She's cuddly and cute as all get out. Rex loves her. Let me rephrase~ Despite having to share his toys, his couch and his people, and despite her hyper tush waking him up at all hours of the night, Rex loves her. And she loves Rex. And we love her. She's going to be a great dog.
She's afraid of everything. Let me rephrase~ She's. Afraid. Of. Everything. People, dogs, birds, garbage cans, shadows, cars, storm drains. We were told that she was in a "foster home". How lovely does that sound? We thought so too. When we found worms in her poo we were surprised, but the "foster mom" wouldn't email me back. Coincidence? I think not. And now the more people we talk to~ vets, trainers, others who have adopted like this~ she probably lived in a crate for the first 7 months of her life. Hence the fact that she's afraid. Of. Everything. We found a trainer thanks to my great friend B from band. If Cesar Milan is the Dog Whisperer (and he is), than this guy is surely his side kick. He first amazed us by getting Rex to walk, by his side, without a harness in mere seconds, a feat we haven't accomplished in almost three years. He then assessed the Penny Lane situation, and deemed her scared (duh). But instead of being scared and submissive, she is scared and dominant, bordering on aggressive. (Did I tell you about how I brought her to get her nails trimmed at PetSmart and she almost took the groomer's hand off?) She's never been aggressive with us, and she stopped growling a Rex over bones and toys weeks ago (because he put her in her place). But she freaks when people come into the house and anytime she's in a new situation. I don't want a dog who's scared and I certainly don't want a dog who's potentially dangerous. The Dog Whisperer said we have a lot of work to do, but Penny is trainable. He said she definitely doesn't want to bite, doesn't want to fight, but if she's in a situation where she feels threatened enough, she'll do what she needs to do. (ie, the groomer situation) She can relearn and with The Dog Whisperer's help, we can teach her that the world isn't the awful scary place she thinks it is. (Going forward our trainer will be known as The Dog Whisperer, and Cesar will be known as Cesar.)
Right now these two, Dogasaurus Rex and Penny Lane, are literally, our furry babies. They are our family. And we are committed and determined to do whatever we need to do to make our family healthy and happy.
Oh my, what cuties! My smallest one, Maya, is a little mutt that I got at the pound, a rescue case. She too had worms, kennel cough, and of course was scared of everything. She still shakes when Brad cheers to loud while watching sports or I start crying during a movie. But she has made a lot of progress with a bit of work.. :) Good luck!
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