The past two weeks have been a challenge each and every day. Why? Because I adopted a sweet little dog named Winnebago. While incredibly cute, Winnebago has some baggage that makes what would be simple things pretty challenging.
Let me tell you about Winnie….
Winnie was surrendered to the Lawrence Humane Society by her owners. They used her for breeding purposes and I’m not sure what environment she was kept in. Was it outside? Was she in a cage all day? Some things I’ll just never know.
Winnie is a six year old miniature Shetland Sheepdog. When I first saw her it was at the Clear the Shelter event. All dogs and cats were free to a good home. Every dog I saw was up against their cage ready to greet people but not Winnie. She was in the middle of the cage, sitting down on a blanket.
Later, when we were out in the yard, she continued to lay there in the grass letting me and the volunteer pull tuffs of loose undercoat from her hair. I could see that she had some matted fur and some teeth missing. She wouldn’t walk around and explore the area. She wouldn’t do anything but lay there.
She didn’t even show any sign of affection other than letting us pet and groom her.
I adopted her not knowing if she’d ever show affection or warm up to me. I adopted her while thinking, I can’t believe I just did that. I have dog now. I can’t believe I have a dog now.
Why did I adopt her? I thought out of all of the families that had stood in line with me to meet the pets, Winnie would probably be better suited for someone like me. She needed a quiet place to feel safe, somewhere that didn’t have kids constantly jumping on her, trying to play. She needed someone patient to get her through the huddles of transitioning. And I figured that if she was used to spending her life in a cage that maybe she won’t mind my small apartment so much.
I knew Winnie would be a challenge in many ways when I adopted her and I was not wrong.
The Challenges
Winnie eating…
I got Winnie on a Saturday. By Monday morning she had still yet to eat. From reading online I saw that this could be due to anxiety. She had gone from the home she grew up in to the shelter to my home and I could tell she was feeling anxious about that transition. I thought maybe she wouldn’t eat the dry dog food because of her teeth so I tried softening it with chicken broth. I also tried adding chicken broth to her water because she was also not drinking.
Winnie pooping…
When I first brought Winnie home, she would not go to the bathroom. I would take her outside and she would immediately sit. I’d be out there sitting with her waiting for her to decide to explore. For days she wouldn’t walk around when we went outside. After exploring the apartment that first day she barely walked around there either. You would think she had a problem walking but I’d seen glimpses that lead me to think that was not the case.
That brings me to my next challenge.
Winnie won’t walk…
Every time I want to take Winnie out, I clip the leash on her and then I pick her up and carry her outside. The leash seemed like a foreign concept to her. Trying to get her to explore outside, let alone pee outside were a struggle. Going on a walk was out of the question. Even a command like come here was foreign.
I bought three different types of treats to see what kind she would like only to have her refuse them. Bones, toys, dental chews; she has refused them all. I’ve also seen her turn down pepperoni and popcorn. Who turns down popcorn??
Well, when Winnie wouldn’t eat or poop or walk I took her to the vet first thing Monday morning.
The Vet
Winnie and I have been to the vet quite a bit in this short two week period. The first time we went I realized that Winnie had no trouble going to the bathroom at the vet, she just didn’t like going at my apartment. I also learned that Winnie really likes wet dog food and she will eat that, even when she’s refusing to eat the dry dog food.
The vet sent me home with two cans of wet dog food that turned out to be very successful and a freshly peep dog. She also took some bloodwork to make sure there weren’t any issues there and I was feeling somewhat happy.
At least my dog was eating now.
That whole first weekend was really stressful because here I am with my first dog and she won’t eat or poop. I’m worried about if she’ll ever eat. Will she starve herself? Then I’m worried about the lack of going to the bathroom? Is she going to cause herself to have an infection?
Monday she ate all this wet food but then she still wasn’t going. I would take her outside and she would sit. I kept thinking about all of that food inside of her and yet she still hadn’t gone. I was almost hoping for an accident in the house.
Results from the vet
Tuesday was a tough day. At noon, I got a call at work that the vet had some results for me. Winnie had heartworms. Heartworms that would need treatment very soon. Treatment that would be pretty expensive. I felt so bad for this poor dog who was so sweet and so timid, that she was going through this.
The treatment would include four weeks of pills twice a day and then she would have to get a shot and stay at the vet overnight. The vet told me that the last dog she treated with heartworms, the whole thing cost around 1,000 dollars. I cried for Winnie but I think I shed a few tears for my bank account as well.
I had set her up with a kennel, a bed, treats, toys, food, bowls, a leash, an extended leash when I thought having more space outside would help her, and over the first few days I just kept buying things. Plus the bloodwork from the Monday visit, plus a hair appointment to get rid of the matted fur that I had scheduled for Friday. All of it was adding up.
By Wednesday, Winnie still had not pooped even though now she was eating the wet dog food. I was on the phone with the vet almost everyday that first week. At the end of Wednesday I’d talked to the vet probably three or four times that day. They had run an additional test to confirm Winnie had heartworms and I had also called them concerned about the lack of poop. With my 5 o’clock update call, the vet joked that I could take Winnie to their office and let her go there.
At this point, the only place Winnie had gone in the couple days I’d known her was at the vet. She wouldn’t go at my apartment no matter how much time I gave her. Thinking maybe it was the busy street next to the complex I took her to a nice, secluded park Tuesday night with still no luck. Tuesday I probably spent 2 1/2 hours just trying to get her to go. So when the vet joked about taking her there I jumped on the chance and drove Winnie to the vet.
Once Winnie got into their enclosed area, she immediately went. No problem. Part of me was so happy because it was clear she didn’t have a medical reason for not going but another part of me thought Oh no! She’ll only go to the bathroom in a fenced in area.
I started googling other apartments, townhomes, anything that may be better for Winnie. I asked the vet, where can I take her? I ended up asked the vet a lot of questions that first week.
Thursday I was finally feeling better. The idea that Winnie had heartworms wasn’t so scary anymore and that night I ended up taking her to the local dog park. The great thing about the dog park is that there are trails, a kiddie pool, there’s a river that you can walk to, and… there’s a fenced in section. Winnie immediately went to the bathroom. Finally! I found a place where she would go that wasn’t the vet.
She walked around off leash, let the other dogs sniff her, and even said hi to one of the women there.
That first week was tough. Two weeks in and we are still dealing with some of the same problems.
Where she is now…
Winnie started treatment this Monday for heartworms. I did speak with the Humane Society and they are willing to continue the treatment at their facility for no cost which is a relief.
It’s still a struggle to get Winnie to eat sometimes. I tried to set a feeding schedule this past week and get her to eat dry food without success.
I’d set the dry food down for thirty minutes twice a day and she continued to refuse to eat it. I also gave her a small amount of wet food to disguise the pills I need her to take twice a day which she ate just fine. People told me, she’ll get hungry. She has to eat eventually. Well, Winnie don’t play. Obviously she will starve herself.
After an unsuccessful week of trying to get her to eat dry dog food I started making her food. I wasn’t sure if she’d eat it because she is so picky with her food but I knew trying to get her to eat the dry food wasn’t working and it wasn’t best for her to be on a strictly wet food diet.
Side note: she does eat dry food occasionally but only at midnight and only a little bit.
So I boiled some chicken and cooked up some brown rice, sweet potato, and brussels sprouts. She ended up liking the chicken and sweet potato. I’ve tried the rice several times with no luck so far.
Along with tough love food wise this week, I also did tough love bathroom this week. After talking with the vet, she told me I couldn’t keep going to the dog park everyday. It was just unsustainable. So I needed to just keep trying the apartment and the apartment alone. So for the second week I didn’t take her to the dog park at all. I’d take her outside and we would sit. Eventually Winnie started to explore before she would sit and then the next day she’d explore a little more.
I tried a puppy spray on the grass by my house, you know, the kind that is supposed to let the dog know where to go. That did not work at all. Finally she did have an accident in the house and then another the next day. I took some of her poop and put it outside hoping maybe the smell would let her know it was ok to go out there. That did not work either.
But, eventually she went outside at my apartment in Week Two. Thank God! It’s still sporadic at best. I still take her outside where she doesn’t go more times than she does. But at least she’s going sometimes.
This last Thursday we also had a great breakthrough. Remember the dog that would just sit? Well now she was walking around, exploring her environment outside and I would follow her just letting her explore at her own pace. When she is done exploring she usually comes back to me and then sits right beside me. Thursday morning, when she came back to me, I walked away. Guess what Winnie did? She followed!
This was the first time Winnie and I had walked together! I’ve continued this and each day we go on a little bit of a longer walk. It’s still pretty short and we still have a lot to work on but it’s progress.
We still have so much left to work on. Leash training. Nailing down eating regularly and going to the bathroom regularly. Having Winnie not look at me like I kick her…
Side note: she doesn’t always look at me like I kick her, just most of the time. Also side note: I do not kick her, that’s just her face.
It’s a struggle to get Winnie to feel comfortable and to open up. She’ll look at me with her head down. She’ll find corners that she feels safe in. But she’ll also sit beside me when I take a seat. When there’s a loud noise outside or someone she doesn’t know is walking near her, she’ll come to me. At the dog park when I let her off the leash, she returns to me every time.
I think she’s beginning to see this place as home and me as a constant. She knows that when I take her to the vet or the groomer, I’ll be back to pick her up.
This weekend she even started following me around the apartment.
Just yesterday, before I went out for a dinner, I was going to the bathroom and she wedged herself between me on the toilet and the wall which was a pretty tight space.
There’s moments where I think I see some really good progress but I know that Winnie is a dog that needs time and patience. She needs to know that I’m constant and dependable.
Slowly, slowly we will get there.
A Few Simple Words 
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