Paige is going to her forever home

Today Paige is going to her forever home. I am so thrilled for her and so sad for me and my family. But I’ve been saying since she to me that what she needs is a farm with other dogs, some livestock for interest, a quiet household and a family with patience and compassion. And that is what she is getting.

Paige has come so far. In September she was a scared little dog with little understanding of dog-human interaction. I praise the volunteers in MT who got her healthy and who opened the door for me with Paige. I had decided early on I had to treat her like a normal dog but accept her abnormal limitations. I think I got the first part right and underestimated her on the latter. I all but had to dump her out of her crate when she got here. The first few days were intense. Paige HAD to go to the vet for a heartworm test. She HAD to be bathed. These were real challenges. But despite her fear her true disposition came through with small, tentative licks to the face. No eye-to-eye contact, but side glances and licks. What potential!

Over time we progressed to being on the lead all the time to being in the yard without. It took a few days for her to realize that if I called or whistled, chances were she would get fed or get a treat. Thank goodness ES are such chow-hounds! She bonded with my dog Sheba and looked to her for cues. It took days for Paige to take treats from my hand and I almost cried once she did! Once she stopped pacing every time she came into the house things really started to move forward.

Here’s where she is now:

•She’s completely housebroken, but won’t whine to get out… only paces. She understands "wanna go out?".

•Paige comes when called but still has a hard time going through doorways, unless it’s feeding time (hunger trumps fear).

•She still doesn’t like to eat in front of people but will tolerate it. •She’ll settle in right away when she comes in unless there is a stranger (or my husband) in the room.

•She likes to sit by my chair in the kitchen or at work, unless there is too much commotion nearby.

•Early on Paige saw Sheba getting petted and loved and wanted in on that action. At first it was “get a pet and run”. Now she sticks around.

•Paige will run with a pack to play but still doesn’t go for the toy. •She’s a GREAT watch dog, but probably needs to learn to stop barking a bit sooner than she does now. I was just so thrilled to have her bark when appropriate, I’ve left her to her own devises for a while.

•She walks beautifully on the lead (actually came that way) even with other dogs. •She’ll tolerate brushing and nail clipping but, like a lot of dogs, would rather be anywhere else.

•Only recently has Paige taken treats from a non-family member. It took her days to take treats from me, a couple weeks to take them from my eldest daughter and more than a month to take a treat from my youngest. So this stranger thing is a huge leap forward!

•In the evenings after dinner and rest time, she really, really plays! She “gets” the chase game and will puppy bow and then take off racing a round the yard once or twice and come back for more. She’ll also come looking for petting and “butt scratches” then – and woe to you if you stop too soon! I don’t know why in the evenings she does this, but she does.

Paige has been a wonderful addition to my family and she will be missed greatly. Letting her go is so very hard. I’m not sure I’m really cut out for foster work but I will always be grateful for this opportunity and for getting to know and help Paige.

Laura

It’s been a while since I’ve updated you all on Paige, so here goes.

Last weekend we hosted an ES Gathering. The turn out was small but good fun. After the initial barking/warning when People showed up, Paige was great. It seems to have helped that dogs walked in with these Strangers. It also helped that the Strangers were dog savvy people who knew enough to ignore Paige’s distance and didn’t try to make her come over (we’ve had that from time to time… people who are ‘sure’ that they ‘can get Paige to ‘come”).

Throughout the day Paige ran with the pack beautifully. When the pack ran for a ball or a Frisbee, Paige was right with them. She didn’t really go for the toy, but she looked like she knew she was playing. The rest of the time she watched from a bit of a distance. A few weeks ago, when Nancy H. came to visit, Paige started to “hide” behind trees. Basically she kept a tree between herself and Nancy whenever she lay down. Well, she did the same thing at the Gathering. If she was moving, Paige was simply at a distance from the people. To rest she had to have the tree block out the People.

All the dogs got along fine and we only had one small incident involving Sheba which was addressed within seconds so no harm. At the end of the day we had 2 very, very worn out dogs! This really confirms my belief that Paige will do best in a home with other dogs. The more, the better.

The Gathering itself was great and the K9 CPR/First Aid class was great.

On other fronts… the weather has been lousy and Paige is getting brushed almost daily. Between the sand spurs (sticky burrs) and the rain, she’s a mess. But brushing her is easier every time and cutting her nails a few days ago was a breeze! Her ‘sits’ are getting better, all things considered. They are still done only on lead. Her recall is very good, for Paige. That is to say, she’ll come but she won’t, for instance, walk straight into the house with me. Entries are still scary (the exception to this is at dinner time). Even when it’s pouring rain, it’s very hard for Paige to simply come into the house. Coming into the kennel seems to be easier. But she can be at the other end of the property and will come to my whistle every time.

While she’s still barking at my husband, she seemed to settle in with my son faster. My son was home for a week at Thanksgiving. Paige barked and barked as Sheba went through her ritual spaz attack welcoming him home. She was fairly petrified at having another man in the house. At 3 am he got up and that set Paige into furious barking, waking up the entire household. But within a day or two, she was by my chair in the kitchen when he walked in. She was alert, but never barked. And she didn’t move so long as he was more than about 5 feet away. So that was good. If she’s still here in a couple weeks when he gets home (semester ends) it’ll be interesting to see how she reacts.

A couple that has expressed interest in adopting her stopped by yesterday. They are from Maine and are vacationing in Key Largo (how nice!). They seem very nice, but Paige would NOT stop barking at them for the longest time. I had Chris take Paige for a bit of a walk on lead. Once they got moving at an ES clip, Paige settled in. Every time the pace slowed down, Paige started to cower. I think John is a bit concerned. I think neither of them realized how shy Paige would be. They also have met a couple of ESs and could immediately see how much smaller Paige is. But I guess we’ll hear back from them this week and we’ll know what the score is.

There’s no doubt that if and when Paige leaves it’s going to leave a hole in my heart. She’s such a sweet dog. And she tries really hard. I don’t think I’m cut out for fostering.

Brave New Dog

Paige has become quite the watchdog! She's learned from Sheba that all people approaching the Kennel must be greeted with manic barking. I actually don't mind it since it gives me a "heads up" that someone is approaching. And to be fair, it stops once the person enters the lobby - or goes over to pet her. Anyway... a few days or so ago Paige started to bark, too. Not always, and not as loudly, but she was helping. Now Paige will bark on her own! A couple of times it's been at my husband (who Paige is very, very wary of) but not always. She has a nice bark (not too piercing and not raspy). This is not to say that Paige isn't still timid. But every break through is so great.

Yesterday Paige jumped from a standstill up to my eye level (I'm 5'5")! I was carrying meat out to feed her and Sheba which made her very, very happy. But I was still shocked! Later that evening she was still in such a good mood she played "chase" with me! That means that I play-tag her and she runs in a h-u-g-e circle furiously! That went on for 5 or 6 rounds. So while Paige still won't chase a ball, she seems to understand playing.

A few days ago the dogs started to pick up something on their paws that would not brush out. Added to the little green burrs that Paige gets covered in every single day, I couldn't take it. I had to bathe her off. She's still not crazy about the bath but is soooo much better. Sheba came in to check on her (and then got out of the way so as not to encourage a bath for herself!). Turns out the black stuff was soot and ash from some huge tree limbs my husband cut off and burned in the way back of the property. She's nice and clean and under my desk now. I've never been so manic about clean dogs but here in FL the ticks are horrible and I'd rather bath and make sure the dogs are tick-less than just treat with toxins. I do treat them with a preventative, but I would need to apply it twice as often it to make sure it was working.

Another break through with Paige is that for about 10 minutes she ate out of my hand. I have some kibble that was given to us as a sample for the Kennel. I don't feed kibble to my dogs so the only time it gets used here is if a boarding dog has run out of food during its stay. So I opened it up. Both dogs loved it! And it kept Paige at my side. These are the treats I'm going to use for the next few days. I hate feeding kibble, but I'm going to look at it like Halloween candy - not great for you, but it won't kill you once in a while!

Last night was had some excitement: the dogs were out in the yard for "last call". Sheba started barking furiously. I could see Paige was running between Sheba and the back door when I looked out. I went out and realized that they were after some critter in the bushes by the pool. They came in right away as it was too dark to see anything. I went out to the pool area after just to see (who knows why) and there was a SNAKE! I hate snakes. I only got a quick glance. When I looked it up it was one of 2 possibilities. Either poisonous or not. Great. I think it's the non-poisonous one since it was out at night and the explanation said this snake was active at night. I hope so. When I head into the house for lunch I'm going to have a "look-see" and then again tonight. Actually, tonight I'll have my husband look. He's the one who's going to have to kill it anyway! Yuck. I wish I could teach these dogs to signal a snake but leave it alone. But that would require working with a snake, no?

Well, off the find the snake!

Moving right along...

These have been a very hectic few days. My older daughter, who works for me in the Boarding Kennel, has been out of town with my younger girl so I’ve been here holding down the fort on my own. We don’t have so many dogs in that it was impossible, but we do have this little Maltese who is – I kid you not – 22 years old! I thought Chrissy was dying on me Friday and Saturday when she stopped eating (always on the weekend). Which was all sorts of fun. But she’s still here. Anyway, now that I’ve got a few moments I’ll try to catch up here.

Paige is making great strides and becoming more balanced everyday – even when that means misbehaving. On Friday, after she was fed, she actually made her way into the trash!! There was a little bit of kibble in there from one of the kennel dogs. I was speechless – for a few seconds. Then, of course she got corrected. I have found this to be a little difficult, that is, finding the right balance between a correction and not coming down too hard. (You see, I’m a German Shepherd Dog person for so long that transitioning to Rini was an education and even MORE so for Paige). Any way, after the fact I thought that as unacceptable as it was… misbehaving (or at least testing the waters) was not a bad thing.

Then on Saturday a couple looking to adopt an ES rescue stopped by. They are true dog lovers and have a BC, Jessie, now. They lost a second dog about a year ago. Paige kept her distance but stayed with the group, albeit on the fringe. I could tell she was thrilled when the “strangers” left. She’s so great with other dogs, though. This Jessie evidently does not like other females (according to the owners). Well, there was no sign of that with Paige. Not a whole lot of interaction going on, but a good exchange of butt-sniffing introductions did take place. I don’t know if they are really interested in Paige. I guess we’ll see.

We started a little obedience training finally. I’ve really cut her a lot of slack, but probably shouldn’t have. She’s such a basically good dog, it hasn’t seemed imperative. But I think everything will move forward better once she has some basic commands under her belt. On the lead, and off, she’ll come for a treat. Getting her to come straight on and take (not snatch) a treat is the challenge. We also worked on “sit” a little bit. THAT was a challenge in that I had one hand on the lead, one hand with a treat and no hand left to ease her bottom down. Paige succeeded twice – yeah! We’ll try again today now that my girls are back and one of them can hold the lead while we work. Once I can get her to sit I’m going to work on the recall/out send exercise that Heather H. recommends. It looks brilliant.

Overall Paige improves every day. On Sunday she walked in and out of the house AND the kennel right with me. No hesitation, no lead, no need to leave the doors open and wait for her to skulk in. I was thrilled! It didn’t happen every time but it happened several times. She’s barking more; “playing” more (even if it’s only with me and not Sheba who is d-y-i-n-g to play!). She even bolted out the gate once which petrified me for a few seconds until I realized she just wanted to get into the Kennel and went straight to the front door and waited. Walked right in after I opened up! Yeah!!

Well, it’s nail trimming day so I guess I should round up both Paige and Sheba for that. Paige could use a good brushing after this weekend as well.

Paige update, mostly

It’s been a few days since I last blogged. And there have been some interesting changes.

First of all, Paige has hit that “magical” 3 week mark. There have been great improvements but also a few set backs. I’ve been greeted for 2 mornings now with a “interesting” gift from Paige. Yesterday morning I wrote it off as a touch of diarrhea. Paige gets fed a raw diet and on days with little bone, it’s not uncommon for a dog to have loose stools. But I would have appreciated and whine to go out. Today there was no such excuse. So we might start crate training today.

On the other hand… the raw diet has done AMAZING things for her teeth and gums. When Paige first arrived her teeth were in horrible shape. Even the vet noted how much tarter there was for such a young dog. They were very, very brown. I’m happy to report that they are REALLY pearly white now! And her breath is better.

The other set back is Paige growling at people. It started once towards my husband. While I corrected, her I wrote it off as just being startled. It’s more than that. But only happens in the evenings. Not in the yard, but in the house and only in the evenings. She always gets a severe verbal correction and snap... but she tries to get the last word in (but doesn’t).

Paige is also bold enough now to take food from Sheba. Or tries to. Luckily for Paige, Sheba is very nonchalant about most things, including food. So I usually have to call her off. I don’t think Paige realizes that food is not rationed here, who knows if she ever will trust that. But Paige does have her likes and dislikes. She’s not crazy about raw eggs. Sheba loves them but Paige will only eat the insides. She completely leaves the shells – which is fine by Sheba who LOVES the shells.

Paige has started to run the fence (tail up and even barking once in a while) along side Sheba when there’s a Boarding dog out in the play yard – who is a fence runner. For the past few days it was Maggie (a husky mix) who thinks running the fence with Sheba is the best thing since sliced bread! Then she discovered Paige and by running at Paige (who has since learned that the fence is her friend) she can get Sheba really riled up! And the three of them are then off!

There’s family near here looking for an ES. I invited them over this weekend (due to illness in my home, we had to cancel this past weekend). Who knows? Maybe they’ll fall for Paige. I’m glad I’m not responsible for finding Paige her forever home. I’d be horrible at it! Too, too critical.

This weekend it’s just me and my DH – our son is still at school and both girls are headed out of town together. I’ve got Boarding dogs so I’m stuck on property. Ah well, I guess I should look at it as a “stay-cation”.

Laura

It’s been an interesting few days. Saturday morning my husband I had to get up very early to block a place in the fence where Paige was going and could get out. There was no way Sheba could have gotten in or out, but since Paige is so small I got worried. Mind you, she has about an acre and a half of fenced yard (no including the front yard which is not fenced nor The Barking Lot’s – the kennel – play yard. You would think it was enough! I actually don’t know if she was trying to get out as much as she was looking for a small place to get into. After the space was closed off, I found Paige in one of the dog houses later that day!

Twice now, during the past 2 nights, she’s growled at my husband. She’s been fine with him during the day but each evening, as he’s come out of the bedroom after a shower, she’s growled – seriously. I was caught off guard by it Saturday night, but last night I gave her a real verbal correction and a “knock it off” snap. She stopped. Let’s see what happens tonight. Any suggestions??

Thanks to Sheba we now have a new hole in the yard. And by “hole” I mean crater. Sheba never does anything half way! And it looked like Paige joined in. At least the thick coat of wet sand/dirt all over her legs and underside says she did!

As I wrote last time, Paige is getting more comfortable and bold here, which is great. Last night at dinner she was down-right cheeky! I put Sheba’s food down first. There was a turkey neck and a half in her bowl. When she started in on the first piece, Paige tried to steal the second one! I had to “shoo” her away and immediately put her bowl down. She’s lucky that Sheba is so very tolerant about food. Rini would have put an end to that before Paige’s teeth touched the meat! I am glad she’s building confidence, though!

Besides that, I’ve found that daily brushing is a must. When Paige arrived she has a VERY bushy tail and hindquarters. Sheltie-like. Now she lost that and her coat is looking good. But she does pick up a lot! Her top coat is that great ES Velcro… but her legs still pick up EVERYTHING! Brushing is still not fun for her. But she has no choice in the matter. She’s not panicked by it, but obviously would rather be almost anywhere else.

If I can figure out how to do it, I'll post some photos here. If I can't I'll post a link to some photos next time I write. For now, feel free to check out the web site for my Boarding Kennel - The Barking Lot - there are some nice pictures there!

www.barking-lot.net

Laura

I know it's not much but...

Last evening at meal time we had a breakthrough.

I've been feeding the dogs with Sheba's gate closed and Paige's gate open. Fine. All was well, the dogs were hungry and got right to their respective turkey necks (which by the way each weigh about a pound!). When they were both done I let Sheba out. As usual she made a bee-line to Paige's dish to check it out and lick it clean (like it wasn't already!). For the first time, though, Paige went into Sheba's run to check out and lick out Sheba's dish! Every time Paige acts more like a "normal" dog (or rather a dog that had been brought up normally) I want to get up and dance!

On a sadder note, we just found out that Sheba has hypothyroidism. This would explain her litter that went bad this summer. Of course there's no way we are going to try to breed her again and she will be on medication for ever. It's not a catastrophe, but it is sad. She'll get spayed later this year.

Baby steps

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Well we did it… trimmed Paige’s nails. Not so horrible but it did take 2 of us. The only one hurt was Sheba – poor girl. I cut one of her quicks – badly. I still feel so bad about it. And we were doing so well, too! I’ve got to bite the bullet and start dremmeling and not clipping. Thank goodness that all but one of Paige’s nails are clear!

Right now the dogs are in runs, (still feeding them separately) working on some beef necks. This is the third time I’ve offered this to Paige and the first time she’s taken to them. In fact, she is half way out of her run gnawing away! Good for her!

The weather is still cool (for Florida) so I got out to weed in the yard a bit. I could only do it for an hour, I guess I really am getting old! But the dogs hung out near by. The only thing Sheba likes more than chasing weeds being thrown is chasing snow being shoveled. Since that’s not happening here, she makes do with the weeds. I have no idea what Paige thought of all that. But I think it was good for her to be out in the yard with us, with no one really paying any attention to her. It seems to have made it easier to call her in to eat. We’ll see if that continues to hold true.

The kennel is very, very empty which is horrible for business but good for Paige. It’s given me more time with her and the few dogs that have been coming and going (mostly for grooming) gives her a chance to see people coming and going with no interest in approaching her so she can just observe without pressure. She watches everything so I’m hoping she’s picking up on positive cues from the other dogs.

As I close this I see that Paige has followed the bone almost out of the run. I just spoke to her, which stopped her only for a second. She doesn’t seem panicked that I can see her. Baby steps!!

Daily Diary about Paige, the foster dog from MT

Later on Tuesday:

The vet was fine. Paige did very well in the waiting room and basically took her cues from Sheba (who gets very board and lays down very quickly). Once we were in the exam room, Paige laid under the bench and had to be dragged out – too many new people. Once out again, she was fine.

As for the car… I had to lift her in but once in she was relatively calm. Not serene, but not panicked either. Both at the vet and at home she waited for me to take the lead before she jumped out on her own. Well done!

Wednesday September 30, 2009

The weather is FANTASTIC and the dogs are loving it! This morning started out in the low 70s and little humidity and we were all rejoicing! Paige literally ran and bounced she was so happy! Right now it’s 1:15 and it’s still cool enough to leave the girls out. She wants to come in – just to be with us – but I still don’t want to leave Paige alone in the yard.

My goal today is to get their nails trimmed. Not a big deal for Sheba – but will likely be quite an ordeal for Paige. I’ll probably do it after dinner when she is usually quiet anyway.

Daily Diary about Paige, the foster dog from MT

Thursday, Sept 17, 2009

It’s almost 5AM and Paige has been pacing for about an hour. We must have fallen asleep for a couple of hours. When she started to whine I took her out but she didn’t seem to need to pee. So I kept her on the lead when we came in and I “laid down” again on the love seat in the reception room of the kennel. She paced and paced. So I got her a blanket and a water dish and she still couldn’t settle down. Paige did let me pet her and even “massage” her a bit, which I was very pleased and surprised at. When she still wouldn’t settle in, I thought that maybe if she ate she would. Paige hadn’t eaten for about a day at this point – if not longer. So I mixed a little canned food in with the food NESR sent and she finally ate something….

We just got back in. Paige started to whine again as I was typing. I want her to learn that communication – even if it is whining – will get a positive human response. So, out we went. She’s back in the run now. I’m going to try to sleep a little more for the next hour and then head up to the house and start the day.

Later:

Paige is really a nice little bitch. She’s very small, but doesn’t seem to be a dwarf, just small. She’s B/W and I suspect her coat will be very, very nice once we can get her cleaned up and brushed out regularly.

Today has already been a busy day. She’s been to the vet; been out in the play yard off lead; has met Sheba (through the chin link for now) and has met a couple of boarding dogs. It’s only 11AM!

Saturday 9-19-09

The past 2 days have been hectic. We had dogs in to the kennels so I decided to leave Paige and our GSD, Sheba, up at the kennel overnight. At least I could get a little sleep.

OMG! Banner day! Paige finally got into the house for a while. She was a little stressed but eventually got to lie down and a-l-m-o-s-t relax. All of a sudden she got antsy again so I took her out to the yard and after she pee’d (yes, she seems to be self-housebroken) I put her in her run at the kennel near our weekend guests. After dinner my daughter, Geffen came up to the kennel (with Sheba) while I had to go out for a while. I just got up here and … was greeted with tail wagging by Paige!!!! Hurrah!!

We’ve moved Paige over to raw feeding and she’s taken to it like a champ. She still won’t eat if anyone is in eye sight though. Paige is still on a lead all the time because she still won’t actually come to anyone.

Sunday 9-20-09

Lat night was horrible. Paige came into the house to sleep – ha! There was very little sleeping going on. I was out with her 4 times (and each time Sheba had to join us). Now, every time we went out, Paige had to “go” but each time we came back in she had to pace a while and then settle down for a while. I’m exhausted! This afternoon we went for our first real walk. Since our yard is large and we have the play yard for Paige to run in (albeit on the lead) I didn’t think we really needed to walk for exercise. But I did want to start walking her as soon as we could. She did very, very well. Didn’t flip out from anything. Walked nicely. If I rein her in she walks to my side (but not too close yet) and once in a while she moves out in front. Having Sheba walk with us is a mixed blessing. After about 5 minutes Sheba is an angel on the lead. It’s the first 5 minutes of Stop and Go to get Sheba to quit walking at the end of the lead and pulling which is a bad example for Paige. Mind you, Sheba is almost 4 so this is something we’ve fallen into and not likely to get out of. But like I said, After 5 (or it really could be less) minutes, she’s a trooper and a great example for Paige.

This evening Paige took some sour cream from my finger! The first offering took a few minutes. After than she was very willing. She still holds her body back, but I’m so thrilled with each step forward!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Last evening at dinner a great thing happened – as usually when Paige comes in she paces a while and eventually settles in. The more activity that’s going on the more she’s on guard and the longer it takes. But anyway, once we actually sat down to eat, she pace, and paced and paced. But instead of going to her “safe spot” under the living room table, she came and laid down near us at the kitchen table!!! Yea!

Last night was my eldest daughter, Geffen’s, turn to deal with her overnight. I still haven’t gotten a report as Geffen is sleeping in today. But I got greeted at my bedroom door when I came out (and then a quick retreat). Both dogs got beef neck bones this morning (Paige really needs her teeth and gums addressed). She seems to have liked the meat but then cried so I think the bone is a bit painful for her teeth and gums. I’m hoping that the chicken bone will start building her mouth up, poor pup! Right now, as I write, she is under my desk at the kennel lying down but not relaxed. She just “met” our groomer and she’s still unsure about her. The other dogs coming an going don’t seem to phase her, but the people do.

Wednesday September 23, 2009

Yesterday Paige got her first bath. It was not a disaster and she was not terrified but she was NOT happy. She did give my groomer a kiss on the nose even while in the tub! We didn’t even try to blow dry her. She looks great, probably feels better but it took her hours to get over it. This morning I gave Sheba a bath (always a production) and poor Paige kept poking her head in and checking in on Sheba! After that they both got a small breakfast so right now everyone is quiet.

Last night Paige slept in our room (with Sheba) on a blanket. It took her a short time to settle in but she did. I don’t think she ever made it into a deep sleep but it was Sheba, not Paige, who asked to go out at 2 AM, so that’s a huge improvement!

In the morning I let both dogs out into the main yard and Paige went out without a lead. She did very well I think. When I called them in it only took Paige one hesitation to make it in through the doorway. Later on, while I was spreading DE in the yard (after a year of NO ticks, I have waged constant battle against the buggers all summer!) she and Sheba kept following me around. When the seed spreader came out Sheba of course went nuts attacking and barking at it (anyone who has met Sheba can attest to her severe lack of dignity!) and Paige kept following me back and forth.

I want to start “recall” training so I plan to call Heather in short while.

Thursday September 24, 2009

Thankfully I spoke with Heather last evening and as expected she was a wealth of knowledge. Got some great suggestions and had a great time “visiting” with her! Took her advice to get Paige to start to come to me for food (with the intention of eventually getting her to come to me on command, one day).

So this morning, I took the two on a walk in the "neighborhood" (we're

semi-rural) and every so often called Sheba and gave her a piece of hot dog and
then called Paige and gave her a piece of hot dog. And each time she took it!
Yea! So this evening I hope to take it one step further and after having Paige
take more food from my hand, I'll probably sit outside her run when she eats.

(BTW, my dogs do not live in the runs or at the kennel. They have always been,
and will always be, house dogs. Come see the fur I sweep up 2 and 3 times a day!!
But, since we feed raw, I've found that it's the easiest place to feed when I
can't feed in the yard. I don't want raw all over my floor in the house. And I'm
not sure how wise it would be to feed the two of these in the yard at the same
time.)

Can't say how long this will go on before we start making this into a recall
exercise, but I'm just so pleased with every step forward this dog makes!

Tuesday September 29, 2009

It has been days since the last update. And I don’t know where to begin. Paige is still moving forward but slowly. I have to remind myself every day (or several times a day) that this is a marathon, not a sprint. She’s so smart, though, that it’s frustrating not to be able to tap into that yet. We are still working on getting Paige to come to us. She actually tries to come near. But at about 3 feet, she turns and bolts. And then comes right back. So she’s still on a drag lead part of the time. She is however glad to see us and always greets us with a smile and a wag. A lot of wagging in fact. The best way to get her to come closer is to start petting and “loving” on Sheba – then Paige comes running and even jumps up to plant a kiss on my nose!

I’m always amazed by dogs’ need for human contact in spite of everything! While I don’t think they forget, they are obviously able to forgive and move on. I wish I had that capacity.

She has gotten into the routine… she and Sheba get let out early in the morning for a run in the yard while the household starts to get organized. As soon as I come out they check if it’s time to come in or time to head to the kennel. If it’s time to come in, and the A/C compressor- monster isn’t making any noise, Paige will make her way in. Very slowly. I leave the doors open and she hesitantly makes her way in – in a dash! I’ll be glad when she can just follow Sheba in directly. If, however, I head out of the gate, she makes a mad dash to the side of the kennel and waits for me (first in line!) to take her from the yard to the main building! At that point she still needs to be on a lead since I’m not sure what would cause her to bolt or not (still needing that recall!!). She’ll then spend – as she is now – all morning under my desk or following me from run to run, depending on what needs to be done.

In the afternoons, when it’s not raining, the dogs get let out again into the yard. Depending on the heat (and it has been very hot and humid for the past 2 weeks) they stay out for a short break or long play. Paige tends to follow Sheba but has also found a nice cool and protected place to hang out under a giant philodendron. She comes flying out when I whistle!

I am concerned that she doesn’t drink enough water – given the heat here. She does eat a raw diet, which lessens the need for water, but she still won’t drink usually in front of people (or Sheba, come to think of it) so I do worry. She’s got access to water dishes all over so I guess it’s up to her.

Everyday we brush Paige and it is getting better. In fact yesterday she even submitted and laid on her side for a short time while I brushed her tail. It only lasted a few minutes, but I’ll take it! Today we’re going to trim her nails. We’re also going to the vet – not for Paige – for Sheba. Paige is going along for the ride. Should be interesting. I’m planning to start to get them in the car about 1:45 for a 2:15 appointment (the vet is only 4 minutes down the road) ‘cause while I’m optimistic, I’m also realistic!