Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Our "Roxy", The Wonder Dog.

We had been talking about getting a dog for a long time... actually since we met. We knew it would be a German Shepherd dog (GSD). We knew that it would be a male. We knew that we would name it "Rex". What we didn't know was if it would be a puppy, or perhaps an older (1 year old or so) dog. We both love dogs so much as we both know how much they can add to our lives. Bill previously had Ben and Bonnie, which were Labrador Retrievers and Mary had Kaiser, which was a GSD. However, given that we had gone 'full-time' in the RV lifestyle and have had so many changes within it... 3 motorhomes in the last 3 years, sales of homes, changes of vehicles, etc., we have continuously opted to wait for the right time.

However, now that we have opted to establish a winter residence at Arizona Legends and built a Casita here, we also realized that if we wait any longer it would be too late to do so until next year, as soon we would be hitting the road for another year of spring, summer and fall RV travels. So we started looking for puppies, so we could housebreak it and train it for traveling. Then, we found Saving Paws Rescue in Glendale (Phoenix) in Arizona and started reading about all the great GSD between 1 and 10 years old which have had really bad, abused lives and desperately needed someone to show them Love. The more we looked at them, the more we convinced ourselves that such was the way for us to go and had pretty much decided to go check out a 2 year-old boy named Duke. Well, a Duke is not as high as a Rex (King), but we could always change his name. We filled out the application to adopt and submitted it. They called us the very next day and said we would be perfect to adopt, since no children and no other pets would be involved, so we could give all our loving and attention to a deserving dog. They asked if we knew which dog we were interested in adopting. We said "Duke", if there is a good connection both ways  when we meet him. They said "So sorry, Duke was just adopted by someone else and is no longer available. Our hearts sank with disappointment but explaining that we wanted a dog for a companion to take hiking with us while traveling in the RV and spending winters in Benson, we were told that not all the dogs were on the website and that they had another GSD available, but that it was a female, about 5 years old.
They sent us some photos of her and for Bill it was love at first sight. It was Friday evening, February 22, 2019, so we made an appointment to drive out to Phoenix (about 175 miles from Benson) at 1:00pm on Sunday. Mary took a few days longer, but when she saw that beautiful girl came out the door and went straight for her to be loved on, Mary fell in love too.

Her name was Wonder, or at least that is what she was called either by the Rescue staff, or by the older couple who had found her wandering the street in California, picked her up and called a friend of theirs that worked as a volunteer at the Saving Paws Rescue in Glendale (Phoenix), who drove to their house to pick up the dog and bring her back to the shelter. The consensus of opinion is that she had belonged to a back-yard breeder and that after several years of turning out puppies for sale, he/she either tossed her out or somehow she escaped. It was clear from her teats that she has had many pregnancies. A requirement of the shelter is that all dogs be either spayed or neutered before being adopted, so she was spayed in California and it was found at that time, that she was pregnant yet again, so sadly once opened for spaying the Vet had to take the unborn puppies.

We were both in love with this beautiful girl and determined to give her a loving and protective balance of her life, hoping to counter all the abuse she has endured so far. So we signed the paperwork, paid the $350 adoption fee (which basically just covers the spaying, and all her shots, a collar and leash and the food they send home with her) and took her to our pickup truck. We opened the back door and waited to see what would happen. Would she be hesitant to get into the vehicle? Would she able to jump up high enough to the back seat? Was she going to endure the 3+ hour ride back home without stopping for a potty break? SURPRISE! She jumped right up into the back seat floorboard and then unto the seat and rode back there all the way back home, sleeping part of the way and displaying a beautiful smile as if she knew she had found her forever home with us.

Ever since getting our girl home she has not ceased to amaze us as to what a good girl she is. She had a small accident on the first day, but that was our fault because we failed to acknowledge that her whimpering by the French doors meant she needed to go potty, and the events of the day added to her stress which she just couldn't wait for us to let her out. That was the only accident she had. After that we have taken her for several walks from 6:30am  to around 11:00pm and she has not messed up in the house. On our walks she has met different people and other dogs and has demonstrated an even-tempered and docile demeanor, always gracious to all that we introduce her to. She has come across wild rabbits, squirrels, birds and such other critters and not made any effort to chase anyone. Actually to date we have not even heard her bark at anyone.

There is a Facebook group for the adopters, foster parents and volunteers of Rescue Dogs from Saving Paws Rescue Arizona (SPRAZ) and it seems that most of the people there have all kinds of issues with the dogs they have adopted. We have had NONE. Our girl does not wander (sometimes we let her walk unleashed outside, around the Casita and she sticks right next to us), she does not chew on shoes or furniture or anything else, she has a very calm and docile demeanor (though we feel assured that if someone acted threatening towards us she would display her bad side to them. She does not bark. So far we have heard from her only once, to let us know that she was tired of staying in the same place at Petco, and she wanted to keep going... not a bark even, just one of those complaining yelps (once only). She allows other puppies to jump on her and big dogs to bark at her, and just ignores them.  She is such a good girl.


We have experimented with commands to which she has not displayed having been trained to obey. No Sit, Stay, Lie down, Off, Place, etc. and when she walks on the leash she is all over the place and tugging. So we realized that we would have to take her to a professional trainer to make her life., and ours with her, more mutually beneficial. In campgrounds she will run into other animals (dogs, cats, etc., as well as wild critters) so she would need how to behave. We also don't want to also have her on a leash, being able to walk on hiking trails by our side yet able to wander a bit, though know that she would always come back immediately, if we called her, as she could run into wild critters or rattlesnakes. So we signed her up for a two week Dog Obedience Boot Camp (as Mary calls it) though actually it is a professional dog trainer who teaches dogs to walk off-leash by your side (maintain a 6" distance from your left leg, turning as you turn, stopping when you stop, etc.), and all the basic commands, Heel, Come, Sit, Lie down, Place, Take, Release and such. He also can train for protection with three secret words, one which engages her protective mode to protect us from an attacker, another to engage the attacker and another to release and hold the attacker once the threat has been controlled. These last three we probably will never need as we want her as a Companion Dog, not for protection, as Bill usually always has the S&W 9mm readily available.

 
 
 
It has only been two days since we brought her home but we couldn't be happier with our choice of a dog. We know we are going to keep her for as long as she blesses us with her life intertwined in ours, hoping that we can make up in some small way for all the abuse she has had to endure until she found us... and we found her.

Here are some more photos of our girl, "Roxy", The 'Wonder' dog...











  










 

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