Suzy

SUZY’S GOTCHA DAY (28.2.2019)

A year ago today, we travelled to Grimsby to see Val and to meet this gorgeous little girl with a view to adopting her and for her to become part of our family and be a new little sister for Max.

We brought her home and, although she was timid, nervous of new experiences and took a while to trust us, she adored Max from day one and still follows him like a little lamb.

She is so brave too enduring 2 operations less than a month after she came to live with us.

She can be a monster at times, chewing carpet when left, and a diva, demanding her food when she wants it, and a complete idiot, charging around when out on an adventure but she is a Daddy’s girl too and we wouldn’t change her for the world.

Thank you to all involved at IRR for rescuing her from what we believe to have been a terrible life. She bears the scars to this day. Also, many thanks to Val for all the work she did with her whilst in foster.

Happy Gotcha Day Suzy with many more to come love Mum, Dad and Max.

SETTLED IN REALLY WELL (2.3.2018)

Suzy’s new mum say “We can’t believe we’ve only had this little lady for a week. It feels like Suzy has been here much longer. She’s settled in really well. Thank you IRR for allowing us to adopt her and also to Val, her foster Mum, for all the hard work she put in while she was with her”.

HISTORY

Suzy is 2yrs old.   She is, as yet, unspayed but she has received all the vaccinations necessary to obtain her Pet Passport for travel to the UK where she went into foster with Val and her dogs, Honour and Guido.

CHARACTER and TEMPERAMENT                                                

Suzy arrived timid, fearful, anxious, withdrawn and shut down.

Val says  “I’m sure there is a lovely, loving little character inside Suzy but, at the moment, she is just terrified to show it. Time is young but I know we can help this little girl to gain her confidence and learn that humans can be kind and caring

After 4 days, Suzy is beginning to show her little character occasionally and her confidence is better than when she first arrived.  Tiny steps are definitely going forward but there is still a long way to go for her.

I do feel that she should always be in a home with another kind and gentle dog and also,  because she has so much to learn, she will need a new forever home with someone who has experience of timid and anxious dogs”.

HEALTH

Suzy’s general health appears fairly good  (eyes, mouth, teeth, feet, bowel and bladder  movements OK) but she was very underweight at 23.5kgs. She is a bit small for her age, possibly through having puppies very early on in her life.

 Val says “She is eating well, albeit really quickly, but I think she may just be hungry. Given another week or so, if this continues, I will buy a feeding dish which slows things down a bit.

She has a couple of what look like rope burns or some kind of string being fastened tightly around both of her back legs as hair is missing. At the moment, Suzy is definitely either still in season or there is some infection going on. There is a lot of red/brown discharge which I am observing for a few more days to see how things goes”.

After 4 days, Val reports “We have gone backwards a bit with Suzy’s ears as she has started to scratch them a bit but I am treating them. She is also scratching a bit under her tummy and her armpits. I have bathed her once with Aloe Vera and Oatmeal shampoo and she is now fully on Burns food so I think her general condition will improve”.

A further few days on Val tells us she still has a discharge albeit slightly less this week but she is eating ok and not excessively drinking.

As the info from Ireland re her being in season was a bit sketchy, it’s difficult to assess where we are as  her discharge  could be due to her still being in season. Providing her general health continues to be ok, I will have to wait another 10days at least to see if this discharge clears up.

SOCIAL LEARNING

BASIC TRAINING: Suzy has received little or no social training. Everything is new to her and it is obvious that she has been very badly treated.

After 10 days, Val said “Today was the first time she has actually got out of her bed on her own to eat her breakfast but she still cowered down whilst she was eating, poor lamb.

We are slowly introducing Suzy to socializing skills”.

HOUSETRAINING:  Her housetraining is almost there now. Vals says “We are managing to get her to follow Honour outside for a wee. I put her on a long training lead, she waits until he has done his, does hers on the same spot and then rushes back into her bed”.

TRAVEL: There was no aggression just fear, she shut down.

The car seems to mean something horrible to Suzy but, once she is in, she lays quietly but she is still all curled up.

LEADWALKING: She definitely associates a lead with punishment but Suzy is getting braver outside as long as Honour is with her.

Val says “We have progressed with walking outside and she doesn’t do belly flops any more. She even had a couple of sniffs this morning. Suzy needs lots of lead training but I am trying to get her confidence boosted a bit first although she  has already learnt I have treats in my pocket and she will now sit for a treat”.

RESOURCE GUARDING: She shows no evidence of resource guarding

SEPARATION ANXIETY: Initially, she was too traumatised for her to be left alone but I have now left them all together for one 30min session when all was ok.

Suzy does sometimes take herself into another room and lay on one of the beds for a sleep. She doesn’t seem to mind being on her own in those situations but, of course, she knows we are all in the house.

ADULTS: With strangers, she just cowered and hid away but showed no aggression

After a few days, the services of two lots of Val’s neighbours were employed to visit them at home. Suzy wouldn’t go to them but she didn’t actually cower and, when we went into the lounge, she laid by Val’s feet and was reasonably settled. 

CHILDREN: She has not been tested

DOGS: At first, Suzy was only tested with Val’s dogs. Suzy just loves Honour but she has growled a couple of times at Guido. Nothing serious has developed as she shows no real aggression and is more likely to cower away.

After 10days, Val took her, along with Honour, to meet her daughter’s dogs. Suzy was very timid to begin with and cowered a bit but, after about half an hour, she stopped cowering and had a little sniff at them then just sat by Val’s feet.  

CATS: She has not been tested with cats.

SUZY’S DREAM HOME

After having a really horrible start to her still young life, Suzy needs to go to an experienced home with kind, gentle adopters who will show her that life can be good  and the world is not as harsh as it has been for her in the past. All training must be positive and reward based. Another dog or dogs, is a must, as there is nothing better than a kind and caring canine offering the paw of friendship to guide the newcomer gently through the niceties of sharing a home with humans. The apprentice learns the rules by closely following the example of the established dog while, at the same time, learning how full of fun life can be.

February 2018

Suzy has gone to live in her Forever Home