So, since we needed more toys, and I felt Lilly should start getting used to another wacky human activity besides watching TV: the car ride, we went for a meandering drive up through Sunland and into Tujunga where there's a PetSmart.
I still had to pick her up and place her into the vehicle even though I pointed out she was very well capable of hopping up onto the floor of the cab if she could make it one leap onto my bed in the apartment. Once inside the panting and drooling began and I sat with her while the AC ran until I felt I could back up the truck without her jumping in my lap.
I've figured out the main problem with her and riding shotgun: she's a long dog. A bucket seat just isn't comfortable for her because if she places her butt as far back as possible, her front legs barely stay on the seat. And since doesn't sleep all curled up like many canines do, but rather sprawls out taking up as much space and planes of existence as possible, she can't just neatly curl up on the seat and fall asleep. She gave it a try, but she didn't stay that way for very long. If she had a back of an SUV or even a bench seat to stretch out on, she'd probably have a much better experience.
I forgot to bring treats, so I hoped bringing her down the toy aisle of PetSmart would be good enough. I was surprised that she didn't grab at any toys or even dive into the dog bones on the lower baskets of the aisles. I've been hesitant to have her meet people or dogs since she growled at a neighbor of mine when he approached her and she still doesn't emote strongly whether she's happy or not. She is shy with new people, and was calm when she met two employees--course they're also trained on how to deal with shy dogs, so perhaps they weren't offensive.
As for other dogs, she seldom wags her tail at them. She's not tense either--just neutral. Actually on our outing through the neighborhood last night, we had an encounter with a Chihuahua which was the first time I had seen Lilly's tail wag at a dog. Course it was also the first time a dog ran up to their front gate and actually wagged his tail at us instead of viciously barking and clawing at the fence. Lilly met the little pup with tail wagging and they touched noses through the metal gate. It was quite cute. I really wanted to leave a note on that person's door saying, "Thank you for properly socializing your dog."
As for cats, I still can't get a read on her. With the neighbor's cat I'll let her stand there and stare because she doesn't lunge and neither does the cat, and there's a big screen security door between them. But I worry about the rest of the cats in the neighborhood because Lilly gets tunnel vision when she sees a one and nothing will snap her out of it. These cats rule the neighborhood. There is a stray tomcat that marks the apartment doors of anyone with a cat every night as if it's some sort of feline Passover. You don't mess with these cats--they will attack a dog without fear.
Last night there was a Siamese sitting on the edge of the street I wished to cross, and I told Lilly to go in the opposite direction, but Lilly refused to move. The "it's a party" technique didn't work to get her to move or unlock her eyes from the cat's, and how is a squeaky toy better than a cat? I ended up once again saying "Lilly, come!" and tugging her away, telling her that if we had to I would make her watch Lady and the Tramp on the big scary picture box to prove to her that Siamese cats are not to be messed with.
She's got a great memory, but really poor eyesight. She almost convinced me there was a cat under a bush until I took a closer look to see that it was only a tree root. I had to admit the trick of shadows did make it look like a kitten sleeping. Every spot in which we have ever seen a cat (and the one tree we saw the squirrel in), we must stop and stare at for a few minutes on our walk. Even the screen door of my neighbor's apartment when the front door is closed and there's no way there's a cat there, Lilly has to stare at it as if she can see the cat, or as if she make the cat appear simply using the power of her mind.
We did have to trespass on a person's property because Lilly spotted what she thought was a cat on a low windowsill and she refused to turn her head away until proven otherwise. It actually was a ceramic statue of a Yorkshire Terrier lying down. The pointy ears must have made her think it was a cat. Just to prove to her it wasn't, I made sure there was no one in the window first, then I let her walk up to the house and sniff it. She doesn't always respond to "Come" so I don't know why I thought she'd understand "Retreat" which is a great command for getting off someone's property when you shouldn't be there. She admitted it wasn't a cat then just stood there, so I again had to awkwardly tug her while saying in a whisper "Lilly, come!" as not to get the attention of the house's inhabitants.
There is one cat she will NOT go near: it is a four foot high bronze statue of a lion that stands on the corner of an art house down the street from me. She refused to walk by it, cowering, ears lowered, backing up almost falling off the curb and into the street. I got her close enough so I could at least touch it so she would see it posed no danger, but she clearly didn't trust my judgement. She still skirted away, and continued to keep an eye on it as we passed by, turning around to make sure the vicious thing didn't follow us.
She really is shy around people and dogs. I think she likes little dogs more, as she also wagged her tail at another Chihuahua on my street even though that one was barking at her and had his tail up, protecting his property. I don't really trust that she won't snap since I can't read her body language. And because she stares and fixates, it might be construed as a threat to other dogs (clearly cats find it offensive) and I don't want to see her get pounced on either. As for people, I think it's them approaching her that makes her fearful. She's still shy, but has the courage to sniff if she's allowed to approach them. My own fear and distrust though is not good for her at all. I don't know if she can read my signals, but since I'm tense when we cross paths with a person or dog who wants to meet us, it probably doesn't help. However, I don't want to be confident and unconcerned either.
I have no idea how the vet's office experience will go tomorrow. I hope she's okay with the vet staff. Most of all I hope she doesn't think I betrayed her. Not feeding her or giving her water for 12 hours is going to be rough especially after her morning walk. Luckily she hasn't even eating breakfast till 9am, but I don't know what time the actual surgery will take place and she'll be okay to eat again. I feel bad about taking her in for surgery then just driving her away, but she'll be in need of the pain meds and she really needs her skin taken care of. She's got one spot in her ear that looks like she made bleed last night. The sooner she gets back on meds, the better.
Her breathing has gotten better and there are even times when she sleeps now I can't hear her breathing at all. If she lays down like a normal dog on her stomach and her head on her front paws in front of her, she's silent. It’s only when she lays on her side and has her head on a pillow that she breathes loudly and erratically, sometimes falling into a loud snore and shallow breath. The panting is mainly anxiety and she stopped doing that in the car by the time we headed back from PetSmart. I hope the vet's can accurately state if she's got any breathing issues since I'm sure she'll be panting away when they look at her.
Here's a couple of pics of Lilly in the truck. She might like car rides in the future with a bigger vehicle, but at least she can handle it without hyperventilating. Just like with the television, she's not fully cured of her fear, but she definitely trusts both the car and the television more than that bronze lion on the corner.
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