Savannah's Paw Tracks

24 Dec 2014

Another Look: Real Rescue Dogs Are Talking

This is my second re-post in a series of four. The first was published December 17, 2014.

I have updated information about my good Sibe pal RARA. It is at the end of this post. His Dad Mark gave us permission to share it.

I chose to post this interview on Christmas Eve because I believe it has the true spirit of this holiday season, whatever your beliefs may be…this is a time of giving, reaching out and caring about others whether animal or human. First published October 16, 2012…click HERE

LIFE CHANGING INTERVIEW WITH SAVANNAH

A Bi-Monthly Series Featuring Adult Rescue Dogs and Cats

Hiya! Savannah Here Again!…and with me today is another special furriend, one of my first Sibe pals from Twitter!

His Twitter handle is @ra_husky and his blog is RA Husky…he Tweets lots and blogs when he feels he has something to bark about…you can visit here to learn about his name, RA

I just luvluvluv his blog header…it is a take off on the famous painting by Edward Hopper called Nighthawks! Check out RA just hangin’ outside that diner! woo woo!

So purrlease help me make RA feel at home and give him a warm welcome!

APAWS! APAWS! APAWS!

Savannah: Hiya RA! I can’t believe you are here arwooing with me! We only knew each other on Twitter. This is great!

RA: Thank you very much for having me. I’ve read your interviews and am honored to be included. (Play bows to Savannah)

Savannah: RA, I know you are part of a pack of Sibes. I think there are 3 of you? You, RA, and Nanuk and Isis.

Anyway, can you woo a bit about how you found your furrever home with Pops?

RA: Well Savannah, about ten years ago Pops was at the vet with his cat Azrael (RIP). I was brought in earlier that day by a kind lady who found me; I was in terrible shape. I had several broken teeth and a huge laceration under my tongue that made it impossible to eat. I was miserable I tell woo!

Savannah: Aiieeee!! (stretches up to gently lick RA’s head) I feel pawful that you were so hurt RA! If it is not too painful, can you woo some more about your condition?

RA: Did I mention I couldn’t eat either? My poor elbows were like leather from sleeping on cold concrete. I was down to 45 pounds (I’m 65 now). Just down and out all around I tell woo! I ended up having to stay at the vet’s for a couple days, and Pops visited me every day.

Then on the third day I heard the techs talking about me. They said I was going to be going home; sure enough Pops showed up—this time with a leash! I picked up walking on a leash pretty quickly too.

Savannah: Meowser RA! That is totally amazing that after all you have suffered you were able to walk out ON LEASH!

Do you have anything you can woo about to help us understand any troubles you had getting used to being in a real home?

RA: Hmmm, I’ve always been a slow eater. That’s something some huskerboos do, but I eat especially slow due to my missing teeth.

I was very shy too. Even with Pops—sometimes he would have to come find me when he got home from work—I’d be hiding.

Thunder storms also used to scare me REALLY bad. I’d say the first couple years with Pops were pretty hard. I’m a lot better though. I can still be shy around people I don’t know, but I warm up soon. I really love all the little kids in our neighborhood. It’s really just grown-ups that can still upset me. Kids are fun!

Savannah: That is really great RA that you like small peeps! They scare me kind of…so, how did you and Pops work on getting you over some of your fears?

RA: Hawoooo! We ran Savannah! Sometimes we would run several times a day. Exercise was what made me happiest for a long time. (At present I prefer to snooze on the couch…or my furry special foam bed with afghan).

And being on schedule helped me a lot too. It took me a while but we started venturing out more and more; down town for biscuits and gravy on Sundays; campus for meeting all sorts of people and then the open country for me to play.

Play was hard for me at first too Savannah. I didn’t know what a ball was, can woo believe that? I learned to socialize with other K9s too. And horses, I learned about horses!

And something else Savannah, Pops reads to all us pups—out loud. And he talks to us. I think that’s one thing I enjoy most.

Savannah: That is really creative how your Pops used reading to get you used to his voice and to help you be calm…what a great idea! Mom and Dad always talk to me so I know they ‘know’ I am around.

RA give a few more woos about stuff you have changed over the years…you know, have you been able to show your REAL SELF?

RA: Hawooo! I’d say very successful Savvy! I am not nearly so shy—sometimes I’m aloof though BOL! Really though, we continue to train and play.

Exercise is not so important these days but I still enjoy a couple nice walkies every day.

Story time is still one of my favorite times of the day. I always sit & watch Pops while he reads.

Savannah: Your Pops is just great RA! So, the last question, do you have any advice to offer any advice our readers who are trying to help their own adult rescue dog show more and more of his or her REAL SELF?

RA: Make a ‘safe place’ for them. My den under Pop’s desk was my safe place for the first few years I was around.

Give them time Savannah. It took me a long time to become who I am.

And talk to them; let them hear your voice. Establish a routine so they know what to expect.

Feed them well and make sure there is always fresh cool water.

Savannah: RA, I am so purrleased you agreed to come woo with me, I know you Husky types are very, very busy, what with all the running and playing you do.

This was great! Any last thought or soft woos of wisdom you want to share?

RA: Thank you so much Savannah for having us. We’d just say to any new adopters congratulations! We think the world of animal rescuers. Enjoy your new companions!

Wasn’t RA just pawsome! What a great guy! So much to share.

Paw pats, Savannah

UPDATE ON RA MY HUSQUIBERIAN BUDDY: First, I ask that you do NOT visit RA Husky blog and leave any words of sadness or sympathy. His family has joy in having had him in their lives. In comments below, let Dad Mark know this story and update brought you happiness, not sadness.

RA passed from this world in August, 2014. His Dad Mark gave me permission and in fact encouraged me to share this update and story about RARA’s last morning with his Dad. You really must watch the videos as they are absolutely endearing and so joyful see.

In Dad Marks aka ‘Pops’ own words:

“Please do add the update of him getting his last bone, he is my love.

It was three years from the time I noticed a hitch in his getup to the time his back end completely quit…he was bright eyes and fully with it till the very end, I am glad I held him, there at the end and the last thing he heard was me saying his name…RARA.”

Dad Mark also shared this story about his and RARA’s last morning together.

“I had given him a nice marrow bone about 15 minutes before [he was to take his next journey] and about 5 minutes before he was to leave he stopped chewing and looked at me, I knew exactly what he wanted.

Some back story here; RARA loved to bury his bones, apparently they became much tastier after being underground for a few months, it always struck me very funny. Anyway, I carried him outside and that is exactly what he wanted to do, so he buried it and then looked at me and I knew he was saying it was ok to bring him back in. So I carried him in just as the vet was arriving. He knew exactly what was going on…

It’s funny how you see them out of the corner of your eye, or think you hear them, or feel a lump on the bed in the night or other stuff that reminds you they are right there…

So yes, please use Savvy’s interview with my boy.”

Dad Mark approved my sharing his videos of RARA enjoying his bone (notice the moment he glances up at his Dad to let him know it’s time to bury that bone) and being able to bury it…I suspect he took that bone with him to North of The Rainbow Bridge where all northern breed dogs surely go.

The last bone…

Burying the bone…

mmm

Posted in Adult Animal Rescue Stories and tagged paw it forward, real rescue stories

22 Dec 2014

26 Comments

Here Goes Secret Santa Paws…

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

This is my third year participating in a Secret Santa Paws event. I luvluvluv’d doing the last two years and snoopervising the shopping and wrapping. But as you can see, I decided to let The Kid Sage (TKS) get some experience this year.

Mind you, I most definitely did not absent myself totally from the process; rather I participated at a distance.

Looking good

Well, at least until TKS and I had a few little ‘close calls’. Mom L calls it ‘learning to play’ for me, but I call it ‘TKS being a nuisance’.

It is very important to wrap each item AND add a bow or ribbon of some kind. I myself do not care much for playing with the ribbon, but TKS, well, she gets all crazypants trying to get it out of Mom L’s hands.

So first, we had to make sure the box was just the right size. I helped TKS size it up as she is new at this.

Yes, this will do nicely

I then invited her to inspect the box to allow her to see how skilled I am at calculating the proper dimensions for maximum fit of all our items.

YRH! You are right, of course it will all fit in here!

At least she pays some attention to my teaching and coaching. Before I turned her loose on the task at hand, I did one final inspection of all the material to be used.

Nice colors, good selection of paper, you can get going

Then I left her to get the wrapping and whatnot taken care of.

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As for those ‘close calls’ TKS and I had; well, let’s just say once or twice it just might maybe possibly have been a teeny little bit of play practice on my part. I am not sure about that, but it is something I have been contemplating; it just seems easier to hiss and swat but what the heck, maybe I’ll give it a try one day. (hover over photo to view captions)

Wait! Did you just bounce over to me?

Stay put TKS, I mean it

No, I don’t want to chase you

What? I didn’t hiss at her

Sure you don’t want to play with me?

Hope you had as much fun shopping and wrapping and packing up whatever you sent off to friends and family this year.

Paw Pats, Savannah

Head Bonks, The Kid Sage

Posted in Sage's Life Experiences, Savannah's Life Experiences and tagged cat humor, paw it forward, Secret Santa

20 Dec 2014

13 Comments

Rewind: Real Rescue Cats are Talking

This post hiccupped earlier this week, so most of you missed it. It’s running again this weekend.

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Mom L and I agreed that it was appropriate to re-post some of my “Real Rescue Cats/Dogs Are Talking: Life Changing Interviews With Savannah”.

For the period of one full year, I did monthly interviews with one cat and one dog about their Real Rescue Story. They spoke in their own voices and their stories proved to be riveting in so many different ways. Enough so that I am bringing back a few while Mom L is recovering from her knee replacement surgery.

I will be re-posting two Real Rescue Cats Are Talking and two Real Rescue Dogs Are Talking. It was difficult to chose which four to re-post because all 24 were so well received by my readers. The four we selected are all about rescue cats and dogs who had many challenges to overcome; some of their challenges are unique. For those of you who have not read these interviews before, I hope you will find them insightful and inspiring.

One of my interviews with Real Rescue Cats was an unusual story.

How many of you heard a story about rescuing an adult cat from a human drug house? The effect of living in that toxic environment caused Pooh to have unique behavioral challenges to overcome.

Please join me in re-visiting Pooh’s Real Rescue Cats Are Talking Interview:

Re-posted From 2013

LIFE CHANGING INTERVIEW WITH SAVANNAH:

Now this next adult rescue ladycat is someone many you most likely will not know. But she has been around the paw blog community for a while…but just recently, she and her woofie brofurs and Mumsy have all combined their blogs so we just need to visit ONE to know all about each and efurryone one of them.

Great idea, Huh?

Now I bet’cha some of you have already guessed who this might be…oh—one more thing…this ladycat comes from a furramily that lives the word “rescue”…for quadrupeds AND bipeds!

I have your interest now, huh??!!

PURRlease give a very warm Savannah’s Paw Tracks welcome to…

POOH!

APAWS!! APAWS!! APAWS!!

Pooh has two woofie brofurs who I have already interviewed…Chancy (click HERE to read his interview…my very first woofie!) and Baby Boy (click HERE to read his interview)!

Remember them?? Well, now they and their cat furramily members can be found at “Mag’s Corner” …click HERE to stop by and say ‘hello’.

Savannah: Hiya Pooh! This is like so crazy, huh? Here we are having this meow after I have already interviewed your woofie brofurs Chancy and Baby Boy. In fact, Chancy was my very first ever Real Rescue Dogs Are Talking Interview…luvluvluv him!

Now I get to have a meow with YOU! PAWSOME!!

Pooh: Thank you Savannah for interviewing me. I am happy to tell my story and I hope something I say will help other kitties and their families.

Savannah: Now Pooh, just take your time…and tell us how you came to be living with Chancy, Baby Boy, Mumsy, Popsy, Patches and Snookums!!! That is some furramily you have Pooh.

Pooh: Well, Savannah—almost 11 years ago Mumsy heard that I was being abused and was about to be shot.

Savannah: NOES!!! MOUSES!!! Pooh!!! (Savannah covers mouth with paw in shock). Oh purrlease forgive me Pooh for interrupting you…that is pawful!!…go on…(Savannah scooches closer to Pooh)

Pooh: Oh Savvy, not to worry. It was a very scary time for me.

You see I had lived in a drug house almost my whole 2 years of life. Those people were very mean to me. They decided they didn’t want me around anymore and a nice person over-heard them saying they were going to shoot me.

That nice person got in touch with Mumsy to see if she would take me in if the nice person could talk those mean people into giving me up. The nice person was able to get me and I was brought to Mumsy and Popsy’s loving arms and home.

My First Days

When I first come to my new forever home there were no woofies. There were just three kitties—Frisky, Patches and Snookums. It was a cat haven but I could have cared less then.

Savannah: I bet you felt safe almost immediately Pooh.

I know you had so many challenges to get past Pooh. Can you tell us what some of the biggest ones have been? And maybe meow a little about how Mumsy and Popsy helped you feel safer so you could show your REAL SELF.

Pooh: Oh, yes I gave Mumsy some huge challenges to get past. When I first came I was so wild and did such crazy things Mumsy told Popsy she was beginning to think I had brain damage. But now she thinks a lot of what I did was caused from being exposed to drugs.

Everyone learned real fast not to turn their back on me because I would jump up in the middle of their back and dig all my sharp claws in as deep as I could. I would hang there until someone could pull me loose one paw at a time holding each paw until all were removed from the person’s back.

Mumsy was the first to get a good taste of my claws in her back. She didn’t get mad at me but she knew we had a lot of work to do.

I would also run wildly around the house bumping my head into the walls and furniture. I really didn’t want anything to do with humans except to dig into their backs, bite and scratch them. Considering where I came from though, Mumsy understood why I was doing some of the things I did.

There were times I would stand for long periods and stare straight into Mumsy’s eyes like I was daring her to try to get near and I was waiting to dig in my claws deep if she did.

Mumsy would talk to me in a gentle voice and never gave up trying to get closer and closer to me without getting bites or claws in the back. She wanted me to feel safe and alter the bad behaviors before I seriously injured myself or some person.

Savannah: Aiieee…those are some tough issues to work through Pooh! You are very brave. Would you mind telling us some of the different things Mumsy and Popsy did to help you? You know, stuff maybe that would give other human Guardians some ideas about how they can help their own adult rescue cat show more of his REAL SELF.

Pooh: Mumsy worked with me a lot and helped me get all better but she had help from surprising sources that really got me over the big hump to recovery.

Savannah: hmmmm…that sounds kind of mysterious Pooh…meow some more about what you mean.

Pooh: Like you said when you introduced me Savvy, my huMom and huDad live the word “rescue”…they have done that all their lives.

Mumsy and Popsy were foster parents for a lot of years for biped younglings—and Mumsy cared for a lot of drug babies. So as I said before she always spoke to me in a soft voice…like she did with the drug babies.

That was a good thing but some of my recovery came after I made friends with the kitty, Frisky.

That’s Me In Front

We bonded and she taught me a lot. She would give me a bath several times a day and after a while I started to give her baths. She would cuddle up to me and I learned to like that and would cuddle and nap with her.

After Frisky got me calmed some then Mumsy started working on getting me to relax and not be terrified of humans. She would sneak and pick me up when I was sleeping with Frisky. She knew she couldn’t swaddle me with a blanket like she did the drug babies so she tried another thing. She held me on my back snuggled gently to her chest with her arms swaddling me as best they could. She would talk to me ever so softly. Sometimes I would get a claw in her but most of the time she had full control of me as long as I was on my back.

There was not a whole lot of progress made with me liking humans for some time. But some help came through unexpected means which got me on the road to trusting and liking my humans.

Savannah: Ok Pooh…that’s sounds like another mystery like when you revealed how Mumsy and Popsy have fostered biped drug younglings…so give Pooh…what else unexpected helped you?

Pooh: Mumsy and Popsy took in a rabbit that was left abandoned in a field not far from our home. Mumsy named him Hoolie. I would go with Mumsy when she would feed and tend to Hoolie and watch intently. I began going to his pen and would rub noses with him.

He had free run of the house in the day time and I learned it was great fun to play with him. I loved that rabbit and would run with him as he hopped all through the house. I gave him baths and slept with him sometimes.

After that we took in some rats. Oh, I loved those rats too and would rub noses with them. Mumsy wouldn’t let them run loose though so I didn’t get to play with them. I would stand at their cage and rub noses with them several times a day though.

Then would you believe we took in 2 guinea pigs. Those little piggies were so cute. I loved the little one…his name was DK.

I would go with Mumsy when she cleaned his cage, fed and watered him. He and I would talk—he in piggy talk and me in kitty talk; we rubbed noses too—he was a funny little guy.

Mumsy thinks me watching her giving tender loving care to the rabbit, rats and guinea pigs helped me a lot because I began letting her stroke me with one hand as she held me with her other arm. She slowly began to hold me on my back less confined and one day she saw I was really liking to be held in her arms and stroked while she talked softly to me.

After a while longer she was able to ease me down into her lap and she stroked my back while I lay stretched out falling asleep. I still love for her to do that now it feels so good and really relaxes me.

Savannah: Pooh, do you think you are different now from when you first arrived at your furrever home? What do you know you do now that you wouldn’t or couldn’t do before?

Pooh: Oh yes, Savannah I am a lot different now. I can now trust most people and love being around Mumsy. She talks to me and now I talk to her.

I can even say two words that anyone can clearly understand. I can say ‘mama’ and ‘no’.

I will talk to Mumsy for as long as she talks to me and I love to have long conversations. I still dig my claws in sometimes and keep them out more than I should but we are still working on that. When I jump up on something I still keep my claws out. Mumsy thinks I may feel like I am going to fall. She has taught me to sit in front of her and meow and she picks me up gently and puts me on her lap then I don’t dig in.

She was told those mean people would pick me up and throw me, sometimes throwing me into a wall. So she well understands why I want to dig my claws into things. I no longer run into walls and Mumsy is sure happy about that. She was afraid I was going to injure myself because I hit the wall with great force at times.

I get along well with all the cats and our closest family members. I have learned to like and trust humans; a great big step. Mumsy is so proud of me for coming along as well as I have over the last 11 years.

Savannah: Oh Cat! Pooh! You went through so much living in that drug house; you were abused; sometimes hurt and never ever loved. To think you survived to be two years old is amazing! And then you got the best ever furrever home!

So Pooh, last question, can you offer any advice to our readers to help them support their adult rescue cat, or one they may be thinkin’ about brining into their home, through its recovery process?

Pooh: Never get upset with your rescue cat, be gentle, talk softly and have tons and tons of patience. If you have a thought of something to try that may help your cat get better even if you think the idea might be silly give it a try anyway.

Never give up on us; we have been through a lot and deserve to have a safe, loving, forever home and happy life no matter what it takes to get us there.

Savannah: Pooh, This was great! Any last thought or words of wisdom you want to share?

Pooh: Big hugs and tons of nose kisses from me to all the terrific people who care about us and have and will take in rescue cats.

Remember, Adult Rescue Cats Are Worth It!

Thank you so very much Pooh for taking time to do this interview with me. You have an amazing story to share and to help us all learn different ways to help adult rescue cats move beyond their past.

That’s my post for today. Hope you enjoyed meeting precious Pooh…be sure to hop over to her bloggy and say “hello”…Mag’s Corner.