He’s mostly stable these days, so it’s time to tell Gwyd’s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My long term rescue cat, Willy, had died. A few months grace (and much cleaning) was given and the search for another companion began. I had been trolling rescue sites looking for a medical needs pet to take on when a photo appeared on a cat rescue site. A dog had been found due for termination at a California shelter. He had been brought to Canada to recover from his injuries and was not available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I continued the search. But with every dog I met, his image stuck in my brain. I\u2019d been hooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day 0: Possession<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I cold-emailed the shelter and asked to meet him, describing my background. They came over with Gwydion weeks later. After a bit of chatter we settled onto ends of a \u201cL\u201d sofa and continued to talk about his needs. Ten minutes into the conversation Gwyd suddenly stood up from where he had been huddled with the two rescue workers, walked the length of the sofa, settled in beside me and put his chin on my leg. Shock to all. I had been chosen. They left him with me. On a stormy Sunday night in January I stared across the room at my new charge. Neither of us knew what to do. I borrowed some dog food from a neighbor and went to bed. Gwyd followed and slept by my feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Day 1: Disaster<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Walks on the street were a bit nervous but we ventured forth and drove to a back street coffee shop. I tied him up out of the way and popped in to order. The dog friendly staff had heard of his arrival and one rushed out to greet Gwyd. Who freaked, slipped his harness and initiated a multi-long hour chase through the back streets. I texted a friend who alerted that community\u2019s dog group and others joined in. Friends arrived, the baristas even brought in their partners to join the hunt. He was spotted multiple times and three hours later was found settled underneath a rental car. The husband of the foster family left his job in another city and drove in to lure Gwyd out from underneath the car. Total hero. But I was devastated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Day 2: Realization<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Professional help. Thanks to the rescue and folks who had medical connections, my new found friend was diagnosed with severe PTSD. I will not describe here what he had been through, but to say it\u2019s the second worst story I\u2019ve ever heard. His trust in humanity was broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Week 1: The Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We were advised to take a couple of weeks away from society to let him settle into his new surroundings. Then to gradually begin exposure therapy. The first weeks were limited to walks on quiet back streets. We did discover all his woes simply disappeared at a quiet beach and on walks in the woods. A grand occurrence, we had safe spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Month 1: Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then we began to venture forth for brief periods near busy areas. It took about three months until we tried walking on a busy local street, and only for a block at a time. Then two. Then three. We found a street that had been blocked off with five picnic tables set up. We sat at the back furthest from the busy roadway. Over the next months we kept this up, slowly moving up the ranks of tables to the unit nearest the road. And moved back again if he tweaked. It took another month before he was comfortable with that. We are typing this all from that exact location. This will be a life-long task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a personal note, there were periods of elation and despair though all this. At one point I cried on my sofa, convinced I would never have a social life again, such were his needs. But with the help of friends, I found suitable care for him and got to venture forth into the world solo on occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Month 6: The People<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He needed to get comfortable with people approaching him. A plan was hatched, I would make stickers of his face and hand them out to people who he interacted with. This would serve to attract more positive attention towards him in the community. We moved on to hand crafting fridge magnets. And gave out many hundreds in these first months. The plan worked, people in the community grew to know his name. People approached who had seen his face on a friend\u2019s fridge. Retail staff were motivated to meet him and provide a treat. Through this we learned Gwyd was well trained, but in Spanish. With the aid of a savvy barista (training me) he was soon sitting and shaking a paw for his cookies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Year 1: Slowly Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It all worked. I was told rehabilitation would take a couple of years but we were well on our way. His panic attacks (and nightmares) became less frequent as we would go around the block to avoid construction sites and areas too dense in population. A street festival was tried but as soon as the bands started up, it was time to retreat to the back streets. If he was having a \u201cbad day\u201d or was triggered by an event (nobody likes garbage trucks), we would turn around and head to a small quiet beach to reset his little dog brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Year 2: Just A Few Hitches<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And here we are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We will continue with all of the above but will shortly start working on \u201cwish list\u201d items. Water. His injuries were extensive, extending to his joints and bones. Likely a candidate for arthritis later in life so we hope to have him swimming this summer. Hydrotherapy being something I have heard helps with the progression of joint issues. We\u2019ll try a favorite treat to lure him in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And travel. He\u2019s \u201cjust OK\u201d in the car I purchased to haul him around in, but I\u2019d like to start traveling in an old, loud and rattle prone RV. We\u2019ll make an enclosed bed for him and hope he will settle into it, starting in the living room to gradually let him know it is \u201chis\u201d. Flying anywhere may be a distant dream, if at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only time will tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He’s mostly stable these days, so it’s time to tell Gwyd’s story. My long term rescue cat, Willy, had died. A few months grace (and much cleaning) was given and the search for another companion began. I had been trolling rescue sites looking for a medical needs pet to take on when a photo appeared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning","category-pets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=521"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":537,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521\/revisions\/537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dretch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}