8 State Hurricane Kate

Just a bit of background on Zulu…last summer, when I was still on the board of ACDRI, Deb Foster from the Henderson County Humane Society in Lexington, TN left a message on the ACDRI hotline requesting financial help. It was my day to pick up messages. Deb had a litter of 7 ACD-X puppies that had been abandoned in the Tennessee wilderness (listed elsewhere on this site as “the Z kids”, since Deb gave them all names starting with Z). When ACDRI wasn’t able to help them, I stayed in contact with Deb and eventually was able to arrange for three of the pups to come to foster homes with Homeward Bound in Minnesota. One found a home in Tennessee and the 3 others went to Meet the Pack ACD rescue in Ontario, Canada. By spring of 2008, all of the puppies had found homes except Zulu. She was in a foster home with many other dogs. Katie of Homeward Bound asked me to foster her so that she could get more one-on-one time and develop a relationship with a person.

This afternoon, I drove up to Monticello, Minnesota after work to pick up Zulu. Then we drove about 70 miles home. She was very reserved and smelled awful, like dog and manure—especially when cooped up in the back seat of my truck! She also had bad gas. Once I pulled into the garage, she didn’t want to come out of the crate. She loved the crate and Kong and bone to chew on. My friend Becky came over and helped me get her out of the crate. Becky put the leash on her and firmly pulled her out. Then she peed in the garage!

Becky took her on the leash out on more neutral territory. I walked Chase out to see her first. She was very reserved, but they did ok. He wanted to play. She wanted to curl up in a ball in the long grass. Next I brought Bandit out on the leash. He peed on the spot in the grass where she had curled up before. We walked them side by side and they did ok.

In the backyard, Zulu curled up in the dirt next to the steps. I think she would have burrowed under them if we let her.

I fed her a cup of Eagle Pack duck and oatmeal food. I was going to transition her slowly from the food that came with her, but she had such bad gas that I thought I’d try her right away on the “duck” food that helped get rid of Chase’s gas.

Zulu wants to be in her crate and moves away when I reach for her. She is in her large crate in the basement for tonight. Soon I’ll put her in a crate in the living room so she can get used to being around us and eventually she’ll sleep in my bedroom with us at night. Tonight I got in some nice soft strokes after I fed her and she stayed still and put up with it. She doesn’t seem to have an affinity for people. I think she’ll open up to the dogs first. Poor girl has been moved around a lot in her first year—first abandoned in the woods in Tennessee, then rescued by Deb, later brought up to Minnesota and in a foster home with many other dogs. Now she’s here with us and I hope she’ll come out of her shell and learn to trust me, and eventually be able to actually learn new things like “sit”. She reminds me of Rusty, my first rescued dog, who took about 6 months to learn “sit”. His mind had to quiet down and he had to stop worrying before he could learn. She hasn’t had a chance to be away from all of her littermates or to have much attention from a person yet. I’m going to change that.

She’s curious, but has been through so many changes and didn’t get much socialization as a young pup. She’ll come around eventually, I think. She’s different from Kate because Kate bonded with people but was not socialized to (and was terrified of) dogs. Zulu seems ok with other dogs, but not terribly interested here yet. She is more timid with people. That will change.

Just before bedtime, I took her out on the leash and she left a big pile of poop. I’m a little bit concerned about her back end. Sometimes when she stands, she appears to have good angulation at her hocks, but other times she seems to hyperextend them. She also often sits with her butt tucked under and her back feet sticking up in the air. Silly girl!