This is a picture of Georgia a day or two after we’d brought her home - skinny!!!
Since Georgia is the star of this show, I wanted to share some background information on her. We got her from the Indianapolis Humane Society in November of 2008; we had just gotten married and moved into our house in October of 2008. We both knew that we wanted a dog, so once we were pretty well settled we went to the Humane Society on a rainy Thursday night. We hadn’t determined any certain size or type of dog; we just knew we’d prefer a female dog. Both of us grew up with female dogs so we were more comfortable with that. Nothing against male dogs though, my mom recently got a male puppy and he’s the sweetest little guy! My sister also has a sweet male dog – shout out to Owen & Auburn! I was nervous because I knew I could very easily get attached to a puppy/dog in a matter of minutes. We walked into the “big dog” room first and they all were barking like crazy at us, all except one who was totally silent, sitting down wagging her tail. She and I made eye contact and the rest is history. I knew right away she was the one before we even got her into a “playroom” to interact with her. Nathan said he knew pretty quickly that this dog would be coming home with us in the very near future. The paper on her cage had her listed as a lab mix (there are varying opinions on this matter), her age was roughly 9-10 months, and she was shy/timid and had very recently been spayed. We also found out that she was a stray that had been picked up by Animal Control and then transferred to the Humane Society.
Since it was already about closing time for the Humane Society and a week night, we decided to put her on hold, discuss it and then possibly pick her up Friday after work. It wasn’t a hard decision; she was such a sweet girl. So, on a very rainy Friday afternoon, I picked her up and brought her home. The employees at the Humane Society had named her Cecile; it was a no brainer that we would change it. She just didn’t look like a Cecile. We kicked around names for awhile and at Nathan’s suggestion went with Georgia . He knew this was a name I’ve always loved. I used to live in Georgia and one of my favorite movies is Gone with the Wind that is set in Georgia , so it all made sense. At first it was Georgia Peach, because honestly how cute is that? Then I changed it to Georgia Marie as that is one of my all time favorite names. Might as well, right? So, Georgia Marie it is. I think I’m the only one that calls her that though, which is fine since it would be kind of weird if everyone called a dog by her first and middle name. And yes, I do know that to some I’m already beyond weird for giving my dog a middle name at all! That’s alright, because the best part about a dog is that she loves me no matter how weird I am!!
Now, back to our first night with Georgia …I pick her up, I bring her home. My dad (my mom was out of town) and Nathan’s parents come over to meet our new dog. Things were going well and then the coughing started. Not, just a little cough, I’m talking loud, deep coughs that sometimes resulted in spitting up. It went on all night; I really thought maybe she was dying (I’m a worrier). Saturday morning we took her to the vet (he & his staff are wonderful) and he knew right away that it was kennel cough. He also informed us that she had two different types of worms (one of which humans could catch – awesome!), had recently had flees and was too skinny. Needless to say we left the vet’s office with several types of meds/antibiotics, special shampoo, and special powder to put in her special food and a large bill!!!! Special, huh? Things started to improve in a few short days. Then when I started to think she was on the upswing I came home from work one day to see her spay incision was clearly infected. Our vet is just down the street and was able to see her right away. He took one look at it and said it was badly infected. His exact words were, “It looks like a blind toddler did her spay.” Remember her spay was done before we were in the picture, so word to the wise, really consider where you have your pet spayed or neutered if you have the opportunity. She had to be on antibiotics for two weeks, which worked wonders almost instantly. Things got much better after that. The next major medical event was this past November when she had oral surgery, but we’ll discuss that later. Our first three weeks with Georgia were pretty stressful to say the least, but she was a trooper the entire time…always so cooperative at the vet and always took any and all meds with no problem, but that could be because peanut butter was involved.
Since Georgia was a stray we don’t know her history. We think either she was under socialized making her very submissive or she was mistreated in some way. It’s a total guessing game. She’s a people pleaser for sure, she’s known for just falling on the floor in front of you waiting for you to pet her. I always knew she was sensitive, but through our two training lessons with C, I’ve realized just how sensitive she is. I asked C if her sensitivity would cause her to be a less than ideal therapy dog (I know, not the most up-to-date term, but I’m using it anyway), but she said that sometimes the sensitive ones make the best therapy dogs; I sure hope so.
There’s much more I could say about Georgia and her history with us along with her personality, but I’m sure I’ll get to that in other posts. She sure has a sorted & mysterious past, doesn’t she? It’s like a doggie soap opera!
I plan to discuss our consultation and two lessons in my upcoming posts, so I hope you’ll stay tuned. Lastly, I wanted to give credit to the photographer who took the picture I've posted at the top of the blog and in the "About Me" section. She is fabulous and wonderful to work with, her name is Heidi Clark. Check out her website: http://www.heidiswissphoto.com. You will see other pictures from Heidi throughout the blog.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day Eve!
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