42. Kopi and the girl who was afraid of dogs

Christmas Day 2006.

Rehoming a dog - Many people do not know what to advise.

There is a need to teach the new owner how to housetrain the dog and know the dog routines to make rehoming likely to be successful.

It was nearly 2 p.m when I visited Rachel's parents for a Christmas lunch. A Shih Tzu needed emergency eye surgery as his cornea was rupturing. Liquid drops oozed out of the torn area of around 3 mm long. I could not wait till the next day. A pre-teen girl's best friend's eyesight was going to be lost. This surgery might save his eye-sight. The Shih Tzu had suffered a corneal abrasion over 30% of the cornea when he was at a boarding kennel. I had advised the mother not to bring the dog home as the corneal injuries were extensive and most owners do not know how to care for such wounds. But the mother wanted the dog home.

Maybe I should be firm. But it could be misconstrued as trying to make money out of her. So on Christmas day, the father and daughter came with a dog whose eyeball was going to deflate at any moment. A deflated eyeball meant no more normal eye. The pre-teen girl might feel sad. This must be her pet although I did not ask. This was an emergency surgery needed and it was done.

That was why I was late for my Christmas lunch invitation. And to see Kopi at the new apartment. Kopi was on "trial" as he was being rehomed. I had promised to take him back after 7 days if the new owners did not want him for any reason.

"Christmas Day is decision day today," Rachel's mum said to me. "I told Rachel that the Chihuahua had to go back to you as she had not dared to hold the Chihuahua since we got him 9 days ago."

She saw disbelief in my eyes. "Rachel just looked at him from inside his crate. She had fear of dogs since her uncle's Beagle pounced on her back when she was 3 years old." A child of 3 years must be extremely frightened of dogs after such a bad experience. The fear imprint of the child must be around 3 years of age. For a puppy, the first fear imprint period was around 8-12 weeks. Any painful or frightening experience would be remembered for life.

Would Rachel get over her canine phobia? Would she think that this Chihuahua would bite her to death? Actually, the Chihuahua would be more fearful of her as he is into his 2nd fear imprint period. But he seemed to be most wanted and loved in this family, taking advantage of them. Barking out loudly to get the aged mother's attention. Barking out loudly as strangers were outside the apartment. His playpen was near the front door as there was no other place to locate him. But when the lights were switched off, he just kept quiet and slept by himself. That was his routine in the previous house.




I felt sorry for Kopi as I thought Rachel had pestered her mum for a dog. Her mum had asked my opinion about the best breed for her child. I thought she should have a Chihuahua as it was not a large breed and she could not get over her fear of dogs. Mum was not really in favour of such a tiny breed. Some bigger breed, she said. But which one? Her child had a fear of dogs in the recess of her mind. A bigger breed would be difficult for her to handle. So, I proposed that Rachel keep Kopi for 7 days as a trial and if things did not work out, I would take him back. If Kopi was lucky, he would have many happy Christmas to come.

"However," Rachel mum's laughed. "Rachel started to pick up the Chihuahua this morning. So, I think we will keep him."

Rachel and 2 friends were playing with the Chihuahua outside the apartment, at the lift lobby area. The dog was running up and down, was on a bicycle and went down for a walk. He was exhausted after 2 hours.

"Let him rest," I advised. "Otherwise he gets stressed. Diarrhoea is one sign of stress of over-exercising."

The dog was put inside the crate. He could not open his eyes. He peed on the yellow towel which was taken away.

"He peed twice on two different floor mats outside my bathroom door," Rachel's mum said. "I don't know why. But I threw away the floor mats."

"You don't need to throw them away," I said. "Just wash them thoroughly to remove the urine smell. As for his misbehaviour, the reason he peed on the floor mat was probably what he did at the previous house. The floor mat feeling under his feet conditioned him to pee there."

So, are Chihuahuas hard to housetrain? Kopi would pee on the newspapers inside the crate if he had to. Now he is an "adolescent" and may want to pee on the floor mat to "urine mark" his territory. Male dogs do that. But most likely, he had been used to doing that for the past months in the previous residence.

Neutralise the floor mat of urine smell so that the dog will not pee on it again. There is no need to throw them away. In any case, Kopi had a history of peeing on floor mats. It could be a nuisance for some owners. Other owners just accept it as his "toilet location."

I over-stayed my welcome at the apartment. Other guests left after lunch.

I had to advise that Kopi needed to be rested. He had great fun and exercise for over 3 hours. Any over-exercising a Chihuahua could be stressful and could cause diarrhoea. Maybe death due to the toy breed's inability to have sufficient blood glucose level. However, Kopi is over 6 months old and has passed that danger period of low blood glucose level which usually happens at around 2-3 months of age.

So Kopi was put back into the playpen. "Put 2 towels to cover his playpen," I said as I cover the top of the playpen with one towel . "He needs to feel secure." Rachel's mum put another towel and used a towel clip to attach it. The picture showed one towel and Kopi falling asleep immediately.




It was around 5 p.m as I was the last guest to leave. But I knew that Kopi should have a good life in this new home. If he was tall enough, he could see the ships all lined up parallel to each other in the blue green seas of East Coast. Fresg sea breezes and a close friendship with a girl who was once afraid of dogs.

It was good that Kopi has a permanent and warm home now.