For the last year, I've been babysitting Amanda's (brighteyes) dogs once a week, and really falling in love with them. But my apartment was in a building with a no-dogs policy, and they eventually got around to cracking down on it.
So I moved.
Amanda used to live in a really great dog friendly apartment complex with a dog park, stocked fishing pond, gym, and heated pool, and the rent was almost exactly the same as what I was paying. And it's only ten minutes from the town she and Lee live in
So last week I moved there, and Saturday morning I picked up my dog, who Amanda found for me on a rescue website. She's a dachshund, the same breed as both of Amanda's dogs, and a rescue. She's spent her whole life in a puppy mill, living in a cage and being used for constant breeding. They were calling her rugrat at the rescue center, but she's only had that name for six weeks, before that she probably didn't even have a name. So I've renamed her Blossom (also Amanda's suggestion.)
As a result, she's very shy and skittish, and is going to take a lot of love and time before she's ready to be a normal, happy dog. But we've made some small progress, and she's very closely bonded with me. She never leaves my side (she's sleeping next to me on my recliner right now) and she seems to trust me. But loud noises spook her, and yesterday she stumbled into my foot while we were walking (she's not used to being walked on a leash and doesn't have the hang of staying out from under me) and she panicked and tried to run away for a minute before I could calm her down.
For the first day she wouldn't really eat, but this morning I got her to eat some kibble out of my hand. She would eat a mouthful and then scurry away, so each time she came back I moved my hand a little closer to her food dish. Then when my hand was right next to the dish, I stopped putting kibble in it, and she would take it from the dish instead.
This is her discovering her new home:
<IMG SRC="http://www.ticklingforum.com/mtp/blossom1.jpg">
Looking into the camera:
<IMG SRC="http://www.ticklingforum.com/mtp/blossom3.jpg">
Napping on my shoulder
<IMG SRC="http://www.ticklingforum.com/mtp/blossom4.jpg">
So I moved.
Amanda used to live in a really great dog friendly apartment complex with a dog park, stocked fishing pond, gym, and heated pool, and the rent was almost exactly the same as what I was paying. And it's only ten minutes from the town she and Lee live in
So last week I moved there, and Saturday morning I picked up my dog, who Amanda found for me on a rescue website. She's a dachshund, the same breed as both of Amanda's dogs, and a rescue. She's spent her whole life in a puppy mill, living in a cage and being used for constant breeding. They were calling her rugrat at the rescue center, but she's only had that name for six weeks, before that she probably didn't even have a name. So I've renamed her Blossom (also Amanda's suggestion.)
As a result, she's very shy and skittish, and is going to take a lot of love and time before she's ready to be a normal, happy dog. But we've made some small progress, and she's very closely bonded with me. She never leaves my side (she's sleeping next to me on my recliner right now) and she seems to trust me. But loud noises spook her, and yesterday she stumbled into my foot while we were walking (she's not used to being walked on a leash and doesn't have the hang of staying out from under me) and she panicked and tried to run away for a minute before I could calm her down.
For the first day she wouldn't really eat, but this morning I got her to eat some kibble out of my hand. She would eat a mouthful and then scurry away, so each time she came back I moved my hand a little closer to her food dish. Then when my hand was right next to the dish, I stopped putting kibble in it, and she would take it from the dish instead.
This is her discovering her new home:
<IMG SRC="http://www.ticklingforum.com/mtp/blossom1.jpg">
Looking into the camera:
<IMG SRC="http://www.ticklingforum.com/mtp/blossom3.jpg">
Napping on my shoulder
<IMG SRC="http://www.ticklingforum.com/mtp/blossom4.jpg">
