PROGRESS

Rumor

Flinstone

Once again I started my morning with puppies. There's really nothing better. We had puppy socialization class with three puppies; Rumor, Utter, and Flinstone. They're so cute! And very well mannered for being puppies. We worked on sits, downs, handling, crate training, and stairs. The pup I worked with was Rumor. She had a little problem with the 3 stair podium - she wasn't comfortable going up them and she kind of just flopped down them.

After class, I went to the Fairway. Chris was there again. We cleaned out some of the runs, walked some dogs, and did some more cleaning/socializing. I really like a lot of the dogs at the Fairway. There are some very shy dogs that I'm trying to socialize, which I LOVE doing. Even the slightest sniff of a knee or elbow is progress. I also saw Owen today. He seems to be doing better and looks much less scared which made me happy.

I was up at Rescue Village with the bunnies for the afternoon. I did some more cleaning and feeding up there. Along with sitting in on Jill, one of my intern friends, who was trying to bond some rabbits - Piper and Scooby. Fargo and Benjamin, the rabbits that were bonding last time, are doing so well together. They're actually going to stay in the same pen tonight for the very first time and I'm sure it will go just fine. Anyways, back to Piper and Scooby, they didn't really want anything to do together. It sounds awful, but the most common way bunnies bond is through fear. So, Jill and I were both sitting in the pen with them and they went from opposite corners of the pen to the same corner. Each bonding experience is different so we'll see how this one goes.



One thing I'd like to discuss is volunteers. Each volunteer wears a name badge and on their name badge is a colored star (if it's not their first time volunteering). Each colored star stands for a different amount of time that that person has been volunteering at Best Friends. I've talked with several volunteers that come back year after year to volunteer at Best Friends. One woman I talked to today has been here FIVE times before! I think it's really incredible how much dedication these people have. This is not an inexpensive trip. The closest airport is Las Vegas, which is not super cheap to fly in/out of, and then there's renting a car, lodging, and eating. It's really, really remarkable. This place truly is magical and it's great to see so many other people that think so as well.


Today is Wednesday which means Welcome Waggin was today. Sadly, it's the last one of the season. The speaker today was founder Gabriel. He is very humorous and it was a great last meeting.


NOW. For the BEST part of my day. I'm sure I've mentioned her before, bur Robin is one of the dogs I've been living with here in Kanab. Mary rescued her and Buddy from Hurricane Katrina. Robin really does not like most people. I've been here 2 and a half weeks now and have never been able to pet her. The few days she has come up to me and sniffed my leg or hand, but never gave me an indication that she was ready to be touched and I will not push a shy dog over threshold like that; it can be very dangerous. Tonight I was laying on the loveseat and Buddy was laying on the floor next to me so, naturally, I was petting him. Mary and Carol were sitting on the couch across from me and Robin was sitting in between the couch and loveseat. She was just kind of watching me and kind of smelling me. Carol said it would probably be okay for me to pet her, but she looked nervous so I said she wasn't really indicating she was ready to be pet yet. Just as I finished saying that she started pawing at my arm, which is her most common indication she wants to be petted. So I did. I cannot even describe how shocked/excited/impressed I was that she did this! It was so rewarding! Whenever I stopped petting her she would lean in closer to me. It was crazy! Of course I've wanted to make a connection with this shy dog from the very first day I got here, but it was so great that it happened to be today! I don't have a picture of Robin and she's gone to bed, but I'll post one tomorrow.

After Robin letting me pet her, I just sat in the living room taking with Mary and Carol. I'm not one to believe in psychics, but Mary called this dog psychic in Florida that just asked for the dogs' names, breeds, and approx ages. The dogs talked to her and she told Mary what they had said. I'm not going to go into detail here but it is INCREDIBLE the things the psychic said. She was completely spot on and there's no way she could have known the things she did. I think I may have to try this with Tucker....