My journey towards veganism is not easy, especially since I am a nightshift RN. Some weeks I work 4 twelve-hour shifts per week from 7:30pm until 8:00am or I work 2 or 3 twelve-hour shifts and 1 eight-hour shift per week (either 11:30pm – 8:00am or 7:30pm – 4:00am). It varies every week, but I have to put in 80 hours for 2 weeks (full time). In between shifts, I make sure I walk Appa before tumbling into bed and wake up early enough to take Appa on her “evening” or “late afternoon” walk. As such, chopping up vegetables or cooking a vegan meal can be difficult and I find myself ordering Veggie Grill on Grubhub a lot, which does not help the pocketbook or weight!
When I’m off work for a few days, one of my favorite meals to make is an adaption on the Roasted Veggies with Tofu Recipe (Frazier & Romine, 2017). Trader Joe’s is my go-to market, so I usually buy the pre-cut butternut squash, cremini and Portobello mushrooms, baby broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, onions, and tempeh there to roast at home. I add the roasted vegetables on top of brown rice. I buy frozen brown rice at Trader Joe’s that only takes 3 minutes to microwave to save time. Perfect fluffy rice after only minutes! Then I drizzle (ok…maybe more than drizzle, but it’s super yummy!) Trader Joe’s Island Soyaki on top of the vegetables and rice and voila! You have a perfect plant-based meal! The vegetables do take some time to prep, but I buy a lot of pre-cut vegetables to save time even though it is more expensive. As a tired nurse, I choose to pay more for convenience at times to gain more precious sleep!
By the way, I really love Frazier and Romine’s (2017) cookbook. A lot of good vegan meal options! Please see citation below.
Frazier, M., & Romine, S. (2017). Blueprint: Sheet-Pan Meals (Roasted Veggies with Tofu). In The no meat athlete cookbook: Whole food, plant-based recipes to fuel your workouts and the rest of your life (p. 95). New York, NY, NY: Experiment, LLC.
I thought I’d share an important milestone in Appa’s life as my first post. If you read my initial story on Appa, you realize how difficult and challenging it can be to adopt a dog meat trade survivor. One of the biggest issues we have been tackling is Appa’s anxiety. And while there is no denying that we have made a lot of progress with her, we still deal with random moments of panic attacks or freak-outs, which is what I like to call them. Today, however, ended up being a step in the right direction even in the midst of a stressful situation. I decided to make this my first post, because I want to show that these dogs can be rehabilitated with the right amount of love, patience, and, let’s just admit it, quality treats!
My husband woke me up around 6:30 in the morning so we can take Appa on a long 4 or 5 mile walk. Luckily, he’s been trained (as mentioned in our wedding vows) and knows he can’t wake me up without making me a nice mug of hot coffee. So, when the lights came on, the coffee aroma promptly squelched any snarky comment I might have thought of making. Appa, on the other hand, glared at us as she stretched in her fluffy, doggie bed. How dare you interrupt my beauty sleep!
Appa started to get excited, though, when she saw me get out her harness, exclaiming in an exaggerated high voice that always gets the tail wagging, “Does Appa want to go for a walk??! A walk??!” I repeated that phrase multiple times while Appa jumped up and down. She’s a funny girl, because even though she loves her walks, we have to chase her a couple times (sometimes more than a couple!) around the living room to put on her harness. And she will switch between what kind of harness she wants to wear that day. She will refuse one harness one day and gladly put it on the next. It’s like getting a kid to pick out their school clothes for the day!
I put in 2 leashes, which included a slip lead for emergencies only, an extra martingale collar, her water bottle, and snacks in my backpack purse and we were ready to go. It may sound like excessive security, but I love my dog and I have to be prepared for unpredictable behavior. Usually, Appa is good with just one leash attached to her harness, but when I feel like I need more security, I attach another leash to her collar too. She wears a martingale Fi collar with GPS location and activity tracking, as Jindos are known to be little escape artists!
We set out to go to the Marina in Long Beach, which is one of Appa’s favorite walking spots. I turned on Strava, because you know if you don’t record it on Strava, it didn’t happen ha-ha, and off we went. You know when Appa’s tail is up and her tongue is out, she’s having a good time. She loves to run downhill and sniff around and walk through feather grass. If she sniffs too long and one of us is ahead, we will say, “Appa, go get daddy” or “Go get mommy!” and she will run to whoever is ahead with ears flying back.
The Marina in Long beach is great in the morning, because it’s usually not crowded. People walk their dogs there all of the time, and Appa loves to people and dog watch. She especially loves the sand. She enjoys running in it and digging in it. Occasionally, she will go up to the water and put her nose in it, but she won’t step in it. Appa will go out of her way not to step in water unless she absolutely has to. We call her a little princess when she does, because she will stare at the puddles with disdain and grudgingly walk in them to get to the other side of the sidewalk.
As we were heading back, we ran into a gentleman walking a beautiful, regal dog. His dog would be 2 years old in October and he asked if they could say hi to Appa. I said, “Sure! She’s friendly, but she can get a little excited.” As soon as the dog got close to Appa, Appa started jumping around and, since I was holding her leash, I got yanked around too. She then got into her dog play bow stance and the other dog barked and hopped around. The two chased each other attached to their respective leashes and batted each other with their paws. Appa must have really liked this puppy, because she doesn’t play so energetically with every dog she meets. She can be quite shy with some dogs. It was entertaining to watch how carefree she can be.
After we said goodbye, we began our trek back home. We had already been walking over 2 miles and Appa was starting to get tired or bored, because she would stop and try to eat grass. I would take it out of her mouth and, out of defiance, she would quickly grab onto another blade of grass, turning her head to prevent me from taking it away again. My husband likens the behavior to a toddler sneaking a piece of chocolate. However, mean mommy managed to take the blade of grass away. We ran a little to keep her from being bored again.
As we neared PCH, I asked Chris if he wanted to get breakfast to go at The Local Spot and he agreed. He needed to go back to work so he would walk on ahead and Appa and I would get the food to go and walk home. We said goodbye to Chris and headed towards the restaurant. Appa was pretty good, at first. We ordered our food and then I accidentally bumped into the specials sign, making a loud noise. Appa freaked out and started backing out into the parking lot. I took out another leash and tried to tie it to her collar, but she managed to wiggle out of her collar. I knew if I kept pulling her to me, she could eventually get out of her harness through anxiety-producing perseverance, so we walked far enough away from the restaurant until I could see her tail starting to come back up. I put the Fi collar back on and tightened it more and managed to attach the other leash on her Fi collar.
I walked her back towards the restaurant, as I saw the waitress come out to give me my bill. I called her over. She said to just leave it on the table. I went to put the signed copy on the table next to their front door and Appa started trying to wiggle out of her harness and collar again. I promptly dropped the bill with the clipboard on the ground next to the table and lured Appa to the side of the restaurant with her salmon treats. It is crucial to read your dog’s body language when you have a dog suffering from anxiety. I knew from experience that If I really pushed Appa, she could eventually get out her harness, regardless how tight it is, and run away. I had to get her back into her safety zone. As we sat on the sidewalk next to the restaurant, I called Chris to tell him that Appa was freaking out and I needed him to drive up and get the food so I could concentrate on walking her home with both my hands free.
After I hung up, I saw the waitress for our food. I waved her over and apologized for leaving the bill on the ground. The waitress understood. She was very nice and told me how she rescued a Bulldog/Frenchie mix whose original owner mistreated her. She has been dealing with dog anxiety for about 6 months since she got her. I thanked her for being so kind and walked Appa across the parking lot away from the crowd of people to wait for Chris while feeding her bites of her salmon treats to keep her calm.
I had Chris pull up next to us. Appa’s tail started wagging as soon as she saw daddy. Chris said he brought some peanut butter and deli chicken to see if we can get her into the car. After months of training, we finally got her to go into the car on her own accord (with chicken of course), but that was in a semi-controlled environment near our apartment. I wasn’t so sure we could get her in the car in a semi-crowded parking lot after an anxiety attack too.
Chris got in the front seat and I sat in the back, pulling out the chicken and putting it on the backseat like we had been working on. As trained, Appa started gobbling up the chicken and got in the back seat in record time (each time we car trained her, she managed to get herself in the car quicker than the prior session). I started breaking off more pieces of chicken to keep her occupied as Chris quickly closed the backseat door. As soon as Appa realized the door was shut, she stopped eating the chicken. Chris started the engine and asked, “Are we really going to do this, or should I just let you guys walk home?” We hadn’t gotten to this stage of car training yet. On the one hand, I was afraid that we would set her back in training, but, on the other hand, I just wanted to get to our home safely without any worries that she would freak out again. I said, “Let’s do this. We are already in the car.” Chris slowly reversed and we started our way back to the apartment, hitting every single dreaded red light.
I knew Appa was scared as we drove back to the apartment. She was too anxious to eat, she stepped in her peanut butter covered lick mat. I kept hugging her and kissing her, telling her she was ok, as she panted with eyes wide open, her body shaking. The sad thing is you can’t tell a dog that they will be fine and have them understand it. They have to see it and experience it. For all Appa knew, she could be put on another plane or go to a bad place. As soon as she saw the golf course near our apartment, she started to relax, staring around. We walk her all the time there, so it was familiar to her. We drove into our complex and she was panting less. She still would not eat, so I knew she wasn’t completely anxiety-free. When we parked and she got out of the car, Chris and I lavished her with praise and she was able to eat her treats again, knowing she was safe. She was home.
This was a huge milestone for Appa. I remember my vet telling me on the phone that we just don’t know what these dogs have experienced. Car rides can be a source of excitement and adventures for dogs who didn’t have to deal with trauma. However, dogs from the dog meat trade could possibly associate cars with transport to slaughterhouses and markets. We just don’t know. Some people might think that all this work might be too much, thinking it’s probably easier to deal with dogs who come from a controlled, safe environment. And they are right; it probably is easier. However, the desire to adopt a rescue dog, especially a dog meat trade survivor, comes from an altruistic desire. No matter how hard it gets, we have to remember the reason why we wanted to adopt a dog meat trade survivor and that is to give him or her a better life. It’s not about being easy. It’s about sharing our love and life with an animal who desperately needs that. One man told me today, as Appa and I were waiting for Chris near the restaurant, that I was an angel for adopting a rescue dog, which was sweet. I don’t think I’m an angel, but I do know that people, myself included, have enough love in their hearts to share with these innocent animals. So, don’t give up when you realize it’s not going to be easy. Remember the ethical reasons why you chose to adopt a dog meat trade survivor or any other rescue animal from uncertain backgrounds. Talk to people. Seek advice. The effort is worth it, knowing you helped make one life a lot better and enriched your own life in the process.