At the Animal Care and Control sponsored by the Pennsylvania SPCA (http://pspca.org/acct), Brinsley was one of the longest residents. She was picked up as a stray, estimated to be 9-12 months old, and about 40 pounds. She came home with us, and during our first walk around the neighborhood with her, she became Molly.
Our vet determined that she was most likely closer to 9 months, than 12 months, so we made her birthday Flag Day (June 14th). Being 9 months old, she had spent 3 months at the SPCA, and an unknown amount of time on the streets of Philadelphia, she had no manners. She was mouthy, jumpy, overly excited, and highly anxious.
Our first obstacle with the anxiety. We decided that we would crate train. We borrowed an older crate that had 4 pins in the corners that held it together. Molly would dig at it, until she somehow got the pins apart and got out. After several times, we put a large piece of plexi-glass under the crate and used kayak straps to hold it down, so she was unable to lift the crate up. She was still able to rock the crate enough to put a few holes on the drywall next to the crate.
Soon, we found out that Molly has a very sensitive stomach. It started off with her coming home from the shelter with giardia. Diarrhea was a part of our daily lives. Also, any people food, soft dog treats, and certain colored dogs treats, would send her on a 3-day diarrhea bender. Having accidents in her crate increased her anxiety again, and would send her over the edge with trying to get out again. We tried organic, expensive dog foods, and finally settled on the Purina Sensitive Systems - a food based with oatmeal and salmon. When she's going through an extra sensitive stage, we add canned pumpkin to her food to help with digestion (hooray fiber!).
Who knew at 25 years old, I'd be so well versed in dog digestion and identification of healthy poop?
Molly was not fixed when we brought her home, so we needed to schedule her spay appointment with them. Unfortunately, due to the giardia, they were unable to fix her right away. As soon as the giardia cleared up, she went into heat.
More on that to come. Until then, a spoiler of how we coped with this situation.
