On Friday evening we dropped Tine off at his trial adoption -saw him today at daycare, and he seems to be doing great! Him and the cats are buds now :)-. Right before that we went to pick up Spot, who I nearly forgot about trying to make a run for the ferries.
Spot
Spot stayed the night with us in Van and a was an exceptional house guest. She's the kind of dog that will fit in anywhere and has that happy-go-lucky but calm energy that just makes you smile. She even won over my mom, who (Beckett excluded) doesn't much like dogs. I was tempted to say "I'll keep her", but I shouldn't tempt myself with easy foster dogs. I'm a (partial)professional, I should work with the harder-to-place ones. (Just because I should doesn't mean I don't contemplate asking for the easiest ones sometimes).
Lisa came to pick Spot off, and then we had a full day dogless. Crazy! We went to Wicked, which was AWESOME, but being a writer I kind of expected more storywise. But a musical isn't really about story all in all, so 'suck it up emily'.
After the show we drove home, gulped down supper and went to pick up our posse. Dorie, Sharona and Toast we're waiting. The amount Dorie looked like a big piglet really amused me. That said, she was a total happy wiggle butt. Sharona did the typical BC/KBD "I'm so above you" and loaded up easily. She went to sleep and didn't bother opening her eyes until we dropped off Dorie.
Toast, to my surprise, is quite a bit further ahead in overcoming her 'shyness' than Honey was when she first came to me. They're definitely sisters and share a lot in common. Temperment/face-lickers/a little high-strung.
Two fundamental differences are that Honey was a dog's dog and was very aloof with people. Toast is a people's dog, (she still likes dogs) but is still VERY unsure, and she is also VERY clingy to me. Granted, she was heeling perfectly on leash within 10 minutes of exercises, something Honey took a few weeks to get partially down. Even when Toast isn't on a leash she's right beside you looking up to her leader. I'm sure she'll get less whiny/fearful of abandoned with a few days under her belt, but it'll be bit of a different approach to get Toast out of her shell. She'll need very similiar handling experiences to become familiar with leashes/massages/hands coming from weird directions, etc, but the mental approach will be a little different.
Basically, whereas I wanted to get Honey to a point where she would trust her handler as much or more as the dogs she was around, I want to get Toast to the point where she feels safe and secure in the company of people and hopefully can place trust in more than just "her" people. Toast doesn't solely need my help, she needs to meet a lot of different people, in different situations, and for the most part she needs those people to ignore her. Good thing I know a lot of people that'll be able to help Toast out.
Toaster-pops hanging out at the house:
Our second foster dog is Sharona -who I think I might rename "Inferno" after her blazing red undercoat-. She looks like a Karelian Bear Dog Mix -collie? -sheppard? The face and the stature is definitely leaning KBD. So far, Sharona isn't particularly shy, but she is definitely very hesitant, and extremely untrusting of humans. So far I've seen an insecure, pushy, wanting-to-be-dominant female (most KBDs tend to be -maybe not insecure-), but she's learnt real fast that I'm the biggest bitch around here. She's been playing with me in the yard, will let me move or claim the water dish without issue, and she understands when I begin to stalk her out in the yard that I mean business and she better be good.
Sharona/"Inferno"
She's been bossing Beckett around a lot though. She has a big personal space bubble, and the blind guy just can't catch a break. She's played the 'mean girl' card, and I can tell she wants to play with him, but isn't quite sure how. And of course Beckett can't tell a big ass shove means 'I like you'.
All in due time. She is a very sweet dog though. At the moment I'm leaning that she would like to be an only dog in her forever home (she's good with dogs, but I think she'd like having a person all to herself).
Sharona/Inferno
And Jerrad, snapping some pics in the yard. Me looking awful after work, but at least the dogs don't seem to mind! Actually, both the girls were very content to chase me in the yard.
QUICK TIP: With shy dogs, become the 'chased' for the first while. Never run towards them, especially with eye contact. When you reverse the role and become the chaser, stop when they show signs of stress and a) run the other way and get them to follow b) move to the side of them. Also. If you run and they don't follow, drop to your knees or the ground. Lowering your posture also lowers your threat-level.
Until next time!
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