And now, for some happier parts of the day.
A Helen Update!
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| Helen while in Foster Care |
I've been meaning to send you an update on Helen for quite some time now but
couldn't find your email! At any rate, the sweet girl had very easily transitioned
into our home, and is finally fully housetrained (after many stains on the carpet).
She is the sweetest dog ever and has bonded really well to us, so much that we are
able to take her on off leash hikes! Her recall is good but we're hoping to get it
to "excellent" soon :) She is a smart girl and learns very quick. She did have one
incident where another dog attacked her and she had quite a bad wound. 4 trips to
the vet and $700 later she is 100% healed with no residual problems. She loves to go
for hikes and walks and follows us around the house always looking for a treat....
poor girl would eat an elephant if she could, I'm sure. She's a bit robust so we've
had to decrease her food intake a bit and, of course we continue with regular
exercise (especially now that spring is here, or supposed to be!). The only issue
we've had is she has decided that one of the couches is hers and there is no
convincing her otherwise.
Anyways, I just wanted to update you and let you know we're very happy to have Helen
as a part of the family, she fits in just perfect.
Regards,
Jamie
In other tidbits of news:
Migo: doing very well at daycare, doing well on his leash, learning that not everybody wants to play with him, and now doesn't pull you over to every single new dog he meets on the trail. With proper monitoring and frequent outside outings, he hasn't had an accident in a few days. He's still learning how to settle down inside -he's a busy body!- but with daycare and walks, is doing well. Now, if only he'd eat more. He's scrawny!
DimSum: Growing in confidence every day. This weekend, we will be hitting the big trails with her, be passing more dogs, and more people, and be stepping the confidence building up a notch in intensity. She's ready. The cocky terrier is starting to emerge around the house and in her comfortable places. Her and Lemon decided to have a barking fit at Jerrad this morning when he came in from doing chickens, and they both got their butts handed to them. If there is one thing I won't tolerate, besides fighting, its unneeded barking. One alert bark, fine. A happy howl, sure. But there will be no nuissance barking here. You really don't want to cross me.
Every dog that lands here needs the realization sooner or later, that foster mum is a bitch. I will be your best friend, I will make sure you get what you need, and I will make sure your butt is handed to you quickly and efficiently if you step out of line. Shy or not, needing confidence building or not, she does not need that kind of confidence. It is easier (for me anyway) to build up confidence over time, than to kick egos down notches. I'd rather knock her down a notch now for the barking to become an issues.
Tomorrow we start some heavy confidence building exercises outside of the home. Providing we have a good upcoming week and she develops about as quickly(ish) as Chow, she's going to be ready for her new home by next weekend :)
Zephyr: What to say about Zeph. He's still Zeph. Still easy, loving, nudging my hand for pets. He usually puts himself to bed when Migo is out being a goofball, but is who he has always been: a very good companion. I'm going to be sad to see him go when he's eventually adopted. But, he doesn't love it here. He doesn't mind it, but he can do better for him. Come on, doesn't anybody want a nice middle-aged guy who has it all?
And now, off to daycare with Migo again. Providing there's enough light tonight, we're going to start DimSum at Elk Lake -which is usually busy, but not when its starting to get dark-. Her leash skills are doing well around the farm, so now, she needs to put those new skills to use with gaining better introduction skills.
Hopefully we'll get a bunch of good pictures over the weekend :) There's no point taking the camera out when its starting to get dark.
Emily Out
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