Maddie Goes Bo-ating: Tessa

Tessa (then Sadie) made a lot of progress in the first week. On her third day at our house, Ben came home. I was very interested to see how she would be with this. She had been particularly shy of men at the shelter. When Ben came in, all of my dogs gathered around, tails wagging, to greet him with high excitement. She stood among them, looking at him blankly. She didn't run away or hide or anything. She just looked. When the group dispersed, she went along with them.

All in all, I was pleased with her response to Ben. She let him pet her when she was lying on a piece of furniture. She would skitter away if he tried to approach her when she was standing up. She even went over to him when he was sitting in the recliner eating, and she took tidbits that he offered her. I gave him treats to feed her sometimes and, as long as he was sitting down, she would take them.

During the first several days, she did a lot of lying around sleeping. Or just looking depressed. I remembered how depressed Maddie was when we first adopted her and that made it easier to just let Tessa be. It didn't take long, though, for her eyes to start to light up, just a little, when I got treats out for the dogs. She also had a bit of a sniffle, she had been vaccinated for kennel cough and I understand that it's not uncommon for dogs to get cold like symptoms for a bit afterward and she was probably resting a lot because of that.

Going out to do her business was the biggest accomplishment of all that first week. On the first day, I took her out about once an hour, on leash, and she didn't go until very late that night. On the second day I took her out, again on leash, and she went every time I took her. By the third day, I was dropping the leash and she was starting to move several feet away from me to do her thing. And by the fourth day, I could stay up on the deck and she would go down into the dog yard with the other dogs to take care of business. By the fifth day, I didn't even have to go with her. She just went with the dogs. It may seem silly, but I was very proud of her for that.

She gained complete freedom, too, in the house. By the third day I had unleashed her and I allowed her to choose where she wanted to be in the house. At first she stayed right with me, but by the end of the first week, she often chose to lie on the sofa in the living room. That is her favorite spot. I also had the bedroom door open at night and she was allowed to choose her sleeping spot. She usually started on the sofa and ended up on the bed with us by morning.

Another big area of progress was her confidence outdoors. By the third day I was dropping the leash when we were out in the big yard. At first she stayed close to me and watched the other dogs. By the end of the week, she was starting to run off with the mutts to explore. I'll never forget the first time I saw her run. She was sniffing near the spruces and Maddie had wandered down the row. Tessa ran over toward Maddie and then circled back around the trees again before she ran to join Maddie. Her eyes lit up and I could see she enjoyed that. It didn't take long before our daily outdoor play time became her favorite part of the day. Even now she is more relaxed and animated outdoors than she is inside.

By that point, Ben had mentioned adopting her a couple of times and the idea was starting to cross my mind, too. On one hand I knew that I could never expect this dog to go with me into the dog sport world. On the other hand, I could see a future Agility dog in her! That would be a long, long, long time in the future, but I could see the potential - not only for her to be good at it, but for her to love it someday.

Oddly, the thing that really made me realize that she was my dog was our trip to the vet. I'll write about that next time! A few photos . . .

This was the first day. Definitely not yet sure of things!