So FM found this really cool new friend that knows how to talk my language. The humans call her an animal communicator - I'm just happy she lets me talk to her and she (her name is Sue) said she'd tell my FM what I'm saying so we can start getting on the same page. So I show Sue lots of pictures and she translates them for my foster Mom.
So I explained to Sue how the one home I was in had these two little kids, one was a little girl and one was a baby and then there was a Mom there too. It was a horrible place to be. I thought it would be a great home but then the little girl insisted on always picking me up by my front legs and it hurt really bad and it still hurts if someone does that and I really need to be picked up the correct way - with a hand under my chest for support. Then the baby would pinch on me and one time it pinched me and I didn't bite the baby but the Mom thought I did and then she threw this big ol hissy fit and yelled and screamed at me and said she never wanted me there anyway (I kinda got that) and was going to send me away -- and she did! It was horrible aweful.
I also told Sue that I'm like 4 or 5 years old (in my time perception) and that I've had lots of names but that Louie is "okay". I also told her I've been in lots of places since the little kid house and asked if this one was finally the last one. FM had told Sue to tell me (and she did) that the decision hasn't been made yet if I'm going to stay or go to a great forever home. But there won't be a lot of other homes in my future. I asked Sue to please tell FM that "if" I go to another home I don't want to be where there are human children and I want to be somewhere with older humans that like to go do things with me.
I did ask Sue to please tell FM that I need to know what she is going to do with me before she does it. If she wants to pick me up, to tell me first, if she is going to put me down, to tell me first. Sue also told me FM wants to do some training stuff with me and I said that was okay as long as FM explains it to me first. I also said that I really do like to be held but I want some one on one time with FM so I can relax and sit with her and not have to compete with anything else but that she has to tell me when we are going to do that and also tell me when she needs to put me down so she can get up.
I showed Sue lots of pictures of a black dog. Black hairy dog, black dog, big black dog. That is the dog that I like to play with. FM says she is pretty sure that is her big black xolo Paqui who she has seen me try to play with.
I also showed Sue that everytime in my past that I started to play with toys that they were always taken away. I also told her that it seems like everything in my life to this point has been one big cruel joke. That every time I start to trust in something, it gets taken away. So I just don't trust. But I also told her I do like my FM I just am not ready to trust this is all for real.
I showed Sue too that this new place is kinda chaotic. Lots going on but I like the other dogs a bunch but one thing I don't understand is why there are different rules for different dogs. Sue explained that not every dog is the same so that some rules are different because each dog is different. I still wonder why we can't all have the same rules. I'm kinda confused about it and I'm a very black and white kinda guy.
I did show her that I really like being outside and told her I do want to go "do" things (like the other dogs). Sue said that will come as FM and I gain trust in each other.
I got to "talk" to Sue twice this week and she said that I have lots to say but that she can't always talk to me for a long period of time at once but that we can talk more and she'll talk to FM about what I have to say. FM also told Sue to ask me why I started eating the house and that my staying in dog jail during the day is to keep me safe but if I can suggest someplace else that I could stay and not eat dangerous stuff she'd consider it.
I'm so happy (and so is FM) that we've found someone that can help break the ice for us and FM promises to take all this to heart and change some things about how she is with me. YAY! Finally someone that understands!
FM said to tell you all she is sorry again for not typing my blog in as often as she should. She said really we've not done much officially lately as she wants me to just learn to "hang" so that is what I'm trying to figure out how to do. It's harder than you think.
The only other news I have is that I started talking to this lady named Sue. She is talking to me at the request of my FM and has said she is open to me telling her all about myself. I think I might just do that. She has this special gift to be able to understand what I'm saying and translate it so humans can understand. She also is able to help me understand what FM wants me to know. Kinda weird but really cool if we can get it to work I think.
Meanwhile I'm so happy it is kinda looking like Spring. The dog yard here at foster central has almost no snow left in it and we actually saw sunshine out there yesterday and that was cool. Maybe now FM will take this silly jammies thing off me! Other than that it is the routine as usual here and that works for me. My new favorite thing is to rip the eyes out of all the toys I can get ahold of when FM isn't in the room!
Yesterday was back into the work routine for my foster home. I'm not quite adjusted yet to this 5 days of one routine and 2 days of a different one but FM says I'm smart enough I can figure it out.
FM and I had a talk last night about how she was starting to think after this weekend that I really just had regressed back past where I started. See this weekend I really wasn't interested in her treats or or attempts to woo me with food and love. I just wasn't in the mood. She kinda made me mad with this new rule about getting out of my crate and doggie jail if SHE took me out. I figured I'd show her.
So FM said she went back out and reread the information on doggie calming signals - which I know very well and apparently she forgot some of them. She realized that maybe she needed to just back off some on the holding and touching and all. She already "got" that I didn't like her looking me in the eye and coming up to me facing forward but she said she'd forgotten that she shouldn't smile at me and she shouldn't hold me tight when she picked me up. Of course she did explain to me that she has to hold on to me tight enough that if I start flailing around (which I sometimes do when I wig out) that I don't fall on my head!
I did feel comfortable enough last evening to even do some sniffing around the living room while FM was actually IN the living room sitting in her chair reading. I quickly shut off though if she looked like she might get up!
This morning went better and I really do like that she isn't trying to be all cuddly with me. Meanwhile, doggie jail is still where I go during the day and those other sneaky cresteds stole what was left of my knuckle bone yesterday (it was small enough they could pull it through the jail bars). Today I have the stuffed kong, the kong ball (which I haven't figured out how to get the cookies out of yet) and the buster cube to keep me busy.
Louie here! Did you think FM wasn't going to let me say anything more after the incident with the wall thingie? Well she did hold her promise to make me safe and makes me stay in doggie jail (the xpen) when she is gone from the house but it really isn't all that bad. She gave me a huge knuckle bone to chew on (which by the way is almost gone after 3 days) and has been giving me this other toy called a Buster Cube. Now that thing is interesting. I hear stuff rattling around inside of it and if I move it around just so, it spits out food! How cool is that! She also has given me another toy called a Kong and it looks like this red rubber toy but she puts this goop inside of it and freezes it and then I can lick it out. Intresting. She said that it will help keep me busy while I'm in jail. I also have my water and two beds.
I am started to get a little more relaxed when FM is home now. I discovered that I really don't need to get up and go into a reactive mode every time she gets out of her chair or off the couch. Amazing how much more sleep I can get. And I have started to play some with the other dogs but ONLY when FM isn't in the room. Don't want her thinking I'm that comfortable yet.
This weekend was jammie washing weekend so all us naked dogs are really naked. FM said it would be okay since she started up the wood stove to make the house really toasty warm - and it is. She also put me on her lap once today and looked over some of my skin. She said something weird is going on with some of my spots on my body (I am spotted btw) as they aren't growing hair like everywhere else, so she thinks they might be old scars from something. They don't bother me but do make me look more spotty than I really am.
This week FM said she was going to "step it up" with my training. Now she doesn't let me get out of my crate on my own (otherwise known as the flying freaky leap) and in order to get out of doggie jail, I have to let her pick me up. All in addition to her picking me up to put me in. It don't bother me as much in the morning when she does it as it does later in the day. FM said that's because I've not had the day to think about it. I wish I could explain to her what others have done to me while picking me up, taking me out of my crate and what they've done to me while I'm in my crate.
FM is feeling better so I think I'm in for it with the stuff she calls "training". She is doing more of it with the other dogs too. Must be a "spring thing". I have to say though, these toys with food are really cool and I've actually got some fat on me now so all my bones aren't sticking out.
FM wanted me to let you all know that she's not turned me in on a new model -- yet! Last week seemed pretty sad for her so I really just hung out with the other dogs and she didn't make me "do" anything special.
But alas, things picked up at the house this past weekend when FM's boyfriend came and stayed a couple days. Interesting guy. I totally wigged when he walked in Saturday. Couldn't find a place in the house where he wouldn't see me so I ran outside a lot. Hey, he's a big guy and he's a PEOPLE! Ohhh gawwddddd! But as the day progressed he was still there (doesn't he get it - I didn't want him there). Sunday morning though he came out of the bedroom and looked at me and yawned and licked his human lips. Weird. He told FM he was giving me calming signals -- well it did look a little "dog like" but he's NOT a dog! I did kind of relax though as it seemed he maybe did know some "dog language" after all. I guess he can visit and maybe I'll get used to him. Hrmphhhh.
Oh but the big news is I found a new hobby. Okay FM said it is destructo-dog hobby but hey! You see I just am not finding these new crested dogs all that interesting during the day, nor is the box full of toys really catching my eye, nor are the numerous already chewed-on bones. So Monday I decided to try tasting the remote control. Hmmmm, little hard to get into but not bad and I was on a limited time control - FM was just outside shoveling. Now mind you, she knows I was the one that chewed the corner of her leather couch (which got me banned to the family room with the other dogs when she is gone). But yesterday, oh yesterday, I found that there are these clever strips of wood on the panels of wood in the family room. Hey, a challenge I said to myself!!! So there I was thinking to myself, wonder how that tastes. Let's find out. Pulllll pulll, POP! Off it came. Chomp chomp, hmmm, it doesn't taste all that good.
Not a dog toy!!!???
Now, FM had to have a one-on-one with me last night. She said, all the "stuff" on the floor that looksl like dog toys or dog bones - those I can have, the walls, rugs, upholstery are off limits. But since I really couldn't bring myself to look in her eyes (still) she decided that I'd be much safer (and so would the house) if I was penned up today. Golly darnit anyway. This looks like a crate without the roof! But whalllaaaa there is a REAL bone in there that no one else has tasted......we'll see how the day goes!
FM wanted me to tell you all she's not forgotten me or all of you. I noticed it has been a kind of stressful couple of weeks in my new home and FM said it is because a couple of the boys have been really really sick. So on Tuesday she took them for a ride and helped them continue their trip to a place she called "The Bridge". Now what the heck is that? I hardly have my feet planted on this place called "The Earth" and now she's talking about "The Bridge"? She explained that it is the place all us critters go when our time on "The Earth" is over and we start a new journey. She said it is a wonderful place and that the two boys are now healthy and happy and being goofy and playing there.
Meanwhile she is back to paying attention to me. Not so sure I like that. I've been doing my best to keep up my Jeckyl and Hyde act - I'm myself when she's not around and then the moment I notice she's paying attention to me or coming back into the room, I quick shut it off. Don't want her to think I'm getting comfy here or coming out of my shell! She said the other night she should have named me Hyde - what!!!???
Last night we worked on cuddling. Now that is a weird deal. When she picks me up (I'm up to 3 times a day and not liking it), she holds me up where I don't have to see her eyes and just talks to me and strokes my back. She calls it de-sensitizing.
So I guess it is back to the program for me. I kinda back slid this past couple weeks with FM so pre-occupied but I will do my best to catch back up!
FM wanted me to tell you that she's sorry she hasn't been typing in my progress reports this week. Most of the dog family here has been sick with the "crud" she calls it as has she so I've not been getting much individual attention and she hasn't really felt like blogging much. She promises once everyone is back to healthy we'll all get back on the training bus! Stay tuned!
