Day Two

Wow. How to start this post? Perhaps by saying that our girl is, if anything efficient, in all bodily functions. Eating, drinking and all that other stuff. She even had a burp last night that would rival any college freshman after his (or her) first glass of beer.

But, sigh...emotionally this skin and bones girl is still pretty shaky. The skinny I can work with, it's the "run and hide when I see people" that's rockin' my world. For those of you who have fostered or even adopted puppy mill dogs, you know the row I'm hoeing. It's pretty tough. I guess nothing could have prepared me for the day to day.

You know, get up and hear the washer and the dryer running at 445am because she soiled her bedding from last night and yesterday afternoon. Amazingly it's only potty, she does poop outside the crate.

We let her out of the crate only to have her claw her way around to the back and hide under the chair. Tonight we change that. The crate is going in the corner and she won't be able to hide behind it. She isn't, surprisingly, a big fan of the crate. Why?

I talked with June yesterday about the puppy mill dog syndrome. Is the the name for it? I just threw the words together if it isn't. June is another amazing Fluffy Dog foster mom. She's been a great resource for me. She fostered three of them and wound up failing Fostering 101 and adopting two of the three. She gave me some suggestions and even sent me a link to an article she found very helpful in working with these creatures. Above all else, she dangled the carrot in front of me and said, "but when they turn the corner... (and she paused here for dramatic effect)....they are so grateful...and so affectionate. She'll come around, you'll see."

When I got back from my walk with my dogs, wait-let me stop here and say how unnatural it feels to leave a dog behind. I know she doesn't know any different and could care less at this point but it just feels wrong to take everybody else for a walk and leave her behind. Ok, now you know that.

So, when I got back from my walk with my dogs this morning, she was actually sitting up and looking around. She was the only one here. Scott had left for work, Connor was up in his room and Kiera, well, suffice it to say that 45 minutes later she's still sleeping.

Well, our time together is over for today. She has done a little something smelly on my floor and I should probably get that cleaned up. Before I go, if you have adopted a puppy mill dog or fostered one, can you send me a little email or leave it in the comment section, of your thing that worked the best to rehabilitate your pooch. I'd appreciate all the help I can get. My blog eddress is - iwannahelpdoggies@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

PS - Just so you don't think I'm a complete ignoramus, I cleaned up the poo before I finished the blog. lol