4 Weeks of Fletcher

December 03, 2014

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Ok, I’m back. Sorry for the extended absence but I ended up with another concussion and then we had Thanksgiving last week so I’ve been out of commission as far as writing goes but I’m feeling better and it’s raining so I thought I would update you on my latest foster, Fletcher.

As most of you know, I took on a new foster. His name is Fletcher. Unlike most of my fosters, Fletcher was not a medical case. He was a dog with extreme anxiety and he was so insecure it border lined on aggression. You see, with the medical cases, they spend most of their time in a crate, healing. And by the time they get better; they’ve already adjusted to the house and have soaked in how things work around here. Fletcher was a new challenge for me. He was a dog who had shown all of us that he didn’t like male dogs, huskies, dogs his size, horses, fluffy dogs, dogs who were too hyper, he didn’t like being alone, he busted out of his crate and did whatever was necessary to break out of whatever you put him in, even if it meant hurting himself in the process. This is a whole different ballgame than dealing with mange!

Well, since I’ve been slacking on my blogs, I thought I would just break down the past 4 weeks for all of you.

Week 1:

When we picked up Fletcher, he was just coming back from a foster home that didn’t work out. While he seemed happy to leave the rescue he seemed extremely unsure of his new surroundings. I made sure (Pittie Crew Member), Terra, was with me. Fletcher LOVES Terra and just having her here would make him feel a little more comfortable. I had all the dogs put away when he got here but Penny and Elvis heard him and they barked to let him know he wasn’t the only dog in the house. I’m pretty sure Wally was asleep so no howling from the old man. Terra and I took him for a walk around my park and we put him in his crate….his very heavy duty crate that he could not bust out of no matter how hard he tried. While I usually keep my fosters in their own room, I decided to keep Fletcher downstairs where the action was. I didn’t want to add to his anxiety by keeping him in a room where he was alone. However, he did cry every night and basically threw a fit every night during his first week here.

Getting Fletcher into his crate was a task in itself. He did not want to go in there let alone even be in my house. He barely made any eye contact with me and for the first whole week, he was always slumped over. But you can’t expect every dog to just be thankful for taking them in. They don’t think like that. You have to let them adjust. I’ve said this before but we live in the age of the “diet pill”. We just want everything to work NOW…minimum work with maximum results. Dogs just don’t work that way. They will call you out on every inconsistency you have in your life. They don’t mean to. They just don’t know how to lie!
Even when the dogs came into the other room, they would each act differently. Elvis avoided him completely and Penny would sniff him in his crate until he growled or got uncomfortable and she would just walk away quietly. Fletcher had no contact with the dogs outside of his crate the first week he was here. In fact, I gave it 4 weeks before he had any interaction with my pack because he was so insecure here.

Fletcher was settling in faster than I thought. He was now walking into his crate on his own. He was eating all of his food doing feeding time and even caught on to the “wiggle” command. In fact, he was doing so well, I took him on a walk with Wally in his little wagon with another one of our volunteers. As soon as he saw Fletcher, Wally broke into his signature howl. To say Fletcher was scared was an understatement. He wanted nothing to do with the old man but he did not go after him. He was actually avoiding him. While I would rather deal with that than him trying to go after, Wally, neither behavior is acceptable. However, you have to start somewhere, right? We finished off the walk and I even got a pic of the two of them. Fletcher never looked more unsure and it showed in the picture.

Week 2:

Fletcher had earned the right to be in the same room with Wally. But one night, I swear I turned my back and I don’t know what I heard first, Wally howling or Fletcher growling. Good thing I had other Pittie Crew members in the house who know how to keep their cool during times like these. Nobody was hurt and neither dog got to each other but we were
able to stop anything from happening. I put Fletcher on his side and held him there until he was calm. I did not correct Wally. I did not take him into another room and I did not put Fletcher in his crate right away. A dog’s crate should ALWAYS be a positive place for them. Too many times people put their dogs in the crate when they’ve done something wrong and they wonder why they don’t like going in there.

Once he was calm, I put him in his crate and all of us went about our business like nothing happened. Fletcher soon followed suit.

On the positive side, Fletcher was now allowed to be out of his crate but a gate separated him from the main room where we all hang out. He could see us all hanging out but that’s all I was giving him. Yes, I know some of you think this may be mean but I’m not trying to bring a dog into the room with my pack who isn’t ready and try to break up a dog fight. It’s much better (and safer) to prevent than to correct.

Towards the end of the week, Fletcher seemed to lose interest in the other room and I actually found him lying in his crate sleeping most of the time! It took a little less than 2 weeks to get him to loving his crate! Aside from the thunderstorm that freaked him out and kept all of us up, he was adjusting way ahead of schedule. Well, the schedule I had in my head!

He was doing so well during the week; I decided to introduce him to Elvis. Elvis doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Unless, you’re a dog named, Penny Lane, he doesn’t care too much for other dogs. He’s all about the humans, especially the girls. However, Elvis won’t react in a negative way around an insecure dog so I tested him out. Elvis went to go do the obligatory “butt sniff”. You could tell Fletcher was very uncomfortable so I called Elvis off. Fletcher seemed to let it go as he did not growl. However, when I went to praise him, he lunged at Elvis. Elvis turned his whole body around so Fletcher could not get him and I was able to correct Fletcher and step on his leash so nothing else happened. I put Fletcher into submission and let Elvis just walk around. As Fletcher calmed down so did my hold on him. As soon as he was completely calm, I took my hands off him and he just laid there. Elvis was on the other side of the yard just sniffing around. He clearly took Fletcher’s signal as a sign and gave him his space. As much as Elvis drives me up the wall, I love how much he helps me with fostering.

This was a defining moment in Fletcher’s “rehab”. After that, he seemed to have calmed down. Which brings us to…

Week 3:

I noticed something new about Fletcher. He was standing a little taller and his head was actually perked up and not always looking at the ground. By now, he had earned the right to meet the queen bee, herself, Miss Penny Lane. To say Fletcher has a crush on Penny Lane is an understatement. He LOVES Penny but Fletcher has always had a thing for calm female dogs. It’s just that every calm female we paired him up with at, The Orphanage, ended up getting adopted. I knew they would get along but my fosters have to earn the right to be with Penny off leash.

He would follow Penny around and just want to lie next to her. It was almost as if all was right in the world with her around. In fact, he was doing so well with her around that he was earning time in the main room with all of us. Yes, I let him on the couch and it looks like all he needed was a comfy couch and cute girl next to him. Trust me, Fletcher. I feel you on that one!

He even went on the weekly Sunday hike that Priceless Pets does and he only went after his nemesis, Max, one time. Ignored the husky that walked by him and didn’t lunge at the horse that walked by us. By now, I was wondering who switched dogs on me!

Another thing happened during this week that almost brought tears to my eyes. Elvis actually got Fletcher to play. I looked up and there he was, chasing Elvis around the yard and then letting Elvis chase him around the yard. Penny soon joined and I honestly thought I would never see that happen. Fletcher was actually being a dog. He was no longer the insecure dog that came into this house 3 weeks ago.

Week 4:

Well, we’re actually IN week 4 and not much has changed with Fletcher. While he’s adjusted extremely well to my pack he still shows anxiety if I leave him in a room to go outside. He still manages to find at least one dog he doesn’t like on his walks but he’s not as bad. He’s correcting faster and learning to trust me to lead the walks.

They told me he would have to be an “only dog”. They told he didn’t like male dogs. They told me he didn’t like dogs his size or bigger…they told me he was “hard to place”…and I believed them. I saw it with my own eyes. But I gave him a chance, anyway. Well, this Sunday will be 4 weeks that Fletcher has been my foster and he will end this week with a meet n greet with his possible new family. They have a dog that looks like Penny and they’ve had their eye on him for quite a while. Timing is everything and hopefully the timing is right. I don’t know how this meet n greet will go but he’s proven all of us wrong so far so what’s one more time?

There is no magic in patience, no shortcut to love and no cheat sheet to earning respect. I’ve given it all to Fletcher and he’s learned to give it right back. I have the help of the, Priceless Pets Pittie Crew, and giving up isn’t in our nature. We all love you, Fletcher.