has been since we got him at 13. Both Nanuk and Herbie went through surgery to remove sebaceous cysts, and both have healed up well.