Thursday, March 27, 2008

Fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me

I have had my new foster, Zoey for a little over 24 hours now.  I can say that she is 100% Australian Shepherd in EVERY way.  The dog is purely nuts.  My husband has nicknamed her bullet because she runs across the yard/house so fast you can hardly see her.  She is (unfortunately) extremely prey driven and wants to follow (eat) my cats.  She learned not to mess with my oldest and fattest cat, Sweety after Sweety slapped her between the eyes.  Thus far she only chases them and has not attempted to pick them up.  It seems to be more herding than anything.  It has been extremely difficult to get a good picture of her.  She doesn't sit still unless she's sleeping and if she sees humans, she's immediately awake and bouncing off the walls.  We (me and my director) have already discussed that she needs a... special home.  Whoever adopts her needs previous herding breed experience as this dog isn't for just anyone.  She would definitely not be happy sitting on a couch all day.  She seems to have mild kennel cough so I'm going to wait and see if it resolves itself before putting her on antibiotics.  I'll be calling tomorrow to make her spay appointment and possibly have her dewclaws removed.  (depends on what the board of directors decides)  She was just dropped off in the middle of the night at the shelter so who knows where she came from.  I have a pretty good idea of why she was left there.  (someone didn't know what they were getting into when they bought an aussie)  I'm not sure if she was abused or not.  She is fine around people until you go to touch her and then she pees everywhere.  I'm not sure if she's just scared in general or if someone wasn't particularly nice to her before.  She bit me tonight.  It's the first time I've ever been bitten that badly by a dog.  She was chasing after a cat and I put my foot out (thinking she has plenty of time to stop) and she just kept running like I wasn't there.  My foot when into her mouth and one of her sharp teeth went through the bottom and bruised the top.  I could use a stitch but she's not yet up to date on her rabies so I won't be going to the doctor.  (the shelter doesn't do their rabies... just an extra expense on a dog that might not ever make it out)  I'm not sure what I'll tell the doctor if it becomes infected as they write out a report and send it to the Humane Society.  (and I'm not real fond of the people who work there and that's all I'll say on that)  All I know for sure is that it was super painful when it happened and left me cussing for a few minutes.  Zoey however never broke stride and continued on her cat chasing quest. 

 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, I never realized those breeds were so energetic. She most certainly is keeping you busy. Hopefully someone is looking for an aussie, with plenty of land for her to roam. (Hugs) Indigo

Anonymous said...

Hi Jamie,
Hmmm ... this Zoey sounds like a handful!!
Best,
Marty

Anonymous said...

Do what I did when i had to go to the hospital from the cat attack i had....i told them the cat was gone and i didn't know where he was.  i had the cat but they weren't going to get their hands on him.  Hope the foot heals without problems.
xxx
Lisa