Dandy, the boy who has come so far...

Since Dandy has been with us, he's had his ups and downs.  This is a boy who in just 4 short years has suffered a good amount of mental and physical abuse while riddled with daily anxiety of what the world would inflict on him. While these expereinces have left him with scars that will never fully heal, Dandy is and continues to be a poster child for resiliency.  Over the last couple of months Dandy has been showing a lot of improvement -  I attribute a lot of this to his TTouch sessions and the work we do with him at home on a daily basis.  Each day this special boy surprises us and as time goes on we know he will continue to blossom into the boy he wants to eventually be. 

These pictures were taken the day after his TTouch session he's relaxed, carefree and enjoying the sun.  Since we've been going to TTouch sessions, we see a carry over effect for about 4-5 days.  What we see is more bending in his legs, a straight back, relaxed/soft face ears, him wanting to connect more to us and the outher dogs in our home.  TTouch and his practioner Lori have given Dandy a connection to feeling his body and the courage to take risks while experince life.  These were things Dandy never had prior to coming into foster care as he lived in a constant state of fear and was flood and overwhelmed with anixety. 

Dandy will now not only make eye contact, he will hold a gaze with people he knows & trusts. 

I use to have to put the camera on super zoom to get a close picture of him. These are taken within a couple feet of his face.

 

He now has a softer face and gaze

Dandy's ears continue to soften, relax and he's been holding them in a much more relaxed way. As you can see he still holds his body in awkward positions but a huge difference from even 3 months ago.

Up close and personal - Dandy's coloring is beautiful

 

Just relaxing

 

Sleepy boy

Stretching out in the sun -- for the most part he's now pretty much always stretched out. Something new since introducing him to  TTouch - his practitioner has done wonders for the structure of his legs, core & back

Loving the sun, babies close by!

It got cold so we wrapped him up --- he now loves being under the blankets

kisses

Hot under the covers, out he comes still relaxed and stretched out

Dandy the magnificent rattie boy!

How to make a girl happy...

Dress her up in a Snuggie (won in the New Rattiude auction) & give her a bully stick!

 

Ursa prances around in her snuggie



"Why yes I do look pretty in pink"
 

Ursa loves to chew on bully sticks!



Taking a chewing break but the bone still needs to be in her mouth!
 

"Are there more bones out there because 2 is not enough!"

Looking good in the fully functionable snuggie!



off to find more bones...
 

Ursa's story...

As I mentioned, Ursa came to New Rattitude as an owner surrender (she was posted on Craig's List) and she has the story that I think a lot of puppies have.  Her original person bought her from a breeder as a tiny cute puppy and didn't have the time to care for her.  So her person gave Ursa to a friend and that friend also didn't have the time for terrier puppy.  Ursa like most dogs started displaying behavioral issues.  Submissive urination and chewing.  Dogs don't just randomly come up with behavioral issues and it's the humans job to sort out what is going on and hopefully help the dog to resolve the issues.  As of today there has been no inappropriate chewing and we have pretty much worked through the submissive urinating.  Way to go Ursa!  

 

Ursa has hit petfinder and I'm sure she will be pretty popular so, New Ratitude's job is helping Ursa land a forever home where she can get the attention and care that she needs!

 

Ursa is roughly 9 months old, 9lbs

Ursa is named after a great Washington red wine!

Ursa having a super time

 Ursa is a puppy and like all puppies she needs to be kept busy both in mind and body!  She's been doing really well with chewing on approriate items and as you can see she has a fanstatic time and love affair with her antler! 

Love me this antler!

 

 

Busy, busy girl who loves to have fun and play! 

Dunham has left the house...

Sweet Dunham has moved onto his wonderful new home!  Dunham has his own stay at home mom to pamper and baby him to his heart's delight!  Dunham has a new 4 legged brother who is great with dogs but nervous around people.  We have no doubt Dunham will help his new brother feel more comfortable with people!  Little Dunham is now living in the country, going for lots of long walks and enjoying the life he certainly deserves.  All of us miss you, we are all thrilled to have rescued you and to have spent time with such a wonderful boy!

Thank you sweet Dunham for sparking Catty's inner puppy and helping Dandy to feel safe enough in asking you to play

 

 

Such a handsome boy, hard to believe he wasn't going to make it out of the high kill shelter without New Rattitude's help

 

Such a ham with people and dogs alike!

 

Dunham - an amazing calm demeanor that everyone loves & wants to be around

Full of personality and loves!

Good with all kinds of dogs - his new parents were drawn to Dunham because of how he interacted with shy/fearful Dandy and fearful/bossy Catty

 

A face & personality that everyone loves -- this boy received 4 applications in less than a week

Ursa giving a farewell kiss

 

Dandy will miss you Dunham!

 

 

Happy life to you sweet boy!

Dunham is New Rattitude's 922nd rattie rescue!

Play time!

Dunham has been adopted and I'll talk more about that tomorrow!  Lucky for Ursa, she had the pleasure of some fun play time with Dunham.  There was lots of chasing and romping around!  You can see we now have a puppy in the house as just about every dog toy strewn through the house.

 

 

 

Taking a quick break, contemplating the next move!

4 dogs equal a photo shoot...

It was fall last year when I took my current banner picture.  Since we now have 4 dogs I thought I'd try for another photo. Getting a good picture was way more difficult than I expected!  Here's the progression of photos -- there are probably about 25 more that I didn't include.

 

Dunham reminding Catty that he's her BFF.  But, not a good pic of Ursa!

Come on!!! I kept saying look at me and my treat bag... clearly Dandy and Ursa missed that message
 

No clue what is going on here...

Eye's closed - we've all been in Dunham's position, never a good look
 

Getting better but what is going on with Catty's neck and again Dunham's eyes.

 

Argh!! Ursa, eyes open!

Dandy wants to whisper lovey's to Ursa and Dunham is bored...

Talk about bored... Dandy just left

Not bad but could they be any closer?!  Also Ursa's tail that never stops moving worries Dandy.

THE WINNER -- minus the fuzz on the rug that use to be Mr. Chicken...

Say hello to Ursa!

So we have a great New Rattitude volunteer who watches Craigslist (Washington State) for rat terriers. When she finds a listing, she emails the add letting the people know about New Rattitude's ReHome program http://www.newrattitude.org/rehome.htm and also the dangers of listing free dogs on Craigslist. Craigslist is a very scary place for small dogs listed as free or for a minimal rehoming fee. There are lots of horror stories out there about what can & does happen to the little dogs found for free or inexpensively online.

 

One of the people who placed an add, replied to the New Rattittude email and our volunteer and state coordinator began talking to this person about her 8 month female puppy and we thought the lady might be willing to do ReHome. Another email though let us know that we’d better pull the puppy soon if we had a place to put her. So into action we went, our state coordinator met up with the person to do a temperament test of the puppy and the puppy passed. We didn't have an open foster spot for this little girl so, our volunteer who found her stepped up to pet sit her (she's an approved NR pet sitter) while we decided what to do next.
 

Ursa came to us last night, we are now in foster dog over load but, we are pretty sure both Ursa and Dunham will be adopted pretty quickly given their age, looks and personality! 
 

 

Yes, she should be a model - this pic was taken by her awesome petsitter's

Ursa having a great time out by the water

 

The very popular pickle...

Since Dunham was having such a blast with the interactive toys we  pulled out the Star Mark Pickle.  No big surprise he  LOVED it!  When I first purchased the pickle, I thought, "what a waste of money -- this doesn't look fun at all".  Man was I wrong as we've have a number of foster dogs who think this thing is the bomb!  Dunham will play with this toy for a long time and you can make it easy or hard depending on how far you push down the kibble.  I've also loaded it with dried lung, ziwi peak and dried tripe all have been favs of Dunham!

 

Humm... how do I get that stuff out?

 



Does licking work?

Dunham & Cainie Genius...

Given Dunham enjoyed the mushroom toy we introduced the canine genius!  This is a harder interactive toy but, Dunham loved it.  We're now loading the genius with his meals and he's having a blast working for his food.

 

 

I can smell and see my food in there

Figuring it out!

 

There's an opening at the bottom, top & sides of the toy but that doesn't make it easy getting the food out!

Got some food!

Figuring out that tipping it does get some food out the top hole