MEET THEEYORE

Theeyore at Turtle Gardens

Why the strange name you ask?  Theeyore came to Turtle Gardens simply as Thor.  Yvette told me a bit about his background and said he's a sweet but shut down little dog.  He also has a bad tail dock and has next to nothing for a tail.  This makes me so sad, as one part of his body language is missing, like if us humans weren't able to waive our hands around in expression when we're talking.  When I thought of his description he reminded me of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.  I never really knew that part of the story so I read up on it.  Eeyore was a very sad character and in his negative thinking he believed his tail was stolen.  Pooh, ever the optimist was sure it had just fallen off and went in search of it.  He found it at owl's tree being used as a door bell pull.  He returned it to Eeyore and Christopher Robin reattached it.

"Once the tail is reattached, Eeyore is transformed from a gloomy, sad old donkey into a frisky, frolicking donkey, waving his tail happily and jumping around in the forest." 

So after reading this part of the story I mixed Thor and Eeyore together.  My hope in the coming week is to see this little dog open up and have fun.  He will never get his tail back but we can give him his joy.

Theeyore's adventure in Richmond started on Saturday when he came on the dog run from up North.  From his description I was a little surprised to drive up and see him on leash just hanging out.   He's not shut down in so much of a fearful way as I had assumed.  Its more like he just hasn't figured out how to be a Min Pin or a playful dog....like his expectations on life are low.   Has he always been this way or just too many changes in his little life so far?

I've discovered that he rides really well in the truck, he walks quite well on leash, he is cuddly and he seems to like having the individual attention.  He has met a handful of people and one dog.  For the most part with a new foster I use new dogs and new people as an opportunity to show them I can be looked to for help with worries and for protection.  I want him to see that I have an opinion on who is safe and who is not and that opinion can be relied on.  So at the start, meetings are limited to dogs and people that I know will be respectful of him and he can have a positive experience.   Meeting a person is based on his level of comfort and the person's willingness to let him be the one to approach.  Meeting a dog is based on both dog's body language (minus the tail-ometer).

Theeyore is very passionate about food!  This is something we will definitely be working on.  I weighed him today and he is 21 lbs and should probably be closer to 12 lbs. 

"Um, hello.....shouldn't there be a second dish here?"

When picking him up at the dog run he was scavenging all over the parking lot picking out pieces of kibble that had fallen out of dog food bags with tiny openings left in them.  I'm used to having a foster dog that takes a couple of days to adjust to their new settings and they don't want to eat much yet.  But not Theeyore.  He has happily devoured each meal he's been given.   Unfortunately though, I didn't realize the food I took home from the dog run was actually cat kibble.  It wasn't until I looked on the bag after weighing him today that I noticed the serving size only went up to 11 lbs.  When I checked the front of the bag I then noticed the small cat symbol on it.  At least he had only had a few meals out of this bag but with the food being somewhat too rich for him...let's just say he's been contributing to the atmosphere at home.  Thankfully we're back on track.

Theeyore will have his first day at daycare tomorrow and I can't wait to see how he does.  I'm guessing we will see a transformation from Monday to Friday as he figures out his new world.  

I have already seen a bit of a reserved playful side and I think this is a good sign of what is to come.  More pictures and hopefully a playful video soon.