Well, exactly one week after he arrived, on Friday afternoon, Sunny came out of hiding. Alayne walked into the dog room and found him lying on a bed in the sun. He looked at her, got a worried look on his face, glanced nervously over at his crate as if he was going to make a run for it … but stayed on the bed. Alayne didn't approach him but went about cleaning and tidying things up in the room. Holly, Cap and Bugsy were all swirling about her.
And then, as if he was taking his cue from the other dogs — which he was, in fact — he got up and walked towards her. Tentatively, shyly, but nevertheless wiggling his little tail. She bent down to love him up.
That was that.
He's been out ever since. By Saturday afternoon he'd made it down the hallway to the living room. That's when I took these photos. He's a cute fellow, not as chunky as he first appeared when hunched in his crate all the time.
He's definitely more comfortable with Alayne than me, but all I have to do to get him to come to me is get down on the floor with a couple of other dogs and start making all over them. He can't stand it, and heads on over for his own share.
At one point on Saturday, Alayne even saw him happily rolling around on his back in the sun in the dog room. (That solarium is wonderful on sunny winter days!)
Here he is meeting Wilbur, with Holly behind them:
(Looks like someone's diaper has slipped down.)
We joke to Holly that Sunny looks like her long lost son she left behind in Shreveport. She's not amused.
Here's the problem with his leg — the lower part is bent, as if there's no ankle, and the foot is split in two sections:
Another view, showing how that long singular section folds under the rest of the foot:
When he does try to use that leg, he ends up walking on the edge of the turned over foot. Much of the time he is hopping around, holding the leg up in the air. When he tries to walk on it, he kind of throws the foot down on the ground. It's a very awkward gait. It looks like a cross between a hop and a shuffle.
I'll take Sunny to see our surgeon, Dr. Kurt Schulz, and our internist, Dr. Marielle Goossens, for an evaluation. I'll wait until Sunny's a bit more comfortable with his new world, though — we don't want to overwhelm him. He's still not too sure of things, and doesn't have any confidence … despite his venturing out, we'd still describe him as fearful. But what a change from a week earlier!
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2014 Shelter Challenge Underway
The first round of the Shelter Challenge for 2014 is underway and runs until March 30th. You can vote every day here. To search for us, type in our name, Rolling Dog Farm, and Lancaster, NH 03584. We've won thousands of dollars in the previous contests, so your daily votes do bring in serious money for our disabled animals!
Please note that I cannot help with technical or voting problems. I also do not have an "inside track" to anyone at the Shelter Challenge, and I don't know any more about the contest than anyone else does. So if you find yourself having issues, please consult their FAQ page here and their Rules page, which is a pop-up you can find linked on this page.
Thanks for your votes!
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