We Are All Animals First

October 18th, 2012

Today was mostly good.  My new approach to treat Drake like a dog first and blind/deaf second is starting to give me hope.  I was stuck in a mind set and am so glad that I have broken through.  Now it feels right.  I am prepared to be flexible and give him 90% of my time for as long as it takes.  I am prepared to spend a year or the rest of my life working with him.  He is like a vocation to me, and it cannot be denied.  I believe his journey can make a difference not just to Drake, but to anybody that decides to take the same journey.  I found one other journey of someone that took this journey.  She created a web site, capturing pictures and advice about her journey.  I read it over and over.  It was helpful in preparing me and giving me confidence to start.  However, all of our journeys will be different because all of our dogs will be different.  They are dog first, with their own unique personalities to deal with that will have nothing to do with their impairments.  Drake is pretty balanced with confidence and intelligence, but he is not good with other dogs and he is living with seven.  That has to change.  I have a lot of work to do.

A friend of mine gave me two little bantam type hen.  I went to her farm and Drake walked around on a leash.  She had a six month old beautiful doberman puppy named Diva.  She was so cute and wanted to play with Drake.  Diva kept doing the little play bow, but of course he couldn't see her.  He could smell her presence , and should had known she was happy.  Instead he lunched at her with an aggressive bark.  I rolled him and he immediately got under control.  Of course poor little Diva had gone into her own little roll, call the fetal position.  Scared her very badly.  It was the same greeting that many of our dogs had gotten.  I don't even know how to approach this problem.

After we caught the little hens and put the crate in the back seat, I loaded Drake into the car.  At first he took a good position and seemed peaceful.  Suddenly, within the first two minutes, his nose went into the air and began to have one of his fits, throwing his head back, trying to follow the scent.  I could hardly drive home and it is less than two miles.  When I got home and drug him out of the car, I released him into the backyard.  I got the chickens and took them through another entrance.  I hurried and put them into the little small cage I had prepared for them to live in for the first week.  I barely got them into their pen when I spotted Drake, nose in the air, rushing right towards me.  His nose brought him right to the chicken coop.  He had never noticed it before because it is usual empty by the time he goes into the back part of or yard.

He began biting the fenced in area and climbing up on the pen.  It was just as he reacted to the parrot the first time he noticed it.  At first I just stood there.  I don't know why I didn't react.  I guess I knew the hens were safe, but I didn't roll him, I just watched him.  He suddenly got caught between the chicken wire and the heavy wire on the pen.  For fear of him getting hurt I finally reacted.  I grabbed him and rolled him in one continuous movement.  Put the bite on his chest and the no, no on his nose.  After he got up, he continued to whine.  I picked him up and put him in my lap.  For some reason my instincts told me to not let him whine or walk away.  I sat there for ten minutes just letting him smell the chickens and not whine.  So much of what I have decided to do is to trust my instincts and rely on my experiences with dogs.  Of course I also cross my fingers.  We will know in his actions as we continue this journey.