Rita's Journey to Love and Happiness

 I think the biggest change  we have seen in Rita this week is she is sleeping with us in our bed. She will actually tolerate us being a bit close to her too! It was a big day when we woke up to find her sleeping in our bed with us. Normally she would sleep on the dog bed in our room. I think this means we are a part of her pack. She continues to just love playing with Abbey. They are really the best of friends. I am so relieved to see that Abbey is a wonderful big sister for her. She has also decided that staying in our house and yard is in her best interest. She no longer tries to escape when we open the door! I also noticed the other day when she greeted me in the garage and the door was open she hung around with me! This was such a relief! We also took the shoestring off her collar as we can typically get her to come to us. What a great dog!

 The past 10 days have been filled with getting comfortable on the couch and bed! Rita loves to sleep in all the comfy spots. I think she is making up for so many days sleeping on the cold cement floor. She enjoys her walks and does fairly well on a leash. She is full of energy at times and still loves her bff, Abbey.  As we reflected in our favorites things from 2021, Rita made it to the top of the list. She has brought so much love and joy to our home in just the first few weeks. We really can’t image not having her around.  She still isn’t sure about us sometimes. She just get nervous if we want to touch her. I am being patient but I can’t wait until that is behind us. She is responding to her name occasionally. Other than her shyness you would not know she has such a hard life until 2 months ago. She is truly a blessing. 

 Best sighting of this past week was Rita playing with Abbey in the backyard. She finally decided it might be fun to try and she hasn’t turned back since. Every morning they run and play in the backyard. Her tail is wagging and she seems happy as can be. It warms my heart each time I watch them. They have truly become friends. She is slowly warming up to us but we still haven’t quite earned her trust. I see small little steps in that direction though. I can’t wait for the day she wags her tail when she sees us.  She has also started to bark and play with toys. She loves to be outside. She has even enjoyed a few more walks. She does quite well on the leash. She just needs to sniff every little thing she meets. We feel so lucky that she found us! 

 We made it through the first week or I should say Rita made it through the first week. She was scared of us, walking inside the house (every time she went out) and Abbey. By the end of the week she will come through the back door without hesitation most of the time. She comes up to us and wants a pet but still ducks her head each time we pet her. She is starting to play with Abbey a small bit when outside.  We also took her on her first walk on the leash. She did quite well. She wanted to smell everything we passed. She was afraid of cars and concerned about other dogs  but in the end she made it without issue. She also has found a good place to sleep in our bedroom. We leave the small kennel door open and she crawls in there eventually to sleep at night.  I heard her bark one time this week to say hello to our neighbor! It was a sweet high pitched bark and I haven’t heard it again. She is starting to feel at home as she relaxes enough to find things to chew on...

Thanks for all the kind words of encouragement. I am happy to report that we made it home from the rescue without incident. She is doing so amazing. She is scared of all of us and most things in the house but has already started to warm up. Here are a few highlights and pictures: she will approach us as long as we don't touch her first she is scared of Abbey but interested she always goes to the bathroom outside!! (no clue how we got that lucky) she has let us know that she is NOT interested in being anywhere near a kennel no matter how "familiar" it might be to her scared to come through the door after being outside but with some encouragement she eventually comes ate her food after a bit of time alone but she eats laying down which is interesting to see slept in our bedroom on a dog bed after a completely exhausting day not sure what to do with the front door and all that goes on there loves cheese even when dog treats won't do it saw her tail wag for a brief ...

 We started out on this journey looking for a dog to add to our family.  We already have one amazing 5 year old Labradoodle, Abbey.  We love our animals and were ready to add a second one to the mix.  Our motivation to do it now was our 7 year old had asked for a dog for Christmas. We decided it was as good of time as any to make the move.  We discussed what was important to us when looking for a dog and make our 'wish list'.  It contained details on behavior, size, and grooming needs.  We felt pretty good that we knew what we wanted in our next dog. We started looking at rescues because we would prefer to get our perfect dog from a rescue so we can feel good about it and help a dog in need. As you can image it was a challenge to find a dog that met the criteria we defined at the local shelters.  I mentioned to my neighbor that we needed a reference for one possible dog that we were hoping to meet from a shelter near by.  It didn't work out a...