By Dido Panagiotopoulos

"I was a feral dog living in the veld and then under a grandstand at a school. This is the story of my rehabilitation, as told by Dido, my forever mom:"

Time for the matted dreadlocks to go! I called another rescuer friend, who had recently begun her own mobile dog grooming business. Despite her hectic schedule (of work and family commitments), Lindy came to our rescue and agreed to groom Dini on a Sunday morning. Hubby and I had managed (fairly easily) to bath Dini, but I was horrified to find out that I could not bring any grooming tool even close to him - not a brush (of any kind... baby brush, rubber brush, hand glove) nor scissors, and a razor just freaked him out completely. If one tried to hold him and use any tool, he would snap at you - out of terror, however, and not to aggressively inflict harm...simply a defensive reaction. Read more...

I realized that I would have to get the vet to prescribe something in order for us to possibly groom him. The vet (who shall remain nameless as a result of his less-than-impressive help) had me weigh Dini, and then took many tedious minutes to get within range to put a stethoscope to Dini's chest to hear his heart! Half an hour and almost R200 later, I left with an R11.00 syringe of ACP, which I was to squirt into his mouth half an hour before the grooming was to commence! I started to dose Dini with Rescue Remedy as well. 

Early Sunday morning, I took the pack to Ruimisg for an hour of brisk walking, to try and take the edge off for Dini. At home, I squirted the ACP syringe into his mouth. He managed to spit some of it out, but within minutes he was staggering like a drunkard! To be completely honest, I think the whole grooming experience was as traumatic for Dini as it was for all of us trying to do the job! It was three and a half hours of hell! Between myself and hubby, who has run 10 Comrades Marathons and took part in Iron Man 5 times (and who weighs around a 100 kg), we struggled to hold this little 10,6kg drugged dog! He was literally fighting for his life. In truth, it felt although we were inflicting horrific abuse, rather than helping him. He would struggle, squirm, snap then finally stop, absolutely exhausted...then we would shave and cut as kindly, calmly and carefully as possible, until the next brutal struggle. This went on for three and a half long exhausting hours. I was shredded by his nails and we were all kaput. It was a funky, chunky cut, but it was a huge improvement. (In fact, Lindy had successfully removed over a kilo of matted fur!). We couldn't even begin to think of cutting his tail, face or horribly embedded burrs stuck deep inside his paws. Lindy earned my lifelong respect for how calmly and compassionately she groomed Dini. You can contact Lindy on 082 701 9682 - she has a soft spot for rescue animals, and offers excellent specials on the first grooming of a newly adopted rescue animal (there must be proof of adoption from the shelter).

The road to transformation from Boo to Dini had begun...and things had begun looking up!

Important Note: Subsequently, I found out that the sedative ACP (Acepromazine) should never have been prescribed and used! It is a 'pre-med' and should not be used as a sedative for grooming. It does not, in fact, lessen the fear, it just paralyses or slows down the response to the fear. It does nothing to relax the dog - it makes him dopey and lethargic, but with the loss of control and feeling unable to fight back or flee, he is more traumatized. ACP is not an anti-anxiety drug and not an analgesic - it neither relaxes the dog, nor numbs any pain (physical or emotional). So, under the effect of ACP, the dog still has fight and flight, fear and anxiety response, but cannot physically respond or react to his feelings. He may appear calm and relaxed, but is in fact lucid and having intense emotional reactions to the trauma of the experience, and because ACP is a dissociative drug, it may in fact prevent the dog from fully understanding what is happening, plus he is being immobilized, thereby actually increasing the fear! And, this is apart from the various possible medical complications and side-effects! There are newer more preferable and effective medications such as Diazepam (Valium) and Alprazolam (Xanax). PLEASE be aware of this!