It’s been a few weeks since I posted about the arrival of Monet from Texas and many of you have written me very worried because I’ve been silent. I’ve been very busy most of this month working on an event for my job. Nevertheless, if Rosie were still here, I would have found a way to take her places, post her adventures and share her joy. However, Rosie isn’t here, Monet is, and there isn’t a lot of joy to share right now.

In physical terms, like Rosie, Monet has the odd jaw, her coat is sparse and her skin is very fragile. She has a hole in the roof of her mouth leading to her nasal cavity just as Rosie once had, and I will need to have that fixed soon. Thankfully, there is only a slight bow to her legs so she has full mobility.

Any resemblance to Rosie ends with the physical. Aggressive or defensive behavior in Rosie, who had no means of escaping or defending herself, would have been understandable; yet, Rosie was loving, friendly, good natured and only occasionally snippy toward another dog (when she thought they were going to steal her food or her mom). Monet, on the other hand, who can run, jump, growl and bark, likes to bite. Monet is often aggressive toward other dogs.

What’s harder to understand is that Monet tends to bite or attack without any warning. She can be sitting in my lap, calm and sweet. If I move my arm in a way she dislikes, she turns into a Tasmanian devil. If she is asleep in my lap or on the bed and I wake her, or another dog wakes her, she shoots up like a rocket and starts snapping at the air. When she has these outbursts, it takes several minutes of holding her and talking quietly to calm her down. At first, I thought perhaps she had areas on her body that were tender; no,that’s not it. She doesn’t have to be touched to have an episode. Then I thought it was the stimulation of other dogs, no, that’s not it either, she had an episode in the car and she tried to bite someone at a store. While Rosie’s burden was life in a deformed body, Monet’s is life with emotional and mental scars.

After consulting with a trainer I know, I booked an appointment with Pam at Buddha Dog www.buddhadog.com for Reiki and T-Touch. Pam can and does work with some of the most damaged dogs around but Monet fought all attempts to calm her, kept her body rigid and could not relax. She tried to bite Pam at every opportunity and shrieked at the top of her lungs. I sat out of range of Monet’s vision with tears running down my cheeks. When I couldn’t take it any more, I returned and Monet rubbed her little head all over my face and neck ecstatic to see me. She was so happy that I hadn’t run away, I joked to Pam that maybe we had made some progress anyway, and then I moved my arm and Monet bit me.

I took Monet thinking she needed a little TLC and then we could move on with Rosie’s education mission. I wanted Monet to have a clean slate; I wanted Monet to bring her own personality and story to our mission. Since Monet sits nicely in my purse when we go out, I changed stores so she could go with me on errands. I bought her new food and water dishes. I changed brands of coconut oil, I even bought a new pillow, blankets and sheets for the bed – yes, I am that crazy. I wanted to avoid any comparisons to Rosie and I’ve been trying to figure out how to post her photos without it seeming like she is riding Rosie’s coattails.

When I brought Rosie home, I had no idea what I was doing or where our journey would take us. When Monet arrived, I thought we had a mapped out path but I guess I was wrong.

Although Monet makes me miss Rosie even more than I thought possible, I am not giving up. I am going to work on building her confidence and am trying a T-Touch wrap on Monet to see if that calms her.I may have to consider the possibility of Valium or Prozac for her on a short term basis (I am hoping to avoid drugs as much as possible). I’ve been successful in rehabbing dogs like Monet before but I was much stronger emotionally and knew what I was getting into before they arrived. Monet’s issues are a bit of a surprise.

On another topic, some of you have asked how my husband Eddie has been handling Rosie’s passing as he clearly adored his little girl. Only a few people know that Eddie has been in India nearly a year. He left the day before Rosie’s last surgery to work on a music project. He wasn’t here when she passed and had to get the news via a text message from me. In November, Eddie started to feel ill and sought medical attention. After weeks of severe respiratory problems he was informed that he had a fungal infection in his lungs that would leave him with less than 30% use of his lungs if he survived. The Dr would not clear him to fly as they didn’t feel his lungs would handle the 24+ hour trip. In February, he had not responded to treatment and the doctors felt he was stable but still not capable of working or traveling. By some miracle, I met someone who recommended I get Eddie into a clinic in India that used ozone therapy. By another miracle, a clinic offering this treatment was just a few miles from him and he began treatment there in March. After several months of ozone therapy, his lungs are around 90% functioning and he will be able to return home next month. As happy as he is to get home, he is dreading the moment that Rosie’s loss is real and her absence is visible.

As I said, I am trying to find ways to share Monet’s story as she clearly has quite a sad one buried in that little head and heart. I will do my best to post more regularly and share how/if the T-Touch wrap works on her.

Keep her in your thoughts, she needs all the good wishes and good energy she can get!!!
Peace,
Cinnamon

Here is Monet on July 12. She thoroughly enjoyed a short walk around the ranch. It’s moments like these when she is smiling up at me and happy to hang out with me that give me hope. We have bonded…she is very much a velcro dog and will not be ignored. I love the little stinker and believe she loves me – it’s going to take patience and some outside help to get her to where she needs to be in life.