Joop 01/

Ben had always said, when we got our own place he wanted to adopt a dog. I didn't realise it would eventuate before moving day.

Last year, Ben found a dog wandering the country streets, out at his work. In an attempt to befriend her, he fed her quiche.  She was skittish, sporting marks on her neck from a chain too tight.  Ben and his friends gave her a shower and hatched a plan to rescue her and find her a new home. 

Dad had only just died, we'd just been given the house keys and everything was overwhelming but I was hoping/knew she'd eventually come live with us.  We wanted to be moved and settled before introducing our cats with any more stress, so she did some house jumping to buy us some time.  The deal breaker would be if she showed any signs of aggression towards Gremlin or Peach.  She didn't.  Turns out Peach, will always be top dog in our house.

'The black and white posse' as we like to call them.  I think this was the very first time Joop did a full night sleep over.  We were so giddy with excitement that Gremlin and Joop were already curled up next to each other.  She looks so tiny here with her ribs showing through.

We picked out her name the first night Ben was back from his hitch.  We'd gone to a Japanese ramen restaurant and were throwing random names/words in the air.  I thought of Jupiter and we both loved the shortened nickname of Joop.  Many months later I was reading an astrology recap of the year; the planet Jupiter, was the closest to Earth in 2019, on June 12^th.   We don't know her birthday but that date matched around when Ben found her and the vet guessed she was close to a year old, so it's now her official birth date.

Those first pictures of Joop, curled up to Gremlin, were short-lived.  Our vet nurse friend, Lucy, explained about the settling in process. She talked about how adopted dogs can act shy/placid before they feel safe.  The first week, Joop was the sweetest, most well-behaved dog.  I remember curling up with her on the bed and kissing her and telling her she was the best dog ever.

Then the stress arrived.  I decided in the space of a couple of weeks that I was definitely not ready for kids.  At the highest stress point Ben and I brought out a notepad and pen and drew up two columns.  Column A was the reasons to keep her and Column B why we shouldn't.  Column B filled up insanely quickly and Column A, had just one sentence, "she brings a lot of love to our home".  We agreed we'd spend, as long as necessary to find her the perfect replacement home.  I said how tough it was and how bonded I was already and I cried.  Ben said he wasn't.  As we went to bed, Joop was curled up asleep.  Ben sat and cuddled with her and that was the last time we spoke about giving her up.

The biggest stress at the start was her escaping.  We tried an electronic fence that took two day to dig out but didn't work.  Then we started sourcing fencing materials and spent the next days making our yard fort knox. We were constantly trying to come up with solutions and boarding ideas, thinking ahead to when we'd both be at work.  We had phone calls from neighbours telling us to come collect her (because she'd escaped again) and horns from cars chasing her off the road.  It felt like we weren't the right home for her. 

Next came the chewing.  See that couch above.  I had just sown that couch cover and in an instant she'd chewed it.  I've lost count of the number of shoes and belongings of mine she's destroyed. Both the inside of our vehicles have been ruined - you don't realise how nice it is to have a non-chewed gear stick before you're left without one.

goodbye hat

We spent a week devoting our evenings to watching dog training videos that seemed relevant to us.  

We bought clickers and treats and a treat bag and a spray to deter her from chewing.

 We got her desexed (read a bit more here).

 and we started taking her everywhere with us and training, training, training.

Progress felt snail paced on a day-to-day level but looking back, it's a clearer picture.  She no longer escapes, she (mostly!) listens to our commands, she still chews but I'm getting better at placing things up high and scattering around chew toys + a constant supply of ready-to-go kongs and bones to satisfy her boredom/chew fixation.

Every so often she'll try and push play a little too hard on the cats and we'll have to step in.  The majority of time, Gremlin likes to do his own thing but Peach and Joop are quite similar - we've caught them lying together on numerous occasions, often followed by Peach having a swipe to assert that dominance of hers.  I hope they continue to grow more at ease with each other.

She does like to dig and we're working on our reward/punishment system.  All the training videos focus on positive reward, but a direct, deep-toned "no", is a hard system to train yourself out of.  She's getting better at pulling on the leash but she's not perfect, we're 100% not perfect trainers either.

I love that she's always up for adventure.  Every part of her body moves with excitement when you come home. She lives for riding in our ute, sniffing the scents as they fly through the vents, she has loads of personality.

I'm currently training her to "hug" me.  When we first got her, she hesitated away from simple touch, even pats on her head.  Now she is much more comfortable with affection.  I can only imagine she got beaten as a pup.  The first time I took her on my daily walk, her tail stayed in between her legs the entire time.  Now the sound of the leash and my walking shoes being laced up fills her with ecstatic excitement.  The first few times, I'd slip on the path she'd yelp and race off in the opposite direction, now she's a much calmer, happier dog.

She loves dogs more than humans.  She goes crazy when she spots another dog at the beach or on walks, and her best friend is by far, Lowy's dog, Shanti.  She'll slowly work down a dog until they are forced to love her.  It's actually really beautiful. I bought her that pink collar because everyone mistakes her for being a boy. Sometimes I catch myself slipping too.

When she digs a hole or chews something she'll slink away when she see's you.  She's incredibly smart, she knows when she's been naughty but still has that puppy impulsive-ness that everyone reassures me she'll grow out of. I gotta say, each month keeps getting easier.  I'm finally back feeling like I can be a Mum again.

I love her with all my heart.  I didn't want to gloss over the beginning because it was tough and I was stressed out-of-my-mind.  She's been worth it though (notice the new couch above - so far no visible chewed spots).

She is 100% part of the family.