Doggie Woes

These last couple of weeks have been very full! You'll notice that the last post I made was about our new dog Tinkerbell. Well she has kept us very busy - taking her for walks, cuddling on the couch, going for car rides, etc..

It's been a very interesting experience. She is not like most dogs Chris & I had while growing up. Our dogs growing up were always friendly, happy-go-lucky dogs. Tinkerbell has had a bit of a different experience. Being in the humane society for a month really impacted her I believe and probably her former owners as well.

She is pretty shy - she doesn't warm up to new people right away. It took her about 3 days just to warm up to us - especially Chris. She appreciates it when people just let her come to them - which is not what most people do when they first see a dog! So it's been a bit rough trying to explain all that to our families. I'm a bit nervous about how she'll do over Christmas at their homes. We're hoping for the best.

We've also discovered that she does not like to be crated. She is fine with going in her crate to sleep when we're around because that's where her bed is but when we leave she has a bit of a panic attack. She's already on her second crate. The first was sturdy plastic one like the ones you would see being used to transport dogs on airplanes. Well she chewed two holes in the thick plastic above the crate door.

Last Saturday was a good friends wedding who I helped to coordinate so I was gone all day. Chris stayed home until it was time for the wedding. He bought Tinkerbell a new crate - a metal one that was a bit bigger and roomier and metal all around. Unfortunately she didn't think this crate was too much better. She worked so hard to get out that when we got home, one bar was bent and one bar had come un-welded on one side. Plus she had rubbed the skin on the top of her nose raw working at the bars.

We felt so bad but it was so frustrating. You want to be able to leave your dog home when you're gone and trust that they'll be ok. Anyways, last night we decided to try leaving her in the bathroom while we were at a friends house for dinner so we put her in there with treats, toys, her bed, food and water and she seemed to do ok. My vision was that we would come home to her having chewed a hole in the bathroom door but the worst thing she did was unroll our toilet paper! So hopefully, she will continue to do well in the bathroom this week as Chris goes back to work and she is by herself in the evenings.

What a growing experience for us as we learn how to help her become more confident.