Shawnee 06-117

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3/23/06: Shawnee is a 2 year old spayed female, who spent the first part of her life in a puppy mill in Kansas. She is small, around 45 lbs, and very timid.

Shawnee started her day yesterday in Kansas, and ended up in Moline, thanks to multiple transport volunteers. It took a little bit of time to coax her out of her crate, but she jumped down on her own, and walked into the house pretty easily. She's staked out a corner of my office as her "safe place", and runs and lays down there whenever she's nervous. She's met the cats from a distance - she's pretty scared of them. My large yellow cat, Sundance, purrs really loud, and I think she thinks he's growling at her. Whenever Sundance walks near her, she runs to her corner, or into her crate. She's also fascinated and scared of the TV. She'll watch it, but as soon as something moves fast, or is loud, she runs into her corner.

She walked down the stairs on her own, and is getting used to going outside on a cable. She potties outside every time she goes out, and we haven't had any accidents yet (keeping my fingers crossed). She slept the whole night in her crate, without a single noise. She is starting to get curious about things, and will peek her head around corners, but as soon as I look at her, she runs right back to her "safe spot". There was a bit of a breakthrough this morning. I was sitting at my computer, and she came up to me to be petted. She stood next to me for about 5 minutes, but as soon as I stood up, she ran to her corner and laid down. She eats very well, I hope I can put some weight on her - all her ribs show right now. I can coax her to walk downstairs to go outside, but it takes awhile. It will take awhile for her to start realizing that people are not going to hurt her any more. I'm hoping there will be a big difference in a week or two.

ShawneeShawneeShawnee

At a Glance #06-117

Breed not specified Born: March 2005
Female Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

3/23/06: Shawnee is a 2 year old spayed female, who spent the first part of her life in a puppy mill in Kansas. She is small, around 45 lbs, and very timid.

Shawnee started her day yesterday in Kansas, and ended up in Moline, thanks to multiple transport volunteers. It took a little bit of time to coax her out of her crate, but she jumped down on her own, and walked into the house pretty easily. She's staked out a corner of my office as her "safe place", and runs and lays down there whenever she's nervous. She's met the cats from a distance - she's pretty scared of them. My large yellow cat, Sundance, purrs really loud, and I think she thinks he's growling at her. Whenever Sundance walks near her, she runs to her corner, or into her crate. She's also fascinated and scared of the TV. She'll watch it, but as soon as something moves fast, or is loud, she runs into her corner.

She walked down the stairs on her own, and is getting used to going outside on a cable. She potties outside every time she goes out, and we haven't had any accidents yet (keeping my fingers crossed). She slept the whole night in her crate, without a single noise. She is starting to get curious about things, and will peek her head around corners, but as soon as I look at her, she runs right back to her "safe spot". There was a bit of a breakthrough this morning. I was sitting at my computer, and she came up to me to be petted. She stood next to me for about 5 minutes, but as soon as I stood up, she ran to her corner and laid down. She eats very well, I hope I can put some weight on her - all her ribs show right now. I can coax her to walk downstairs to go outside, but it takes awhile. It will take awhile for her to start realizing that people are not going to hurt her any more. I'm hoping there will be a big difference in a week or two.

ShawneeShawneeShawnee

Updates

Friday, April 7, 2006

Shawnee has had a great week. She has gone on several car rides, and rides really well. If she's nervous, she'll just lay down on the floor of the back seat. She's been to the vet twice. Once to have her sutures removed, and then a follow up when the incision didn't look good. She wasn't reacting well, so she's on antibiotics and an anti-inflammitory. We also found out that she has yeast and bacterial infections in her ears, so she's on drops for that. I'm already seeing big improvements with both problems. She was nervous at the Vet's office, but still charmed everyone she met. She went off without me to have her ears cleaned out, and was just fine. She's an angel about having her ears cleaned, and taking pills.

She's walking really well on the leash, and getting more brave every day. We went to visit my friends, Dave and Angie, who live on an acreage, complete with horses, ponies, sheep, goats and bunnies, along with lots of cats, and a big Yellow Lab. She had a blast. She was running around sniffing everything, acting like a regular dog. We found out that she's more scared of men than women. The closest she came to Dave was to sniff his fingers, and then run away again. She came to Angie and her 10 year old daughter, Erin. She followed their Lab all around, watched him play ball, but didn't join in. Check out how she looks in her Easter bandana. Doesn't she look happy?

She is meeting a potential family this weekend, so keep your paws crossed that this special girl finds her perfect home.

Stewie & Shawnee

Monday, March 27, 2006

I can't believe how far this girl has come in 5 days. The first big breakthrough was on Thursday night. Wednesday night, she slept the night through in her crate, not a sound out of her. Thursday night, she started barking about 11:30. I got up and took her outside. I decided to block off the room her crate was in, the hallway and my bedroom, and leave her crate open. She'd only walked a couple of steps into my bedroom before that. It took her about 10 minutes, then she was putting her front paws up on my bed, then she jumped up and laid down. She slept the rest of the night with me, and every night since.

She follows me all the time. If she doesn't know where I am, she'll start peeking around corners to locate me. Last night, she finally got over her fear of the television, and spent the evening laying next to me on the couch. She comes within a foot or two of the cats, and has come really close to sniffing them. Her personality is coming out, bit by bit. She's a bit of a sneak. She'll watch me at the kitchen counter, then when I turn my back, and walk over to the sink or refrigerator, she'll put her front feet up on the counter and check out what is up there. She stole an empty paper plate last week. I can't yell at her, I'm just so happy she's exploring and being curious about things. I just say, "down" in a normal voice.

Our biggest challenge remains going outside, because she is scared of the leash. If she sees it in my hand, she runs the other way. Once it's on her, she's fine, and walks pretty well. She is nervous going in and out of the door, as well. We've started getting really yummy treats when we're done, and it seems to be less traumatic, but it will take some time. She really doesn't like being locked in her crate, which is amazing, considering that even on Saturday, she's go in there on her own. I left this morning to her barking like crazy, not wanting to be in the crate. She doesn't like being confined in a room, with the door closed, so I may try using a baby gate and confining her in a bedroom. We'll have to see if she will respect that or jump over it.