It's been a while since I've walked and I've been needing it. The sun was shining and the wind had gone down from yesterday, so I had no excuse. I made it an easy two mile walk, with my two easiest walking dogs, Maya and Theo.
They were happy to go and we all enjoyed it.
For many of us who have ever worked in a corporate environment, the word "meeting" brings up feelings of doom and dread, small slices of death in indeterminate, sometimes seemingly endless lengths of time. In the world of dog rescue, however, meetings have a definite purpose and generally are a step in the direction of adoption. I've had two meetings at Green Dogs in the last two days with two different dogs. I still have both dogs but both meetings yielded positive developments. (How many of us can say that about the last work meeting we had?)
Today I took Dolly over to meet a former adopter. Not just any former adopter either, this was an adopter of one of Della's pups, Paulaner, now known as Augie. Dolly is getting slightly less shy and more confident each day. She was still a bit scared and had her tail tucked to show it, but she was friendly enough, accepted treats, and even offered up her paw (that's sort of her signature move).
Augie liked her fine, she was less sure about him, but she checked him out and let him do the same. This prospective home has kids and cats in addition to Augie so there are a few more hurdles to a successful placement, but Dolly is going to try it out as a foster in that home for a while and see how it goes. That will happen on Saturday.
Yesterday I took Summer over to Green Dogs just to meet Erika. I haven't done a write up on Summer or even taken any pictures of her since she first came here. There's a reason for that and I wanted Erika to see it. Summer is extreme. Her energy level is sky high. She comes across almost as neurotic as Max. I've been trying to keep her crated indoors for the most part since her surgery, but she's been driving me crazy.
I had sent Erika a video of Summer playing with her food dish. She has destroyed several of my stainless steel dishes using them as toys. We suspect she had been kept on a chain her entire life and the food dish was probably her only toy. She doesn't seem to know how to play with other dogs either, although the other rottie, Karma, has been spending some time with her. Her play "style" such as it is, comes across as rather aggressive, but she actually ends up submitting to any dog who corrects her. She was also willing to roll over for a belly rub and accepted being touched and handled all over her body by Erika.
She seems like a good girl, but with really high energy that has never had an outlet or direction. Erika put a Gentle Leader on her (that's Erika's signature move) and proceeded to wrestle with her on a walk for about 15-20 minutes. When it was over, the dog was calmer.
Today I put Summer in the dog yard all day with Max. She did more running than she should have less than a week after her surgery, but when I brought her in this evening she went into her crate and settled down quickly. This is the first night I haven't given her any meds to calm her down after she came inside.
I still have Summer, but Erika posted a write up about the dog after our meeting yesterday and has someone interested in meeting her already. Work meetings may be tedious and dreadful, but I'll take a dog meeting any time.
I had been leaving the two foster Danes, Dolly and Madison, outside until bedtime because I wanted to give them plenty of outdoor time after eating, and to avoid competition with our Danes for the two largest crates in my office. Those crates are used by Della and Serena during the day, but by the fosters at night. It's a time sharing arrangement.
However, I need to bring the fosters in earlier, so they will get used to living indoors with other dogs and so I'll get the chance to assess their house manners. That's what I did Tuesday evening and everyone co-existed very well, even in the tight confines of our house and even up in my office. Eventually the two fosters settled into the big crates and our dogs went to bed a little early with Clay.
Wednesday afternoon I took Dolly up to Pleasant Grove for a short walk. The two girls need to be separated from one another so they don't become co-dependent. Clay was home by the time I left so Madison stayed with him in the house along with Della, Serena, Arby, and Theo. I took Dolly for just a half mile walk and she really seemed to enjoy it. I need to get back to walking and hope to do more of it tomorrow.
When I went out to bring them in Sunday night both girls were scared of me and skillfully avoided my attempts to leash them. I finally trapped them in the shed and then managed to leash them one at a time and bring them to the house. Dolly did some submissive urination in the process and it broke my heart to see that girl so afraid of me. I knew I needed to fix that fast.
I went out to Daneland today with a bag of treats. I got a much friendlier and less skeptical reception. I handed them out freely, handfuls at a time, and they snarfed them up. I got pretty well slimed but all my fingers were still entire when the bag of treats was gone.
After the treats were gone I just sat in a chair passed out petting. Madison is all for it and she even lets me hug her. Dolly is still a bit more reserved, but the paw was offered freely and she was more willing to look at me today, she even looked almost relaxed a time or two.
What Dolly needs is for someone to tie her leash to their leg and keep the dog with them all the time. I bet she'd be trusting that person at least within the first day. Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to do that yet and the number of dogs here makes that difficult. She's coming around though.
The second night in the crates in the office was still a quiet one. Madison pissed in her crate and wet the bed and blanket. That wasn't fun but it's 100% better than pooping in the crate. The problem is that it gets dark so damn early that we go to bed so damn early and it just makes for a very long night for a dog in a crate. I have plenty of beds and blankets anyway.
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