Midori (a.k.a. Ah-Jee)

Update (December 16): Midori was adopted today by an amazing couple from Bucheon :) Charlie and I are going to miss her so much but I am so happy she has found her forever home. Goodbye baby girl, go and start your new life :)

Update (December 11): ^___^!!!!!

Update (December 5): Midori is going for her 4th round of vaccinations. One more and she's finished :) And good things could be happening for her very, very soon. Don't want to jinx it ^^

Update (December 3): Hmm, not sure what's happening but she seems to be reversing when it comes to housetraining progress -_- She was getting really good and only having a small accident inside from time to time. However, the last couple of days she has taken to peeing on anything that's a soft surface. So the bed is strictly off limits now and I've had to remove all the rugs from the floor and dog beds. Also, she was totally fine with the routine I had going on which was let her out of her crate in the morning, immediately feed her so she's too distracted to pee. Getting the lead on her while she's eating, and then out the door we go. But for some reason, she just couldn't hold it the last few days even though I've been monitoring her water intake as always. She couldn't wait til outside and peed in the common hallway (thank goodness my neighbours were not around, that could've gotten me in huge trouble). Then she had accidents on the way from her food bowl area to the front door which she usually never does ~ it's like 5 steps; I live in a shoebox! She can usually hold it after eating! I don't know what's going on >< And also, I always take her out for short pee breaks maybe 2 - 3 times between 7 ~ 11pm and usually she's fine with me picking her up and carrying her outside. But the last few days, she sees me coming and gets all excited and pees right on the spot. I really don't know what has changed in the last few days that's causing her behaviour to revert back to when I first got her. I hope it's just a phase.

Update (November 26): She's getting better and better with the whole housetraining thing (ahh I'm totally gonna jinx it now). What I did the past few nights, was let her stay out of her crate for longer and longer periods of time. I'm still worried about leaving her out the entire night, so I've been waking up around 3am, 4am, 5am, etc. and putting her in her crate at that time, so that she's not in her crate for THAT long (also, I've just been waking up for some reason throughout the night; it's not like I set an alarm to do this). And from when I go to sleep around 11am to when I put her in the crate at the wee hours of the morning, NO accidents! And in her crate? Never any accidents either (except one time she had crazy diarrhea, ughhh). I think the main thing is making sure her feeding schedule is routine and that she gets her dinner as soon as I get home from work around 5pm and then a lonnnng walk to make sure she gets excretes EVERYthing out ha ha. I have to monitor her drinking closely because she can gulp down more than an entire litre at a time if I let her. So I give her little bits and then take her out to pee shortly after. I also cut it off by about 9pm, so that it's easier for her to hold it throughout the night. She's getting way better on leash as well, and is slowly learning not to pull constantly and heel. However, the problem arises whenever there is a person or car or bicycle or any sort of distraction like that. She is so scared of these things that she will pull in the opposite direction as far away from them as she can get.

Update (November 23): Went for her 3rd round of vaccines this past Wednesday; just 2 more to go. She's VERY affectionate now, and loves to snuggle and climb on my face -_- and try to lick me to death. This lovely little pup is still looking for her forever home!

Update (November 9): Midori received her 2nd round of vaccinations this past Wednesday and I will take her back again in 2 weeks for the last set. She is getting very good with house training but she needs to be kept on a strict schedule or she will have accidents. Right now, she needs 2 short bathroom breaks a day, a 20 ~30 minute walk in the morning and a good 45 minutes ~ 1 hour in the evening. If you take her out as soon as you wake up and right after she eats, and right when you get home and let her out of her crate; she's fine. She's only had 1 accident in the past few days which is wonderful. She's getting very cuddly and affectionate and is becoming a licking monster like her brother. She has a tendency to eat everything so if you have another dog, make sure they are fed separately (my dog is a free eater so now I leave his food out only during the 8 hours when she is in a crate). She has an affinity for slippers and anything else that may be movable that is within her reach like rugs, socks, etc, so be careful! Ha ha. Have plenty of chew toys to keep her occupied, and keep things you don't want chewed up in safe places. She's still very scared of people and cars so it is difficult to walk her at times as she'll be doing fine then all of a sudden lunge when a car is approaching or she sees someone coming. Although she loves walks, she loves going home even more so on the way home she will pull and pull and pull. I am working hard with teaching her how to heel and everytime she pulls, I make her sit so it can be slow-going sometimes. She is a puppy with bountiful energy so I highly suggest a good hour of walking followed by playtime before bed to poop her out; otherwise she will be jumping around like a rabbit at night.

Update (November 5):
Midori loves, loves, loves her foster brother. She follows him everywhere and imitates whatever he's doing. I have often found them snuggled up together in his crate or on the doggie bone bed. She sticks to him like glue when we are out on walks, and on Saturday when I dropped Charlie off at the groomer's, she did not want to leave his side! When we got home, she was so depressed and confused as to where her brother was. It would be great if she could go to a home with a doggie buddy to play with. She's fine with me now, and recognizes me as her "human" but I think she was able to settle in as fast as she did because of Charlie. She is still very wary of strangers, and tries to run away from everyone.

I take them to the park everyday, far away from the street (she's still nervous around traffic and people), and decided to let her off leash. She loved it, and it was like Forrest Gump. When I first brought her home, she didn't know how to run, she didn't know how to jump, or climb stairs. Now, she can do it all! She loves to chase her brother around and playfight with him; she has a lot of energy. She never strays far though, from me or Charlie. She will run with him then stop and look back to make sure I am in sight. She comes when called.

She needs to be on a harness, because she doesn't quite understand the concept of cars yet, even though she's so scared of them. And will often try to bolt onto the street, so she needs to be kept on a short leash.

She's getting really good with housetraining and will never have an accident in her crate. Although she has had a few accidents during the night when she's not crated.

She loves to chew on things, so I never leave my shoes out just in case. And she has plenty of toys to keep her occupied but her favourite is a plushy, squeaky doughnut :) When she gets excited after playing with Charlie, she tries to play with me too but she will nip like she nips at her brother. That's when I have to very sternly say "NO!" and push her away.

She loves treats more than life, and now sits automatically for them, as well as for her food. But she still needs to learn not to snap, and take the treat nicely.

She's pretty good about not barking for the most part, only here and there when she's playfighting with her Charlie. Or when I'm coming home, she goes a little bananas. So I ignore her, until she settles down, then I will let her out of her crate and immediately get a leash on her and out the door we go, otherwise she will pee inside the house.

Right now, she gets 2 walks in the morning, 1 long one immediately after work, and another one after she gets fed. Then one last one before bed. She's still a puppy and doesn't have a strong bladder, so she needs to go out frequently to minimize the chance of accidents in the house. She has been REALLY good, it was only the weekend where my normal schedule was thrown off a bit; my fault completely.

Anyways, all in all, she's doing great, getting better everyday. She IS a puppy though, through and through so please keep that in mind if you are interested :) She will need someone to keep her mentally and physically stimulated and to be patient when she makes mistakes :)

Update (November 1):

-still a bit shy of cars, but otherwise walks fine on leash
-is getting excited to go on walks now; before i had to spend a LOT of time coaxing her out of her crate with treats and ninja the leash onto her harness
-is halfway to being a stair-climbing/descending expert
-can sit for treats, and getting better at taking them nicely
-still eats like it's her last meal
-barks like a fiend at any noise approaching my front door; need to remember to keep the sliding door closed
-fine with being crated while i'm at work (8 hours), no accidents in the crate
-had no accidents during the night last night, uncrated (however, i had to leave for an hour for dinner; came back and she was all excited she peed ~ will still need to keep her crated when i am gone)
-always holds her poop for outside, thank goodness
-loves her squeaky doughnut (mommy does not love it so much at 3am -_-)
-loooooooooooooves to play, her energy never seems to run out
-stuck like glue to her big brother Charlie; she wants to be right by his side at all times
-becoming more and more cuddly and wiggly and puppy-like and wants to give me kissies

To minimize accidents in the house, I walk her as soon as I wake up for about 15 minutes. Then I come back, feed her, and wait about 30 minutes, then take her outside again for 30-40 minutes. I let her play around for a a bit, then give her a treat in her crate. She stays in there all day while I'm at work, and when I come home, I make sure to ignore her until she's totally calmed down. Then I get the leashes ready and open her crate door and immediately get her and Charlie outside. We go for about an hour, then come back and I feed her. I wait another 40 minutes or so, then it's outside again for 20-30 minutes. Then she's allowed to play around the apartment until just before bedtime; I take her out again for 1 more washroom break to ensure no overnight accidents. And at night, she is left uncrated and happily sleeps on the bed with me, or in her crate, or on her bed, or with her brother in his crate.

Update (October 30): It's only been the 3rd day since having her home with me and she has already become a different dog! She's getting better with holding her pee/poo, but obviously still has accidents. The worst part is she loves to step in it; so I've got a regime down of immediately putting her in the bathroom while I clean up the mess, then rinsing her off so she doesn't go traipsing all over the apartment. Then I take her out immediately to pee some more and poo and praise her tons for doing her business outside. She's already learned to "sit" for treats, and she is almost perfect about walking outside now (this is a DRASTIC improvement from just 2 days ago when she wouldn't take 1 step and shook so badly and was so scared of cars). She loves Charlie and has become so attached to him already, but Charlie's not totally fond of her ha ha, but he's nice enough to share his treats with her - he sort of watches woefully. She's also totally comfortable in her crate now and will go in on her own. Last night (since she was crated during the day), after 2 long walks after feeding, I let her stay out and she slept on the bed with me and Charlie and had NO accidents all night. She's super playful now, and getting more and more comfortable with me - I even got a kiss this morning and lots of excited tail wagging! However, this morning, she got all excited when I got the leashes, and had a big accident but she's learning so fast, I'm sure she will get the hang of it in no time. Also, I've learned she does know how to bark ha ha, however, she only barks when I walk through the front door or when she gets excited of playing with Charlie; but as soon as I make a "Shh!" sound, she quiets right down.

Update (October 29): Midori is now home with me. I picked her up from the shelter yesterday; she was absolutely terrified to be outside and tried to go back, and almost squirmed out of her harness which scared the bejeebus out of me so I tightened that sucker. She was shaking so bad and she's still very timid of people, and tries to run away from anyone who comes near her. Although, once you actually catch her, she's totally calm and will stay in your arms for as long as you like. She's definitely better with dogs; as soon as she met Charlie, she became more lively and less scared. I wanted them to spend time together outside of the apartment so we went for a lonnnnnng stroll around the neighbourhood and it was very slow-going; she would plant her butt down every few steps and refuse to go any further, until Charlie came back and sort of coaxed her along. It took about an hour to walk what normally would take me 10 minutes. But once we got to a quiet street, she was walking great; I have realized she is absolutely TERRIFIED of cars; so I have to hold her to cross streets. We finally went back to my apartment and Charlie actually reacted really well to having her in the house. I was so proud of my little boy. I let her walk around and sniff and didn't bother with crating her right away because I wanted her to become familiar with her surroundings and also because she peed about 10 times outside and pooed, so I was pretty sure her little bladder was drained. She is not so fond of the doggie bed I bought her, but she loooves being on the bed. She's not a cuddler yet, still shies away from any touches, but man she loves treats. I am teaching her to take them nicely though; she gets a bit excited and ends up nipping my fingers. She has not barked a single time...I'm wondering if she can bark at all - she makes a weird little yawning-sounding noise which is adorable. The cutest thing was when she was on the bed, she was trying SO, SO hard not to fall asleep so she was sitting up, but I saw her slowly swaying and her head drooping and eyes closing....and finally she sort of fell over and just knocked out ha ha. It was stupid of me so I can't complain but this morning, I woke up to 5 lovely huge pools of pee. She tried to go on the peepads I lay down. But today, now that she's familiar with her environment, begins the crate-training!! She also needs a bath so badly and I cringe thinking about all the feces and urine she has stepped in that is now on my floor, on my bedding, on everything, lol. Ah, the joys :) She's not sure how to play with Charlie, but I can tell she wants. She also doesn't know what to do with toys, but I did find her this morning with the fuzzy donut I bought for her in her mouth which made me so happy. But yup, doesn't know "fetch" yet ha ha.

Update (October 23): So I have some updates on Ah-Jee's health history. She was abandoned at Nogyang Animal Hospital because she showed signs of "Volvulus", and her previous owner wanted to have her put down. The vet performed the surgery and now she is fully recovered, but the past owner did not want to pay the bills. She is also spayed, and she will be getting her first round of vaccinations this week and also a dose of heartworm preventative, and a check-up for heartworms.

Update (October 22): Ah-Jee is a very quiet, sweet girl, but she is very shy and timid of humans right now. She gets along with the other dogs but it takes quite a bit of coaxing to get her in your arms. But she loves to just curl up in a your lap. I've been googling like crazy to try to figure out what in the heck breed she is and I am thinking either: Pharaoh Hound mix, or Pit Bull/Jindo.

Meet Ah-Jee!! Oh I'm so in love with her. She came to the shelter this past Wednesday after being abandoned (arghhhhh) at Nogyang Animal Hospital. She has a clean bill of health, and is just soooo beautiful. We don't know what her breed is but we are thinking there could be husky in her because she has the most amazing green eyes. She's 8-months-old right now and pretty shy. But she gets along with all the other doggies, and at first she was nervous around me, but after I coaxed her into my arms, she just snuggled up and stayed in my lap until I finally had to put her down to do some work -_-. Her paws are pretty big, as are her ears ha ha, so I think she will grow to be medium-sized. She's really skinny right now but just the sweetest little thing. She really shouldn't be at the shelter, at her young age, the effects could be really detrimental. She deserves a warm home where she can be a puppy and do puppy things (which i guess is play, eat, poop, pee, sleep and repeat).