by yeena » Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:10 pm
I. FIRST INTRODUCTION
The black dog that was presented to me wasn't entirely what I expected, per se. I thought I was going to be greeted with a scrawny and desperate looking Sweetnose; a dog that looked like it had just been rescued from near death. What I didn't expect was a dog with wide shoulders, a healthy figure and a lopsided grin to top it all off. To put it in the shortest, I wasn't upset with the dog I got. Not at all.
He was excited when the worker opened his cage, wiggling on his haunches in the middle of the floor. I thought he'd be running up to greet me, attacking me with a wave of puppy love; that wasn't the case. He sat in the middle and stayed in the middle until a whistle and soft call from the worker had him waddling out. I just now decided to notice his back leg; looked like he wasn't as physically perfect as I first saw.
That was okay.
I was surprised with how gentle he treated me; wagging his tail happily and tentatively nudging and scenting my hand, after a couple moments he decided to hesitantly lick my hand. I gave him his time to just get to know me, letting him do his own thing for the time being. He was large, I decided to notice. This probably would've been bad if he was hyper, untrained, but he was calm and collected. The size would be no issue.
The worker started to explain the black dog to me; he was a retired guide dog, he was a little on the old side, and he had some troubles with his back leg; hence the brace. I nodded numbly at a lot of it, staring down at the dog that was now rubbing his head against my hand, scratching himself comfortably. I figured I could quickly grow used to his displays. Calm and relaxed. Never in a rush of any sort. His tranquility was contagious.
I figured I should respond to the worker, but I didn't know... how ? Awkward silence with the worker staring down at their clipboard and me rubbing the black dog's head, ensured.
"So he's a retired guide dog you said; right ? This means he's housebroken, wouldn't tear something up while I was away ? Wouldn't try to destroy my house while I'm taking a shower ? Does he bark at all ? Is he good with walking ? Any experience with kids ? What about another more... active and younger dog ?" the look the worker gave me made me cut myself off.
But then they were chuckling, snickering into their clipboard. And I was confused. Did I say too much ? Too many questions ? Did I speak too fast ? Their chuckling made me hesitantly pull my hand from under the black dogs head and towards my chest, I ended up resting it against my collarbone nervously. I wanted to question why they were laughing, but I couldn't force the words out. It was like losing your voice while up on a stage. Heck.
"Retired guide dog, yes. I didn't exactly catch all of your questions, but he is housebroken, trained and knows a few neat tricks; of course the usual sit, lay down, rollover, speak, all of that. Adding on to the basics list, he can balance treats on his nose and he can bring you things, you'd just have to teach him what is what. He's good with kids and other animals; regardless of how hyped everyone is. He's a pretty good dog, his previous owner was an elderly man."
I realized how simple this dog was now; if his previous owner was an elderly man, then he must be under the "extremely great" on the behavior spectrum. It eased me a bit now, knowing the entirety of the dog I was adopting. "His leg doesn't require any surgery at all, not now with the brace at least. He does have to take medications however, but I'll fill you in on that in a bit. Any questions ?" they paused and looked at me expectantly. I shook my head.
"Awesome, have any name in mind for him ? Don't fret if there's nothing in mind, naming a dog is a complicated and tedious process and I wouldn't want you to feel rushed." they gave me a kind smile.
I shuffled my feet a bit nervously against the ground and stared at the black dog, that was staring right back up at me. His blue eyes were nothing but curious, a curious that didn't fit in with his age. It sorta made me happy and I couldn't resist lightly patting the top of his wide head, grinning when his tongue lolled out of his mouth and he leaned up towards my hand. He was happy, content like this in the extending silence.
"Nonja."
The name slipped from my mouth before I could actually stop it and register what I was saying. Curse stupid (amazing) fandoms and inside jokes.
The worker gave me a strange sound; like a mix between a snort and laugh. I concluded they were originally going to laugh but ended up trying to snort instead, to cover up the laugh. I watched their face break out in a smile and they spelled the name out slowly to me, nodding when I confirmed that the name was right. I couldn't tell if they had somehow caught onto my stupidly hidden reference in the name or if they were just laughing at the name. Maybe a mix of both ? I didn't linger on it really.
"Moving on, nice name you have there-" they snickered a bit and a quick "don't tell my boss that I said that" was mumbled before they cleared their throat and calmed down, "-I think you're all set here. All you have to do now is learn about his medications and I think you'll be free to take him home. I'll break it down to you like this, his meds aren't that complicated. The hard part is training yourself to not forget about them."
They spoke calmly while calling Nonja back into his kennel, I couldn't tell if the black dog actually knew his name or he was just trying to please someone, and latching the gate behind them. They wasted no time in slowly walking away, supposedly leading me to the front of the building again.
Time to get filled in on medical terms I couldn't spell and or say.
II. PICKY EATER ?
I was a little more than really excited when Nonja first made his way inside my house. Everything was straightened up, and it looked deathly bland; all that stood to decorate the house were paintings here and there, the occasional family photo and some fake plants. I let him make his way inside first, paying close attention as to how his shoulders were hunched. Though he definitely looked nervous, anxious, he was wagging his tail between his legs.
He wasted no time in exploring when the front door closed, sniffing at every crack and corner. The black male didn't venture much out of the living room, just exploring the one room he had someone else in there with him. I realized he was pausing at some places, sniffing for extended periods of time. He must've smelled Max. Right now Max was staying with a distant-ish friend; they wanted to compare Max to their own dog, of a different breed. I didn't mind it much.
Nonja started to slowly wag his tail after a bit and I realized how he was getting settled, comfortable, with the room. I don't think I could've been happier at this point. He bounced around, waddling from place to place with his tail and rump wiggling like an excited puppy. Then he traveled over to the couch, the beige surface dotted in white and brown fine hairs; all from Max. Nonja looked over at me, as if asking for permission. When he didn't get a reaction, he was climbing up on the couch.
I couldn't help but gasp a bit as he heaved himself up onto the seat; his leg wasn't even an issue, he had trained himself to function without that leg right now, in this moment.
He was comfortable on the couch the moment he was fully hoisted up onto it, and he wasted no time in circling around on the couch, snuggling down in the corner of the end cushion. I would've been all over snuggling him on the couch, praising him and just treating him with the same amount of affection he previously got; but there was something to do before any of that could take place. Food. Feeding.
I did bring a couple of bags inside, all filled with different things for Nonja. One had two bowls in it, one had his medications in a little white bag with instructions stapled to it, two other bags had different brands of food in it. I didn't get any specific details on his diet, so I bought the most expensive dog food around. Realistic right ? Of course it was. So I made my way beyond the living room, into the kitchen, calling Nonja's name.
I was sorta worried that he wasn't going to listen, wouldn't come to his name, but he came after a couple of long moments. Hobbling in, looking up at me with his head tilted slightly.
Both bowls were placed on the table, and I had the food out not too soon later. Both were small, but extremely pricey, bags of food. I was a bit confused with how to execute this so I decided to just open both bags and dump a semi-equal amount of food into one bowl. If Nonja didn't like the food mixed I could easily put the food in Max's bowl; the younger dog would return the day after tomorrow at some time in the day.
I dropped the bowl to the ground carefully, pushing it gently towards Nonja after a couple of moments. The black dog sniffed at it and then looked up back at me before moving his eyes back down towards the bowl; he did this a couple of moments before lowering his head towards the bowl. I watched him sniff the food carefully, cautiously, before actually taking a bite of the food; opening his mouth into the pile and taking a mouthful.
Being honest here, I expected him to stubbornly spit the food back out, guess I wasn't thinking about his personality much.
He didn't spit the food out, he didn't do anything expect chew the mouthful down and swallowing before continuing with another mouthful. Nonja chewed painfully slow and it worried me; was he chewing so slowly out of his age or was he forcing down the food ? The worker did mention something about Nonja being a master faker, hiding his own emotions for the better of the people around him.
I couldn't tell if I was appreciative of that or it scared me to know that my dog knew what lying and being fake was.
For now, I supposed, it was nice. He didn't seem to actually be forcing anything down, which gave me the impression that he had to enjoy it somewhat. Maybe not insanely a lot, but it was bearable.
III. NEW TOY
Nonja was pretty settled in at this point, enjoying waddling around in all the rooms of the house and cuddling up in whatever he could find that was comfortable on the floor. I was aware he wasn't fully settled, but he was pretty settled. Which was better than nothing. I finally decided to get him a toy in hopes that it'd make him more settled into his new home. It wasn't all that expensive and it didn't have a squeaker so I liked it as well.
I called Nonja over to the couch and he can bumbling out of one of the rooms on the hallway, floppy ears perked up and tail waggling. I held the toy up when he was in front of me and he stared.
The toy was a plush duck, something intended for a young child or infant, hence why it didn't have a squeaker. It was a pale yellow, had a soft orange bill and button eyes. I shook it a bit, squishing its fluffy body under my fingers. Nonja kept his eyes trained on the stuffed duck. I let the plush creature hang in the air and he slowly, extremely slowly, wobbled up to sniff the duck. After he got a good feel with the duck, he was carefully placing his paws up on the cushion next to me, eyes still on the duck.
I grinned a bit to myself when he climbed up onto the couch next to me and sat down politely, one large paw hesitantly coming up to rest on my arm. I shifted the toy over to where he could grab it easily, if he wanted. Nonja stared at the toy before leaning forward and taking it between his jaws, tail wagging slowly behind him. I had a hunch he wasn't the type of dog to chew things up, so hopefully this duck would still be in tact after a week.
He looked frozen with the duck in his mouth, eyes wide and just... still. Besides his waggling tail, he was still. I couldn't tell if he liked the toy, or he was so shaken he had been pushed into a paralyzed state of some sort.
Then he flopped forward ungracefully and placed both paws over the toy duck, snuggling it up under his paws and in his mouth. I leaned to the side a bit, moved even, so he could comfortably lay on the couch all while coddling the yellow duck toy. He did glance up at me when I moved away, but he went right back to the duck when he realized I wasn't walking out of the room or anything. He finally let the duck slip out of his mouth after a bit, and he rested his chin on it.
Nonja stared up at me with his blue eyes when he was resting with the duck. His tail was still thumping behind him and I could swear his lips were pulled up into a smile. He seemed extremely happy with the duck.
Fast forward and he was obsessed with the stuffed duck. Nonja carried the plush animal everywhere; when I called him in for his dinner he'd always have the little creature between his jaws, and it would get dropped by his bowl. I noticed he tends to cuddle up with the duck when he's laying down someplace. Needless to say, the duck goes everywhere with the black dog. Where there's Nonja, there is the stuffed duck.
-found-
He hated the duck being taken away from him for any reason; even if it was just somebody grabbing it from him to look at it. He even tended to shoot me a questioning look when I took his duck. He never tried to snatch his duck back or bite anyone for them taking it, just some weird looks.
It's pretty obvious he's attached to his duck, and isn't afraid to show it, but he doesn't get overly protective over the duck despite him clearly loving it. It's his toy and he seems to be okay with sharing it.
IV. BONDING
Nonja really liked physical contact, I found out. He loved to lay his head in my lap when he got the chance, stuffed duck tucked under his chin or body. His large size made cuddling a bit challenging and complicated, but at the same time enjoyable and extra cuddly and warm. Despite me often working on something on a laptop, I didn't mind his large head coming to rest on top of my keyboard sometimes. Heck, he let me use his head as a rest sometimes.
Walks weren't my forte; I got lazy and often never found it in myself to get out and active, but Nonja wasn't like Max. He didn't roll, romp or tug anything; he was a calm dog. This encouraged me to buy an extra collar for him, along with a leash. Hopefully he was as calm as he was usually while on a leash, I didn't suspect he'd be much different from before but then again, I didn't know for sure. His ears flopped around when he realized what was going on and his tail started to wag.
I took this as a, hopefully, good sign.
He did well when it came to me clipping the collar on him, a choke collar that was extremely nice looking against his black fur. Nonja stood extra still for the leash to be attached to the collar as well, and I couldn't have been more happier in that moment because he was actually okay with me putting both of the items on him. He had only been with me for a couple of days, for all he knew I could be taking him off to be abandoned or something; I'd never do that, however.
After making extra sure he had his first set of medication pills for the day, I felt pretty ready to go. He hopefully wouldn't have any trouble with his leg, besides; we we're just walking to the stop sign at the end of the street and back. Nothing long or hard, since I don't think I could handle a proper walk. Looping the leash around me and holding tight, I double checked to make sure I had everything before walking forward and opening the door. Nonja seemed happy to walk outside.
Waddling out slowly in front of me, I watched him sniff the air a couple of times before lowering his head and standing still. It took me a minute to realize he was waiting on me to move. Shutting the door quietly behind me, I started to move forward. Nonja liked to take things slow, and wouldn't move forward unless I was right next to him and almost touching him with my leg. I felt like this habit had something to do with his former occupation.
I was extremely okay with his habit.
He was always alert when walking, his flopped ears were perked up as much as they could go and he would always be scanning the area around us. This actually made me feel ten times more comfortable while walking, and I felt appreciated and protected. Honestly, who would mess with someone with a large dog ? You couldn't even really tell he had a knee brace unless you were really paying attention, which logic says, you probably wouldn't look for something like that.
I did notice people in their yards, doing whatever, giving Nonja some double takes. Some of the people I recognized; they were the people aware that I had quite a few dogs, a kennel. They even cast me some friendly waves, a few of them.
Nonja did great on the walk, simply stated. He was alert and paid attention to everything around him, yet didn't show any sign of wanting to chase anything or attack someone; and he didn't fall between those lines either. I felt pretty proud and lucky to have the large black dog. On the way back I could've sworn he smiled up at me while I was opening the door, his long tail wagging left and right in some sort of happy state.
V. DEALING WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
The leg probably didn't bother me as much as it should've. In the beginning, I was somewhat iffy about it; how would he work with it ? After the few days he's been with me however, I found out that it didn't change anything about him. He was still a Nonja through it all, and that was the best part. I think the worst thing that came along with his leg was the responsibility of remembering to give him his medications... improvement on this matter is underway.
He's a bit wobbly, and I have to definitely slow my pace down for him if I don't want him trying to keep up and open himself up to the risk of getting hurt, but otherwise ? His leg is a little more than nothing to him. It's sorta relieving to admit that a lot of people don't notice the leg right away; they're busy scratching his ears and looking at his eyes. It's not that I like the idea that people don't notice it quickly, it's just nice to know they think of him more than just a dog with a knee brace.
The only issue with his disability is, like mentioned earlier, the medications.
This doesn't just include me remembering to give him them, this is also me trying to give the actual medications to him. It's not that he's stubborn; or, scratch that, it is that he's stubborn. Usually I give him one early in the morning, it's easy to get that one down, the mid-evening pill is what's gonna be the death of life itself. It's not that he refuses to take it, it's just that he doesn't like to drop his stuffed duck, or walk away from it to come get the pill in the bread.
He's a little more than hesitant and unwilling to walk away from that duck, which is good and bad. Good, because I love knowing he likes his toy, bad because it takes him maybe an hour, exaggerated, to come get the pill.
Nonja just stares at me sometimes when I have the bread, he knows what's in it, he knows the advantage to taking the pill, but the duck is always tucked between his jaws and it's always having me thinking that the year twenty-twenty is going to come before this dog makes any moves towards me with his medicine. I had the audacity to compare him to one of the dogs back at the main kennels at some point, and he tilted his head towards me. He'd come to find out who that dog was in time, but for now I was rubbing the bridge of my nose.
My hands smelled like fresh bread and honestly I didn't know if I wanted to keep massaging my nose or not.
It was thoughts like those that kept me from just laying the bread on the floor and walking into my room, shutting the door behind me, and contemplating life. Yes, I loved Nonja to the ends of the world and nothing could change that, but my patience ran thin when it came to doing something that could be done in a matter of seconds; like calling a dog inside, or giving a dog a piece of bread with a pill tucked in it.
I usually have to crouch down and call, beckon, coax, whatever, him over to the bread. Sometimes it'll be me gesturing at his ducky and talking about how he could pick the duck back up right after he took his pills, and I was forced to believe he understood me because he always seemed to glance down at the duck in his mouth when I mentioned it. That could only make things worse because he was aware of what he was doing.
It might take him one to fifty years, but at some point he does have the nerve to drop his duck and waddle over to take his final pill for the day. If we're being honest here, I've decided to start praising him just for walking over. More-so verbally than with treats; the second he gulps down the bread he's back to his duck and more often than not, wandering away from the kitchen and back to the couch.
It's somewhat tiresome to give him his medications sometimes, and if it weren't for the fact that they were required to save him any future pain, I would probably give these bottles and prescriptions up at once.
VI. TRAINING
The shelter worker told me Nonja had been taught a couple of tricks; and they hadn't lied to me. I was eager to test out if he would actually hold treats on his nose- surprise, surprise. He did. Nonja was able to hold up to four treats on his nose; after four, they all started to slip and slide off. He knew all the basic commands; sit, lay down, roll over, all of that. It was pretty pleasing.
I decided to try and teach him a new trick today; "drop the duck". It was hard to say what got into my head for the day, something was actually telling me I would have some sort of success when it came to trying to tell Nonja to drop his most prized possession when I told him to. Even though a tiny part of me, with sense, was saying that this wasn't going to work, I still bought extra treats for him; and I still ended up trying to go through the plan of "teach Nonja how to drop his stuffed duck on command". The outcome was a failure, yet amusing; for Nonja at least.
Nonja trotted over when he was called, the duck in his mouth. I was still rather proud that he enjoyed it so much; enough that he took it with him everywhere and almost never wanted to drop it. Ever. I planned to try and change that though. Getting him to sit wasn't an issue, and I stared down at him with the duck in his mouth. It was a matter of giving me liberty or death at this point. Liberty was far from my hands.
"Drop it."
Nonja looked at me and tilted his head, confused, and I groaned mentally to myself. This really, seriously, wasn't looking up for me right now. But I wouldn't give up that easily. I leaned down and gently got the duck from him; he was good when it was someone taking the duck from him, but when you wanted him to put it down ? Nope. I dropped the duck on the ground around his paws, and smiled a bit.
"Good bo-" he leaned down and picked the duck up before I could praise him and reward him with the treat in my hand. I stared at him, and he stared back up at me with his pretty blue eyes. I narrowed my eyes slightly at him, after some time. This meant war.
I took the duck from him again; not aggressively or anything, just to clear things up. I locked eyes with him for a second before letting the duck flop back onto the ground.
"Drop the duck." I made sure my tone was serious, for once, trying to get the point across that this is what dropping the duck meant. Nonja stared up at me with his head tilted like earlier. Once again, I was about to give him a treat and praise him, for doing nothing once again, but he picked the toy up after breaking eye contact with me. This time, I sighed out loud.
My patience was dwindling now; it'd been mentioned before, I wasn't all that patient, especially when it came to this. I stared at Nonja with his duck between his jaws now and rested my cheek against my shoulder, slouching. This was, literally, quite pointless. I decided to straighten up a bit and place the box of treats on the counter nearest to me, laying the treat that was never rewarded to Nonja on the ground in front of him.
"We'll work on that. Until then, here's your treat. Know I'm upset with you Nonja." it was a lie of course, hence why I gently pat his head before walking past him into the living room.
I was only a little bit upset when I saw him drop the duck so he could eat the treat that had been laid on for him. One glance behind my shoulder and I caught him doing it; and I just huffed out loud. So he'd drop his duck if he was getting a treat for free, but if not he was being told to drop the duck ? How amusing. I didn't say anything to him about it, I didn't have enough anger and or annoyance to say anything about it.
Last edited by
yeena on Sun Jul 02, 2017 11:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
