SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2009

Today, Claudia and I were going to meet with Jenifer to do a 3-hour consultation at Claudia’s house. I arrived at Claudia’s at 3:45, and as I pulled up, my cell phone rang. I answered it and it was Jenifer. She told me she had been busy all day “breaking Noah from jumping the fence”. She said he started jumping the fence the day before, so she had stayed home all day and worked with him, trying to break him of it. I asked her if this meant she wasn’t coming out to meet with us, and she replied, “Yeah, I want you and Claudia to come here instead.”

I met Claudia at her front door and told her that Jenifer had called and said she wanted us to go to her house instead.. Her response was, “Here, I cleaned all day because I was expecting her.” I said, “Yeah, I know. I would have done the same thing.” I explained to her what Jenifer had said about Noah jumping the fence and that she had stayed home all day, trying to break him of it. We were both concerned that he was now jumping fences as this posed a serious problem. We then got ready and headed to Jenifer’s house.

We got to Jenifer’s and she walked us to the back patio. Noah was in his kennel, and we, of course, didn’t pay him any attention right away (as Jenifer had previously instructed us not to). She explained that she had been hiding in different places in the yard during the day and waiting for Noah to jump the fence. Each time he tried to jump, she would stand up and avert his attention to make him stop. She did say that this is a serious problem as once a dog starts jumping fences, it’s hard to make them stop, especially a dog with Noah’s background. I asked her if he could actually be stopped from jumping for sure, and she said maybe, maybe not. It was hard to say.

Jenifer then took us in the house and showed us some video footage of her working with Noah. She brought up a clip on her computer and it showed her actually putting a choke chain on Noah. During her first two attempts, when she tried to put the choke chain over Noah’s head, he immediately turned his head away so she couldn’t, but by the third attempt, she was able to just slide the chain over his head. The footage then showed her leading him out of his kennel. However, it was obvious that Noah had never been on a leash before as he simply walked a step or two and stood there, looking around like he didn't know what to do. Jenifer had to coax and encourage him to move forward. Noah would take a few steps and then stop. He then would just stand in one spot and look around. Each time, Jenifer gently coaxed him forward and she gradually got him out to her grassy training area. I was so encouraged by the footage I was seeing as he had come so far in a short amount of time. It literally brought tears to my eyes to see his progress. It also reinforced that fact that this dog wasn’t “vicious and aggressive” as the Shelter vet had determined him to be.

After we watched the footage, Jenifer asked us if we wanted to work with Noah and take him out to the training area. We said, “Of course.” We went out to the back patio and Jenifer put the leash on Noah and slowly lead him out to the training area. She still had to coax him somewhat but he was definitely getting the “gist” of it. She got him out to the training area and both Claudia and I took turns walking him around. It took continuous coaxing to get him to walk, but you could see he was improving steadily. In addition, we actually got tail wags and kisses from him, which was shocking as that was a first! He was definitely coming out of his shell, and it was a joy to see. He was like a different dog, and it was hard to believe he was the same dog we had seen at the Shelter. In fact, he was turning into quite a beauty as he has this jet-black coat that just shone in the sunshine and his markings are beautiful.

Yes, Noah was progressing. It was slow but day by day, he was moving forward and putting the past behind him.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2009 - SECOND VET VISIT

I arrived at Jenifer’s house at 7:30 and she met me at the gate. We walked back to the kennel where Cesar was. He was standing inside his kennel, looking at us. I asked Jenifer if she had given him the sedatives, and she said, “Yep! All six at once just like the doctor ordered.” I said, “Wow. He’s really going to be wiped out this time.” Jenifer said, “Well, I gave them to him a good hour ago, so go ahead and get him into his kennel and I’ll go finish getting ready.”

I looked at Cesar and you could see he was somewhat groggy. I went inside his kennel and walked over to his crate. I had to put the door back on it, so I did that first. Then, I gently lead Cesar towards his crate and guided him inside it. He slowly walked right in with very little hesitation. I then shut the door behind him. Good boy, Cesar! I’m glad to see you’re so agreeable this time.

After a few minutes, Jenifer came out and saw that Cesar was inside his kennel and ready to go. She said, “All right! Good job. You ready to go?” I said, “Ready when you are.” Together we gently lifted Cesar’s crate and took it out to the car. She opened the back door of her car and we placed his crate inside. Cesar was just lying down in his crate, looking at us, with those little brown points above his eyes moving back and forth.

We got to the vet’s office and checked in at the front counter. While we waited in the lobby, Jenifer and I started talking about Cesar, and I told her I had come up with a list of names. I pulled my list out and the first name I told her was Moses. She said, “Moses……..hhhmmm…” I then said, “Jonah.” She said, “Jonah. I like that. That’s the guy who got swallowed by the whale, right?” I then said, “Yep, that’s him. How about Noah.” Jenifer said, “Noah. Now I really like that. Noah.” I said, “You like that? I like that one too. Which do you like better, Jonah or Noah?” She said, “Noah. I really like the name Noah. That’s different. I like it.” I said, “Yeah, me too. You don’t ever hear of any dogs named Noah, and Noah went through a lot of struggles in life, just like this dog. You know, it took him 120 years to build the ark and the whole time, nobody believed him when he told them why he was building it.” She looked at me and said, “Noah. I really like that name for him.” I told her, “Well, Noah it is then.” I rattled off a couple other names like Zachariah and Nehemiah, but she immediately said, “Too long.” I said, “Yeah, I thought so. Too many syllables, huh.”

At this time, we were led to a room where Dr. Saldanha came in and met with us. He sat down and looked at me and said, “I have to say. Your dog looks really good.” I said, “Doesn’t he? He looks great, huh?” He said, “Yes, he looks really good.” You could tell--he was shocked to see Noah looking so well! We then talked about his course of treatment for Noah, and Dr. Saldanha said he’d be removing the stitches that weren’t going to dissolve, giving Noah his next series of shots, and then they’d bathe him. He said we could pick him up later that afternoon.

We got back to Jenifer’s house and agreed that I’d come back later that afternoon, around 4:00, and then we’d go back to the vet’s office and pick up Noah. I told her I’d go back to work for a few hours and would be back at 4:00.

I arrived back at Jenifer’s house at 4:00. We drove to the vet’s office and checked in at the front counter. We waited approximately twenty minutes and then we were called to the front counter so I could sign paperwork. A short time later, we were told to pull up by the back door so we could load Noah’s crate into Jenifer’s car. We loaded his crate into the car and then headed back to Jenifer’s.

We unloaded Noah’s crate and placed it in his kennel. He was clearly wiped out again and just stayed lying down in his crate. We opened the door so he could come out when he was ready.  At one point, Jenifer called out, “Noah, come here boy. Come here.” I said, “Jenifer, don’t do that. He can’t even stand.” However, it was too late. Noah heard her calling him and attempted to stand up and walk out of his crate. He got to the door of his crate and ended up lying down with his head hanging outside of his crate and his body inside.

At this time, Jenifer got the hose and started spraying out Noah’s kennel as she hadn’t had a chance to spray it out earlier. She turned her back for a moment to go turn the water off, and her dog Luscious suddenly ran into the kennel where Noah was laying. I immediately turned to Jenifer and said, “Have they met before?” She said, “Nope.”

We sat there and watched Luscious and Noah. Jenifer had her camera and was taking photos. Luscious just ran around, sniffing the whole kennel area, and Noah just lay there, watching him. At one point, Luscious got a little too close for Noah’s comfort. He bent down to sniff near Noah’s face, and Noah immediately turned and bared his teeth at Luscious. I said to Jenifer, “Did you see that?” She said, “See what?” I said, “Noah just bared his teeth at Luscious.” She said, “He did not!” I said, “He most certainly did! You had the camera up to your face so you must have missed it.” Jenifer then scrolled through the pictures she had on her camera and she found one where Luscious was rearing back and had this funny, shocked look on his face. She said, “Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right. Look at Luscious in this picture.” I said, “Yeah, that must have been it. He turned and bared his teeth right at him. I guess Luscious got too close for his comfort.”

At one point, Jenifer picked up a red ball and started throwing it in the kennel for Luscious. She even threw it in the pool, and he went after it and got it out. She then threw it into a big red water barrel (that was at least two feet deep) that was in the kennel and told Luscious, “Get it. Get the ball.” It was funny because Luscious kept looking in the barrel and then looking at Jenifer and he’d start barking, as if to say, “I can’t get it. You get it.” She simply kept saying, “Get the ball, Luscious. Get the ball.” He kept looking in the barrel, and then he’d start to stick his face in the water but immediately pull it back out. At one point, he started swishing the water out with his paw as if he was going to try to drain some of it out that way. He did that several times and then looked at Jenifer and started barking again. She just said, “Get the ball.” He again started swishing the water out with his paw and kept barking. Finally, after trying in vain to swish enough water out, he stopped at one point, looked down at the ball at the bottom of the barrel, and dunked his whole head in and got the ball! We couldn’t believe it. He did a face dive and got his ball! We both praised him and told him what a good job he had done, and you could tell—he was proud of himself for getting that ball! What a dog! You could see—that dog loved Jenifer and would do whatever she said, even if it meant face-diving for his ball.

The whole time, Noah just laid there. He was too wiped out to do anything else. All the commotion didn’t even seem to phase him. 

A short time later, Jenifer’s dad, Alan, showed up. He immediately asked how Noah was doing and we told him he was resting as he was still sedated. He walked into his kennel and leaned down and petted Noah’s head. Jenifer told him, “We changed his name to Noah.” Her dad said, “Noah. I like that!” Well, it seems that after three tries, we finally found a name that fit. Noah it is, and Noah it will stay.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2009 - NAME CHANGE, AGAIN.....

I called Jenifer after I got home from work because she had called earlier this week and said we were to take Cesar back to the vet on Thursday, and I needed to know what time. She answered her phone and we started discussing our course of action to take Cesar back to the vet. Remember, I had been nervous about this as Jenifer had said we were going to have to put him in the car again because “he has to learn to ride in the car”. So I asked her, “How are we going to get him to the vet?” Jenifer replied, “Well, I’ve decided we’ll just put him in his crate and take him that way.” (What’s this “I’ve decided?” That was my original idea!) I was so relieved to hear her say that and agreed that would be the best way to transport him.

I then asked Jenifer if we were going to sedate him, and she indicated she had already talked to Dr. Saldanha and he had told her to give Cesar six of the Ace tablets. I said, “Six! That’s more than last time. Why six?” She replied that that’s what the doctor ordered. I said, “He must really want him to be knocked out by the time he gets him then. Man, six…..” Jenifer replied, “He’ll be alright. I’ll sedate him before you get here.

While we were talking, Jenifer told me, “You know, he doesn’t like the name Cesar.” I said, “He doesn’t? How do you know? He tell you that?” Jenifer said, “No, but he doesn’t respond to it. I’ve run down a list of all the names I can think of, and that’s not one he responds to.” I said, “Well, of course not. That’s probably not his name from before. We’ll never be able to figure out his name.” And she said, “Well, how about the name Oliver? He responds to that.” I said, “Oliver?” Jenifer replied, “Yeah. He likes the name Oliver and we can call him Ollie for short.” I said, “No way. I am not naming my dog Oliver! No way.” She said, “I like the name Oliver.” I replied that I didn’t. I then said, “Okay, I’ll admit Cesar doesn’t really fit him, but I don’t like the name Oliver. Let me think of something else.” Jenifer said, “Hey, aren’t you kind of spiritual?” I said, “Yeah.” She said, “Then come up with a spiritual name or something like that.” I said, “Let me pull out my Bible and I’ll get some names from there.”

We then agreed to meet at her house at 7:30 in the morning. Jenifer said she’d be getting up around 6:00 and she would give Cesar the sedatives then. I told her I’d see her in the morning and we hung up the phone.

I then pulled out my Bible and went to the Concordence in the back of it. I started writing down all the male names I came across, and there were quite a few of them. Some of the names were too long or too many syllables, so I didn’t select them, but by the time I got done, I had a list of at least ten names. We should be able to find one that fit, I would think. I looked at the list, and the two names that jumped out at me were Jonah and Noah. I’d take the list with me and see if any of the names appealed to Jenifer.