I Swept the Floor Today!!!!!!!
Those long time members will remember when Panda arrived in my home after being flown from Hong Kong over six years ago. Oh yikes! What a mess he was! He'd never been in a home and went ballistic when he first entered...grabbing CD's, sweaters, knocking over chairs, ect. Previous to arriving in my home he spent months in a small tin cage and not allowed out for months. Eventually the computer room became his room. Slowly other rooms were introduced. To ease his separation anxiety I would leave the room for mins at a time and eventually increase the time. Luckily, I was on my own at the time as I started sleeping in that room on a small day bed I set up in there. No hubby would have put up with the six months I spent sleeping in that room to ease Panda's stress. I knew he was starting to grow confident and trust me when late one night he flipped a ball in my direction and then ran to retrieve it. He wanted me to play with him! The sound of firecrackers, lawn mowers and motorcycles would cause a frenzied state in which he'd become so stressed he'd race around and vomit. Men with sticks reminded him of his past in which 3 kennel workers beat him. Anything resembling a stick would cause him to hunker down and his top lip would quiver. However, not once in all these years has he ever bitten me or anyone else for that matter. I would read his body language and either stop what I was doing or redirect if I saw he was becoming stressed. Year one was the toughest, but I slowly desensitized him to noises by sitting for hours at a time in parks or on the grass in the neighborhood where we could observe and hear the noises. He no longer cried when he heard them. Year two he learned to play with other dogs!! With the help of others at the dog park he eventually became a regular and learned play/chase games instead of crying and standing still. Year three - he placed in the top four in the Canadian Pet Idol contest. The judges were impressed with his calm manner around so many different pets. In fact, he was the only dog that was allowed in the cat house to wait his turn. Year 4,5, The only issues that remained besides complete sedation for grooming or ear cleaning was his startle reflex apon awakening, brooms, and the sound of lawn mowers and vaccuum cleaners still would cause him anquish. If he was sleeping one always had to call his name if they were sitting next to him before getting up. You had to time it in order to vaccuum, sweep the floors or mow the lawn as Panda had to be elsewhere in the home or outdoors. Year 6. I mowed the lawn, swept the floor and vaccuumed with no reaction at all from Panda!!!!!!!! In fact as I was kneeling and using the dust pan he gave me a face wash. It suddenly dawned on me...OMG!!! It's been six years since I have been able to even have Panda in the same room to sweep the floor! I even moved his paws out of the way while still holding the broom. It had become second nature for so many years that I stopped even realizing how natural it was to make sure Panda was elsewhere when these chores needed to be done. Six years!!!! It's a cause for celebration!!!!  |
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You are probably one of the most kind, faithful, and patient people I will ever know. I am so happy for you, but even more happy for Panda. Nice job!  |
| The next time that I feel myself losing patience with Mady for not letting me sweep in peace, I am going to read your post. How wonderful to have your extraordinary patience rewarded! |
| That is wonderful!!! Our Tazz is just as scarred....or should I say WAS scarred. Todd used to make a joke about his slow but steady progress - "if he lives long enough, he'll be a normal dog!" Well, he's 12, and pretty normal...for a min pin.  |
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| Congrats to Panda and you!!!! Great news that Panda is making such great progress. |
Congratulations Panda! It's funny there must be something genetic in dogs towards brooms. Mady didn't have the tough start in life Panda did, we certainly never hit or scared Mady with a broom or any stick, but she still barks madly and wants to attack the broom when Kim sweeps.  It must be registering as a potential threat somewhere in her mind, either a threat to her or to Kim. I normally take Mady for walks when Kim wants to clean the floor... |
| I think the broom and vacuum attack is normal for these guys. Our other 2 oes did the same thing, they'd even get their tongues stuck on the end of the hose. It is so wonderful the life you've given Panda, so glad he was able to find you. |
| I SO feel what you when through .. i could not ever vacumn my house for 10 years or my daytona would go crazy.. glad to see panda is letting you clean |
| What a wonderful ending to such a difficult beginning. You and Panda deserve a nice treat! |
| angel clown scores again. |
| Celebrate!! You and Panda deserve it! |
| Hey, thanks for the comments everyone! You guys all knew that I still continued to clean house - right? Can you imagine the dust bunnies that would exist in my house if I didn't clean for six years!! Just that I always had to have Panda out of the house while doing so. Okay, that was my lame attempt at humor. On the other hand....knowing me....I'd probably all give those dust bunnies a name and give them a forever home. Ha Ha. (Another sad attempt at humor). I think most of us have experienced dogs freaking out at the sound of the vaccuum - guess it's the high pitched noise. Got Sheep - Your post made me chuckle as I keep thinking in those terms too...ummm maybe when Panda is 12 he'll finally allow me to clean his ears and trim him without full sedation. Thanks again everyone for the well wishes and ....YIPIIIIIII I can finally rake leaves, sweep floors and do other mundane work any time I wish! |
| Panda's story is beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing. What a lucky dog to have found you. But then, all your animals have found a wonderful home. This story reminds me of an autistic student at our school. One year, he walked past me every single day at lunch on his way out the door. I said, "Have a good lunch Steven." (not his real name)I said it every single day and he did not respond to me for eight months. People teased me that I was bugging him and that he'd never respond. But's it's always worth trying. Then one day I said it as he walked past me, and he kept on walking, and about twenty second later as he arrived at the outside door, I heard this little voice in the distance say, "You too, Miss Scott." He's in junior high now, and comes occasionally to pick up his little sister. He now starts conversations with me. Clearly, the effort was very much worth it. |
| AWWW Tracie your story warmed my heart. I too, worked for many years with autistic children and not sure if my patience is as a result, or it's because of my work with animals. Either way, it's the same approach...repetition, non threatening and eventually the day comes when one is rewarded but that's not why it's done. It's compassion towards others. Tracie you made a difference in that child's life. Kudos to you! The wonderful thing is I often broke barriers with the children by chatting about my pets and displaying numerous photos of them wherever I worked. I'm now working with High Risk Youth at an Inner city school and once again it's because of my animal stories that barriers are broken. I'm the lucky one that has been able to share my life with all these wonderful furkids. They have helped me to be the person I want to be.  |
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