It's been a week since Dorothy arrived and I have spent it assessing her needs and getting to know her
She is somewhat of a contradiction .
Personality
Lively and friendly for the most part but like most rehomed dogs she is very eager to please and very timid at times. She remains very timid of anything new and is dreadful when out alone on the lead, crouching and stopping at every new experience, noise and person.
Subsequently she has been difficult to toilet as she doesn't relax enough to sniff and sniffing always leads to peeing.
I've noticed she is more relaxed when out with Mary and Winnie
She is , however , relaxed and well behaved in the car.
Relationships
She is a watcher and needs to know where I am at all times. I have allowed her to sleep on my bed which is something she requires at the moment
The pecking order has not quite been sorted out between all of the girls at the moment which leads to regular growls of warning , but she is playful with Mary and defers to Winnie
Albert is an anathema to her but she has understood very quickly that chasing him is a no no!
I have always fed him first and always makes a fuss over him before even looking at the dogs, so she has been left in no doubt who is top cat.
Behaviour
Scared of everything new. Hoover, visitors, sexy bearded dog walker ( he's very loud)
But does settle in her own four walls. When out on Railway walk with Winnie ( no road traffic) , very bright and friendly with other dogs . Comes back when let off lead but did chase one jogger ( in a bouncy friendly way) which was understandably not reciprocated
Learning the rules and ways is tough. Looks like Dotty is fitting in well.
ReplyDeleteDorothy seems to be settling in fine. Hope you're feeling a bit more in the land of the living today, John :)
ReplyDeleteI still feel like shite
DeleteEven with only half a face you still look like shite too, Maybe the full face would be worse. Blaming the viruses, of course,
DeleteMaybe I just look like shite andrew
DeleteYou're fucking gorgeous at times x
Delete2 years in, my dog still doesn’t like new places, or things out of place. Or a person in a spot where there usually isn’t one.
ReplyDeleteIt's a learning curve for you all. Look after yourself John. x
ReplyDeleteGood that the other two are there to help her learn
ReplyDeleteHope you are recovering today, and are feeling better.
ReplyDeleteDorothy seems good-natured and will regain her confidence soon. She has a happy home to live in and appears to be a real sweetheart.
Glad to see you are still amongst the living this morning! Getting totally over the crap takes awhile, too!
ReplyDeleteDotty will settle in all in due time! A week isn't much time to learn all the particulars of a new home and new fur buddies and new humans!
Patience is needed! It will happen!
I wonder what her evaluation of you and the rest of the pack would read like? Reliable, loveable, goes away but always comes back, the old dog is top dog, cat is the favored dog, feeds me, and enjoys long walks.
ReplyDeleteSome of her traits won’t go away, but being part of a pack, Dorothy should gain confidence and fit in nicely over time.
ReplyDeleteI hope you feel better quickly.
I seem to remember it took 4 weeks for winnie to relax
DeleteI reckon Dotty's not only getting to know where the parameters are located within which her behaviour is deemed acceptable, she's working out what she'll allow YOU to do before she intervenes.
ReplyDeleteHope you're very quickly back to your usual bouncy self. You're too much in demand for anything less.
I don't think so Raymondo x
DeleteI see that little ' please love me ' look in her eyes, in all the pics of her looking at you.
ReplyDeleteDo you know her background ?
I hope she wasn't treated too badly in her past life, makes me want to weep when l see that 'look 'all the badly looked after rescues come with.
Kind of makes you try to love them more, if possible.
Get well soon yourself lad,
Tess xx
Glad she's settling in so well!
ReplyDeleteI've had my most recent dog for over a year now and things are very slowly improving as he hadn't lived in a house before and is overwhelmed when outside,poor boy.It is difficult but I can't let him down x
ReplyDeleteMy eyes are bleeding
ReplyDeleteDotty's face just melts my heart. And the pecking order. Seeing the size of Winnie I too would defer to Winnie.
ReplyDeleteShe has that baby face...adorable!
ReplyDeleteOh I would get nothing done with her around, I would have to stop and hug and kiss her all the time 💕
ReplyDeleteI love that you make Albert so special! Seems that , after only one week, you have accomplished a lot to help D settle in. I hope you will give us a one month summary later on.
ReplyDeleteShe's very sweet looking. Hope she feels settled soon. I read somewhere when we got our rescue that it's 3 days, 3 weeks and 3 months, the stages of behavior with a rescue. Not sure my sentence makes any sense. The first 3 days we had Lucy both my husband and I thought we had make a terrible mistake. Lucy paced and paced and paced, even at night. I had to put her on her leash and bring her to bed and hold onto the leash to keep her from pacing and to let her sleep. By the end of the 3 days she was better, 3 weeks she started to settle in and after 3 months she was well and truly ours.
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better.
That's brilliant Lily!
DeleteI can't wait until I can get a dog again!
It's always so interesting to become familiar with a dog's personality and language. It's good to hear Dorothy is a keeper. Surely time and routine will help her overcome her current issues.
ReplyDeleteWishing YOU well. Germs be gone.
Hugs!
Happy to see your not yet The Walking Dead !
ReplyDeleteDorothy is trying to see what is what just like Agatha. As you know being rehomed is so hard, I feel Agatha is really settling in as the
Rescue Group said some dog can take up to a year to truly feel home.
Dorothy looks so cute in the car.
Feel better !
parsnip
I like your posts about dog behavior, John. I've never lived with more than one dog, so it's all new and interesting to me. I hope Dorothy continues to do well. It's good that she feels safe with Winnie. I would have thought there would be competition there - but then, as I said, I don't know much about pack behavior.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're able to rest and recover from this bug you've got. Some things just have to run their course, but the crappy feeling in the meantime is hard to get through.
It sounds like much has been accomplished in just one week. Clearly she already loves you! I do hope you are feeling better and are able to rest up until this bug is gone.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing so sweet as the bonding with puppies ...this is making my rule of No Dogs Yet very difficult..
ReplyDeleteI love her face, that wrinkled jowly serious face , yes,I'm in love with your dog.
DeleteShe is so cute reminding me of my bulldog that I lost last October.
ReplyDeletethat is so smart about albert! dorothy is a real cutie.
ReplyDeleteYou sound very detached and cool towards Dorothy. Maybe it takes awhile for you both to form bonds aa of trust and love? I hope she settles into your pack, in time.
ReplyDeletelizzy
I've got my pragmatic head on just like I did when Winnie arrived.
DeleteYou have to take things carefully
That's exactly how you should behave around newly introduced dogs. Its people who treat them like babies and want to overdo the love that makes them neurotic.
DeleteWell, you yourself are new to her, right? Yet she wants to be around you at all times. So there's hope
ReplyDeleteYou sound the perfect dog re-homer to me John with the care you take and the thought you put into it.
ReplyDeleteDorothy is lucky to be living with a fellow who knows pretty much all there is to know about dogging and will be sensitive to her needs and changing behaviour.
ReplyDeleteShe sounds very sweet and I think a great fit.
ReplyDeleteAffection to you John Gray from Wisconsin.
You do have your fair share to work on here. Thank you for letting Dorothy know cats outrank dogs. I know it's an age old argument, but I've found that bit of knowledge can keep a dog's eye out of a cat's nail.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a lovely report for Dotty's first week John I think walking her with Winnie was probably a better idea than by herself, perhaps she was afraid to leave the other dogs behind thinking you might be taking her somewhere else as she doesn't know that she is a keeper.
ReplyDeleteHope you will soon be on the mend and that the cold doesn't linger.
Re-homing dogs is always a bit of a lottery, but it sounds like you might have won this one.
ReplyDeleteShe is a lucky girl to have found a home with you.
ReplyDeleteAlbert is an anathema? 🙂 maybe an enigma 🙃
ReplyDeleteJoin the Illuminati? Nah, I'm quite happy walking my dogs, pottering in the garden and a jolly fine pint of beer with good friends now and again. Illuminati now go bugger off and leave the folks on John's blog alone :p
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling and sounding better today. Glad she is sorting out well.
ReplyDeleteShe sounds adorable. I'm sure she'll continue to grow more confident as she adjusts to her new surroundings and companions. When I was a jogger I used to get freaked out by some dogs that would come after me -- but I think I wouldn't worry too much about Dorothy! (Don't tell her she doesn't look intimidating, though. It might hurt her feelings.)
ReplyDeleteOh that photo is priceless. She's already in love with irresistible you. How lucky she is.
ReplyDelete