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| Name: |
Jazzy
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Age: |
Five years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
Terrier mix
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| Home: |
Bristol, Virginia, USA |
This beautiful girl with the soulful eyes is Jazzy.
Or Jazzy Girl. Or Jazzy Bear. Or just Jazz. And she has quite a story.
Jazzy is a rescue. My nephew adopted her from a shelter last November. We really don't know a lot about her. The vet estimated her age to be between 5 and 7 years old and said she is a terrier mix. My nephew knew he would be moving in July and planned to take Jazzy with him. But because of circumstances out of his control, he wasn't going to be able to. So in June he asked me if I would be able to give Jazzy a home. I already had two small house dogs. That was plenty to take care of. And Jazzy is a lot bigger than my dogs. We really don't know her history, but after being around her I feel she had at some time been mistreated. I wanted to try to give her a good home, but I didn't want to take her and it not work out. I didn't know if my other two dogs would accept her. I didn't know if Jazzy would accept us. And it has to be so confusing for a dog to be moved to a new home. But there are two things I can't say no to ... one is my nephew and the other is a dog in need. So on July 9th Jazzy came to live with us.
The first couple of weeks were tough. Jazzy was so confused. And she suffered from severe separation anxiety. I had never seen anything like it. I had to crate her when I left the house because I didn't know what she would do. We had a few little scuffles between the three dogs and I knew I had to be sure the little ones were safe. Jazzy would get so upset when I left she nearly destroyed her crate. And her bed would be soaked from drool. I would only crate her for short periods of time. My neighbor told me that Jazzy would howl the whole time I was gone. I didn't know what to do. I knew she was in distress. I wanted to help her.
I took Jazzy to the vet. The doctor was able to help me so much. She talked to me a long time about separation anxiety and how to help Jazzy. The first step was medication. She put Jazzy on an anti-anxiety pill twice a day. It helps to calm Jazzy's brain so she can learn. The doctor told me things I needed to do to help Jazzy. It took a few days to see any changes, but once the medication started working I was able to start teaching Jazzy the things she needed to learn.
I will say it hasn't been easy. Tears have been shed. But now, two months later, we are making progress. Jazzy is becoming more independent. Before she was very clingy. She whined a lot. Now she is playful. She loves to chase squirrels. And she is getting along with my other two dogs. Sometimes she gives them doggie kisses. She will go into her crate just by me asking her to. No more panic. No more drooling. She even sleeps in it at night with the door open. It's her place. She feels secure there. She minds better than any dog I've ever known. And she is very smart. She used to be shy around new people, especially men. It took her a while to warm up to my husband. But now she isn't afraid to meet someone new. Yes, we are making progress. But we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Hopefully soon we can wean Jazzy off of the medication and she will have forgotten all the bad things and only remember the good. But mostly I want her to know that she has found a forever home and she is loved so, so much.
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