| yorkietalkjilly | 01-18-2013 12:34 PM |
I've shared it so much here many tired of reading about it, no doubt. After Jilly had been dead 4 years and over a year of searching rescues and Animal Shelters and coming home dogless and sad, I called Jilly's breeder. She had some dogs a former breeder had placed with her for rehoming, including puppies and 2 or 3 older dogs, bred from two dogs she had sold that lady. She was mad, upset as the dogs were in bad shape, she'd learned on checking that the lady had apparently housed the dogs outside in cages year round and hadn't been caring for them, especially recently, due to going through a divorce. She said the dogs were dirty, matted, had long nails, retained, dirty baby teeth in the older dogs when she got them and cried as she worked to vet and help them, kept not getting an answer when she called the woman for an explanation and furious she was so taken in by the lady, whom she thought she knew. I went over to see one of the female pups but when she sat Tibbe down first and he kept going in a fast circle with his tail clamped down, ears back, eyes walled, my heart melted. He was obviously terrified and such a needy boy, had to have somebody that would bring him along patiently and slowly but not accepting his poor behavior or I felt he could become a fear-biter or just hide from everything as he shook in fear for the rest of his days. She said she so hoped I'd take him over a puppy as he was special needs after I said "he's mine".
So home we came as he shook and had fits in the carrier and he was wild, tried to fight, bite, screamed, barked nonstop, bit his cage, was terrified of the house and everything new, even grass and trees, sidewalks, TV's, the fridge, doorbells, bowls, me and everything. He shook nonstop for 2 weeks with walled eyes, even after check-ups and initial assessments by the vets showing that he wasn't in pain, ill, etc. So his teeth were professionally cleaned, retained teeth pulled, a couple of months later he was neutered, chipped and we one-by-one worked hard to overcome almost all of his issues while creating a happy dog in the process; and, except for certain stereo sounds he hears on the Surround Sound system, which can cause a panic attack, he's re-invented himself. But now he can throw a panic-attack off in a short time as we go through the steps of calming through redirection.
He's now the absolute perfect little Yorkshire Terrier! Clean in the house, loves his bath, full of vim and vigor, lots of attitude, sassy, bouncy and fun, always smiling, healthy, loves to work training, jumping, doing tricks, beautifully obedient and cuddles like the best lapdog. He's come so far. |
