Lady May Knows How To Speak Up!

I had to have TWO baths already! Can you believe it?!

We're starting to see the real Lady May shine through. She is a very soft tempered, well mannered little girl. 


Alright already, enough with the camera

She still has a tendency to shy away or recoil if someone raises a hand or moves to quickly in her direction. She recovers quickly with a soft word and gentle hand gesture to come. That's not to say she doesn't have a backbone. This little girl will definitely stand up for herself when her back is to the wall. 

We had Little Molly visiting with us for a few days. She can be a very intimidating and impolite girl at times. Lady May made every attempt to look away, move away and show signs to let Lil Molly know she needed to back off.  Mom was watching very closely to all the interactions between the two. Princess MollyDawg and I didn't like it when lil Molly kept bugging my new little sister, so I stepped in a few times and redirected lil Molly away. When that didn't work, Lady May didn't hesitate to use her BIG DOG WORDS to say "PISS OFF!" Wow! You go, Lady May!
That worked!!

Her confidence is beginning to show and I can tell that it wont be long until she feels at home with us. For now she still seems to miss her past life. (Why oh why do we dogs do that? We know it sucked!)
We think it must be very different for her to be in our family with no children around.  It must seem very quiet and that might take some getting used to. Lady May still whines for attention a lot of the time.  We have loads of different chew toys or play things to occupy us when mom and dad are busy.  She seems to want physical attention even when it's not play time. She seems to NEED her people present and attentive at all times.  You'll still need to learn this little sister. It may seem like mom and dad do not love you, but it's for your own good sweetie. You'll ultimately be a happier little girl when you can relax at any time, and enjoy just being with Princess Mollydawg and I. We will keep you company, you'll see.


I'll just stay down low so I can't be played with roughly.

Our children have come to visit us and met Lady May. Mom knows that there was a past issue with children before, so she was ready to be extra vigilant.  She didn't have to be, this time. Lady May stuck to her side like glue when the children were around.  Mom says this is an area we're going to walk slowly through together. One visit at a time,  one day at a time.  We want Lady May to feel comfortable and safe everywhere she is with us.

We have one big hurdle to overcome with Lady May. When she first arrived we met her for who she is and how she looked. Her left, front arm has been badly injured. So badly that it has atrophied from the shoulder. She was never given any medical care for it, when ever that incident happened. We think when she was just over a year old. She is now 3 yrs.
Her elbow and wrist bones are bent into a permanent hooked bend and the tendon has hardened to the point of no recovery. There is no rehabilitation that will correct this for Lady May. X-Rays have shown there is probably neurological damage that can not be undone.  She now has little to no use of her leg.  We are concerned that it may become a hazard to her while we are out and about. When we're walking it has hooked on her lead many times. We also do a lot of camping in wooded areas and mom and dad are worried it could become entangled in branches as well.  In our yard mom has lattice fencing around her flower beds. Lady May has already caught her leg inside one of the links while she was playing ball. It gave mom a real scare.  When she ran to free her paw, she realized this could happen in an even more dangerous place. While playing with other dogs it hinders her ability to readily free herself from certain holds. Does it hinder her quality of life?
A conversation with the good Dr. Ross was set up.

Look! I have new clothes!

Discussion around removing Lady May's leg has begun. He has suggested to keep it tied up inside a sort of sling or t shirt for safety. You'll see in the picture what we came up with.  Stay tuned for her full medical update soon.

Here's a link to Lady May's new photo album. http://s422.photobucket.com/user/Katog/library/Lady%20May
Mom still has to work on getting all the captions printed in and sorting them in a better order. You can still see how well Lady May is doing with us though. I've uploaded a video to YouTube so you can see her running in her new attire!
Hope you enjoy it!

I'm stylin' eh?

Lady May Is Settling In

Posted by The Princess MollyDawg
It seems my new little sister has quite a few stories about her past life that she is slowly sharing with us.  We are seeing many behaviours that bring tears to our eyes and make us shake our heads. Who'd give away this little treasure?

Arrival at Mission BC Feb 17 2013

At first glance we see her beautiful eyes and gleaming multicoloured coat. Outwardly she appears to be a calm and well adjusted little girl.
Not so.

This little darling has some hidden secrets that will break your heart in two.
Lady May has been a part of our family for only one month.
Mom and dad have been "going slow" with her.

We are allowing her to get a feel for our family. She has been meeting a few of our regular visitors on a one at a time basis. So far the meetings have, for the most part, gone well.  In a few days we are scheduled to have a visitor come stay for a few days. Although Lady May has met Little Molly, mom is planning on keeping a very close eye on things during her stay. I'll blog more when the visit is over.

I like Lady May. I'm sure if I take my time I'll be able to build a very close bond with her. She seems to be a very smart girl and listens to mommy very closely. When she's unsure of what is required, she stops and looks directly at mommy for further information. Mom doesn't use too many words with Lady May but instead uses lots of slow, easy hand gestures and gentle physical guidance.  Most of her words seem to come when she's praising good behaviour and offering food and goodies. Mmmm I love it when a new pack member comes in. There's always yummies to be had. 

Mom has her suspicions about what life was like for Lady May before she came into our family. We're seeing a lot of cowering, running for cover and excessive submissive behaviours.  I can tell that, even though she still needs a little more time and a few more lessons, she is a perfect fit for our pack.

We're sure Duchess put her up to this. We don't mind at all.

On the second day here, Lady May discovered Duchess Sammy's trolley.
Mom kept the quilts fluffed for us in case we wanted to use it, but, no one has since Duchess passed. 
As far as Lady May was concerned, it was a mighty fine bed that wasn't being used and so she hopped right in and called it hers! Very cool!

From Duchess Sammy - To Lady May

Mom and Dad also decided that Lady May needs her name added to her food bowl. We took our time and decided how we wanted to do that. It was another hard decision to make. Last week it was done and now every feeding time brings a smile to mom and dad's faces.

Slowly and methodically things are developing to meld Lady May into our family. She is not pushy and we like that. Princess MollyDawg has really surprised mom.  Normally there is only two that are allowed to share her mat. Squire Seven, who has been here since puppyhood and myself, her big and Majestic brother, of course. What a surprise it was to see Lady May simply and politely approach and calmly ask for a spot on the end of Molly's mat.  The Princess never moved a muscle nor flinched a hair on her body. She did however divert her eyes and reposition her nose on her paws to face away.  To my mom that spoke VOLUMES!  Lady May has been accepted by The Princess.

But don't be moving all around!

The Silence is Broken, We are Whole Again

 . . . She has left her place here on earth and has gone ahead to check things out over Rainbow Bridge. When she left us we thought we would never mend. We read poems and accepted the comfort of our friends and family. We cried over and over again. We kept her things in their places. No one touched them. Her special toys sat and were never played with.  Her bowl was wiped to remove the dust from it. Her trolley was fluffed but never slept in. A part of us felt we would betray her memory if anyone touched those things . . . http://duchesssammy.blogspot.ca/

Then the day came when mom wrote an inquiry letter to Yvette. Mom and dad had read about the new dogs that continued to come in to Turtle Gardens Rescue Society.  Mom was still writing updates for the ones who had found their happy forever homes.  She continued to scan through the blogs pages for those who she hadn't seen mentioned in a while.
That's when she came across Jan 19 2013 blog post with the little girl with the bent front leg picture again.
It read as follows:

"Lady is not adoption ready. When I took the call about the two dogs he mentioned that Lady was unique in that she was a three legged dog. I took that to mean she was missing a leg. Not so – she holds up her front leg as it is perpetually bent. Her shoulder has no musculature and I don’t know how it happened – an accident or genetic. Lady has an appointment with Dr Mike on Friday for evaluation. We will see what can be done for her – either way it sounds very extensive. She may be facing an amputation or a long rehabilitation. She is a sweet little dog and deserves the best that can be done for her."

But, those sad eyes did it to mom and she wrote a letter asking about where Lady was and if she was going through rehabilitation. She told Yvette  'someone' in Lillooet was interested in her and they knew all about  Lady's disability. Mom asked Yvette if Lady was scheduled for any sort of rehab, where ever Lady was. She didn't want to take away any opportunities Lady may have to gain strength in her leg. If she was placed in a home in Lillooet it would mean NO REHAB.
Yvette only places her dogs with families she really feels will match the dogs personality and needs. So she wrote back with all the detailed information necessary to fit a possible new home.

http://www.turtlegardens.org/blog/?p=35345 "... He took Lady in to Smithers for evaluation. Lady has been crippled for a very long time and Dr Mike didn’t want to inflict unnecessary pain to the little girl. Her shoulder has totally atrophied from no use – she would need massive rehabilitation to bring back the muscles and it would be quite painful. The amputation is also painful. She gets around very well just as she is. Her leg does not hurt her – she has no pain. He said he is sure she will be adopted as she is with my extensive network. He reads our blog too! How cool is that! So Lady came back home in one piece."

When dad came home from work that afternoon mom shared Yvette's conversation with him. "Lady May was not receiving nor was she scheduled to receive any rehab. She was heading to a new foster family in Vancouver on the next TG Bus Run. In two days!!"
It only took two minutes for dad to say, "Ask Yvette if we can bring Lady May into our home."  Yvette responded with a resounding, "YES, PLEASE!"  And so in only two days time we drove out to Cache Creek to welcome our Little Lady May into our home.

Nice to meet you Lady May

 
We're Heading Home!