Boondocking Blogger: Reporting on Tasha

I just want to give you an update on Tasha. I’ve been very busy with the dogs, mainly Tasha. I had to train her so that she could stay home with the “pack” while I’m gone for two weeks. My good friend Lupe will look after them and if Tasha had required more care or being separated from the big girls, I would have had to leave her at the vet’s. For such a young pup with a terrible start in life, I had to do everything that I could to have her stay home without asking too much of Lupe.

Well… this little fur ball is so bright that I have to show her only ONCE and she gets it. Plus she’s a feisty little thing, growling at the matron Queenie to get her bone! Queenie does not seem overly impressed. . . perhaps a bit surprised at Tasha’s impertinence. I have been so pleasantly surprised to see that all three adult dogs have been very patient and wholly accepting of the pup. A very good thing since she now has big girls to teach her how to be a dog. And she’ll avoid being fixated on a human.

At the beginning, I had to leave her in the bodega since it remains much warmer than the RV during the night. The nights get cold enough that I have to start the heater in the early hours of the morning. But last week, pressed as I was to fully integrate her into the “family”, plus feeling terrible at her crying being separated and staying alone for the night, that I moved her bed into the RV right next to my bed. I had made her a bed with a cardboard box sideways and a thick foam mattress into a flannel pillowcase to sleep on. So I took it in. What a surprise! Tasha has not had a single accident in the house! She’s quiet all night. But she’s an early riser. In less than two weeks, she has mastered asking to go out or come in, and the steps of course. She’s clean and comes when called. I feel totally secure leaving her with the threesome and Lupe.

She’s growing in ways that I had not foreseen. She’s gaining in body length and in height only it seems. It’s almost as if her body is trying to restore her skeleton and muscle mass, which was non-existent, to what it ought to be. Her head is more proportionate to her body. But I can still feel her ribs and a few other bones that are sticking out just before her tail. She still has flesh out. But important things first. However, all this growth is making her quite ungainly. Her ears, which were upright, have gone down. But I’m told that they will probably be upright by the time she’s 6 months old. Her fur is still woolly and very dry. Probably from lack of food and liquids. I’m adding linseed to her food and she’s getting sardines and tuna. They’re high in Omega 3 and 6 fatty acid and worked very well to restore Mindy and Tina to health from demodectic mange they had as puppies. Tasha is running, playing with sticks and bones, and whatever she discovers. I sometimes have to confiscate her “discoveries”, particularly those of the yucky type.

So the good news is that she’s doing so well that she can stay home with her pack while I’m gone. What I had feared though is obvious, at least for now. She’s obsessed with food. With time, she’ll grow to have the assurance of getting all that she needs: love, care, good food, and water, plus toys and three big girls to constantly annoy. They let her get away with stealing their bone or whatever they’re interested in. I never thought they’d be such softies. But I’m both happy and relieved about it. I’ll take photos after I return. Right now, I’m trying to accomplish miracles in very little time.

Tasha is priceless. I simply adore her.