I'm raising money for my foster dog, Tilly! She exhibits fear aggression and needs extensive behavioral rehab in order to be happy in her own skin. We adopted her so that she would not be euthanized - help us help her!
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Two years ago many friends, family, and pet lovers donated money and love towards our sweet foster fail Tilly. Many people played a part in rehabilitating her and supporting us. It is with great sadness I report that this past week, our best friend Tilly crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
We will always treasure the two short years we got to have her in our lives. She was a special girl, and she loved us in her own special way, as we did her.
We learned how to be her cheerleader in the ways she needed, rather than the ways we did. We watched her blossom into her most “doggy” self. All she wanted was to be close to her moms. In the end, it became clear that no amount of love and trust would heal the hurts that kept her from being a relaxed, happy dog.
Life with her was sometimes scary, and often difficult - but the struggles were absolutely worth the immense sweetness she brought to our lives. We could not have done it without the support of friends, family, the staff at VCA Country Oaks Animal Hospital, and the trainers at Tug Dogs, particularly Julie, who understood more than anyone what we were going through, and taught us an immense amount about being good dog owners.
We don’t regret adopting Tilly. We also don’t regret the horrible choice we had to make. We no longer feel anxious and sad, or fearful and sad, or trapped and sad - we are simply, sad. We will continue to love, miss, and remember her silly self. She was worth knowing, and she is worth missing.
Hi everyone,
This is Tilda Swinton III! Tilly has been our foster dog since October 2020. She was transferred to our local SPCA from Lake County during the fires, but needed to be out of the shelter due to high anxiety (she was on Xanax when we got her). After weaning her off the meds it was clear from her behavior that she had likely been abused in her past life. She would melt into a puddle if someone raised their voice. She would flinch when we picked up a stick to throw for her. Half a block was the farthest she would walk before running back home. She is a sweet, sensitive little soul who is easily overwhelmed by her environment.
The Sacramento SPCA does not want to keep her on because of the difficulty and liability of coordinating potential adopters, especially during COVID. She has fear aggression with strangers. They and I have been trying to find a rescue to take us on, but have been unsuccessful. Rescues that did respond lacked the resources to help us rehabilitate her.
The SPCA said that the only other option is euthanasia. They told us not to feel bad, it wasn’t our fault - it was too heartbreaking an option to consider. We are adopting her indefinitely. We don’t know yet if we’re the forever home she needs, but we will make sure she has it one day.
This past year has been abysmal in a lot of ways. It’s also brought to light issues that have been lingering beneath the surface for too long. In our little corner, we never would have fostered if not for this year, we would not have met this incredible dog, and would have gone on blissfully unaware that 56% of shelter dogs and 71% of shelter cats get euthanized -1.5 million animals each year. Tilly would easily have been one of these, when she really just needs some patient help.
We fostered to fill our quarantine time and introduce the idea of having a dog in the future. This was our first foster experience, adopting was not the plan. Tilly is 3 years old, but due to neglect/mistreatment she is in many ways a puppy, often requiring the attention of one. We center our days around making sure she gets enough training to keep forward momentum.
To give her the best chance we’ll be working with a wonderful trainer to tackle her fear and anxiety. Good training is expensive - I’m a soon-to-be grad student and my partner is about to start a new career path. We are covering all we can but if you are willing and able we would gratefully accept any help covering the cost of Tilly’s training.
Adopt from rescues, spay/neuter, foster, donate - thank you for reading!
- Tilly, Aviel, & Molly
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Two years ago many friends, family, and pet lovers donated money and love towards our sweet foster fail Tilly. Many people played a part in rehabilitating her and supporting us. It is with great sadness I report that this past week, our best friend Tilly crossed the Rainbow Bridge.
We will always treasure the two short years we got to have her in our lives. She was a special girl, and she loved us in her own special way, as we did her.
We learned how to be her cheerleader in the ways she needed, rather than the ways we did. We watched her blossom into her most “doggy” self. All she wanted was to be close to her moms. In the end, it became clear that no amount of love and trust would heal the hurts that kept her from being a relaxed, happy dog.
Life with her was sometimes scary, and often difficult - but the struggles were absolutely worth the immense sweetness she brought to our lives. We could not have done it without the support of friends, family, the staff at VCA Country Oaks Animal Hospital, and the trainers at Tug Dogs, particularly Julie, who understood more than anyone what we were going through, and taught us an immense amount about being good dog owners.
We don’t regret adopting Tilly. We also don’t regret the horrible choice we had to make. We no longer feel anxious and sad, or fearful and sad, or trapped and sad - we are simply, sad. We will continue to love, miss, and remember her silly self. She was worth knowing, and she is worth missing.
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Hi Cheerleaders of Tilly!
We have been working hard at training for the past couple of months. While Tilly has been getting more comfortable in her skin, overall progress with stranger danger has plateaued. Our trainer recommended that it may be time to try her on anti-anxiety medication in order to get her to a place where training will be effective. We don't look at this as giving up on her, but as getting her the help she needs to feel safe in the world. We will also be getting her thyroid levels checked, as this can be a source of inconsistent behavior.
So this week Tilly will be heading to her very first checkup with a vet! We chose a vet hospital that is certified in Fear Free handling, which means they deal with a lot of behaviorally sensitive animals. Wish us luck.
Tilly is not an overnight case, so we thank everyone who has supported us through the last few months.
Love,
Tilly, Aviel, and Molly
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We had our first training session this week! We practiced walking along a fence-line with a person and/or a dog on the other side of it. She did awesome for her first try, very excited but for the most part checking in with her handler throughout!
As Tilly is getting more comfortable, she’s also less shy about her “desires”
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We are more than 1/3 way to our goal! We can't thank everyone enough!! Our fundraiser has already been so helpful in getting her the help the shelter didn't, including advice and morale. If anyone else is able to help out, no amount is too little!
Last weekend, Tilly had her evaluation with a Trainer who spent 5.5 hours observing Tilly's limits (see: chickens) and answering our questions. We love how positive the training style is and have learned so much already, so we made a plan to get Tilly ready for training.
Tilly's behavioral diagnosis is as follows:
" - Confidence: low
- Impulse control: low
- Anxiety: medium but could get worse with overstimulation
- Separation anxiety: low but definitely something to be proactive about"
In a few weeks we will begin a three-month training program to help boost Tilly's confidence and learn how best to help her! In the meantime we will do our homework and limit interactions with strange dogs and people in order to make them as positive as possible.
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20% raised to getting Tilly to the behavior dogtor! We want to make sure she has the chance to be happy and well-adjusted around others. Follow this link to read her story and lend a paw
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We hit 10% of our goal! Thanks to all who have donated so far! If you are able, please help us fund life-changing behavioral therapy for our sweet little SPCA reject (after this nap).
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