Callie vs. The Firecracker

"You know, Callie really would not survive in the wild," my boyfriend tells me nearly every day. To which I always reply "She's barely survived domesticated life..."

 Case in point... what dog sits like this??

Callie has a tendency for near-death experiences. She was rescued from a kill shelter on her kill date, missing death by mere hours. She constantly escapes our fenced in yard when I'm home and wanders down the street, oblivious to cars. She also tends to dislocate her soft palate and do the "backwards sneeze" thing that little dogs sometimes do. She does that to the point where she can't walk or breathe and requires assistance. But by far, her most amusing (and expensive) brush with death was the time she ate an M-800 firecracker.

It all started with Parent's Weekend, in October 2009. We were cleaning the apartment like madmen because my roommate's parents were coming to visit as well as my own. Roommate's parents own the apartment so we thought we should get it in really good shape before they got there. This involved cleaning out between the cushions of the couch, something that hadn't been done since the couch was moved into the apartment. We'd had a few people living in the apartment over the summer while none of us were there, and so we found a few interesting things in the couch. The most exciting of which was an M-800 firecracker, which is the loudest firecracker that's packed with the most explosives allowed by law.We pondered which of our summer guests would've left such an awesome piece of pyrotechnic awesomeness in our apartment, and were excited to light it off later. We set it on the end table next to the couch and forgot about it for the time being.

Our parents came and had dinner with us at the apartment on Saturday night, and after they left we all hung out for a while. We all eventually retired to our respective rooms, my boyfriend and I to watch TV in my room. As we were enjoying some Star Trek: TNG, we heard Callie chewing on something. I hadn't given her a rawhide or anything to chew on, so I immediately went to investigate. She appeared to be chewing on cardboard, but it smelled exactly like cow shit. I was intrigued. What could this possibly be? My boyfriend went to investigate further, where he found a red wrapper, fuse, and what was left of some chemicals and the explodey stuff in what used to be an M-800 firecracker.

 I imagine her reaction to finding the firework would have been something like this:

 Courtesy of Callie's "Mastur John"

I, being the calm, rational person I am, panicked immediately and called poison control. When I told them I was calling for my dog they put me on hold for twenty minutes. When they finally came back from whatever they were doing, they told me they couldn't help me since she was a dog and I should call animal poison control instead, and warned me it would cost money to talk to those people. Meanwhile, we had been researching what exactly went in to an M-80 firecracker that could possibly harm a tiny 17lb terrier. We found a medley of various chemicals and metals in addition to the nitrogen filled cardboard that surrounded the firecracker, giving it that "cow shit" smell. So I decided to call the town's emergency vet instead. They told me I should call animal poison control because they had no idea if a firecracker would be bad for a dog. (Really??) So I sucked it up and paid the $30.00 fee to call these people, to be told that I should likely just take her to the emergency vet because of all of the chemicals and metals in it. DUrrrr.

So begins the adventures of the E-vet. I immediately rushed Callie across town, and was told they would need to keep her overnight, feed her charcoal and laxatives to make it run through her system and absorb the poisons before her system could. John came later with the actual firework that I had left home in my haste. As we were preparing to leave Callie there for the night, they brought her out one last time so I could say goodnight. The vet assistants told me that they'd found a firework shaped toy to leave in her crate with her, and had been constantly making fun of her for being dumb enough to eat a firework. I knew she was in good hands.
As I finished the paperwork, I made small talk with the receptionist and asked her what some of the oddest cases they'd ever seen there. She pondered it for a moment, then looked at me and said "You know, eating a firework is probably the weirdest case we've ever had."

Congrats Callie, you're officially retarded.

I'm pretty sure my dog has autism.

Well, I've known for almost as long as I've had her that something is mentally wrong with the Tube. It was abundantly apparent when I first brought her home, and she seemed to be physically incapable of not licking every single person she ever met. On her first visit to the vet for her shots and a general checkup, the vet was in with us for less than two minutes before asking me if I realized that there might be something mentally wrong with her. Like I said, you get what you pay for when it comes to Craigslist.

I got to thinking about what was really wrong with her in the head today when my dad picked her up and as he was rubbing her belly, she did everything she could to avoid looking him directly in the eye. And from everything I know, that's one of the big signs of autism in children. The way I figure it, if kids and monkeys and rats can have autism, why can't dogs? So I did a little bit of research, and discovered that she does, in fact, have a few of the signs of an autistic child.

"A majority of autistic people are either hyper or hypo sensitive to light, sound, crowds and other external stimulation. Some have both hyper and hypo sensitivities. This often results in autistic people covering their ears, avoiding or reacting negatively to brightly lit areas, or -- on the other hand -- crashing hard into sofas and craving strong bear hugs."
Callie has always had a ridiculously over exaggeration to the slightest  bit of pain or discomfort. If you poke her the wrong way, she screams like you've broken her bones.

She shakes violently and presses herself into you as close as she can when there is a thunderstorm (common in dogs, I know, but I've never seen a dog shake so hard in my life - its like she was having seizures from fear).

Additionally, and probably one of the most conclusive pieces of evidence supported by this quote, is her insatiable desire to be as close to my boyfriend as she can physically be when she sleeps. Over New Years, she got to see him for the first time in almost 3 whole weeks, and upon getting the chance to sleep with him, slept between his legs. She pressed off of one leg into the other so hard that he actually had a paw shaped bruise on his leg when he woke up the following morning.

Callie also has an obsession with being under the covers as often as she can be. She's actually turned it into an art. She'll paw at whatever blanket she desires to be under, then paw at whatever body part is nearest to her (it's really fun when it's your face being pawed at), and then repeat until you lift up the blanket and let her go under.

"Young children with autism usually have impaired language development. They often have difficulty expressing needs (i.e., use gestures instead of words) and may laugh, cry, or show distress for unknown reasons"
Going back to the whole screaming thing? She likes to randomly scream when no one is touching her, or even anywhere near her. She's done it in the middle of the night, laying on the sofa during the day, while running around playing. It's always incredibly unexpected and a little bit terrifying when it happens. People hear this and ask if I'm beating my dog, and I was two rooms away watching Star Trek (don't judge me). 


"Autistic children do not express interest in other people and often prefer to be alone. They may resist changes in their routine, repeat actions (e.g., turn in circles, flap their arms) over and over, and engage in self-injurious behavior (e.g., bite or scratch themselves, bang their head). "
So this gets to my favorite part - the repeat actions. Until I made my diagnosis of autism, I always just explained away Callie's strange behaviors as odd nervous ticks. However, this explains them perfectly. 

She is constantly licking the air, for absolutely no reason at all. We decided that she licks the air like a lizard. Its part of how she checks out her surroundings. It's like a little barometer reading every time she licks. "The air is now 75 degrees F, with a humidity of 55%. It also tastes like Nala downstairs has peed on the carpet again."

Totally not kidding that she licks ALL THE TIME.

She has the strangest desire to shake every single time something new happens. It'll always happens when she gets up on the bed, gets up from laying down, gets down off the bed, arrives at a new place. Anytime something in her environment changes, her immediate reaction is to flap if she isn't already screaming.

Possibly our favorite activity of hers is her absolute desire to nest in every surface she wants to lay on. She has wrecked the couch nesting in the pillows until they're just right for her laying purposes. She will find a freshly cleaned load of laundry that you're trying to fold and decide that she needs to nest in that, too. 

She's also been known to chew on herself so much that she starts bleeding. That might be allergies, but lets be honest, who scratches themselves until they bleed, and then continues to scratch?!? Oh, that's right, my dog.

"Unresponsiveness to normal teaching methods and verbal clues (may appear to be deaf despite normal hearing) "
Callie frequently pretends not to hear you when you call her (but believe me she's not deaf - she can her the treat jar about a mile away). 

She is also completely housebroken -- when she's at school with me. When we come home, it's a whole new ballgame folks. We've officially been home for the summer for 2 days, and already she's pooped on the floor 3 times and peed multiple others... many times while we were home. She never once came up to us and asked to go out. Just assumed it was cool if she just did her business inside. 


One of her favorite hobbies at home is finding new and creative ways to get out of the fenced in yard. She especially enjoys getting out, then wandering down the street, barely avoiding getting hit by cars. I really think she just enjoys having near-death experiences. It's almost becoming "her thing"

My conclusion? Definitely autistic.


...I guess the next post will be to explain the near-death experiences thing. So more next time on "Callie vs. The Firecracker"
  

The Adventures Begin

Welcome to my new blog! This is my first time writing anything that isn't for school, so you'll have to bear with me until I figure out where I'm going with this.

The adventures began in late August 2008, when I first decided I could afford to own a small dog. The search began on both Petfinder and craigslist. I was really searching for some sort of wiener dog, but anything apartment sized and cute would do, as long as it was cheap seeing as I was still on a student's budget. I soon found a posting on craigslist with a few different dogs, but a little all-black terrier really caught my eye. I e-mailed the poster, asking about her. The poster, Q, informed me that the little black dog had far too much energy to live in an apartment, however she had just gotten the beagle looking dog when her foster home had fallen through and needed to place her ASAP. She would be a wonderful apartment dog and was already spayed. All I needed to do was come see her and adopt her!

So I traveled the 30 minutes to the middle of nowhere by myself, having failed to get someone to come with me. I swore to myself I wouldn't get this dog unless it was incredibly entertaining since it was the first dog I was going to meet. I had misplaced my camera, so I took my roommate's so I could take pictures to send to my mother for her approval. When I arrived to this back hill house, I was greeted by a literal herd of dogs. Q had about 5 dogs on her own, plus "Millie," as she was known then. "Millie" was kept out in the garage in a crate and smelled like pee. When she was released from her garagely prison, she ran immediately to me and began to lick my face and whatever other body parts she could reach, like I was already her best friend.

Q then pulled out a small elephant toy and showed me how well the little dog played. She was extremely amusing to play with, and every time you picked up the toy she stood on her hind legs with her front paws behind her ears, trying to get the toy, somewhat like this:


Within 5 minutes of meeting "Millie" I taught her to sit for the toy. It was immediately apparent that while she was slightly hyperactive, she was also extremely smart. A few visits later, and the paperwork was taken care of and I was taking my new puppy home.

I knew right away that the name of "Millie" just wasn't going to cut it, and I really wanted a more fitting name, not that of a 90 yr old grandma. I called her "puppy" for the first few days I had her, until a friend at the time who had also named my betta fish came by, saw her, and told me Callie was the perfect name. And so it was. For some reason Callie fit better than any of the other names I had previously thought of for her. Now I owned a 6-month old mixed puppy who'd already proven herself to be a little strange while playing, and highly entertaining. But most importantly, I'd gotten her off craigslist, and you know how much of a gamble buying anything off cragislist can be...