As I started writing this in the early days and added bits as time went by, aficionados of the English language might be offended but for most of you, the narrative won’t be an issue.
“Miffed”……Somewhat annoyed. Generally used in the context of the classic British understatement.
It was late last year that the request was made, could we take a nervous dog and “turn it around”? In her present condition, she is impossible to re-home.
That was the question posed by the charity Sitia Animal Rescue.
After consulting Joy I agreed. What follows is an account of what occurred over the next 12 months.
We had fostered before, usually maimed or injured dogs that needed specialist care before rehoming but we had never fostered a dog with the problems that plagued Lucy.
I watched in horror as THREE ladies attempted to catch the dog. The pen in which she lived was fairly small and she shared this space with two other dogs. Eventually, she was caught, put in a travel box and carried to my car. A brief chat elicited the fact that she was approximately 2 years old, wouldn’t walk on the lead, nobody could get anywhere near her and her name was Hilda. Needless to say, there was no information on her reaction to travelling in a car.
The first problem to deal with was her name. I felt that the name would be difficult to work with as getting the right inflection to the voice tones needed would be difficult. No discourtesy to anyone called Hilda but it had been issued for identification only, rarely used and she did not respond, so we called her Lucy.
As we were only fostering this dog and she may have to be returned to the shelter before being re-homed the first decision to be made is how much she is integrated into the household. Coming from a shelter on the Mediterranean island of Crete she had been used to living outside. This in its self was a problem because if she is returned before being rehomed then having her indoors with all the normal comforts as we normally would provide would be a harsh adjustment. We compromised, indoors during the day, outside at night. This compromise swiftly disappeared one wet and windy night as I could see that Joy was going to be extremely miffed if Lucy stayed out that night. A miffed Joy was to be avoided at all costs!! I relented.
The magnitude of the task became horribly obvious within minutes of getting her home
This was not a nervous dog, it was a terrified dog!! What had caused this, I had no idea.
The slightest movement, the slightest sound caused her to shake uncontrollably, salivate, even emptying her bowels. Her eyes were round and staring, the terror evident. I had to assume that her behaviour was the result of a catastrophic experience, prolonged neglect/abuse or heaven forbid a hereditary issue that almost certainly would be impossible to sort out. Learned behaviour can usually be reversed but it can be time-consuming and difficult, the slightest setback can undo weeks of work and hereditary behaviour in most instances can only be controlled.
I had, however, two advantages, the first was Joy, her patience in dealing with this type of problem is inexhaustible and I had Chloe!!
Despite being a designer and maker of exclusive wedding gowns before retirement Joy was also extremely talented in dealing with distressed animals.
As for Chloe, she is a deaf, extremely ancient Cretan hunting dog reckoned to be at least 15 years old, which for this type of dog is an incredible age but as steady as a rock, totally bombproof.
Joy started the ball rolling, on our back terrace where she spent the first 3 hours sitting with Lucy and talking softly. Eventually, she allowed Joy to pick her up and sit with her on her lap.
Lucy on Joy’s lap on the first day. It took two hours to achieve this.
The following day we managed to get Lucy on a lead and walk her but soon discovered that she wouldn’t undertake any toilet activities whilst on the lead.
It was important with dogs that are traumatised to follow a set routine.
So we developed one that included feeding, exercise, car journeys and sleep periods, all at regulated times. Being in a lockdown due to the Coronavirus didn’t help matters. I needed to expose Lucy to more distractions but that would have to wait. As living with a deaf dog meant that we used hand signals to communicate with Chloe I wondered if we could use a similar system combined with commands with Lucy. As the only words she would have heard would have been in Greek we thought it was worth a try. Allowing her to run around constantly distressed would have only exacerbated the situation so we tethered her to the leg of the sofa giving her easy access to her bed. When she was free, by using a hand signal we were very quickly able to make her stop moving and sit. This enabled us to put her lead on ready for a walk.
After two weeks we had made some progress. Lucy walked well on the lead as long as there were no distractions, could do very short car journeys without being sick but has continued to drool excessively, bowels and bladder were working ok and she has been eating and drinking normally. On the downside, she has still shown no sign of animation and any loud noise creates panic. Her eyes have continued to show her evident distress and she has continued to tuck her tail under her back legs.
“We are definitely in for the long haul!!”
To complicate matters further we had been looking for some time for a small dog to be a companion for Chloe and we were offered Ziggy, a small black female terrier type, 2-3 years old, found wandering the streets of Sitia. She is delightful. We have taken her. A factor in deciding to take her was that whilst Ziggy is lively she might just provide the spark that Chloe doesn’t. Lucy started week three with a walk on the beach, we took Chloe and Ziggy as well. Her initial reaction was a belly crawl but after a short time, she reverted to her normal walk and only showed a very mild reaction to the incoming waves. That evening we had a major success because we heard Lucy whining to be allowed to come back indoors. Wonderful reaction, she wasn’t hiding at the back of her kennel. We were brought down to earth the following day when a short car journey into town that she had done previously resulted in an unexplained panic attack.
The next few days brought more highs and lows.
Our home is just a normal village house and was never designed to be an escape-proof kennel so what happened next was fairly inevitable. It had to happen sooner than later. In the past, our fosters were more likely to be so disabled that they either couldn’t or had no inclination to escape!!
Having left the house to exercise Chloe and Ziggy I, unfortunately, hadn’t shut the door, I thought I had but it didn’t completely close, net result, Lucy escaped, ran past me and disappeared out of sight. A search revealed no sign. We went home and left the door open so in the very unlikely event that Lucy came back she could just walk in, however, I was not hopeful. We made a coffee and discussed our options and unbelievably Lucy appeared in the doorway, hesitated, and went straight to her bed!!
Extraordinary, I thought that she would still be running and panicking but after no more than an hour away she returned. Over the next few months. Lucy managed to escape twice more, on one occasion she decided to stay out all night, she appeared to want to come indoors but appeared to lose her nerve. Eventually, we put her bed on the front terrace and we retired for the night. On waking, we discovered that Lucy had used it. A quick trip out in the car found her a few metres away and we were able to coax her into the car. On the other occasion, she decided to go for a walkabout in the olive grove where we normally went for a walk, however, that time she happily jumped into the car.
Unfortunately, treats were of no use.
The following day we thought we might have made progress with the car drooling problem, A heavy shopping day meant that Lucy was obliged to travel in the footwell at Joys feet. No drooling, she just curled up and went to sleep. We had tried her in a travel box and then a box with a cover and finally on the back seat curled up next to Joy with little improvement. Sadly the following day an identical journey ended with Lucy being sick all over Joys feet!! We then had to resort to sitting in the car with Lucy and not going anywhere so she can see that there is no consequence to being in the car. Sitting in the car had no problem for Lucy, she didn’t drool nor did she have any reaction to the engine running therefore by a process of elimination Lucy suffered motion sickness. The only other explanation for her behaviour could be that it was a response to being driven in a car and being abandoned.
Any reservations I might have had concerning the arrival of Ziggy were quickly dispelled. Her boundless energy and her wild enthusiasm for even the most mundane activity started to create a positive reaction from Lucy. It was only a minuscule change but it became obvious that Lucy was fascinated with Ziggy who would rush up, lick her face, before hurtling off to find the next adventure. There were however occasionally setbacks as the arrival of Ziggy heralded a new set of dynamics as Ziggy needed to learn our ways and occasionally needed to be gently admonished for her various misdemeanours. This caused Lucy to be distressed so caution had to be the order of the day.
A sad looking Lucy, tail between her legs.
Christmas came and went, but it wasn’t very festive for Lucy, just another miserable day.
More trips to town followed and Lucy was able to avoid being sick most of the time but the excessive drooling continued.
We then tried using Calmevet (mild tranquillizer), I don’t like using medication unless necessary but as a last resort it was a final attempt to break the cycle.
Slight improvement.
The same day Lucy showed some animation to Joy, a glimmer of hope?
Then maybe a breakthrough, Ziggy managed to get Lucy to play, only for a few seconds, but it showed that Lucy could be normal.
Without a doubt, Ziggy had a very positive effect on Lucy.
Sadly that one moment was the only time that we ever saw a sign of normality indoors By now I was beginning to suspect that the problem was what I had dreaded. Lucy suffered from Hereditary Fear. Inquiries confirmed that Lucy’s mum had been terrified and so we’re her siblings.
Quite simply fear was in her DNA, that was the way she was born. Fortunately, this condition is fairly rare among the general canine population but sadly it is found more commonly among the stray contingent. To make matters worse there is very little information about this condition, very little research done and virtually no guidelines to follow.
At this stage, there are only two options. The first is that the quality of life is so poor that euthanasia is a choice. Imagine spending your entire life in a continuous state of terror. Every waking moment is filled with dread. Every minute of every hour of every day for your entire life terrified of any movement, every sound, the only respite being when you are asleep and even then anything is likely to bring back reality.
The second was to persevere.
We persevered.
As the months passed progress was painfully slow. With the coronavirus pandemic lockdown measures still in full force in Greece, there was no possibility of getting her to a permanent home.
What we needed was a home with somebody with the time, inexhaustible patience and a degree of experience. Finding this would be a herculean task and would need someone who would devote the next decade and more to ensuring Lucy’s future was daunting.
One momentous occasion occurred while Joy was stroking Chloe and Ziggy, Lucy belly crawled and pushed in to get her fair share.
Five months had passed and maybe just maybe there was light at the end of the tunnel.
We decided that we had to move forward so with the easing of restrictions we would have a determined all-out effort to rehabilitate Lucy into society. We took her box into our regular cafe with the door left open so that she could hide in the back of the box but see out and as the days and weeks passed she spent more time outside of the box that eventually it became unnecessary and as time passes she became confident enough to accept the hustle and bustle of the cafe and accepted being stroked by friends.
We came to the conclusion that eventually we would have to let her off the lead and a long line was attached to her collar when we went to the beach. It resulted in Lucy happily running around splashing in the rock pools. As her confidence improved we made the decision to do away with the trailing lead and let her off completely. It was a heart-stopping moment as we were not sure that this was not a decision too far. We anticipated that Lucy would stay close to Ziggy, how wrong we were, Lucy took off like a rocket disappearing into the distance with Ziggy in hot pursuit!! After 300 metres Lucy did a very rapid 360-degree turn and came back with Ziggy trailing behind. For Lucy, at nearly 3 years of age, it was her first opportunity to be able to run properly.
As the days passed Lucy became more and more confident. Going to the beach, travelling in the car, and spending time in the cafe all became part of her routine.
For us the indication of the happiness of Lucy was the way she carried her tail. Unlike most dogs Lucy didn’t wag her tail but the higher she carried the tail the happier she was and as time went by her tail was almost vertical.
A happy Lucy, tail up.
Having had Lucy for nearly a year we were starting to despair of finding a permanent home, however, we need not have worried. We had the indomitable Tracee Walton on the job. For a more in-depth description of this unique lady see “The Puppies.”
We eventually received the phone call that led to Lucy finding her forever home. Wayne and Lesley who lived permanently on the island were looking to adopt a stray. Lesley wanted to take Lucy and didn’t see her behaviour as a problem, merely an issue that could be overcome with time and patience.
We met and Lucy immediately took treats from Lesleys’ hand, something that she rarely did. She appeared to accept Scrappy, their dog, who she would have to live with and after a chat and a coffee, off they all went together. We had given a year of our lives to Lucy and off she went without even looking back!! The irony wasn’t lost on us but seeing Lucy happily departing with her new owner without even a glance in our direction was in its own way so reassuring that Lesley was the right person.
We remain in touch and receive videos and photos on a regular basis. Lucy continues to make progress and for us, it makes the past year worthwhile.
Christmas 2000 wasn’t really anything to get excited about for Lucy, just another day of misery, however, Christmas 2001 will include a walk on the beach with her new best friend Scrappy, treats and a present. What a difference a year makes!!
Joy has pointed out, quite rightly, that the years are catching up on us and we really shouldn’t be doing this again so Lucy will probably be the last.
Unless of course…….
“Handle every situation like a dog. If you can’t eat it or play with it, pee on it and walk away.”
Anon
With subtitle or not?