The Little Things

Dogs move at their own speed, and this is especially true with special needs dogs. I could push Cody to improve at the speed I want him too, but I'd end up with a more traumatized dog and likely a nasty bite for my arrogance. Instead, my role is to provide him with stability, safety, and positive experiences and let him grow at his pace.

Some dogs progress faster than others, and it can be frustrating to see other dogs progressing faster or to see your dog moving slower than you think they should. If we put in the work with them though, they all make positive changes, big and small. Here are some of the little things Cody and I are celebrating these past couple days -

1) Cody allowed me to remove the neon orange plastic collar that he wore on his transport from Fresno, CA to Washington state. You may notice that it says "New Ratt - Corkie." Corky was his previous name, but "Corky" doesn't fit in with this years naming theme of pre-modern cultures so it changed to "Cody" after the Paleo-Indian Cody Complex from 6,000-8,0000 BC.

2) A new martingale. My state coordinator, Janell, put a martingale on him before I picked him up so he could at least have an ID tag if he got lose. However, she is getting a girl even bigger than Cody soon and needs that martingale. I purchased a new one for Cody, and with the help of tasty egg noodles soaked in turkey broth he eagerly shoved it head through the martingale. A few more egg noodles scattered on the ground gave me the time to adjust the martingale down to fit better.

3) Eating a normal meal. Getting Cody to eat has been a challenge. Part of it is that he is chunky monkey, and fat dogs are less motivated to eat if they are feeling stressed. He's very picky about what he eats, and he rejected everything I had offered him besides egg noodles that I used only as a treat.

This morning I mixed a bit of kibble in with some wet lamb food that Mud Bay allowed me to trial for free, and he sucked it down - his first full meal since Tuesday morning. Hopefully this will continue, but for now, I am grateful that he ate a normal meal.

4) He let me put a Wonder Walker harness on him. Cody is very nervous about things touching his body and so I didn't know if he could yet handle a harness. He hasn't yet worn a belly band yet because the touch of it is overwhelming, so the harness was an experiment. It is important that he wear a harness to prevent damage to his trachea from pulling on his collar.

You can see in the picture above that he was a little insecure about it, but once again egg noodles to the rescue. A couple noodles to lure his head through the open section, and then a couple more on the ground while I clipped it under his chest. He even let me unclip it and adjust it a bit. After a few minutes wearing it....

Cody wanders around the sitting room, completely unconcerned!

What little victories are you celebrating today with your dogs?