Sally Breakthrough!

[Amber]

As I am sitting at my desk, surfing on the 'Net, Sally gets up out of her crate, and walks to the OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM to get some water! WHILE I'M AWAKE!!!! YAY! :bunny: :wave2:

This is the first time she has ever done this with me in the room! I'm so happy...the books and all the advice I have gotten from this forum are REALLY helping me bring her out of her shell.

Thanks everyone! :yourock:

[Jill Ramsey]

Yaaaaa, Sally!! Keep up the good work, Amber. :tup:

[Joanne Brady]

:bunny: :bunny: :bunny:

Congratulations Amber!!! That was such a big first step for Sally and she pulled it off when she was ready to do it. Give her a big hug and lots of praise for a good job.

Joanne, Amari and Soleil

[Jo Russell]

Woohoo! Go, Sally. That is so cool, Amber. I'm so happy for you both.

Edited to add: It must have taken an enormous amount of self control on your part to not start jumping around and yelling for joy, thus setting her back a while. :)

[Amber]

I know...if she would have seen me looking at her, she would have dashed back in her crate! lol

She took two steps, looked around...I turned away when she looked my way (lol)...one step...looked around...I had to look away again....walked quickly to the water bowl, took a few laps then walked back kind of slowly

It was so cool! lol.

Trust me...She got LOTS of praise...and you could tell she was proud of herself!

[Grace Erick]

Hi Amber,

That's great to hear that Sally took a step forward. It would be nice to see her be a little more relaxed one day and enjoy life a little more. She is a little sweetheart.

For the time a dog is abused or not treated well, even if it's a short time, it can take forever for them to get over what happened to them. Every little step Sally takes is tremendous for her. Give her a hug for me. I wish I could do it myself and pet her, and I saw on the "kennel" topic that you do take her out for petting sessions. I think that is really good for her. With Capri, I put her on the bed. She seems to like that better than when we are on the floor together. She's more playful in a different way on the bed.

[Krysta Smith]

I am soooo happy for you!! You must be so proud of Sally!! :bunny: :bunny: :bunny:

[Amber]

Grace, You know what...

I put Sally on the bed while petting her...and she is WAY more playful on the bed than on the floor. She actually started to PLAY with me today. Granted, it's just putting my fingers in her mouth, but that's what I taught her, and she doesn't bite down...so I figure why not? She's not a fear biter, much less a biter at all, so I really have nothing to worry about. I'm the only one she will do anything with anyway...lol

I read that if you put your dog on your bed with you, they feel they are more of a part of the pack than if they are always on the floor. I let Precious sleep with me as soon as she was crate trained. I figured that way she wouldn't mess in my bed, and she never has. Sally really started opening up once I started letting her up on the bed during the petting sessions. I try to let her sleep in my bed also, but she refuses to fall asleep. As soon as I put her down, she runs and pees on the puppy pad I leave down in my room for them.

That makes me think she's nervous about messing in my bed...I'm not sure though. Thanks for everyone's words of encouragement!

[Justine Archuleta]

:tup: :clap:Great job Sally!!!!!! :yourock:

[Grace Erick]

Hi Amber,

Since I'm a pretty new dog owner as of 2-1/2 years, I will say what works for me, but I don't know if it works for other dogs. I'm glad to hear she has fun with you on the bed. Capri is more playful on the bed too.

Capri would give us tiny bites on our hand, and with her, in never progressed into more than that. It's her way of playing and she is very delicate when she does it. I'll put my hand up to her face and she barely bites at it. I was worried at first if it was going to turn into a bad thing when I first got her, but it didn't. I didn't know anything about dogs, but noticed she played in a different way on the bed, like she would stretch out her rear legs behind her and her front legs in front of her and try to reach you with her paws to play.

I tried to have my mom in NY play with her the same way, and my mom was shy about letting the dog bite at her hand since she didn't know it would be so gentle, then she realized it was and they played together too that way.

After Sally goes on the pad, have your tried to put her back in bed with you? She just may be so used to her kennel as her saftey zone where it's safe for her to close her eyes, but that may change one day.

That's so great to hear Sally is having fun!!!:)

[Amber]

I have tried that, but she still won't close her eyes. I really think that she won't close her eyes unless she's in her crate. She did go asleep on the loveseat yesterday, but she turned her head and buried it halfway under one of the pillows to do so.

[Grace Erick]

Amber, with Chihuahuas, they like to burrow. I don't know if burying her head is a quirk or she likes to be under covers. Chihuahuas like to sleepw with their owners under the covers and Capri has to have every foot touching me.

During the day, her bed has a light fleece blanket that she can burrow under or patially cover herself. I bought her this great cove covered bed, but she refuses to use it. It's nice too, but she is a creature of habit and likes her old bed better, even if I try replacing the bed, she will find somewhere else to sit to I put the old bed back.

[Amber]

I tried to put her under covers with me in the bed and she didn't like it too much...I could see the panic in her eyes. Also, I tried to put a blanket in her crate with her, but she didn't like that too much either...lol. She just crawled out and layed on top of it.

I think she just buried her head under the pillow because I closed both crate doors so she was forced to be part of the family that day. She was so tired that she wanted to go to sleep, but she couldn't go into her crate to do so, so she had to make due with what she had.

[Jo Russell]

Seeing as I think about Sally whenever I see you about the board, Amber, I have to ask how things going with her?

[Amber]

She's not NEARLY as shy as she used to be! :bunny:

She knows a few commands, which I find odd because I have not started training her yet. I'm trying to get her a little more socialized and used in her own skin before I start training, but I can tell her to do certain things like "Stay" or "Go outside" or "On the couch" and she'll stop, or she'll go outside, or jump up on the couch. Like I said before, her other "safety zone" is the love seat, so if she's running from one crate to the other or if I have closed both crates and she's running around not knowing where to go, I'll tell her "On the couch" and she'll get up on the couch. It's so cool!

Also, she's warming up to my mom and she now is used to her collar. She doesn't run from crate to crate with her head down and her tail tucked between her legs anymore. She still runs from crate to crate to be in the general area as me, but she does it with her head up and tail up (most times).

She still growls and barks at strangers when they come in the house, unless I'm in the room and tell her to "Stay" (so she doesn't run; I'm trying to teach her to face her fears) and "No barking". She will still bark and growl at people when they get to close to her when I bring her to the shelter with me (it's the shelter I adopted her from; it's the only place she feels comfortable enough that she won't do the whole nervous urination/defecation thing) I think she still considers that to be her territory as well, so I need to break her of that, too.

She hasn't messed in the house since we changed the carpet either, so that's a big plus, too. It's Precious that's having a problem with that now! lol
Oh, and she has fallen in love with one of the vet techs at her new vets office! I never thought it would happen. Every time I had to get her out of her crate, she would pee and poop everywhere. The last time I took her, she let me get her out with no problem and even almost fell asleep on the table while the vet tech petted her! She had generalized demodectic mange at the beginning of our vet trips, and I think since they made her feel better, she decided she would reward them with good behavior. lol

Other than that, she has some other issues we have to work on, like walking on a leash, a little more socialization, and start training. She has really turned around though. Thank you so much for asking about her! I love telling people about her story. I hope I can make a difference and make people see that adopting dogs really is a rewarding experience.

[Jo Russell]

That's all really good news, Amber. Don't apologise for writing lots. I love to read about the real experiences people are having with their animals. It's how I learn the most; books can only give you just so much, then you need to hear how it all works in a day to day way with different animals. Then there are special dogs I will never meet, but for whom there is a place in my heart, like Sally. The internet's a funny thing that way.

Adopting is really worth it... though I was quite picky about my two in some ways. They both needed to be cat/small animal friendly, for instance. I had a not so good experience with my first trial adoptive dog. Ended up with the cats living scared separately and the guinea pigs being harrassed, so after a few days she went back (to her private home, I believe they had been humming and harring about rehoming for a long time and may have ended up keeping her). There were a couple of other things that made her not the right dog for me and although there were some things I was prepared to work on, there were some things that had to be pretty good from the outset.

When it comes to training, it's amazing what they seem to learn almost by osmosis. Just sharing living space and building that bond of trust by caring for them seems to have a little magic in it, I think... especially if you give them plenty of space to observe and settle in at a pace that's comfortable for them.

Edited to say, that I don't think my adopted dogs are in the same category with rescues, like Sally, and other dogs who've had it really rough. I'm full of admiration for you and others who rescue. As I gain experience, I sometimes imagine taking in other dogs, but it's really not practical for me to be thinking about doing that right now.

[Amber]

It does take a lot of time, depending on what type of problems and the severity of the problems the dog has. I luckily knew all of Sally's issues before I adopted her, so I knew what I was up against. I don't work (I pet sit occasionally), as I am in college full time. I volunteer at the no-kill shelter I adopted Sally from, which helps me socialize her. I am thinking about enrolling her in my local Petsmart's puppy class so she can be around other dogs smaller than her (she doesn't like dogs larger than her) and she can be around other people. I'm going to talk to the trainer and get her to do an evaluation before I enroll her though. She may not be "out of her shell" enough...I'm not sure.

Thanks for the words of encouragement and compliments. I try to tell Sally's story to as many people as possible so they can see how horrible animal abuse is and how wonderful adoption is. I'm really glad I had to chance to add Sally to our family and I'm sure she appreciates it as well.