It became pretty clear she was a pixie of some sort!!
She has almond-shaped eyes which *are* a pug trait but a pretty rare one. Also, she has brown eyes rather than deep black (again, a pug trait but not common). But she looks just like a ‘fairy’ doll I had one time –same shaped eyes.
She’s trying to be SOOOOO good (yes, Callie and David understand “Honeymoon Period”!!!) – but it’s obvious she knows she’s been bounced from her original home, then thru foster care, and then Rita picked her up (Rita was familiar to her) and then to David and I …
BUT WE KEEP MOVING!!!
Friday nite she was too stressed to bathe her (but boy she needed it – strong Demodex smell). But while I had a place I could I wanted to bathe her so we did it before we left Saturday (David helped – brief bath, but a beginning). That was clearly E-NUFF indignity as far as she was concerned (I’ll talk about “high value treats” again – some of you training gurus will get a large kick out of that one)
But then, Saturday morning, when David began to take the stuff to the car she began to get worried. ALL the stuff that smelled like ‘us’ was disappearing. OH NO.
But then, SHE got taken to the car. Soon as we got underway she relaxed.
We’d noticed – when she’s not happy or stressed her eyes narrow to slits. Not to be confused with “sleepy puppy” –nope when she’s annoyed or stressed the forehead wrinkles bigtime.
One of the things I often do when I ride in the car is sew – and I closed up the wrists and ankles of one of the sets of onzies. Then I put it on her. She wasn’t thrilled but she wasn’t “happy” either. She left it alone … and I could tell it was ‘cuddly’ (she has a fleece blanket Rita made for her and she LOVES to cuddle and be covered with that) … but dagnabit … **THIS** was not her idea!!
I looked again and we had the narrowed “slitted” eyes again – pretty darned much the spitting image of Tinkerbell when she’s ticked at Peter Pan!
I looked at her and said “hmmm, if you pretend to take poison and fade away on me and I have to CLAP to bring you back I will call you Tinkerbelle for real!!!
Sunday morning – same story – when we packed up to ‘leave’ she was not happy – confused, a little scaredy and a bit teed off – “C’mon – what’s wrong with THIS place – can’t we STAY?”
She sorted herself out once we got in the car again – slept much of the day (she IS healing – and her body has a TON of inflammation to throw off, she’s weak, and she needs a ton of care). I am happy to have her sleep – her body needs to get strong and recover. She’s not sleeping a ‘shut down’ sleep … she’s relaxed. Often sleeping on her back curled up next to me but trusting and open in her sleep. Ready to play a bit when she wakes.
But David and I talked on the road – we both like Tinkerbelle for her.
When David and I were going together, he brought me to Scotland to meet his Dad and sisters. We took a few days and visited Glen Isla and Glamms Castle and a place called Kirriemuir. Kirriemuir is where J.M. Barrie was from and where he wrote “Peter Pan” (anyone see Johnny Depp in that movie? That’s pretty much the story as it’s told.)
But beyond the Disney adaptation, we both like the Scottish connection, for David, the ‘star’ quality for pet therapy, plus the fact that when she plays she ‘zooms’ pretty much like Tink does and when she scowls she does a PERFECT Disney Tinkerbell scowl/pout!!
Soooo Tinkerbelle she is.
She is absolutely delightful. There are ways I wish I could keep her from learning the bad habits she’ll get from mine!! She’s **polite** about food – no exaggerated Dickensian Waif ***sighs*** if something smells good and they may expire before they get fed.
Yeah, yeah, I know … honeymoon!!!
She has slept both nights completely zoned all night long – went in her fabric crate with no grumbles, and slept completely thru the night. Now granted, all 3 of us are completely “shattered” (British word for too tired to deal with nuffing!!). I won’t typically crate her once I know she won’t chew something that will hurt her during the night, but she’s a typical puppy but an incredibly sweet and nice one.
David admitted HE was blown away by her sweetness. She plays and loves to play but isn’t mean at all about it. Very little mouthing (I’m having to encourage her to chew – I have a feeling she was over-corrected for it in the first home.)
We did another bath tonight – and again I had David help me because we were in less then ideal circumstances (I don’t want her to slip trying to struggle and get hurt). But once the bath progressed she actually relaxed into it pretty much understanding it probably felt nice (her skin is SOO hot and fevered) and that it would help it feel better.
The fever is normal for demodex that is this severe, but she’s been taking antibiotics for over a week, and I’m smelling funk in those ears – not yeast. I’m pretty sure there’s bacteria and it’s likely not sufficiently being dealt with by the Clavamox. It’s a good drug, but I have to be soooo careful here.
The best part about the onzies is that it allows me to keep the ambient air in the car cool and yet not chill her. That poor face and head is SOOOOO traumatized. She’s bald as far back as the pictures show it is ‘dark’. That skin is all trying to heal – it’s a thin scab (the entire front skull surface) but she is awesome about letting me wash it carefully with the warm washcloth … and then I’ve put aloe on it a couple of times a day to help heal it yet soothe it without pain.
It’s funny – I brought 3-4 homeopathic blends (just mild very easy blends) for “itchy skin” – just to soothe the itch without making her sleep or without using any heavy pharmaceuticals (no danger of medicine reactions). I had the zipper case open next to me and I looked down and she’d reached inside and came up with this one bottle I’d never opened (it was a new one – never had used it before – Hylands “Poison Ivy”). She stands there with it in her mouth like “This please!”)
I hadn’t decided which to use, so I figured I’d let her pick it this time … and by george it’s working well for her. Every time she starts to itch (which is 3-4 times a day usually) I give her just one and it quells it for her. If it wasn’t the most perfect formula to describe the skin itch from the contact allergy I would think it was just a placebo response, but it works too completely to be just a placebo.
We’ve got about a 5 hour journey tomorrow and then David will have to go one way to get the girls and I’ll probably go get Billy at Pirate’s.
THEN life will change all over again for little Tinkerbelle!! She’s just gotten used to the caravan life and now we’re gonna change it all up on her again!! AND she’ll have to get spayed into the bargain.
So .. here we go into the next chapter!!!
JanetMichel -- now you've given me a GREAT beddytime song for her!! I love it!!!
Shorten it? Of course! What's life with Clan Kennedy if you can't nickname
!!
Tink, Tinky, Stinky (just before the bath -- trust me, that,s a natural). Won't be Belle because one of Luna's nicks IS Belle (She is Lunabella anyway).
The Jeep Laredo we rented is horrible for me (does not give my left hip near enough room because of a big console) so i've ridden in the backseat all the way when I wasn't driving. Soo it's enabled me to do some training which has been nice.
Probably won't post again til we get home. It's almost midnight and I'm trashed again .... but heck, we were at least back in a "Clean Air" state so some restaurants actually had outdoor seating so we had a decent dinner. It's been drive-thru eaten in the car because it's been SOO hot out.