To relieve J of her existing commitments to raising a baby (and one more to come!), housework and her profession, we finally took Doby out of his foster home and boarded him at a boarding facility.
Doby will be quarantined for a week.
We laid out his favourite mat on the floor, his Tigger toy, soccer ball and treats, in the hope that these familiar objects and their scents will reduce any potential separation anxiety. When J's husband left from one door of the quarantine, Doby kept his gaze at the door. The sights and sounds of other dogs in the surroundings did unsettle more than excite him, I feel.
And he wouldn't want to budge into his kennel after I let him out for a walk along the quarantine walkway since there were no other animals boarding, save for a cat at one side. A mistake I made.
An hour of futile coaxing and tugging left me with no choice but to double-muzzle him (for he may snap when hands are slipped under his armpits) and lug him into the kennel.
Pacing along the length of the quarantine.
To prevent Doby from bolting out of his cell and from leaving him in it with his leash still around his neck, I leashed him to the furthest corner, and with a tip from K who'd be tending to him for the week, looped another string into the hole of the loop of the current leash; next, I walked out of the cell and into the neighbouring cell to unhook his leash... and very carefully and steadily, unlooped the leash from around his neck by tugging it with the extra string. Simple device, but clever.
If there's anything I'd learnt in my walk in animal welfare thus far, it's the often impermanence of adoption or fosterhood that we have to handle in many rescue cases. Even if it is voluntary.
On the very positive side of things, J did provide very significant foster care -- in the face of the challenges she had to grapple with and the forces of opposition, I'm sure, from her family. Not easy to raise a gungho, territorial dog in an apartment, that's for sure.
In this fosterhood, Doby has gained a much closer step in moving in sync with humans, by his successful compliance to the commands of "sit", "down", "heel", "stay" and a zestful "okay!", when we permit him to lunge for his reward, after "stay".
The growls when one takes his food bowl, the snaps should one quietly approach him from behind, the baring of teeth when the vet tech draws blood from his front limb... to be frank, these are understandably natural reactions of a territorial dog, but perhaps in the opinion of those who'd prefer the cuddly sort or used to home dogs, Doby is not that easy to handle, as a pet.
For this matter, we're looking for a trained hand in succeeding J in fostering Doby. Best if it's someone or a family with the experience in rehabilitating dogs with behavioural problems, or who knows what to expect from a dog of Doby's sort.
Doby's not a fight dog, as some may presume, but like any mongrel, any dog, a man's best friend who swears by his life to fervently guard his property and loved ones. That's Doby, that's his loyalty.
If you have a foster or adoptive home in mind, please contact us at projectjkteam@yahoo.com.sg
No comments:
Post a Comment