Figaro
Some days Figaro feels like the bane of my existence…
Things with him always require me to be on my toes. I’m not always sure how he will react to new and different situations. It can be really exhausting.
When I got Fig, I honestly didn’t think much. I mean, I thought to an extent about what it would mean to have two dogs. I thought about all the things I knew about him, but I never really thought about all the things that might have been left out of his history. I went to meet this dog that someone desperately needed to get rid of and I really don’t know what it was but I knew he needed me. So I took him home.
As I got to know Fig better there were a lot of issues that came to the surface; the first of which being his health. Within days of getting Figgy he started peeing blood and after hundreds of dollars at the vet we discovered that he is prone to bladder stones, and did in fact have several large ones. This was no doubt something known by the person who needed to get rid of him… in fact after later investigation I found out he’d been seen for this issue before. Within a week I had already made a huge financial life-long commitment to this dog. (Fig eats a prescription diet and will until he dies)
After his health stuff was figured out, it started to become apparent that he had been abused and poorly socialized and that his reaction to his triggers was aggressive. When I started to figure all of this out I really began to think about what this dog would need and if I could give it too him. I made many phone calls, did a lot of reading and talked to a quite a few different people about what Figgy would need. I thought really hard about if I was capable of making sure he would get what he needed, knowing that I was certainly not the only person in MN who could take care of him. I decided that I was going to commit to him. And that Fig, Lola, and I would be a great family.
Since that time we have made significant progress in Fig’s behavior. Sadly often at the expense of Lola’s training, but we are working that back up now as well. There are some days though that I can’t see how far we have come and only see how far we have to go. The first thing about healing is that it takes time. The Fear far out weighs the comfort. Pushing things too fast will often push things back. I get so frustrated sometimes about what Lola is fine with that Fig is not. I feel like such a bad dog owner when he behaves in a way that is not correct, or when he gets aggressive for seemingly no reason. And still at other times I get overly comfortable with how he is doing that I let my guard down and then am not prepared to deal when there is an issue. This makes me feel terrible as well.
What he knows is not his fault. He is a very basic animal. The effort it takes to teach fear is a fraction of the effort it takes to erase that fear. Sometimes I feel like I can’t handle it all.
I see such a great dog in Figaro. He is such a great dog. And what he brings to my life is more than worth it. Sometimes I just forget that. When I forget, it is other great people with great dogs that remind me. And it is people like that I am very thankful for.
Things with him always require me to be on my toes. I’m not always sure how he will react to new and different situations. It can be really exhausting.
When I got Fig, I honestly didn’t think much. I mean, I thought to an extent about what it would mean to have two dogs. I thought about all the things I knew about him, but I never really thought about all the things that might have been left out of his history. I went to meet this dog that someone desperately needed to get rid of and I really don’t know what it was but I knew he needed me. So I took him home.
As I got to know Fig better there were a lot of issues that came to the surface; the first of which being his health. Within days of getting Figgy he started peeing blood and after hundreds of dollars at the vet we discovered that he is prone to bladder stones, and did in fact have several large ones. This was no doubt something known by the person who needed to get rid of him… in fact after later investigation I found out he’d been seen for this issue before. Within a week I had already made a huge financial life-long commitment to this dog. (Fig eats a prescription diet and will until he dies)
After his health stuff was figured out, it started to become apparent that he had been abused and poorly socialized and that his reaction to his triggers was aggressive. When I started to figure all of this out I really began to think about what this dog would need and if I could give it too him. I made many phone calls, did a lot of reading and talked to a quite a few different people about what Figgy would need. I thought really hard about if I was capable of making sure he would get what he needed, knowing that I was certainly not the only person in MN who could take care of him. I decided that I was going to commit to him. And that Fig, Lola, and I would be a great family.
Since that time we have made significant progress in Fig’s behavior. Sadly often at the expense of Lola’s training, but we are working that back up now as well. There are some days though that I can’t see how far we have come and only see how far we have to go. The first thing about healing is that it takes time. The Fear far out weighs the comfort. Pushing things too fast will often push things back. I get so frustrated sometimes about what Lola is fine with that Fig is not. I feel like such a bad dog owner when he behaves in a way that is not correct, or when he gets aggressive for seemingly no reason. And still at other times I get overly comfortable with how he is doing that I let my guard down and then am not prepared to deal when there is an issue. This makes me feel terrible as well.
What he knows is not his fault. He is a very basic animal. The effort it takes to teach fear is a fraction of the effort it takes to erase that fear. Sometimes I feel like I can’t handle it all.
I see such a great dog in Figaro. He is such a great dog. And what he brings to my life is more than worth it. Sometimes I just forget that. When I forget, it is other great people with great dogs that remind me. And it is people like that I am very thankful for.