We welcomed Lola into our home earlier this month. I’m sure it was quite a change for her and we’ve learned that Lola needs time to adjust to new people and places before she feels comfortable. She has been comfortable with me (Foster Mom) since she arrived, but Foster Dad took a bit longer.
We just let her take her time getting to know us and our home, and she is doing great now. She is my little shadow as she follows me around everywhere. She will cuddle with Foster Dad if I sit next to him too, otherwise if I get up, she goes with me.
She seems to prefer quieter surroundings as she sometimes is startled, but surprisingly, all the fireworks going off over the holidays did not affect her. Lola’s vet visit went great – they said she’s very healthy.
We go for walks every day and she loves it. She does well, but does pull a bit so we changed to a harness and it has helped. Lola is fine when we pass other people walkers, joggers and cars, but needs some wrangling in when we pass other dog walkers, people on bicycles or motorcycles. She will bark and jump/pull towards them.
Lola loves to grab my tennis shoes and lay next to them. I think she’s trying to tell me she wants more walks!
She has never been destructive with any items and she loves to cuddle with her favorite pillow. She sleeps in our gated mud room at night or if we are away from home. We set up for her to sleep on a dog bed in our room, but she ended up going to the mud room. She has free roam when we are home.
Lola is the only dog in our home, and we haven’t tested her with other dogs. However, today as we were out for a walk we passed a Lab sitting in his front yard unattended. He headed towards us and followed until he caught up.
I could tell he was an older dog, so he did approach slowly. They sniffed each other a bit and Lola was calm. After a while we kept on our walk. Children in the home at least 13+ is recommended, keeping in mind she really needs time to adjust to new people.
A fenced yard is recommended for Lola as her recall is not very strong and she goes crazy when she sees squirrels, another distraction when we are on walks! I guarantee she would be off and running. She will need work on her basic commands. So far we have only been able to consistently “sit”.
Lola has blossomed so much in just the short time we have had her, and I’m sure she will continue to in her new home.
