2/17 We are waiting for the spring so that we can go for
long walks and play ball, I know that Trot feels our walks are just too
short right now and even though he goes out in the yard too, he really loves
taking a walk. As soon as he sees someone put on their shoes or jacket he
runs right over with the saddest eyes, so we try and take him anytime we go
out, even to run a quick errand, he just loves to go for a ride. My
daughter had a sleepover this weekend with 3 teenage girls that Trot
had never met before. I explained to the girls that when we walk in the
house and he realizes that he doesn't know them, he is going to bark at them
loud and that they should just ignore him, no eye contact. Trot did exactly
that, he met us at the door all happy and then noticed there were 3 girls he
didn't know. He barked directly at them, the girls did GREAT! they
completely ignored him and walked away, he scurried after them sniffing with
an occasional bark and the more they ignored, the more interested he was in
them. We all went out for a couple of hours and when we came back home he
was much better with them just an initial bark when we walked in but wagging
his tail and happy to see everyone. The next morning when the girls got up,
he ran to greet them like they had lived with us the whole time, he couldn't
get close enough to them, just wanted to be loved.
1/16 I have been working with Trot myself (Trot's foster Mom). I
haven't seen the trainer since before the holidays. We had a lot of company
during the holidays and I would say that he did pretty well. We asked
people to come in and just ignore him until he was ready I kept him on the
leash with me until everyone arrived and then let him roam free and he would
eventually go right up to them and want attention. One
weird thing he did is,
my husbands friend came over one night, we knew he was coming and told him
to just walk in and Trot has never met this guy before, the guy walks in, up
the stairs and is standing there talking to my husband, Trot never barked he
went right up to the guy and was hanging by his side very friendly wagging
his tail and this is a big bald intimidating looking man. My husband and I
were amazed. I find that if Trot is kind of rushed into something and
doesn't have time to think he does great. Of course, the door bell is a
totally different story I don't care who it is on the other side of that
door, he is very territorial when he hears the door bell. Its a slow process
and takes a lot of patience.
On another note, we had another Mange scare. I noticed he lost a patch of
fur by his neck and I panicked but we took him to the vet for a scrapping
and there were no mites (thank god) but he has lost quite a bit of fur again
and it was all coming in so nice and shiny. But he is not uncomfortable or
itchy the fur on his head, neck, his tail and his belly, the fur on his back
is beautiful and shiny (trying to look at the positive). The vet thinks it
might be hormonal and allergies so I am switching his food from Candidae to
Pinnacle Trout and Sweet
potato to see how that works.
I think that's pretty much it for an update, not too much has changed, he is
still awesome!
10/18 Trot is a dog who gets
desperately attached to his people. He latches on to his caregivers as though
he's afraid they might disappear.
It can be stressful taking him
in unfamiliar social situations because he gets very vocal and his size and
look is intimidating to strangers. I would say that he thinks of himself the
“muscle” when it comes to protecting his home, In fact, when you're on the
other side of the door - he's fearless! He definitely does not like you to
greet him with a lot of excitement or to be right in his face. He needs to be
the one to approach strangers, and he will; he certainly does not want to be
left out, he just needs things to happen slowly. It only takes a short time
for him to warm up to new people in his familiar surroundings.
As far as other dogs go, I do
not think he should be placed with another male, maybe if the male was NOT the
alpha. However, he adores my females and he is very possessive/protective of
them. We did bring a 6 month old deaf female boxer into our home recently
and he wasn’t, to say the least, thrilled with her at first. Introductions
were very, very slow. He does not like change, he is very content with what
he knows. The puppy has been with us now for 2 months and she, Trot and Laila
are best friends. Trot is so gentle with her it’s sweet and she can be
relentless with the playing when he’s had enough he jumps up on the couch to
get away from her. So, I do think Trot can adjust to new things, he just
needs to feel secure, loved and you need to have a bit of patience.
His hobbies include: the ball,
the ball, the ball and looking at his family with such adoration (not
necessarily in that order). Trot isn’t perfect, and he will need a dog savvy
owner who has time and patience to spend on making him confident that he is
loved and doesn’t have to be so protective.
9/10 - Trot
has had a rough start at life. He has spent much of it with mange and very
uncomfortable. However, now that he is mange free he is one happy boy.
He's a very
friendly guy, once you get to know him. But in the beginning, (and by
the beginning, I mean within the first 5 minutes of introductions) you might
find him a little cautious. If you come to his area (which can be a big area),
he might even bark to impress you with his toughness. But that’s as far as it
goes, a loud bark, so loud and deep it takes his two front paws off the ground
sometimes. We have had a lot of practice with this
tough guy defense of his with friends
coming and going and when people don’t react to it, he just stands there as if
to say ok now what should I do. He comes around very quickly once he realizes
you are a friend and he just loves attention and to be petted. I have started
walking Trot with a gentle leader head collar and although he hates it, it
seems to work great when other dogs are walking by, I feel as if I have more
control over getting his focus back to me. If you are lucky enough to adopt
Trot, you will be the center of his world and it’s a great place to be he
loves with everything he has. I don’t think Trot needs to be an only dog, as
we have 3 others at home and although introductions were slow, he has come to
love them all. Trot just wants to be somebody's
best
friend and extremely loyal companion!
8/23 Trot had his evaluation at a Doggie Play Group today. The woman who is
the trainer there is amazing. He was doing his usual barking at everyone and
their dogs as they walked in, so we kept him on the leash and in the front
room away from the play area. When it was just us in the room the trainer
knelt down to Trot’s level from across the room and turned her head away from
him and asked us to drop the leash. He went right over to her no barking just
sniffing around her and then he sat beside her. She spent about a half hour
with us privately and her conclusion is that she feels Trot may have been
abused and he is acting out of fear. We are meeting with her and another
trainer for a private training lesson in an area that is very populated with
people and dog walkers she feels with a lot of socialization his fears will
decrease. The trainer thought he was the most loving boy and that all this
tough guy stuff is just his defense because after all the barking when
he doesn’t get a reaction, he just stops and waits for whomever he was just
barking at to pet him and pay attention to him with his tail wagging. He is
the most LOYAL dog I have ever known, I mean he is more loyal to our family
than my beagle that I have had for 14 years; she would leave us for a pork
chop, he wouldn't go anywhere unless we were beside him. I am adding a
picture of Trot sound asleep on the arm of the couch with his chickie in his
mouth. This is the real Trot that we see every day sweet as can be! We
are going to work really hard together and soon enough everyone will get to
enjoy the Trot that we know.
8/3 Trot
went for a skin scrapping today and it was NEGATIVE, he is officially "Mange
free"! He will continue on the medication for one more month as a precaution.
The vet is very happy with his progress and says he is doing great. Trot is
going to have an evaluation at Doggie Day Care to see if he can got to play
group. I think he will do well, he does fine with the other dogs that come
over our house to visit and has done well with other dogs off leash at the
park. He does still have a bit of leash aggression that we are working on, he
seems to be fine when everyone is walking he just gets protective in a crowd
and barks at certain other dogs. He walks perfect with Laila side by side on
the leash. We walked this week in an area that has a lot of people walking
their dogs and as we approached others I would make a distracting noise to let
him know I did not want him focusing on the other dog and he did well, no
barking at all. I think this behavior will decrease as he gets more
socialized. He continues to do great with everyone that visits, as I have
said before, we have a very busy house with lots of visitors and he greets
everyone and is really friendly even with the little ones. I think Trot is
ready for his forever home. He does need someone who is willing to put in the
time to socialize him on the leash, that is the only issue I see with Trot and
that is a very workable issue as he is not aggressive he just barks (his bark
is very deep and loud). He is an AWESOME dog and deserves someone that will
give him lots of love.
7/5 Trot had his check-up on July 2nd and the vet was amazed at how great he
looked in just one month. His fur has grown so much and he has lost 10 lbs,
the vet said this is the perfect weight for him, he looks so healthy. He had
a skin scrapping and although he is not testing negative for mange yet, she
sees such improvement from the last scrapping she thinks one more month on the
meds and he will test negative. He loves to go for walks and rides in the car
(like a toddler, he falls asleep in the car the second you start driving) and
he loves his toys, especially his
Frisbee. He is such a
good boy and he is so loving and mellow. We had a yard full of people for the
holiday weekend and he was the hit of the party, he was great with everyone
even the little kids. It was a late night and he really tried to hang, but
when he got too tired, he climbed up on my lap (hanging off on both sides) and
fell asleep I am surprised that the sound of everyone saying “AWE” at the same
time didn’t wake him. He is such a great companion and
best friend, he adjust to
whatever the mood is around him; when its time to play and be goofy he is, and
when its time to chill, no one snuggles better than Trot, we love him!
6/19 Well, disregard everything I said last update as far as Trot not liking
strangers. We had a BBQ at our house on Sunday and he greeted everyone as
they came in and even tried to climb up and sit in a chair with one of our
guest. He is very comfortable in our home I think he trusts that if we’re ok
with people coming in the house, he is too. He was big hit at the party,
everyone fell in love with those sad eyes. We have already noticed fur
starting to grow back on his head. He still gets regular baths and when I
tell him “come on, get in” and point to the tub, he jumps right in
(thankfully, cause he is heavy). He loves toys and will walk around with one
in his mouth, he is very possessive of all the toys, he can have one and if my
girl takes one out of the basket he drops the one he has and goes and takes it
from her. He likes my other dogs but he really could be an only dog too as
long as he has people around him he’s very happy. He could be alone for a
work day with a mid day bathroom break and free roam of the house, but he
really does crave human affection, so it would be nice to see him in a home
where someone could break up his day with a dog walker or just someone to
visit. He really enjoys going for a walk on the leash and he does do pretty
good considering I take him and my boxer at the same time, he’s 80lbs and she
is 68lbs we go for a 3 mile walk and he listens when I tell him to heel and
slow down, obviously the end of the walk is much easier as he gets tired. He
is such a good boy who just wants to please everyone.
6/11 Trot has adjusted to
our home really well after just one week here. He has claimed me as his mom,
I can’t go anywhere without him and if he had his way, he would sit right on
top of me all day he truly is a lap dog. However, when I’m not around, he
also loves my husband and my 11 year old daughter and would follow them to the
end of the earth too. He does not like strangers, he is not at all
aggressive but he does growl and run away when a new person comes in the house
or looks at him. The growl is really just how he expresses his fear (we’re
working on it). He is such a macho looking dog you would never guess to look
at him what a scaredy cat he is with strangers. He really needs some
socializing with people, he does fine with other dogs. He would rather it
just be the 4 of us and never have to see anyone else, but that will change
once he realizes he can trust people.. When he does decide he can trust you,
he loves you with his whole heart… he really is a BIG softy, his droopy sad
eyes will melt you. It is AMAZING how much better he looks the sores are
healing and he doesn’t have anymore scabs just the patchy fur and a completely
bald head, but he can carry it off… he’s very handsome. He is really
good about taking his medicine and even though he hates it, he lets me open
his mouth and get the medicine in, he doesn’t fight it too much. He has not
had one accident in the house and he uses the dog door like a pro. He loves
to go for walks and surprisingly he is not afraid of people walking by, he
actually tries to sniff them but if they make eye contact… he growls. We go
to the park at the end of the walk and I let him off the leash, he loves to
run free but comes right back when you call him. He would need a home with
older children because he does jump up on you, but as soon as you tell him
“off” in a stern voice he gets down (and cries). I think of Trot as a “man’s”
dog because he is so beefy and a guy would proudly walk him down the street…
but he is such a “momma’s boy” too who needs a
lot of love and will love you back 100 times more.
6/7 Trot has arrived at his foster
home, this poor boy is in really bad shape. He has no fur on most of his body
except for a patch here and there. He has sores all over some of them bloody
scabs. He stinks so bad like his sores are rotten. We went to the vet
yesterday and they started him on meds for the Demodex which he takes orally
every day he will probably be on that for about 4 months. We go back July
2 and they will do another skin scraping. The vet said we could give him a
bath and that would probably make him feel a little better that some of the
dried scabs would come off. We did give him a bath with oatmeal shampoo and
some of the scabs did come off and the odor is not as bad. He is afraid of
everything especially men until he gets to know them. He is not very trusting
of strangers. I think he will be really handsome when he grows some fur and
the sores are gone. He really is sweet he wants to get real close for love
but then pulls away I think cause he is sore. We went for a long walk this
morning and he loved it but he does pull on the leash and he weighs 80 lbs so
we really need to work on his walking on the leash. He hasn't eaten since he
got here but he is probably very stressed out right now. The vet said that
once we have it under control he should be fine that he may have another
outbreak someday but if caught and treated right away it is very manageable,
he has just really been neglected and this is a very extreme case. He really
is sweet and I know he will be a
big love bug once he feels good.
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