First, and very important, Tera still has a family interested in meeting her but we had to put that on hold. Because of her recent gland surgery, our vet felt she needed more time to heal and didn't want her leaving his care until he was sure we were over the hump. We have had her back in three times to have fluid removed from the surgery sight. Apparently, this is typical for this type of surgery, which isn't a typical surgery. If there was a "The Best Dog At The Vet" award - Tera would win hands down. Tera never complains, never moves, never growls, and never fusses when they stick her with those very long needles. When they are all done, she still gives them a big smile. What a wonderful girl.
We were pleasantly surprised at our last vet visit to discover Tera has lost 6 pounds!! I can't figure out how she got so overweight since she rarely eats her breakfast, but I get the impression she may have been given table scraps. She is learning our routine very well and understands there is breakfast and dinner.
We had a guest at our house last week, a previous foster boy, and Tera behaved exactly the way I thought she would .... welcomed him with open paws. I don't think we have ever had 2 boys and 2 girls in the house at one time but it was the easiest week I have ever had with 4 dogs. In the picture below (left to right) resident girl Pepper Anne, former foster boy Rusty, foster girl Tera (smiling), resident boy Brody
During the week Rusty stayed with us, he and Tera became best buddies. Rusty even took it upon himself to look out for Tera (everywhere Tera went Rusty went) and Tera seemed to enjoy the special treatment. Our girl, Pepper Anne, has always been responsible for teaching fosters to play. Even though Pepper Anne and Tera will play chase around the dining room table, Brody is the one who plays tug-of-war with Tera. Otherwise she is perfectly content to chew on a hard bone. There have been too many torn up soft toys, so Tera has been playing with those destuffed toys until I can get some more sewing done.
Tera does have some storm anxiety but when she goes to the basement and can hide behind the recliner she will gladly lay down and ride out the storm. If the storm starts while we are sleeping, she will pace back and forth on my side of the bed (probably because she knows foster mom will wake up) and I just take her downstairs. This usually means all the dogs come with and mom then sleeps in my son's old room. I have been gone from home when a storm rolled in and she did go to the basement on her own and there were no issues. Tera loves to be pet. When my son came home for a visit and sat down to read a book, Tera was right there for some petting.
Even though she would gladly let you pet her all day, she isn't demanding. When you stop petting her she will either lay down next to you or find a cool place to lay down. Tera loves to lay on our wood kitchen floor or the tile/linoleum bathroom floors. Tera is not a big barker, usually just letting out a single WOOF almost like she is letting out steam. It's really kind of funny. However, if our resident dogs decide to make a fuss over something, she will join in but quickly gives up and will stop when I say "quiet". Tera know several commands - "sit" "stay" "down" "come" "no" "wait" "leave it" "eat" "quiet"
All of our fosters learn to "sit" "stay" and "eat". We use these commands during meal time. Every dog must "sit" and "stay" by their bowl and wait to be given the "eat" command. We do this because we feed all our dogs in one room, which can easily turn into chaos if we don't teach them to listen. They also learn that when they are done eating they have to go "out" of the room. Tera has not learned this command yet because she is always the last one to finish. She doesn't scarf down her food as you might expect due to her size. In fact, I usually have to stand next to her and continue to tell her to "eat" before she finishes her dinner.
Tera is such a happy girl, she is rarely without a smile on her face.
We'll keep you posted on what happens next.