Breakthroughs

Our first breakthrough came on Sunday morning, when Kira FINALLY relieved successfully outdoors. The day before, she had peed three times in her crate and one time on the kitchen rug. I felt that if she could just go in the right place ONCE and I could praise her like crazy for it, half the potty training battle would be won. But after peeing on the kitchen rug at about 4pm, I kept taking Kira outside, but she would not pee!

Even after eating dinner and drinking a lot of water, still no pee! I ended up staying outside with her for two hours straight, from 8pm to 10pm, walking around and around our backyard. I knew if I put her in her crate, she would pee in there, and we'd be reinforcing very bad habits. Finally, at 10pm, I had to give up, and we all went to bed (not necessarily to sleep, though). My husband slept in the family room with Kira on tie down, since we couldn't crate her. He took Kira out two more times in the middle of the night, and STILL NO PEE!

The next morning, I fed Kira breakfast, and then, FINALLY, when I took her outside, the floodgates opened and she peed and pooped like gangbusters. And I praised and praised and praised! Breakthrough Number One (and Number Two, too, I guess you might say)! We have not had an accident since.

The second breakthrough is that Kira and Cabana can now hang out together! We introduced the dogs on leash just after bringing Kira home, in our driveway, which was as neutral a territory as we could get, since Kira is not allowed off our property (due to shedding parvo). Kira barked and lunged, probably mostly out of fear, since it seems like she's never really been around other dogs before. Cabana's response made me see that Kira wasn't aggressive, and Cabana wasn't afraid of her--but Cabana started barking back, and we felt it was best to keep them apart for a while.

Every Sunday morning, my husband makes pancakes for breakfast. I'm not much of a pancake fan myself, but oh boy, Cabana sure is. It turns out that Kira also enjoys pancakes--immensely. We were able to introduce the dogs to each other by feeding them both pieces of pancake simultaneously.

Cabana wouldn't call Kira her best friend, but Kira thinks Cabana hangs the moon. She follows Cabana everywhere. If Cabana goes out to relieve herself, Kira does the same. Now that Kira has Cabana for a role model, she seems so much more confident. She can even walk by her own reflection in our stainless steel trash can without reacting.

Our next hurdle--keeping Kira from barking excessively in the crate.

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A New Foster - Tabi

As much as I would have loved to do a mini-foster with Francie, I knew that her personality wasn't a good fit for our family. Still, I decided to give it a shot by bringing Francie home for a few hours last week.

Cabana and Francie had been introduced a couple weeks ago at the shelter, so I knew there weren't any issues with aggression. But Cabana only tolerates Francie. Francie's body language and play style are just so different from Cabana's. "Playful" to Francie translates as "way over-the-top" to Cabana.

Can't you just see the discomfort on Cabana's face? Francie is a bit like a bull in a china shop, jumping all over the furniture, grabbing all of Cabana's toys, claiming all of us by sitting all over our laps whenever we sit down. Fostering shouldn't mean sacrificing Cabana's comfort. A little inconvenience is okay, but misery is not. Still, Francie is completely house broken, never barks, doesn't dig, doesn't counter surf--so, for the right family, she'd be a great dog.

My husband has taken an immense liking to Loki, a mystery breed dog who was found in a swamp. Loki has the face of a lab, a black tongue like a chow, a dark ruff and tail like a shepherd, and dew claws on her hind legs like a hound. She was so skittish that it took two weeks for the man who found her to be able to get close enough to bring her into the shelter. After he finally did bring her in, he came by daily to check on her--such a kind person! Loki was definitely afraid of men. Her tail was tucked way under when my husband first approached her in her pen. But he quickly got Loki to warm up to him, and now she is his buddy.

We had hoped to foster Loki this weekend, seen playing here with Francie and my husband in the shelter play yard. But before ending up in the swamp, Loki seems to have come from a nice family. Even though she has some fear issues, she has very good obedience and manners.

Meanwhile, Tabi is a dog that was surrendered by her owner and came in shortly after Loki. Tabi makes Loki look like a courageous superhero. The two scaredy-dogs have been kenneled together, and Loki has helped Tabi gain confidence. The shelter folks were worried that if we brought Loki home, Tabi might feel totally lost without her friend. So, we brought Tabi home for a mini-foster instead because Tabi has never been taught anything and could benefit greatly from an in-home experience.

Tabi reminds me of a little black bear. She's sweet, petite, and smart. With Cabana's friendly comfort, Tabi has had almost no fears in our house. Her tail is always high and waggly. She follows Cabana outside to do her business whenever Cabana does. Oddly, they don't really play together, but Tabi tries to curl up next to Cabana and always licks Cabana's ears and nether-regions. I have a feeling that Tabi doesn't know how to play--I've been told that she has had zero socialization and was left in her backyard for her entire life.

We took Tabi to our dog park this morning, and she did great. She wasn't afraid of the dogs or activity or people. I didn't let her off-leash, though, because she won't even come to me in our fenced backyard. We'll work on sit, down, come and leash walking while she's here. She's a quick study, so I think it won't be long before she's mastered them.

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