Finding Fiona

February 03, 2016

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If you follow us on social media you probably know there’s a new foster her by the name of Fiona.

Fiona had been in foster care for the past 2 years. I took her in as a favor for a friend in an effort to increase her chances of finding a home. She had communicated to me that Fiona was a nervous dog to begin with so I was prepared for that. When she got here she really wanted nothing to do with me or any of the dogs here. After 7 days of working with her she broke out of her crate and when I came in the front door of the house she was bolted out. It was already dark out and she took off so fast it took a few seconds for me to realize what had happened. She never looked back and honestly I’ve never seen a dog run that fast. Chasing her would have made it worse so I grabbed a leash and headed towards the park where it looked like she was heading. It was just about to get dark so that only added to the difficulty of finding her. Since Fiona was black the chances of finding her became that much harder. We put up signs, reported her to our local shelter and flooded social media with her picture. Two days later she was found limping across a very busy street. I received a phone call and I went to pick her up. It was very clear her leg was broken but the important part was that she was alive. Due to the power of social media we were able to raise enough money to fix her leg and she has since had surgery. The doctors placed a metal plate in her leg that will be in there forever.

I’m not the most sensitive guy. It’s something I constantly need to work on. The only time that side of me comes out is when I write a blog or when I’m in my car alone. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I do my best not to show emotion around my dogs but it’s also how I’ve always been. I’ve always seen it as a sign of weakness. And very few people have seen that side of me. However, as I’ve learned with Fletcher, you can still show sensitivity and still be “strong”. So when Fiona came here, I knew what I had to do. But knowing what to do and actually doing it are two different things. When Fiona first came here she spent more time running into a corner hiding from me than anything. And I truly believe that when she ran out of the front door she just kept running because there was no corner to run to.

During the two days I was looking for her every time I started to feel guilty about what happened I turned it around into what I had learned from the situation. So instead of dwelling on what I should have done I turned it into what I will do next time. I went through the scenario in my head multiple times and broke it down to exactly how I entered through the door (which my girlfriend made it clear that I always come through a door like I’m about to do a drug raid. ) and what I was doing at the time (looking at my phone). Those are things I need to be aware of especially if I’m fostering nervous and anxious dogs.

Because here’s the kicker…Fiona has no idea who I am. She doesn’t know how many dogs I’ve fostered, she has no idea that Fletcher was once like her, and she has no idea how many followers I have on social media. Nor does she care. Who I am to the outside world means NOTHING to her. All show knows is what’s in front of her and the energy I’m projecting. She doesn’t know I took her in to take care of her. All she knows is that she’s in a strange place surrounded by people and animals she’s never seen before. She doesn’t rationalize, she reacts. She got out of her crate, I came in like a bat out of hell and she wanted to be as far away from it as possible. End of story.

So when she finally came back to me I had readjusted my attitude. She spent the weekend here before I took her in for surgery and she was more receptive to me. And anytime my energy was too much she would back up in her crate so I would leave the room, take a deep breath and enter again in a different manner. I still need to work on how I leave and enter through the door because I tend to slam the door behind me when I leave and come in like I’m the Kool-Aid man busting through a brick wall. Like, Linn Boyke, taught me, “Practice makes permanent”. And I’ve been practicing the way I enter and leave my house for many many years now so to learn and teach myself something different will take lots of practice. But I do it for her which ultimately makes me slow down and more aware of what I’m doing. I chose this life so I must sacrifice how I’ve been and work on who I need to be if I want to continue fostering and rehabbing sensitive animals like Fiona.

Fiona will be here a minimum of 3 months for rehab. Angels for Animals Rescue has agreed to back her so we will be screening applications during that time. So the goal with Fiona is to get her to a place where she no longer needs to feel nervous and then find a family who I can just pass the torch to. Somewhere behind all that nervousness and fear is a balanced dog just waiting to come out. How long will this take? It will take as long as it takes because now that Fiona is no longer missing we can focus on finding Fiona.

***Before I go, this blog post was inspired by the School of Dog Psychology. Linn has taught me so much and part of that is to stop feeling bad about things and just adjust to it. Because of that he has made me a better leader to my pack and changed how I foster and rescue. His school will be hitting the road to start off 2016 on February 6^th in Westlake Village, CA. Go to www.schoolofdogpsychology.com to see when they will be coming to your city!***