Dog Log 6

So we have had Loki for three months now.  We're told that this is the milestone when we can be confident that we understand an adopted dog's "true personality."  If that's correct, then we have a wonderful dog.  

Loki is completely comfortable hanging out in our condo unit.  He likes to sleep in his upstairs bed at night and he hangs out with us in his living room bed while we read or watch videos.  During the day, he often keeps Becky company in the office or lounges around in the most trafficked location in the unit.  That would be at the spot connecting the kitchen, dining room, stairs, and front door.  It's the best place to be attuned to whatever is happening, but he's kind enough not to move when we need to step over him.  If I'm outside reading or playing my guitar, he'll often lie watching me from inside the sliding glass door.  

He's become more comfortable sitting outside with us, but he usually wants to get back inside unless both of us are out with him.  Even then, he'll soon prefer that we all go inside.  I suspect there are just too many surprising things happening outside: squirrels in the trees, leaves falling on the deck, flying insects, people walking by, etc.  He remains quite alert to the world when he's outside.  Nevertheless, he'll eventually agree to hang out with us as long as we like.  

He's also learning not to be so reactive to other dogs when we walk him.  This is largely a consequence of our giving him a small treat whenever he sees and comes close to a dog.  He is, though, still quite wary of other dogs and can lunge at them if surprised by them.  He remains a pretty nervous animal.  His separation anxiety seems to be abating, but he still assumes his post by the door whenever Becky leaves the house.  In the past, he would try to wake us by whimpering around 5:30, but he seems to be getting over that.

He occasionally comes around looking for attention or wanting to play.  There are times when he's quite excited and will play as long as we're up for it.  Other times, he quickly tires of the game (fetch) and just lies down to hoard his toy.  He's particularly fond of a plush toy in the shape of a lamb.  I guess we should expect that from a German shepherd, but he's also quite fond of a slightly spongy baseball which he'll pick up in his mouth, then drop it and bat it around the carpet with his front paws.

He seldom barks.  His main form of vocalizing is whimpering.  Understandably, he does bark when someone knocks on the door, but he'll also bark if he gets just a bit too excited about the prospect of going for a walk or when he's about to get his favorite treat a "Check Up."  Check Ups are crunchy bone-shaped treats that he gets daily to help reduce the buildup of plaque and tartar on his teeth.  We brush him while he chows down on the Check Up and he'll stand patiently for us to finish brushing him when he's done with the Check Up.  It's hard to know what the whimpering is about.  He'll do it in all manner of circumstances.  It might just be his way of getting our attention.

We feed him in the morning and again after our own dinner.  He'll usually lie patiently in the dining room until it's his turn to eat and then come quickly to the kitchen for his dinner.  He's remarkably alert to any sound that would suggest we're breaking into one of his treat bags, even if he's upstairs, and for reasons that are completely mysterious, he'll run upstairs to see me whenever I change from my jeans to my sweat pants or vice versa.  

Perhaps the biggest relief we've had recently is discovering that with enough treats (especially Check Ups), he'll tolerate a bath.  His first bath as a real fright.  His second bath was better, but his third bath was almost easy.  Again, it's all about treats.  Bribery is no crime in this house as long as it gets the job done.  We'll reduce his payments as he comes to understand what is required of him.  We are, after all, still trying to bring his weight down from 70 pounds to around 60.  Hopefully, treats will persuade him to climb into the car on his own when we need (or want) to drive him somewhere.  That's a challenge we haven't fully embraced yet.  

All in all, he seems to be a very a happy, well-adjusted boy who largely understands what we expect of him and is willing to accommodate us.  As a blonde German Shepherd, he's a pretty rare beast and his one floppy ear makes him truly special.  He adds so much joy to our lives.

The Dog Log 5

Well, it's been a month since I last posted news about our dog Loki.  He's doing well.  When we first got him, rescue groups and veterinarians told us about the "3-3-3 Rule."  It commonly takes an adopted dog about three days to get over the shock of getting placed in a new home.  It commonly takes about three weeks for a dog to start showing their true personality, and it take three months for their true personality to become complete revealed.  Well, we've had Loki for just shy of two months and he is definitely showing us new behaviors.  Before describing those behavior, let me catch you up on his medical conditions.

All of the health conditions he came with seem to be resolved, except for his gingivitis.  His hotspot is competely healed.  Vigorously brushing that spot doesn't bother him in the least.  His elbows are also completely healed.  His ear infection no longer seems like a problem, but he does scratch his face, ears, and other parts of his body now and again.  Were he only scratching his ears, I'd worry that the infection was not completely resolved.  His general scratching is, I suspect, the result of whatever allergy he has.  (We are bushing him daily and vacuuming our condominium unit every few days to keep dust mites at bay.  He produces a prodigious amout of hair!)  On one day when he was especially itchy, we gave him medication that puports to relieve the itch.  It seemed to work.

But on to the behavior changes.  When we first got Loki, he had no alpha dog qualities whatsoever.  He was, in fact, quite afraid of both people and dogs.  Over time, he has become pretty unconcerned about people, but his fear of dogs has lingered.  Over the past couple weeks, he has become a little more assertive in the face of other dogs, especially small dogs.  He occasionally will lunge to the end of his (short) leash and let out a sharp bark.  This happens especially in circumstances where we can't give the dog a wide berth.  It appears to me to be a defensive warning.  He still wants to run from clearly aggressive dogs that are his size or larger.  (Loki weighs 71 pounds -- a tad bit more than we would like.)  

More concerning, though, was his reaction to our 11-year old nephew, Mateo.  Loki had no problem with Mateo the first two times they met.  This might have had something to do with the fact that Loki was under a degree of sedation both times because of his health issues.  At their third meeting, Loki, unsedated, growled at Mateo and later snapped at him, while Mateo was calmly petting him.  (Loki behaved similarly to an overly enthusiastic child in a park some weeks earlier.)  Mateo was not doing anything that would justify defensive behavior on Loki's part, so I suspect that sometime in his past, Loki was treated badly by a child or children.  A few days later, we took Loki for his last visit to the vet, where he again growled.  This time, guarding a "puzzle treat" when the vet took it from him.    

We take this new behavior quite seriously, of course.  Most of all, we would like for Loki to be comfortable around Mateo so that they might become good friends.  To that end, we brainstormed ways we might slowly and safely acclimate Loki to Mateo.  To start, we bought Loki a muzzle.  We were pleased to find that he has little to no problem wearing it.  Mateo and his parents spent about three hours with us on Sunday (Mateo's fourth visit), while Loki was wearing his muzzle and slightly sedated.  It seems we do have a simple way to safely bring Loki and Mateo together.  The muzzle will also be useful, if (when) we need to have a vet provide health care that provokes too much anxiety for Loki.  Having a way for Mateo to be with Loki while everyone feels safe is a blessing.

Loki has developed a dislike of getting into our car.  Except for the first few times that we took him for a ride, I have had to physically lift him into the car.  I load him in via the hatchback.  This solved the immediate problem for a while, but recently, he's been trying to jump out as soon as I get him in.  We hope he will become comfortable getting into the car on his own, using a portable ramp (which is on order).  Unfortunately, that's looking less and less likely.  Without Loki's willing participation, it's unlikely that Becky will be able to take him anywhere in the car without me.   

Loki's separation anxiety appears to be diminishing, though he whimpers for the first five or so minutes after Becky leaves the house.  He'll wait by the door until she returns.  We're not sure how he is when we're both gone, but my presence (or absence) doesn't seem to be such a big deal for him.  It's likely that when we're both gone, he behaves pretty much as he does when just Becky leaves.

He has learned the signs for when we're about to take him for a walk.  He's usually very excited to be out the door.  He's good on a walk, staying close by my side and not straining at the leash.  If he gets out ahead of me, it only takes a light tug on the leash to bring him back to a heel position.  Sometimes he'll return to my side with just a verbal command.  The longest walk he's been on was just over 2 miles.  Not bad.  He'll obey a "sit" command pretty regularly and a "come" command without exception inside our condominum unit.  Outside, "come" is a bit more hit and miss.  It all depends on what's there to sniff.  "Stay" is still a challenge, particularly a "sit, stay."  He's inclined to either come to us or just lie down.

He has become more and more playful.  He loves to play fetch inside the unit with a couple of his toys,  and he's increasingly comfortable sitting with us outside on our little deck.  He's taken to sleeping in his bed in the office.  This is a blessing for me, as I'm less likely to trip over him in the dark as I go to bed or get up in the night. 

All in all, if we're seeing his "true personality" come to the fore, things look pretty good -- that is, if we can get him to be better with dogs and children.  Getting along with Mateo is a necessity, if he's to stay with us.  

Emptiness and the Tetralemma

Many people not raised as Buddhists have nonetheless heard of the Four Noble Truths.  It is often the only central topic of Buddhism that they know: (1) suffering is the state of existence, (2) suffering is caused by desire, (3) the path to the cessation of suffering is the elimination of desire, and (4) that path is composed of eight components (the Eightfold Path).  These truths are recorded in the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta which is an account of the Buddha's first lecture following his enlightenment.

The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta also recounts the Buddha's explanation of "dependent arising."  Its place in his first lecture suggests that it is equally important to understanding the Buddha's teaching.  Dependent arising is, however, a much more difficult concept.  While the Four Noble Truths provide a clear and simple account of basic human psychology, dependent arising refers to a puzzling metaphyiscal view.  On the surface, it describes a repeating sequence of changes to a person across successive reincarnated lives, but it also refers to the infinitely complex character of the objects of our experience, each moment in time.  It was this latter, metaphysical account of dependent arising that most attracted me to a more serious study of Buddhism.  

I had very little understanding of dependent arising until I read T.R.V. Murti's The Central Philosophy of Buddhism: A Study of the Madhymika System. Madhyamaka Buddhism was the first of the Mahayana Buddhist schools.  It broke from early Buddhism by recognizing "new" sutras, not in the original Buddhist canon.  The new sutras centered on two important ideas: the bodhisattva and sunyata (emptiness).  I found that by understanding emptiness, the metaphysical aspect of dependent arising made much greater sense.

The first and possibly most authoritative explanation of emptiness was advanced by the Madhyamaka's founding author, Nagarjuna.  Nagarjuna lived in the first and second century A.D.  He is sometimes refered to as the second Buddha.  His most import work, the Mulamadhyamakakarika sets up his account of emptiness by discussing a "tetralemma," which examines four possible states of affairs describing the basic facts of reality.  (1) The fundamental elements of reality exist (existence).  (2)  The fundamental elements of reality don't exist (nihilism).  (3) The fundamenatl elements of reality both exist and do not exist.  (4) The fundamental elements of reality neither exist nor do not exist.  Western logic tends to focus on only two ontological states: existence and non-existence.  Consequently, it seems a little odd to expand the options to four, particularly when the additional two are built upon existence and non-existence, but there's no harm done by considering all four.

Nagarjuna examined each of these possibilities and concluded that none of them stood up to criticism.  If that's true, then a clear understanding of reality is not possible, at least through rational investigation alone.  To begin, we can easily dispense with possibilities (3) and (4).  Consistent with Western analyses, (3) violates the Law of Noncontradiction:  no statement and its negation can be true at the same time.  (4) violates the Law of Excluded Middle:  for any statement, either it or its negation must be true.  This leaves us with options (1) or (2) as possibly describing the basic facts of reality.

We can dispense with (2) pretty quickly too.  The simple fact of consciousness tells us that the non-existence of the world is untenable.  Just as Descartes argued that thinking was sufficient to establish a thinker, consciousness establishes that there is some sort of reality.  Indeed, the argument for the existence of the world seems more certain than Descartes's argument for the existence of a thinker.  One might conclude then, that option (1) must be true, but Nagarjuna rejects (1) as well.  By doing so, he establishes that all things we might posit as composing reality are "empty."

So let's turn from the tetralemma to emptiness.  I understand the concept in two ways which I'll call "compositional" and "temporal."  Regarding the composition of reality:  what we take to be real is in fact constructed out of things that are ontologically more fundamental than what we perceive as real.  Consider any ordinary object, say, a coffee cup.  We think of it as an object, a thing, that exists in and of itself, but upon reflection informed by scientific examination, we know it not to be a thing, but instead, a collection of things -- atoms which in a sense are "more real" than any collection they might be a part of.  After all, the collection can only exist dependently upon its components.  We think of the atoms as having an existence in and of themselves, while the collection of atoms is just a lot of actual objects adhering in rather close proximity to one another.  

But we should recognize that the atoms that compose the cup are themselves a collection of smaller objects and don't really exist in and of themselves.  They are composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons.  Furthermore, protons and neutrons are composed of smaller particles still.  To get to what are the genuinely basic elements of the reality, we need to look deeper and deeper.  Modern science postulates fundamental elements (elementary particles), but only if they are part of a good explanation of our experience.  Currently, no physical theory can do that perfectly well.  So elementary particles, like quarks, leptons, and gauge bosons, are our best guess at the foundations of the physical world.  They are basically just practical conjectures.  

Madhyamaka Buddhism holds that everything that we might consider to be an object existing in and of itself, no matter how small, is in fact a compilation of yet smaller objects.  There are no elementary particles.  As the joke goes, "it's turtles all the way down."  Consequently, reality is not composed of anything that has permanent, independent existence.  Instead, realtiy is an ephemeral construction of infinitely smaller and smaller elements. Reality, as we see it, is sunyata or "empty" of true existence. 

It is quite reasonable to say that thinking that the world is composed of an infinite regress of smaller and smaller compound objects is a leap of faith.  In all likelihood, it's a non-falsifiable claim.  At the same time, it is also a leap of faith to say that reality is ultimately composed of elementary (uncuttable) particles.  We simply are attracted to this atomist view because we are used to thinking about the objects around us which we now understand are collections of infered objects and don't exist in and of themselves.  Upon closer reflection, there is no telling what the basic substructure of the universe is or if there even is a basic substructure.  

This is how we understand emptiness through an examination of the composition of objects.  We can also understand it temporally, through causal relationships.  Without going into much detail, the Madhyamaka concept of emptiness is based also on the notion that no object can be said to be either completely separate from or joined with its causes or its effects.  The temporal boundaries of apparent objects do not actually exist, despite the seemingly discrete existence of moments in time.  Reality is not a sequence of distinct states of affairs.  It is a smear of constant change, without objects in causal relations to one another.  Ultimately, the world is one, ever changing, effervescent phenomenon.  We cannot pin it down at any point in time and assert that what we have pinned down exists.

In short, Madhyamaka Buddhism asserts that there is no metaphysical theory that can conclusively establish anything as existing in and of itself, either compositionally or temporally.  So a full analysis of the tetralemma tells us that each of the four possible states of reality cannot be confidently asserted.  The examiniation of the tetralemma and the concept of emptiness leave us with a theoretical blank slate, upon which nothing can be written.  

So how does this help us understand dependent arising?  The answer is imbedded in those two words.  "Arising" refers to the fact that a world is undeniably present to us. "Dependent" refers to its character as empty. 

Madhyamaka Buddhists meditate on emptiness in order to become better disposed toward gaining enlightenment, i.e., freedom from delusion, desire (attraction), and hatred (aversion).  These three "poisons" are the causes of suffering.  Understanding that the world we experience is empty (devoid of objects that have an existence in and of themselves) holds the key to avoiding the delusions we naturally fall prey to.  Reflecting on emptiness also mitigates our desires and our hatreds for any specific thing or state of affairs, since we recognize that the objects of our desires and hatreds do not inherently exist.  This allows us to maintain a calm equinimity in difficult circumstances.  

On a personal note, I have found that by meditating on emptiness, I am -- as the Madhyamika suggests -- able to cope much better with whatever trial I face.  Additionally, the simple observation that my surroundings are rationally unintelligible and that they are in constant, effervescent flux, imbues the world with profound beauty.  There's no wonder to me that dependent arising was among the Buddha's most fundamental teachings.

The Dog Log 4

We had quite the ordeal yesterday.  Loki was due for his follow up ear medication.  Last week, we sedated him and had the vet apply the ointment.  This time, it was up to us.  There are three sedatives we are to use.  The first two are given in pill form.  We found an easy way to get him to take those.  The third ointment is applied to his gums and is more difficult to administer.  Loki does not like it when we try to lift his lip.  Last week, Becky was able to administer the third sedative.  As you might recall from Dog Log 3, the three sedatives made him completely limp.  

Since we were able to apply all the sedatives last time, I was pretty confident we could do it again -- fool that I am.  Loki put up quite a fuss.  He eventually fled from us whenever we approached him.  It was clear that the third sedative was not going to happen.  Since there was no way we would be able to apply his ear ointment unless he was completely knocked out, we gave up the effort.    

About an hour later, I noticed he was sleeping quite peacefully.  In fact, the first two sedatives had finally taken their full effect.  He was limp as a rag doll.  That allowed us to get the ear ointment in him with only a little difficulty.  From start to finish, it was nearly a five hour ordeal -- one we hope we won't have to repeat for a long time to come.  It's promising, though, that we might not need the third sedative in the future.  We have another appointment with his vet in two weeks for another round of vaccines, but the prescribed treatment for his ear infection is now complete, and his hotspot appears fully healed.  

The next hurdle is to give him a bath.  Becky ordered a "Wondurdog Dog Wash Kit," designed to divert water from our shower head to a hose with a flexible plastic shower head, essentially a handheld shower head.  My hope is that by slowly introducing Loki to water in this way, he'll tolerate bathing.  Installing the kit was not difficult, though it might need some adjustment in case it begins to leak.  Loki's discomfort in confined spaces complictes desensitizing him to all that will go into bathing.  We'll need to rely on patience and persistence.   

Loki no longer seems to have much of a desire to scratch himself.  It's nice to see him lurking around our unit without the collar cone, though he still wears it at night.  He's very compliant about donning the cone.  Speaking of the night, he again suddenly and very loudly barked in the middle of the night.  We've also seen him begin to softly bark/whimper while he is napping in the evening.  It makes me wonder whether dogs can tell the difference between their dreams and their waking life.

The Dog Log 3

Loki had his third visit to the vet yesterday.  More on that below, but let me first catch you up on the past week or so.  

The last major event in Loki's medical care was his ear cleaning.  We were able to super-sedate him to the point that he allowed (with some resistence) a liquid to be poured into his ear canals.  We then wiped up the accumulated wax and debris with a cotton ball.  Having completed that task, we decided to stop torturing him until we could get him to the vet nine days later.  She would apply a "longer lasting" treatment for his ear infection.  

In the mean time he showed a few unusual behaviors.  He twice refused to climb into our car.  The first time was when we were taking him home from his Saturday obedience training.  Eventually, I had to pick him up and put him in the back seat.  I thought he would struggle during the process, but he didn't.  He was completely compliant.  A few days later we wanted to drive him to a local park so that he had some good experiences following a car ride, but again, he refused to get in the car.  We abandoned the effort.  There are only so many stressful things one should do to anyone, and Loki was having more than his share.

One night, Loki decided to sleep downstairs.  Normally, he sleeps in our bedroom; however, an hour after the lights went out, we were awakend by his very loud, agressive barking.  Loki very, very seldom barks, so something quite unique set him off.  He might have been awakened by someone dumping recycling in a bin outside our open kitchen window.  He might have awakend simply to an unfamiliar place or he might have been having a bad dream.  He barked in the middle of the night once before, shortly after he came to live with us, and I have seen him barking softly in his sleep.  So any of the three explanations for his barking fit are plausible.  Hopefully, whatever sets him off will no longer be an issue as he settles in with us.

Anyway, on to the big news: Loki had his third visit to the vet yesterday.  The whole process started with us beginning his sedation at 1:00.  We gave him 1,800 mg of gabapentin and 300 mg of trazodone.  At first, he refused to swallow them, spitting them out from the "pill pockets" in which we hid them.  Later he swallowed them eagerly when we smeared them with a pepperoni flavored cream.  Two hours later we dosed him with 0.7 ml of dexmedetomidine which we applied to his gums.  He was more compliant with this than he had been when we cleaned his ears nine days earlier.  Once that was done, it was time to drive him to the vet.

When we took him to the car, he was barely able to stand.  That he could was critical as otherwise I wouldn't be able to lift him from the floor.  He's a pretty big dog.  But I did manage to load him into the car.  Once inside the vet's clinic, it was as if he had been given a general anasthetic.  He posed no resistence to anything done to him.  The vet applied the "longer lasting" medication into his ears and took his sedated state as an opportunity to draw blood for further tests and to trim his nails.  Throughout all the procedures, he didn't flinch.  Finally, the vet gave him a medication designed to help him recover from the dexmedetomidine.  We managed to get him into a position that allowed me to pick him up and carry him to the car.  It was 5:30.  He had been with the vet since 4:00.

Once home, it was a bit of a struggle to unload him out of the car, but we managed.  He was finally, safely home.  We were extremely pleased that we were able to pull all this off and get so much done for him, but as the evening wore on, he showed no signs of recovery.  We began to worry.  He was able to raise his head around 10:00 PM when we could feed him, but that was about it for any sign of voluntary movement.  We went bed at 11:00 with him inert on the floor downstairs, but at midnight, I heard him come into our bedroom.  It was a reassuring sign that all would be well.  

The next day, he was still pretty lethargic on his morning walk, but perked up just fine by afternoon.  His hotspot is healed, so we've taken his collar cone off which means he's now able to "investigate" more of our unit than before.  We'll need to monitor him as he might try to get into things he shouldn't.  Of coure, we are putting the cone back on over night when we can't watch him, but he hasn't shown any signs of wanting to scratch or bite at his skin enough to worry about.

Having dealt with his most pressing medical issue, the vet has now pointed out that he has some inflamed spots on his elbows.  They need to be treated with the same topical antibiotic that we used on his hotspot.  The inflamed elbows aren't severe problems.  I expect they'll clear up quickly.   

All in all, Loki is doing fine.  He's even become playful at times, though he remains pretty skittish on his walks. 

The Dog Log 2

On July 16th, Loki got his first visit to a local vet.  It went surprisingly well, probably because she gave him lots of treats through the early stages of the exam.  We were particularly interested in the progess of his hotspot which was deemed to be still enflamed.  The vet was able to clear away the remains of the scab on his hotspot without him objecting much.  That was a big surprise.  Since it's still enflamed, he'll need to stay in his collar cone for about a week or so.  Becky continues to treat it, but with some procedures she hadn't been doing previously.  

He also has an infection in both ears.  That will take some daily treatment which dogs generally don't like.  If he doesn't tolerate it, we might need to use a less effective, but "long lasting," medication.  His conditions led the vet to declare that he is indeed allergic to something.  It could be environmental or it could be ticks or fleas.  The ear infection suggests an environmental allergy.  His hotspot and that ticks were found on him in the Solano County shelter would implacte ticks.  She said that food allergies are rare. He also has gingivitis.  

During the visit, Loki spontaneously volunteered a stool sample which we're having examined to learn more about his condition.  We were pleased to learn that because his current dose of seditive is quite mild, we shouldn't expect significantly new behaviors when he comes off them.  All in all, there might be a good deal of daily care we'll need to give him for the time being to overcome these conditions.  We were glad to have a thorough exam done, and we look forward to getting him in good, healthy shape.  

The vet gave us the task of cleaning his ears and administering an ointment to clear up the ear infection.  Unfortunately, Loki strongly objected to the ear cleaning, even as he had 1,200mg of sedative in him.  Per the vet's instruction, we took him back to the vet to have them try to clean his ears.  They too were unsuccessful.  Today, however, we succeeded after upping the dose of sedative to 18,000mg and adding two more additional sedatives.  He was pretty much a rag doll when we administered the ear cleaner, objecting a bit at first, but allowing us to get the job done.  He was completely compliant when we administered the ear infection ointment.  We're very happy to have got that done.  We'll have to clean his ears periodically from now on, so hopefully we'll get him to tolerate it without the sedatives.  His hotspot continues to show progress healing, but he still needs his collar cone.  

He's also gaining some confidence being near other dogs.  Yesterday, we took him to his first day of obedience school where he was around ten other dogs.  He was quit apprehensive at first, but eventually calmed down a bit.  The trainer believes he'll do fine in the class.  We have "homework" for him to do before his second training session next week.  It amounts to a few simple behaviors: getting his attention, sitting, lying down, controlled walking, and recognizing his name.  We'll start his homework tomorrow after he has recovered from today's sedatives.  

Right now he's sleeping quite soundly, and we understand it's best to let a sleeping dog lie.  I'm hoping he's having a good dream.

The Dog Log

On July 8, Becky and I adopted a dog: Loki.  He has a sketchy history and probably some neuroses.  So I thought I'd make a record of how he adjusts to his new home.  Here's a little background on him.  

The Sonoma County police found him on April 16th abandoned in a crate without water along Highway 680, between the towns of Benicia and Cordelia.   Loki was estimated to be 5 years old.  At 55 pounds, he was very underweight and his fur was extremely matted.  Clearly, he had been badly treated or at least badly neglected.  He was taken to the Solano County animal shelter.  While there, he underwent a umbilical hernia operation.  He was neutered and vaccinated.  At one point, large ticks were found dropping from his coat.  Beyond his recent traumatic experiences, there's no telling just how hard his life was before being abandoned. 

On June 6th, Loki was rescued by CalPaws, a dog rescue group that looks out for German Shepherds in particular.  Loki is by no means a pure bread shepherd, but he's enough shepherd that CalPaws found him a foster home in Sacramento.  He had reached an adequate weight of 67 pounds.

When we first visited Loki on June 29th, he had healed from his surgeries, but a "hotspot" had reappeared on his rump, something that was an issue earlier during his care at the shelter.  It was about the size of a quarter -- not so serious as to change our decision to adopt him, but a few days later it expanded to at least 3 inches in diameter.  Apparently, he aggravated it overnight.  A vet in Sacramento put him on antibiotics, an anti-inflamatory, and a sedative to keep him healthy and comfortable.  The spot was now a more serious problem, but still not enough to change our minds about adopting him; so we brought him home.

We've had him in a recovery collar cone for over a week now to keep him from further aggravating the hotspot, and thankfully, it's healing nicely.  He continues to get twice daily doses of his meds which we feed him by hand, powderized and wrapped in treats at each meal.  I expect he'll be healed soon.  

He was extremely anxious during his first day with us.  He paced about our condominium unit.  On walks, he was cautious, if not frightened of every dog or human he saw.  Happily, he has calmed down and is more comfortable on walks; however today he actively opposed going for a walk.  He backed away from the open door and bit at the leash, trying to pull it from me.  When I got on my hands and knees to comfort him and remove the leash, he pinned my hands to the carpet with his paws, clearly trying to prevent me from getting up.  It was a very puzzling encounter.

We've convinced him that his bed is a good place to be, but he'll lie down just about anywhere.  He's not too particular.  He generally sleeps through the night at the foot of our bed, but on three occasions he woke and started barking in the darkness.  Sometimes he craves attention; other times, he avoids us.  He sometimes gets exuberant, but he wimpers a lot, especially when Becky leaves the house.  Separation anxiety is certainly one of his challenges, but he wasn't destructive when we both left him during a 90 minute trial separation.  It will be interesting to see how he behaves after his hotspot heals and he's off his sedative.  

Loki has a lot to learn and much more to teach.