Swan

Kirafiki [my other dog] and I have been together since 1999. My life has been designed around him. He goes with me everywhere and is with me almost 24 hours a day. Everyone who knows me knows that if I show up, he will be with me. He is now about 14 and a half years old. Sometime last year he started to get terrible anxiety. I have decided that it is due to his advancing age, and the changes his body is going through but having a difficult time understanding them. Without fail, every weekend between 10 AM and 4 PM he would go into full panic mode and pace my place, scratching at doors, and chewing and whining for six hours straight. It was just awful to watch, and no matter what I did to adjust the behavior, nothing helped. As a last ditch effort I had a prescription for Prozac written for him and he started taking it. I sort of felt like it was helping, but after 5 weeks he was still having regular panic attacks. One of the photos I attached is Kirafiki and Zoey sleeping by the front door. You can see the damage Kirafiki did to the door jam. Even though he was anxious at home, when out and about he is the most docile, easy-going dog ever. He sits outside the gym while I work out, and any time another dog walks by, he would barely acknowledge them. Occasionally he would lift his head to say hi, but mostly he just would hang out. One day, Zoey came by with her foster mom, Larissa. I didn't know at the time she was just being fostered, but when she came by my normally docile Kirafiki jumped up, started wagging his tail, smiling and prancing around. At first I thought he was just jealous, because the small dogs can go into the gym, while the big, hairy dogs usually stay outside. Zoey went into the office, and spent Larissa's workout with the gym owner's dogs in the office. When Larissa was done working out, she went back to get Zoey. Zoey was just a bundle of energy and love. Still not realizing she was being fostered, I asked Larissa to bring her over to me while I kept spinning just to say hello. Larissa then mentioned that she was fostering Zoey, and if I knew anyone who might be interested to let her know. I told her I would keep my eyes and ears open. You see, in the last 12+ years, Kirafiki and I have tried to rescue a few dogs, but they never got along. Kirafiki was a street dog before I got him, so he has always has some food-aggression issues. While I kept them apart at mealtime, he made it very clear that they weren't the dogs for us. So I found them very good homes and said goodbye. As Larissa and Zoey were leaving the gym, Kirafiki noticed and got up again. He started smiling, prancing and wagging his tail again. My entire spin class kept commenting on how smitten he looked and that they had never seen him react to another dog that way. Zoey, who is still weary of much larger dogs she doesn't know, got a little frightened so Larissa took her out the side door instead of the front to avoid scaring Zoey. Kirafiki saw this, but realized that they would still have to walk by him to get to their car, and he went as far as he could on his leash to wait for them to come around the corner. When they did, he started with the prancing, wagging and smiling again. He followed behind them as far as he could on his leash, and then came into the gym as far as he could. He looked me directly in the eyes in the mirror, looked down the street at them, back at me, back at them and then back at me. The others in the spin class affirmed what I thought.... I NEEDED to run after Zoey. Larissa brought her back, and she took refuge between my legs since she was still a little unsure about the big, enthusiastic dog smiling at her. He wrapped his body around my legs to protect her. I decided she needed to come home and spend the weekend with us, to see how things went. She came home on a Friday night. We spent the night, got up in the morning and went to the gym. I wanted our schedule to stay as normal as possible so that she would know what life here was like. Things were going well. We finished at the gym, and came home. Then 10 AM rolled around. True to form, there came the moment that Kirafiki went into panic mode. He would always get up, walk over to me, pant into my face, whine and then start the pacing. This time though, Zoey was sleeping soundly. I put my hand on him and said "look at the baby... she isn't scared." He looked at her, and sat down. Within minutes he was relaxed again. We went MONTHS without any more panic attacks. They have returned but not at the frequency or intensity that they were happening before. I have added a Thundershirt to the anxiety regimen, and that also helps out. Kirafiki plays with her. He lets her get away with ANYTHING. He will take treats nicely right next to her. He lets her peek into his bowl and snack on some of his food while he finishes his meal. She sleeps on him, curls up in his fur, and cleans his ears. He is in love. My life is now designed around the two of them... anywhere I go, my people know to expect the two of them to be with me. Zoey saved us. Both of us. She is the best thing to happen to me in 2011. She is pure joy and love wrapped into a tiny little doggy body. Thank you so much for saving her, and I thank the universe for bringing her to Kirafiki. I hope to make it to one of your adoption events soon so you can see them together in person. We love Zoey. Thank you so much for what you do. I cannot tell you how sorry I am that it took so long to get this to you. Please accept my apology. Wishing you and yours, and all the dogs you are doing such great work for, a fabulous holiday season!