Sophie's Adoption! Thank you Universe!

Thank You, universe, for bringing me Sophie's 'Forever Family'!  The story of Sophie is a good one.  There is no way to tell this story in a convenient little package, so I will tell it in full.

Sophie was a dog we rescued for 'A Home 4 Spot', one of the many canine rescue agencies here in Las Vegas.  Usually we take in small dogs, but Sophie was special.  She had special needs and thus, came with a whole bunch of baggage that I had no idea how to handle.  I fell in love with her the first time I saw her and said to Tanya, "If we had the space, I would adopt that dog."

And then, the universe threw us a bit of a curve ball when Sophie's fostering needs became desperate, the organization needed someone to take her in.  We had already babysat her for a week so we knew her, and although we were apprehensive about having SIX dogs in the house, we decided that she had been in the care of 'the system' too long already.  We wanted to help rehabilitate her and find her forever family.

That became a 4 month ordeal for me.  I'm not sure I was ready for it but there it was.  Sophie's baggage was heavy, and I had to seek professional help in order to help me help her.  But in doing so, I more importantly realized that I needed to fix ME before I would be able to help HER.  I was part of her problem, and it just wasn't working.  We were unravelling each other.  It did begin to work in the end.  We both kind of stabalized together as the kinks got worked out, and I was finally able to reach her and bring us to a better working place.

Sophie and Otis

Still, since none of the conventional methods of meet and greets were working to find Sophie's forever family, I decided to write this blog (posted below), and throw the word out into the universe to pull them in.  I wrote this on September 5, 2014.... but I never posted it!  I didn't have any good pictures of her so I waited for a few days and it never got posted.

Of course, there were other balls in motion to find Sophie's family, but within a week of me writing the blog that I never posted, we had 2 solid hits.  The first one didn't work out, but the second one did!  A young couple who fit the profile of what we were looking for, and we happily handed Sophie over to begin her new life on September 16th, 2014.

Thank you, universe!  And thank YOU, to all of you who help us save the lives of these unfortunate animals.

Please see original blog below...

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From the desk of the Mountain Man...
September 5th, 2014

Hello Good People.  I am submitting this to the Internet Universe in hopes of finding a special someone who is looking to adopt our foster dog Sophie.  Conventional methods of meet and greets have not worked, nor has word of mouth, or anything... and she is such a beautiful, eager to please animal, I would desperately like to find her a forever family while she is still in her formative training years.  So I am submitting this you, Youniverse, please help me find Sophie's forever family.

I fell in love with her the first time I saw her.  She is a sleek muscled, 40 pound, all-white boxer-lab-pitbull mix, short haired, with fawn colored freckles all over her body.  She is a very athletic 10 month old puppy with a lot of anxious energy, and she is extremely smart.  She is also a bit goofy looking with her big square head and jawline, widespread cockeyes and one bent ear.  Her voice is ranged from piercing high pitched (the anxiety overload pitch), to her deep, menacing growl when she's playing.  She is a very sweet, affectionate dog, and she loves her people and her pack.

Otis and Sophie Playing

We didn't really want to foster large dogs with all our little dogs, so Sophie was never on our radar as a foster.  But then through a turn of events we ended up taking her in, which expanded our pack to 6 dogs (!!!), 3 of our own and 3 foster dogs.  And as dogs do, they work it out in sometimes less-than-friendly fashion until each one knows their place in the pack.  Sophie tested them all and now resides somewhere in the middle of our pack, respectful of even the wee chihuahuas when they warn her to back off.  And for her size, Sophie's 40 pounds of muscle against a 4 pound chihuahua, they still play quite rough and get along very well.  She knows her place within the pack and is perfectly fine with that.

She has been in 'the System' since she was given up for adoption as a 3 month old puppy.  She has been bounced around alot, from the kennels to fosters and 2 failed adoption trials.  One of those fails was due to a cat that we never did a proper 'meet and greet' with, and the other one failed because not all the family was on board with adopting her.  No doubt, this dog will need work and time invested in stabilizing her energies to keep her balanced.  She needs proper training and she needs to be in a stable environment with good leadership from her owners, and a lot of exercise and mental stimulation.  

Other than the last 4 months she's spent with us, Sophie has never really lived in a stable environment nor has had any opportunity to really develop a good trust and bond relationship with humans, and I think that has greatly contributed to her anxiety and tension issues.  We learned quite quickly that those issues can be volatile.  There have been three occasions on my watch where she has randomly struck out at people on the end of her leash without warning and that raised the red flags for me.  And then one very unfortunate occasion where she bit my friend.

I mention this dog bite because I feel it needs to be mentioned, but it was my own damn'd fault for setting the conditions for her to fail.  Dumbass, human error.  I am not a trained dog-trainer, and I have never had a dog with these kinds of anxiety and trust issues.  And I KNEW that she didn't like my friend for whatever reason from other times he'd been over to the house.  But I was confident we could work her through it, and he was willing to help.  At the time, I felt I had the tools at my disposal to help her and get her to like him, so I had him over for a BBQ and beers on a friday night and set it up.  She was extremely uncomfortable with him being there and I should have listened to her because she gave us plenty of warning.  I was cocky about it.  Bless him for putting in his time in this uncomfortable situation, but it failed and he paid the price.  It wasn't a big bite, just a quick strike that never, ever should have happened.  She's just unsure of herself and without good, stable leadership, bad things can happen.  I underestimated her, and overestimated my abilities.

After that event I sought professional help to help me deal with her anxiety, and we stopped having friends over to the house.  Pam Watson of 'Paws-A-tive Dog Training' was kind enough to donate her time to me, and the agency, to help train me in order to reach this animal.  From then on, 9 weeks ago, Sophie's training became my full time job.  I need to know that the dog I am handing off to someone else is not a dangerous animal.  And I don't believe Sophie is, but she needs special attention to make sure she's at ease and not on guard.

Zuma, the Ten Pound Pom!

I am a believer that these things come along in life to help you.  Why I was attracted to her in the first place, who knows.  Sophie revealed things about me that I try to keep wraps on, that I myself am a bit unstable and volatile.  She came into this house and threw the harmonious balance totally out of whack for a few weeks until it all got worked out, and for a while there, I was out of my head.  She undermined my mental stability because I had no idea how to communicate with her and deal with her anxieties.  I didn't have the tools that Pam took the time to show me.  And unfortunately, she suffered my wicked side in those first few weeks and caught a lot of the blame for the chaos that was erupting as the biggest, gruffest voice in the dog fight.  I mean, she could easily kill any of the dogs here, and I just wasn't sure what kind of animal she was.  But upon further contemplation of the situation, I realized it was more of an alpha Pomeranian issue than anything else.  Our 'Ten Pound Pom', the professional instigator.  This is Zuma's house, and he doesn't like Sophie being here.  He ratchets the tension level to 11 in a heartbeat and the whole house explodes!  We now know that Zuma is the one we have to control and the rest will fall in line.

So Sophie has experienced my aggressive nature, and I don't really know if that has hurt our trust-relationship or not.  I learned one thing, that if I am to reach this dog, I can't be an aggressive person and expect to connect with her as her trusted leader.  I have wanted to give up on her several times, unsure whether I was the right person to be trying to help her.  But Pam really helped me get centered, and helped me get to a better working place with her.  I really do love her and I want to help her be a better balanced dog and find her forever home, so I have needed to be better balanced too.  Right now, no one knows this dog as much as I do and I am the most stable environment she's ever known.  So I am it for her, I can't give up.

We work on our relationship daily with walks and leash training.  She still pulls on me more than I'd like, but I am perhaps looking for more than she's willing to give me.  She's gotten so much better since I started training with Pam.  In the past few weeks she has really started to be a lot calmer in the house and I now know how to deal with her anxieties.  Even Zuma the Ten Pound Pom has occasionally started to come around and initiate play with her, now that he knows she's not a big vicious beast.  I have worked constantly at keeping her energies entertained when she starts asking, either working her physically or working her mind with commands and simple challenges to get her thinking.  She trusts me and loves to be with me, and has even begun to follow my lead into the pool for a swim which she just loves!

I am also happy to report that we have had company here this week for the first time in over 2 months.  Sophie was a little apprehensive about her at first, but after our guest showed Sophie that she was the 'treat lady', Sophie became her best friend.  We are working to build these positive relationships, and always working to help her be calm and stable to control her anxieties.  We have seen a great improvement in her, but she still has these uncontainable eruptions of excitement in the form of high pitched yelping, and that still drives me mad.  I have yet to find a way to snap her head back into balance.  She, and I, are still works in progress.

Sophie is a lot of dog, and she is a wonderful animal worthy of someone's time and efforts.  She needs an owner who will be willing to take her to dog training to establish a solid, stable environment, and foster a trusting relationship with her so she never needs to be on gaurd duty.  She requires regular exercise to work out her anxieties, deep massages to aleviate her inner tensions and trust issues, and she needs a lot of things to chew on to keep her mind occupied.  She is a very intelligent dog and wants nothing more than to please her humans.

So I am submitting this you, Youniverse, please help me find Sophie's forever family.

Thanks for reading.

TRJ
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Hiking Mount Charleston

A friend of mine invited me along on an overnight hike in Mount Charleston.  I could never refuse an adventure like this so I went along.  This trek served two purposes; a long overdue measure of my fitness level and limitations of this 42yr old body, and to gain some valuable trail experience for an upcoming trek I will be taking with Steve Meyer in september somewhere in the Grand Canyon.  I have never been on an overnight hike like this beyond the reach of cell phones and civilization.  All my overnighters have been canoe trips fully loaded with lots of gear and beer.  So this was a pretty big, pared down adventure for me.

I should have clued in though, that hiking 'MOUNT' Charleston would be such a high experience... y'see, I am afraid of heights, and this hike was all about getting up to the top of the mountain range along narrow, steep, side-hill switchbacks.  It was a long day and a long, tough slog to get up there under the weight of the pack.  It really challenged my mental state to be able to push through and not get too freaked out by how far down I'd roll if I mis-stepped and went over the side.  I was thankful that I'd purchased new hiking boots (Ariats) for the trek which gave me some sure footed, comfortable confidence, and I was thankful for the knitted wool socks that Tanya had just given me as an early christmas present.  The socks were as promised, the 'best socks ever' for keeping my feet dry and the blisters at bay for the duration of the hike.  Thanks Tan!

PPL (Pierre-Paul Lavoie) was my guide, and his Aussie shepherd Klein was also with us.  I borrowed PPL's pack for all my stuff and he said it was heavy for 'trail weight' at around 35lbs, but I needed everything I'd brought.  We decided against the 6 pack of beer in lieu of a couple big Guinness cans, two for me and one for him.  Very early on we stopped to lighten our loads and have our first celebratory beer, which would be a huge mistake for PPL later on in the day.

Pushing uphill with a full pack is really tough work.  Its been a long, long time since I've pushed my body that hard for that far.  I knew I could do it.  We took our time and rested often.  Charleston Peak via the South Loop Trail is an 18 mile round trip with a 4300' gain.  7 hours in, we finally crested the mountain's peak into the sunshine and were rewarded with a flat trail and a crow's eye view of the valley below.  PPL had begun experiencing nausea some hours earlier and had to stop more and more frequently to fend off the sickness, but at the end of it he could hardly function.  This, we would later find out, was altitude sickness which was exasperated by the one beer he'd had.  He was completely done.  I ran ahead and scouted out a good camping location not too much further along at Griffith's Peak to set up camp at an elevation of 10,830 feet.  Stopping was OK with me because I could hardly lift my legs any more, but poor PPL had a rough couple hours until he finally hurled it all out.  He had me worried.

Celebratory mountaintop beer, and a little yodling!

I set up camp under his instruction and got him settled and then caught the sunset from the mountaintop and had my second celebratory Guinness.  That beer was sooo good!  It soaked into my tongue, through all my bones and aching muscles.  Its too bad we couldn't have had a fire to warm up our bodies once the sun set, because the temperature dropped really quickly and the moonless night was black.  In my mind I had to come up with an evacuation strategy in case... well, I'm really happy it didn't go that route.  Could I, if I needed to, carry my buddy out?  I don't think so.  Maybe under a full moon, but not in this blackness.  We would have had to wait until morning.  Thankfully he was better once he hurled, and the next day he was back in the saddle.

Nearing the top, the trail slopes dramatically!

We probably should have gone the 1 mile to the end of the trail, but we were running low on water so we decided to come back and finish the trail another day.  The descent was a lot quicker, though my knees were starting to get tweaked and I relied heavily on my hiking poles to ease the bombardment.  We were fortunate to find a trickle of water to refill our containers.  I never actually used my extra water until we got back to the car, so the 4 litres of liquids I brought with me was just barely enough for this trek.  We got back to the car in about 5hrs.

A seashell at 10,000' elevation

That hike pushed me to my limits, and what a wonderful deep pain it left in my body.  The endurance is there and capable of doing these treks, but the aches in the joints is not something I can really work and improve upon.  This 42yr old body has its limits and I need to respect what its telling me.  I am pretty happy it can get me way out there though,  knowing I am still up to the challenge.

Thanks for reading.

TRJ

 

 

 

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My New (Used) Kirby

Would you purchase a used vacuum?  Well, I did.  As the primary cleaner of the household, I need the proper tools to do a good job.  And living in the desert with dogs running around shedding and dragging it in with them, I needed an ultimate cleaning machine that could handle tile, hardwood, carpet, and the new deep shag rug.

When we moved, we got rid of our old vacuum because the Hoover was nearly 20 years old.  It still worked, but it was stinking and big and bulky.  We got a cheapo machine at Walmart for just over $100, and that served the apartment for the time being.  But once we got our house and 1900 square feet of floors, El Cheapo really proved its worthlessness.  Especially on the day the Kirby salesman came by for a demonstration.

I'll tell you about my Kirby and why I bought a second hand unit.  For many reasons, it is the ultimate vacuum.  For other reasons, it is not for everyone.  My wife will never use it.  It is too much machine for her, too complex.  She liked the simple convenience of the lighter, more useless plastic vacuum which was easy to handle and gave the impression of clean with its transparent bin of dustballs.  I know for a fact that this Kirby is a super-sucker and is doing what it was designed to do, so I can clean with confidence.  And this house gets dirty fast!  

But she's a heavy beast, weighing in at 17 pounds dry weight.  A fully loaded belly and she'll hit 22 pounds!  Based on weight alone I consider it a 'man's machine', with attachable components much like that of a transformer.  In fact, it LOOKS like a transformer, with its chrome metal body and a hood like an old car.  An American Made, industrial strength vacuum.  It is part of my weekly exercise regime.  I call 'Floors Day' my Kirby Workout because it is a physically demanding task that I must do weekly.  I'm OK with it, because I like the exercise and I know I am cleaning and not just flicking dirt around.  It is super powerful, and sounds like a jet engine when you get her going, with a forward drive shaft (or neutral gear) for effortless movement, and a 28 foot power cord that can reach an entire level without having to keep finding the closest outlet.  I would imagine this machine's previous life was doing long hallways in hotels.  Side by side to our El Cheapo unit, there was no comparison.

OH the day the Kirby salesman came by!  That day will live in infamy in our house.  After that I put a 'No Soliciting' sticker on the front door.  It was saturday afternoon, Tanya was watching TV and I was mulling about when the doorbell rang and I answered.  There stood this cute little freckled blonde with her hair pulled back in a pony tail, her face flushed and glowing like she had just come from the gym, so peppy and vibrant.  She had my full attention.  She could have been selling anything, I just wanted to be engaged in whatever conversation she wanted to have for as long as possible.  She wanted to give me a vacuum demonstration, "...just let me do your stairs, it'll only take 15 minutes...", and there was nothing more I wanted than to see this young hottie in her stretchy pants vacuuming my stairs.

I sheepishly went in to Tanya and said, "Hey Tan, there's a lady here wants to vacuum our stairs, is that OK?"

"No way Troy!  Tell her to get the hell out of here!"  My wife knows the sucker she married.  So I returned to the door and made an executive decision to allow this girl into our house to do her demonstration.  She was thrilled, and said she'd be right back.  I told Tanya she was coming in and when the girl came back, she was followed into the house by a large black man.  "Troy, this is Raoul, he will be giving you your demonstration, you two have fun now!" and like that, she was gone and Raoul began.  My jaw dropped.  I was absolutely dumbfounded, and cursed myself for being such a sucker.  But it got much worse.

Have you heard the tale of the vacuum salesman?  How not to let them into your house?  By gawd, it is so true.  Raoul went on and on and on, for about an hour and a half.  He had propositioned Tanya to come sit in on the demonstration and after a while she just lost it.  I have never seen Tanya be so rude to someone.  An unbefore known hatefulness surfaced in her and she glared at me as she walked away right in the middle of his sentence.  I had ruined her afternoon, and I would pay for that later.  He kept going, even though I insisted that he would make no sale today and tried to usher him out.  After a while his sales tactics turned desperate and he started pleading with me to make the purchase to help his family win a trip to Disneyland or something like that.  I eventually started getting aggressive and hateful with him to make him stop talking.  He wouldn't stop.  After an hour and a half, I watched him slowly pack up his things in an awkward, hostile silence.  He tried to make that sale right to the bitter end.

The Kirby sold itself.  The salesman turned me off it completely but the demonstration, up against our plastic machine, proved without a doubt that El Cheapo was not doing what we thought it was doing and that the Kirby was a monster.  A little jet engine powerful enough to pick up a penny off a tile floor and bend it in half when it clicked through the turbine!  There was no doubt in my mind that I needed a better vacuum, but not from this guy.  As a parting shot, Raoul didn't reconnect the catch bin on El Cheapo vacuum after his demonstration and when I picked it up to put it away the bin fell off and the latch assembly broke.  I couldn't fix it, nor could I track down replacement parts.  And so I was forced to purchase a new machine immediately.

I did a lot of shopping but just couldn't shake the demonstration I'd seen.  Despite the salesman, I wanted to get a Kirby.  I found GreatVacs.com online and their stock of refurbished vacuums.  It was a 5 year old machine, half the price of a new one at just over $500.  Expensive?  Time will tell if it was an expensive purchase or not.  They say this machine will still be running strong in 30 years... in 30 years I will be 70 and probably unable to lift it but, I like things that are built to last a long time.  I don't like buying a new vacuum every couple years.  And I really like having the confidence that my vacuum is actually cleaning and not wasting my time pushing dirt around.

As a second hand unit, after a year and a half with it, I must say it is quite heavy, and incredibly loud.  But its a very versatile machine with its different attachments.  There is an attachment for the ass end of it too, so you can use the engine as a blower... for spray painting or leaf blowing... but I haven't done that yet.  Some of the plastic components have started showing their age and cracking.  I have temporarily fixed the cracks with hockey tape, but I will eventually need to invest some more money into it.  Tanya has not used it yet and hates it, but she is OK with never having to do the floors again :)  

Thanks for reading.

TRJ

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Year of the Dogs

This year Tanya and I decided to become foster parents with 'A Home 4 Spot', a non-profit rescue organization for canines here in Las Vegas.  We learned of the dire situation of dogs being discarded and destroyed in Vegas and we had to help.  This is our second foray into the dog rescuing business, as we were foster parents in Ottawa for a year with BARK.  It is just something we have to do.

There are approximately 70 animals a day that are put down by the Lied Animal Foundation, and we get most of our dogs off their Kill List.  The source of this problem runs deep and Lieds is only the tip of the needle for a deeply flawed system that allows the market to be flooded with blood money.  Lieds is the federally funded city pound, so they receive thousands and thousands of discarded animals.  I know they can't save them all, but it seems no one is even trying to stop the bleeding and this is where the government is failing society by allowing this to happen.  There are countless illegitimate breeders flooding the markets, pet stores selling highly overpriced animals and creating a smoke screen for the dire situation of adoptable pets, and of course there is the cultural problem of ignorant pet owners who don't believe in getting their animals fixed.  But at the heart of it all, governments are not paying attention.  Funding the kill agencies while allowing the blood money to flow is deeply disturbing.  Pets have become a valuable, disposable commodity, a true mark of our society's disconnect with the natural world and how we are failing ourselves as a species.

We believe the policies of Lied's Animal Foundation to be highly unethical.  In 2013 they killed 56% of the animals they received... that's 22,634 animals... and they strive to make money off of these unfortunate lives, right down to the very last drop.  Even non-profit organizations like ours must pay to save the life of a dog off their kill list.  Their policy is to make money.  And killing dogs is big business, federally funded and worth millions... not to mention the millions they receive in donations every year.  We know Lieds has the money and we know they have the space to do a much better job, and while ignoring pleas from the community they are choosing to kill while putting a happy face on their foundation.  The more we learn, the uglier it gets.  This needs to change.  (Visit No Kill Las Vegas for the dirty facts).

So we had to get involved.  It is such an amazing feeling to rehabilitate a broken animal and help place them in their Forever Families.  When we get pictures and emails of the dogs we've fostered who are now living a happy dog's life with their new families, that's why we do it.

Troy & Otis, the Chee'Chee's

We are now on our 10th rescue dog, having placed 8 so far.  Well... placed 7.  Otis, the newest member of our family is what is called a  'Foster-FAIL!'.  We fostered him and his brother when they were 4 weeks old, the Chee'Chee's (chihuahuas).  What a pair!  What an awesome experience to have those two hyperactive chihuahua puppies in our house disrupting the balance of everything!  Troy, Otis' brother, got adopted to a young couple just down the street and Otis... well, we just couldn't see him going to a better family than us, so we adopted him.  He is a 4lb ball of energy, the cheerleader in our pack and quite a happy little guy.  He is very special, and a great addition to our pack.

Otis, realising the value of the High Ground

Most of our dogs have been rescued directly from the Lied's kill list, and every one of them have been such sweet, loving animals.  All they really want is someone to love.

On thursday we got Risa, a 4 month old puppy.  She was going to be put down because she was scared, deemed un-adoptable by Lied's standards.  She had been surrendered as a 3 month old and had been in the system for 3 weeks and had shut down.  She no longer trusted humans.  She had just been fixed when we picked her up so she was drowsy, but indeed, she was terrified of us.  We left her in a caged area when we brought her home just so the other dogs (4 other dogs) could have their say and not get too involved.  She seemed OK with the dogs, but terrified of us.  Sometimes the dogs we get are psychologically damaged, some physically, and they need to be rehabilitated in order to be adoptable.  We have a good, stable pack here, so our dogs help socialize them and bring them around.

Risa, the first day of her new life

Friday morning I set about breaking her in and getting her out of her shell, which took about 30 minutes.  I fished her out of the back of her crate and carried her outside while she dribbled on me.  I put her on the ground with all the other dogs and sat down to watch and wait.  My pack follows me around and if I sit, they settle.  Everyone was curious about the newcomer, but calm and pretty much left her to her exploring of the backyard.  She smelled the entire yard and eventually made her way back under my chair... and then beside me looking up... and then put her paws on me to get my attention, which I gave her.  That was all it took, fixed!  Her whole demeanor switched and her chubby puppy body jiggled with happiness as she wagged her thick tail.  That moment, when you see the happy dog emerge, you know you've done a good deed.  And once I am recognized as the food-guy, I become almighty in the pack.  I am the Lighthouse.  Her new life... her second life, begins today.

On saturday we went our to Tivoli Village to an adoption event, where all the foster parents bring their dogs to be out in public, seeking out that special person with whom the dog will connect.  Its only a matter of time before it happens, and its always a quick and decisive moment.  The people know right away.  In Risa's case, it was her first time out in public and she was overwhelmed with everything.  She stuck to me and pretty much stayed on my lap the entire day.  And just as we were getting ready to leave, two ladies came by and were stricken by her.  She hadn't intended on adopting a dog that day, they had walked by by chance and seen her on my lap.  Risa reminded her of the dog they had just lost after 17 years and wanted to hold her.  Risa is a chubby ball of loving puppy, and she fell asleep in her arms.  She held the dog for half an hour and texted her husband to get over there right away to see this dog.  He came, and it was soon obvious that Risa had found her new family.  We went back to their place to do the paperwork and that was it!  Risa, now became Brighton and our 9th rescued canine.  Thank you to the Sheridans for adopting with us and saving her life!  This opens up our house to save another.

Saving the lives of these discarded dogs and finding them homes is something we have to do.  Its a cruel world, but WE don't have to be.  World change begins within.

To quote Ghandi, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."  We have to be better.

Thanks for reading.

TRJ