Momma Reese

Someone is coming to meet Momma Reese on Friday and I want to get her a little better socialized so she'll make a good impression. Tuesday evening Clay and I took her to Decipher Brewing in Charlottesville. There weren't a lot of people there and that was perfect for Reese. She settled down next to me and just watched. 

Wednesday evening I took her to the downtown mall in Charlottesville. That was a pretty scary experience, involving street traffic, cars, buses, sirens, and then just all the people on the mall. Again, it wasn't particularly busy, but she was pretty freaked out by everything. I had two leashes on her and I think we both felt better with the extra security. 

It was the slowest ever walk, but we went the entire length of the mall and back again. We stopped once and she met a nice couple and then she didn't want to leave the safe confines of being cuddled near their feet to venture back onto the dark and scary mall. When we got back to the car she was happy to jump into the now familiar crate in the van. 

I didn't want to end on that note so I drove her to Decipher again. The place was hopping Wednesday evening because of a new beer release and an event with the HOWS Project. There were a lot of people, including many that I knew, and a lot of dogs. It was overwhelming for her but it was also exactly what she needed. They were dog people and beer people and everyone made a real effort to make her feel comfortable. Her behavior in situations like that is to just lay down, often as flat as possible, move as little as possible, and just take it all in. She was fine with all the dogs and she would let anyone pet her that wanted to do so.

I walked her to the bathroom with me at one point and as soon as we turned away from the crowd she stood up tall and walked right along with me. As we were walking the hallway returning to the bar area, she was actually out front of me and leading the way and that's the first time she had ever done that on a leash. It was as if she wanted to go back into the crowd. 

She will come around, she just needs many new experiences with carefully chosen people and places.