The Otis Diaries

5/18/09: Sorry for the belated update. We have much to tell. Most of it good!
 
We’re a little overwhelmed by the response of Otis’ fan club. We’re basking in the very kind comments, though I’m not sure how deserving we are of the words.

For the first couple of weeks, Otis never left our side when outside (which lulled us into a false sense of security.) But as he feels more comfortable he is getting bolder. So, a week ago Sunday, in a split second, Otis took off up the street. I caught up to him and was coaxing him into the car when a neighbor approached and asked if this was our dog. I said yes, that we were fostering him. Then he told me that Otis had grabbed onto his pant leg. As it turned out, the neighbor was mowing his lawn (and we all know about Otis and lawnmowers.)  It seems the neighbor may have kicked him to get him away from the lawnmower. The result: torn pant leg and very minor bruising on his shin. But the neighbor, whom we’ve known for years, was not nice about the event. We paid for his torn pants, but were very disappointed (though I guess not surprised) by this negative reaction; we thought this individual would have had more empathy. At the same time, it sobers us to the jeopardy that Otis is in with his special needs, and the jeopardy that all Pit Bulls are in, in general.


So we’re significantly enlarging our kennel into a full backyard area, something that we’ve been planning to do even before Otis moved in. Now have a reason to re-prioritize the project. We have friends visiting us from out of town, and they're helping us with the fence raising! 
 
In response to all the wonderful offers of help coming from Otis' fans, I would ask for this: please double and triple your efforts to advocate on behalf of Pit Bulls and every other breed that has been deemed "vicious." I wonder who would have mistreated, then abandoned such a wonderful soul as Otis. It occurs to me that perhaps it was someone who wanted an aggressive, fearless dog and when Otis couldn't be made into one, he was discarded. I've often thought Maya may have been discarded because she was too small: 38 pounds.
 
The tragedy is that if the average family no longer chooses the Pit Bull for their family dog because they have bought into the bad press, either directly (meaning they believe it) or indirectly (meaning they are intimidated by what their friends and neighbors will think,) then the only people who will own Pit Bulls will be the very people who have brought on this nightmare. And if our Humane Societies destroy the animals that those people have abandoned, then aren't they are actually killing off the best of the breed??

Back to Otis, I think we have reached that point where Otis now wakes up in the morning and feels secure that everything is OK, just the way it was when he went to sleep the night before. The result is much less spinning and much less anxiety barking. And the ongoing changes aren't just about Otis. Maya and Lucy continue to become calmer and more accepting.
 
We’re starting to see another side of Otis coming out: the mischievous side. We speculate this may mean that he is feeling more comfortable and, therefore, is showing more of his playful side. He and Lucy have learned to play well together: if Otis gets a little too rowdy, she gives him a brief correction and he backs off. Maya is a different story: Otis still has this amazing ability to push Maya’s buttons and when he does, there is almost always a brawl. The good news is that Dan and I can break them up really quickly now.
 
Example: one morning last week I was packing up my computer bag when Otis decided to play tug of war with it. Considering it wasn’t yet closed, this was not a good thing. My reaction to pull back made it worse, of course, so I called Dan who was in another part of the house. Naturally, it was Maya who was first on the scene to “rescue” me, followed closely by Lucy. Bogart took cover in the closet (the levelest head in this house.) In the end, no blood was shed and no harm was done, but it was a full-on riot for about 30 seconds. We got the dogs calmed down, my computer back in its bag and even managed to make it to the ferry on time. 
 
We're really working on providing exercise. Not just romp-on-the-beach exercise, but long walks and runs. I discovered Friday that 4 miles is a little further than Otis is ready (or willing) to walk. He started slowing down after mile 3 and finally came to a HALT about a half mile from home. I mean laid down in the middle of the road. I literally had to half carry, half drag him to the side of the road. He didn't seem to be in any distress; he just had had enough walking for one day. Thankfully, our very kind neighbor, Sally, stopped and gave us a ride home and once home he miraculously found his second wind!
 
I want to make a quick note about water. While it is certainly an important issue, for which one must be aware, making sure Otis gets sufficient water is NOT an onerous task. We have a milk carton on which Dan has drawn a line indicating the daily water requirement. Each morning we fill it and dispense it through the day. Getting him to drink is super easy using the kibble. So here is my conclusion: anyone who doesn't have the time to pay attention to this detail, should not adopt Otis or maybe any other dog.  
 
We got the email from Shawndra Michell regarding "Focused Intention." Interestingly, in just the past couple of days I've been reading one of Cesar Milan's books where he talks about focusing on the behavior you want vs. the behavior you don't want. Very powerful, and definitely an area for me to work on! Now I am constantly thinking about the energy I am projecting and how it is interpreted. We don't fully understand the concept of Focused Intention, but we certainly agree that Otis is worthy of being the focus of your first collective efforts. 
 
Dan met Aaron last week when delivering the crate for the cat show. Turns out Aaron and his wife were one of Otis' early foster homes. Dan and Aaron had a great exchange and came to the conclusion that Otis has made amazing progress since his early days. We think that Otis truly deserves every one of his fans.

5/27/09: Our friends have gone back to California and we're all settling back into our routines. Thanks to lots of sweat (and a little blood) on behalf of Dan and friend, Chaz, we now have an enclosure that is tripled in size and connected to our house. The dogs love it and the humans are in heaven! No more clandestine jaunts up the hill!
 
We got Easy-walk harnesses for everyone and took Otis and Maya for a walk on Sunday. It wasn't quite the slice of Americana we had hoped for. Otis is still fearful of dogs (size is no factor) and that fear translates into lots of barking and pulling and growling. Unfortunately, with good weather, there are LOTS of dogs out in their yards. People who really understand dogs recognize his behavior as fear and posturing, but the rest see him as a vicious, unfriendly dog.
 
We're not yet sure how best to address this. Should we modify our route to avoid other dogs entirely (at least for now), or will he improve gradually with exposure? This is an area that we would really welcome some help and advice. Our approach has generally been: try and stabilize one area before dealing with another. But sometimes two issues seem to overlap...We know this is absolutely critical to Otis' happiness and to his acceptance into a neighborhood.

As for stabilizing, Otis is barking much less. He is a true gentleman around the food dish. His tugging is now almost gone, and when it still does occur, he can immediately be stopped with a firm "No." We have been working at making it clear to him what is a toy and what is not. We're trying an experiment of actually playing tug of war with him. We know this is a bit controversial: some think it is a great play activity, others think it causes aggression.  Since we've been playing, he seems to grab less at things that are not his toys. To quote one of the expert opinions we have found in our research: "Tug-of-war, if played properly, is a great way to burn off energy while at the same time, teach important rules, such as when and how the puppy should use his mouth. " 
 
His focus on certain sounds is diminishing: we can run the microwave (with its loud hum), the stereo (at any volume), even have the smoke detector go off (a cooking issue - don't ask) with no effect. Distant lawn mower and chain saw sounds seem now to have little effect (but we want to keep certain sounds distant and hope to gradually inoculate him to the agitation they have previously caused). There's some evidence that if Otis actually sees the person making the sound, his anxiety goes up. We're studying that.
 
As noted, being around unknown dogs clearly continues to raise his anxiety,  and he is still trying to understand the definition of dog play with Lucy and Maya. Their interaction continues to improve, but Otis still has two left feet (or would that be four left feet) much of the time!

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