Yay, Lucy made it through her 14-day quarantine for kennel cough! She is such a trouper. It was hard on me, too. I felt better when I was able to arrange outings for her.

She had many wonderful volunteers who came to give her a break from her kennel. I loved the following update that a volunteer shared after she spent with Lucy. It summarizes Lucy well. It is nice to see others enjoy Miss Lucy, too!

“I spent some time with Lucy today at boarding. She gave me two paws up for our greeting and then settled back onto the ground.

First thing I did before taking command of her was to tie my shoes in double knots so that I didn't have to let go of either leash. We started with a treat. Nope. No interest in my $6.00 treats. Too cheap for her taste, I guess.

So, we left that on the ground and went to her new tug rope that I bought her. Nah. Not much interest in that, either, so we did a lap around the little pond on the property. A nice pond, but boring, I guess. Saw-that-done-that type of thing. But look, across the road was a sidewalk! Perfect. Off we go. I didn't drive over an hour to spend 10 minutes with her in the yard, so we explored.

There are some dogs that come into foster care that get a bad rap. Granted, I only spent two hours with sweet Lucy, but I think she is one of those dogs. They were two wonderful hours. (That is the short version, continue reading for the long version.)

When we first started, I had a death grip on both leashes. It didn't take long before I no longer had a death grip on both, instead just one. My biggest fear is losing a dog to the great Abyss, so I don't let my guard down, but I did relax shortly into our walk and it was extremely pleasant.

We stopped to sniff here and there, but for the most part of it, she just kept a nice pace slightly in front of me and mostly on my left. If I asked her to stay on my left, she would have done it nicely, but she's been locked up in her kennel. We were out for relaxation, not training (not training that she had to think about, anyway).

That being said, she sits nicely when asked (another volunteer has been working with her, you know). She sits immediately, but has a little bit of a short attention span and may then lay down or get up and walk off. But the desire to appease is there.

We came across a squirrel. She pulled to the end of the leash and then relaxed. We've had foster dogs much worse. My arm did not come out of the socket, and she wasn't dragging me across the ground (dog-to-human ratio, she could have at least made my feet move several steps if she wanted to).

We came across a rabbit. Same thing. A perk of the ears and head, but unexciting.

Then, we came across a Malamute in its yard on the opposite side of the road from us. It followed us a tish while we walked down the sidewalk, and there was nothing alarming with either dog. About three houses down was a mellow Springer in the driveway we were walking across. A couple of "leave it" commands and neither dog was interested in either.

Kevin and I have a leash-aggressive dog who makes Lucy look like a Princess. Would I let my guard down? No, because I have been told there is a history, but did I feel comfortable with walking her? Absolutely.

I did two things when I started walking her. I overestimated her energy level and I underestimated the length of our walk. But she was a trouper. We stopped several times on the way back (because we weren't in a race), and she rolled in the grass, rested in the shady and breezy spots, and listened to my stories that I told her. She thinks the best story I told her was the one about the house with the trees and green grass that she would live in some day, just like the one at our resting spot.

I think Lucy would make a great "guys" dog. Not because she needs a guy or bonds with them better, but because she is a large dog, with a block head and a thick chest that would make a guy proud to be walking her. She has that look of masculinity with a beautiful personality.

On our walk, we met, with no issues: a riding lawn mower, a squirrel, a rabbit, two dogs at different times, a mom on a bike with her two kids on their bikes, a lot of traffic, and low-flying planes. Nothing fazed this girl. If our situation was different, I would feel comfortable at least introducing her to our household.

Well, that's about it, I guess. Thanks for reading this, or at least looking at her photos. It was hard getting a full body shot of her. It was either her nose in the camera lens or laying down."