Bonnie Goes Home

Today was a bitter sweet day. Bonnie went to her new home -- I believe it is a very good one. A young woman who can give her the time and attention I can't. She won't have other dogs living with her, but her new owner is close to her mom who has 2 dogs. Bonnie will have opportunities for regular play dates.

I only cried a little - I hope Bonnie lives happily ever after; she deserves it.

No luck for Bonnie

Although I think Bonnie thinks it's better this way -- that she continues to live at my house. But she hasn't had too many people interested in meeting her. I think that part of the problem is that she's behind the front desk and not in a kennel. Even though I have her profile hanging on a kennel door with a note to visit her in the front office, I don't think that people bother to do that. I may have to give in and kennel her during our viewing hours.

Holly really does not like Bonnie. She tends to pick on her when they're outside. The other day I saw Holly barking and chasing Bonnie all around the yard, and it definately wasn't play. Bonnie ended up in the bushes, and I had to call Holly off of her -- she really didn't want to come away.

The other night I was on the couch with Bonnie next to me. Holly jumped up on the same couch and Bonnie growled and lunged at her. Holly wasn't going to let that go, and I had to grab both of them before it could get out of hand.

Where are we now?

We've had good and we've had bad since last I posted...

Bonnie has certainly come out of her shell. But the bad of it is that she's really become quite reactive. She barks if she hears something out the window. She barks in my office if she hears someone coming. She barks when people stop by my office to talk to me.

I started doing time-outs with her -- in the crate she goes when the barking starts. That has been pretty effective; although she forgets from one day to the next. I've also tried to give her treats when there are noises and she doesn't bark.

I decided that she was way, way, way too bonded to me, and so was considering leaving her in the front office for a few hours. My concern was that she would bark at people at the front desk. I actually had a volunteer offer to take her for a few hours, and imagine my suprise that she did really well and didn't bark much at all.

I repeated this visit the next day and she was fine for the first 2 hours she was up there....until I walked past the office and she saw me. I could hear her screaming all the way down the hall in my office. Did I mention she's very bonded to me?

I finally decided to post her on Petfinder. It's a hard thing for me to do -- because I'm concerned about what kind of control I'll be able to have over her new home. But honestly I can't keep her. I already have 3 dogs and 4 would be too much. So she'll live with me, come to work everyday, and hopefully meet the people she's meant to live happily ever after with for the rest of her life.

More kids

We had a smaller group of kids yesterday and today -- only 14 of them ages 9 to 11.

I started with the circle and having the kids feed her. She was ok, with that, but not at happy as I would like to have seen her. Then I had a epiphiny -- Bonnie LOVES toys. Food is good, but toys are better.

I had the kids spread out in a line, and got a few toys. I let each kid have a turn throwing a toy for Bonnie, and got her to drop it by waving a second toy in her face. She was extremely happy -- tail up over her back, play face -- the whole 9 yards. Best of all the kids had a blast playing with and watching her.

I repeated that same exercise today, and the coolest thing was that after Bonnie lost interest in fetch she actually voluntarily ran up to some of the girls and happily invited them to pet her. (interesting that it was the girls and NOT the boys...)

I think play is the key to getting her over her shyness.

We've Had a Lot of Firsts

Kid Circle
On Tuesday I had the kids make a circle, gave each of them a treat and put Bonnie in the middle. She was definately uncomfortable with the kids, although she willingly went around the circle and took treats from their open hands. I gave each of them a second treat and she repeated.

It was interesting how quickly she warmed up to them - initially her tail was down low -- almost between her legs. By the end of round two her tail was up over her back -- which is her normal tail set.

Playing with Mystic

Bonnie and Mystic started playing together! At one point this weekend Mystic had attemped to get Bonnie to play with him, and she snapped at him. Then on Monday I saw Bonnie give a little play bow and they've been playing together ever since.

Reactivity Coming Out

Ok -- so not such a good first. Bonnie's starting to feel very comfortable, and she's starting to reactive bark. It happens the most when there's a sudden change in environment; everythings quiet and then there's a noise, someone walking into a room, etc.

She did get reactive and fear/alarm bark at someone who stopped by my office to see her. The woman is very tall and was wearing a baseball cap. I'm not sure why she reacted to this particular woman -- but obviously she has some issues with people that will take quite a bit of work.

Confined to a Crate

I've been feeding Bonnie in her crate, but hadn't actually confined her to one. I've left her several times loose in my house when shoveling, and even once when I went to the store -- no accidents, and no damage. But I was going to be gone a looong time on Christmas, and I didn't want to chance it.

I gave all the dogs a Kong before I left -- Bonnie got her's in the crate, and then I shut the door. She cried, but not too badly. I got home 9 hours later, and she was fine and the crate was dry. This is a very good skill for her to have for when she goes to her new home.

Dog Park

Today I took Mystic and Bonnie to the dog park. She did alarm bark when we first got there at a woman and her dogs that were off in the field. But once we'd been there a while she did great - I think she truly enjoyed the wide open space and being able to chase after Mystic. She would run within a foot or two of other people, but never stopped to say hello.

I almost think this environment was good for her - people at the dog park generally don't attempt to pet loose dogs unless the dog obviously comes up and wants them too. So Bonnie got to see people in a non-threatening environment while having a good time.

She Continues to Amaze Me

My first day back at work with Bonnie, and I knew it would be a hectic one. I was a bit worried about how she would handle it.

As humane educator I develop a lot of kids programs. We currently have one at the shelter right now - Winter Camp. Today and tomorrow we have 33 kids between the ages of 7 and 9. The kids have a lot of fun -- they get to learn about and play with animals, play games and do some fun activities. Put that many kids in one large room two days before Christmas, and you can imagine just how noisy and active it can be!

My office is right off of the Activity Room where camp is held. My dog Mystic does great when camp is running. He enjoys interacting with the kids; getting petted, getting told how cute he is, cleaning up after snack time, and showing off his tricks. My office has a gate in the doorway -- so if Mystic is overwhelmed he can get away from the kids and crash in his crate.

I wasn't sure, however, how Bonnie would deal with it. I hated to put her into a kennel in the shelter because I was afraid she'd shut down again. I didn't want to leave her in the front office because she is my responsibility, and I didn't want to pawn her off on other staff. So I decided I would leave her in my office and see how it went.

She did great! She actually came up to the gate many, many times and let the kids pet her - wagging her tail the whole time. Sometimes it was overwhelming -- and she retreated under my desk for a self imposed time out (I eventually went and got a bed to put under there for her.)

I think tomorrow I'll actually bring her out into the room with the kids for a carefully supervised visit.

Wow -- what a change!

You would never know that the frightened shut down dog I brought home on Thursday night is the same dog I have in my home today!

Friday we had a snowstorm - about a foot of snow came down and made all our lives miserable. I had plans to go hiking with a friend, and we decided to try snowshoeing instead. Mystic, of course came with me, and I decided to take Bonnie as well. She seems pretty energetic and hasn't seemed to mind the snow.

She wasn't excited to meet Ruth, but nor was she afraid of her. Ruth gave her a few treats before we started out. Bonnie did great - was running through the snow on a flexi-lead without any problems.

We ran into a group of people, and she was wary of them -- came running over to me for security. But she wasn't terrified either. I'll be interested in the coming weeks to see how she does with other people that she meets.

We're home now, and she's sound asleep. Not only is she tired from all the exercise, but she feels safe. I'm glad I can give her that.