Grace and Bear

Breakthrough moment

Grace came into the living room earlier in the week and jumped up into her favorite spot on the couch. She rolled around, knocking many of the pillows off, and then sat down. She didn't get upset when the other dogs got onto the couch and she didn't mess on it either, so I decided to give her a chance to see how she would do.

She laid down and started chewing on a rawhide that was there and even let Bear lie behind her (she doesn't really like having the other dogs behind her). She spent some time looking down at Ella and letting Ella sniff her mouth (and, placing her paw on Ella's head - like a queen, but, since Spirit also does this when she is near a higher ranked dog, I think it was a submissive gesture on Grace's part).

Then, she did something really special. She came to the end of the couch nearest to where I was sitting and knitting and allowed me to pat her. She didn't move away and very clearly enjoyed it. She was almost ready to jump into my lap for a cuddle. Almost, but not quite.

I am just happy that she chose to spend some time out of her crate without coaxing from me - she took the initiative herself.

Tummy Troubles

Grace had another accident in her crate. Well, I am not entirely convinced it was an accident, since her crate door was left open that day and she still pooped in it.

Since she really managed to make a mess of herself and the crate this time, she got a full bath, which she tolerated fairly well. She had her back nails clipped and was scrubbed and rinsed off. She didn't really enjoy being toweled off, especially her behind, but tolerated it.

When I opened the bathroom door, she dashed out and rolled all over the blankets on the couch.

It seems like her stool gets very soft when she gets nervous, so I will have to bring this up the next time we have a vet visit.

Escape!

Last week, Grace managed to slip over the fence and was on the lam for about 10 minutes. She followed Ella to the wooded area at the side of my property (where Ella likes to go to the bathroom). Ella came back without Grace.

My property is about 300 yards from the intersection of two (relatively quiet) roads. I knew that Grace would probably head that way, since the woods are thicker as you walk away from the road.

She did. As soon as I pulled my car out of the driveway, I spotted her. As soon as she saw the car, she turned the other way and ran a few feet down the road, so I stopped and called to her. She knows her name (thankfully) and turned to listen. Ella and Robbie were with me, so I let them out of the car. They both ran towards Grace.

Grace was ready to run the other way, but the two little ones got close enough for her to recognize them and she ran up to them for a quick sniff. I backed the car down the road and pulled into the garage.

Robbie really likes to ride and doesn't like to be left behind, so as soon as I got out of the car, he was next to me. Ella came running down the driveway and then came Grace. She really does not like to be alone and relies heavily on the more confident dogs when outside.

If Grace has escaped any earlier in her time here, I would never have been able to catch her. Honestly, I didn't catch her this time. I walked around the house until we got to the door that Grace was familiar with and we all went in that way - she would never have come into my garage and gone in that door, since it was too scary for her. She stayed about 15 feet from me the entire time. Granted, she followed me, but was always 15 feet away.

The funny thing about shy dogs is that they do not tend to wander away from their home, unless they follow another dog or get scared by something. They are extreme creatures of habit and stay where things are known and safe for them. That's why it can be difficult to take shy dogs on trips - if they slip their collar, they do not have those familar surroundings to help keep them calm, so they bolt and are extremely hard to catch. Sometimes, a Hav-a-heart trap is needed. Sometimes, the dog is never recovered.

Grace and I were really lucky that day.

Yucky

When I got home last night, someone (or a few someones) has had accidents. Messy, smelly accidents. I got everything cleaned up and then realized that I could still smell something icky.

It was Grace's crate and she had pooped in it.

What a mess. She had mashed everything into her bed. But, she did try hard to stay out of it, since she pushed her bed up to the front of the crate and sat towards the back of it. But, she still had quite a bit on her. It was mostly just on her feet and her tail.

So, I put her outside and cleaned up her crate. Then, I brought her in and helped her into the bathtub, where she got a good rinsing. I supposed I should have given her a good scrubbing, but I didn't brush her out first and didn't want to mat any hair.

She wasn't all that thrilled with being rinsed off, but tolerated being lifted into and out of the tub. She did well having her face dried off, but tried to scramble away from having her rear end dried. Once I got the majority of the water out, I let her out of the bathroom. She ran to the couch and squirmed all over it trying to get completely dried. Thankfully, I keep a blanket on the couch and was able to easily change it.

I left her crate door open today so that if she really has to go, she doesn't have to do it in her crate - I would prefer she hold it, but I also don't want her laying in it, either!

Crates

Grace spends a lot of time in her crate. She doesn't need to, since the door is usually open when I am at home. But, she feels safe there, so I am not going to force her to be anywhere else right now. In the future, we will work on getting her used to being in the rest of the house. For right now, I am happy that she peers out at me looking for a treat.

If she is peering out at me, then she is starting to overcome some of her fear!

One thing to remember with a shy dog is that they are going to need a lot of time and patience to become part of the family. Grace has spent the majority of her life in a kennel. She probably never saw stairs or children or cats or toys or cars or strangers or any of the things that our normal dogs saw, heard and experienced growing up. We actually take this for granted and don't realize how well adjusted our normal dogs are until we get a shy dog.

We have to introduce these new things to our shy dogs - slowly and methodically. And, we have to accept the dog we have adopted, not the perfect dog in our imaginations. Once we realize both of these things, we can begin helping our shy dog. So, if you have a shy dog and it spends a lot of time in its crate, that's OK. Grace does too, right now. But she won't forever because I will help her get over her fears.

Let's do our nails!

Grace really needs her toenails clipped. This is not a fun activity for most dogs. So, in preparation, I need to get some treats ready. I will be giving Grace lots of treats while we trim her feet. This will help her associate good food with having her feet handled. It is called desensitization and counterconditioning. Eventually, she will not mind having her feet handled.

I use soft cat treats and meat jerky. I cut the jerky up in small pieces using scissors. Some trainers tear the treats up as they go along, but I find that it is faster and easier to do it this way. I store them in a plastic bag, since they dry out rather quickly. Hard treats really slow training down.

I then put the other dogs outside. I collect my nail trimmers and my scissors. I place some of the treats in an easily accessible bowl and sit in front of Grace's crate. Today, I just want to try to get one foot trimmed up.

I gave Grace about 10 treats for coming to the front of the crate. Then I gave her a few more for letting me hold her foot and take a picture of it. Her hair is really long!

Then I pushed back the hair and clipped each nail. After every nail, I gave her a few treats and made sure that she took them. If she refused the treats, then I would have set a bunch down in front of her and finished out session for the day. We got through one foot and I gave her a bunch of treats and took a picture.

Bear, one of my own dogs, laid quietly next to me while I did this. I think this may have helped Grace. She didn't want him to take her treats and she was also able to see how calm and unfrightened he was (Bear is a shy and deaf sheltie). Because she seemed to be doing very well, I decided to try the other front paw. And, she allowed me to trim that one, too!

I gave her a "jackpot" of treats afterwards - lots of treats and praise. Then, she was allowed outside to play with the others. We still need to do her back feet, but that will be at another time. For today, we did even better than I had hoped.