Arnie and Tara left for the Bay Area yesterday bound for foster homes with Grateful Dogs Rescue of San Francisco. EARS volunteer Caryn Franson will foster Arnie and Donna Fyfe will foster Tara.Here you can see Janell Matthies helping to load Arnie, and EARS volunteer Caryn Franson looking on while her husband Paul and Janell load Tara into the back of the SUV for the ride to the Bay Area.
Interested in giving Arnie or Tara a loving, permanent home? Visit Grateful Dogs Rescue to find out more!
Hello, everyone!
ReplyDeleteTara arrived Sunday night, tired and nervous but very curious! This delighted me. My husband, David, and I sat on the kitchen floor for two hours while she got somewhat acquainted with her new digs and with us. Baby steps, all the way! I had borrowed and put up a 6'x4' kennel out back, where she ended up sleeping for her first two nights with us. I intended for her to sleep inside, but she went right into the kennel and seemed very comfortable and secure, so I elected to reduce the stress and let her stay there. (I'd bought her an X-Large Dogloo for the kennel). We carried her inside last night, in her crate, as it was raining very hard and I wanted to work on our bonding inside, in the house, and so I could start her on the life of a "pet." So far, so good. She loved being inside, and at one point, for about an hour, I was working on my laptop at a small desk in the bedroom, David was reading in bed, and Tara was curled up behind my chair, sleeping peacefully. What a family portrait! Our trust is definitely beginning to build, which is very encouraging. I take the little encouragements where I can get them: "she didn't back away this time when I went into the kennel!" It often feels like one step forward, three steps back, but sometimes things do go in the opposite direction. We have been carrying her outside in her crate, and carrying her back inside in the crate, as she slipped in the rain on the steps up to the back door once and now seems afraid to try them again. But we'll deal with that another day. One step at a time (literally!). She seems comfortable and I do feel like we've made significant progress for only two days! I'm thinking of moving her crate into our bedroom tonight, so she can feel like she's sleeping with the pack (and get some built-in bonding time, a tip I read at: http://www.dogforme.com/pages/unsocialized.html Even though Tara's not a sheltie, some of the information is still quite useful). Having her sleep in our room will be a lot more tolerable when she finally gets a bath :-) Aahh... the things we do for love! (and it IS Love! She's such a dear...) That's it for now. Hope everyone else is doing really well, too! All the best -- Donna
Glad things are going so well -- thank you for the update, Donna!
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