Really, really pleased with Keeper. I almost didn't take her with to writers' group Monday night, but she saw me gather my things and raced me to the door.
I could definitely see the spay had set her back a good solid way on her relaxation and comfort with being out, but I could also see where our work on heel paid off. I only needed one hand on the leash, and it never went tight. This was important as I had a plate of brownies in the hand holding the leash! Treats in the other for the entrance.
We did have a bit of a "gauntlet" to get through with the two double doors. She saw the person on the right and swung left with the "no touchy, no touchy" body language. I offered her treats for position, and she did take a couple, but not every one I offered. Then she noticed how close she'd gotten to the guy on the left (in a cowboy hat, no less.) and took a step toward center... and then we were through the spooky benches and doors, hung a right and went into the conference room.
She stood or sat to resettle a few times, I think she was warm. Never tried to leave the little area she was in under the table, which is an improvement on her shoe exploring crawls.
CJ came in late and pulled out the chair where her butt was, and I warned him about the dog in the footspace so he moved down one. She wasn't sure what to make of that odd behavior and watched him for a couple minutes before I asked her to get up, turn and resettle. Once she knew what to do, she took a nap.
She did feel a little pressured as we were leaving and several people wanted to pet her. She did allow petting, but she was very unsure as to why this was a thing. I'm just glad we're not at the backing away stage we were at with her fear period.
Got out to the parking lot, and then spent some twenty or thrity minutes hanging out with Sarah. That didn't start out too great, but I jogged Keeper down a few parking spaces and then back, and that loosened her up, so then I did it again (and that was all I could do). Keeper is much more relaxed when I can get her feet moving. Keeper got loved on by Sarah while we both baby talked her.
Not a flashy sort of night, but a nice solid start to undo some of the damage done to her confidence by my "abandoning" her for her spay.
Thursday, we went to the vet's after hours and I waited for her to relax enough to choose to lay down. She was much happier with paw targeting a wheelbarrow far from the building than waiting by the door. I'm planning to make this a regular thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment