Welcome to the Pack!

Almost 7 weeks after Caya came home, I was sitting like usual eating my breakfast and keeping an eye on the pups as they ate. I had to leave soon for a week long trip and I was so worried about Caya. (Tika was so low maintenance besides the normal puppy things it was almost a relief). Earlier in the week I had a less than satisfying exchange of emails with Caya’s breeder because of the dissociativeness and also the fact that she was SO tiny. The vet was convinced she was probably a few weeks younger than we were told. I was less than pleased and pretty much decided that despite all the accolades, the breeder was essentially running a puppy mill.

So, right before I was to leave for the airport, I went to say good bye to my girls. Tika, as usual, was her sloppy, happy self. But, then out of nowhere came the little furball and she plopped on my lap and flipped over and held my hand with her little front paws. “What’s this, little one? Huh?” I started rubbing her belly and scratching her ears and she gave me puppy kisses and love bites. I held her up close under my chin and just hugged her little body. No screams just love, love, love. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.” I just cried for relief, while the two pups licked my face and looked at me like I was crazy. Welcome to the family little Cayudle Weasel, welcome to the family. 

What's up with Caya?

Something is wrong.  Caya is not behaving like a normal puppy a'tall.  

Puppies, so I thought, want to be around you, want to play, want to bond.

Not this one.  We have confirmed colitis and giardia which we are treating her for.

(Note: Since I am posting these after the fact, Caya has become the best damn pill taker I have EVER had, we just recently got hooked on the TV series House with Hugh Laurie, I think Caya is House)

However, for the next month, I started getting more and more worried. Caya seemed to not have a very good temperament. She was almost vicious with Tika and would scream if I tried to hold her. Not a “I wanna play, lemme go” whimper, but a scream that chilled me. She seemed very dissociative with us. I started talking to canine behavior specialists, our vet, people on the internet. The answer was from one extreme to another: Be patient to she might have to be put down!

I kept with the normal schedule, I would sit there while they ate because I wanted the dogs to be trained in respecting the territory of the food bowls. We played, we had crate time, all normal. Caya had developed a new annoying habit, it was called ‘flip the water bowl’ she’d place her little paw on her bowl, launch it and flood the kitchen or bedroom or crate. She would also find places to hide outside so that we couldn’t get to her. Caya the weasel was rapidly becoming Caya, you little shit. Still no indication of affection for her new pack.

Baby, what is going on with you?