Going to the Door Now - January 22, 2008

Today was again a day of play and easy learning. Sarah went to the door today to let me know that she had to go outside. This is the first time she initiated the potty break. I was glad to see that her housebreaking lessons are starting to sink in. She is doing very well with her housebreaking, only having 1 accident in the house in quite a few days. The one accident was my own fault though. She went by the door, but I did not realize she was letting me know that she wanted out. She just walked up to the door and then turned around. She then proceeded to pee when I did not let her out. I know now that when she walks up to the door she wants out. She does not scratch or whine, just quietly stands there for a minute and I know she wants to go outside. Seeing how this is the first time she has shown this behaviour, I did not catch it the first time; hence her first accident in days. I am overall pleased with the progress she is still making.

Today we have not done much of anything. We decided that today would be a day of rest from lessons. We would not try to teach anything new, just let her use her new found joy of play. She loves to play with the other dogs. She is very gentle with them, letting them take the toys and even cleaning the rat terrier, Penny. Sarah will do well in a forever home with a small dog that likes playing as much as she does. It has been a joy to watch the transformation in her. She went from cowering in a corner to becoming a strong, yet gentle bullmastiff in a very short time. I am convinced that she is a very intelligent dog who has not had the opportunity to show that side of herself before now. Click on the video button below to see Sarah playing withPenny. (sometimes you have to click on it more than once to get it to start.)

Out & About January 20, 2008

Today I decided that Sarah would need to get out and see some of the world. She has progressed so well in the house and has really come out of her shell. I wanted to see how she would fare when she was not in one of her comfort zones. I decided to take her to the local park that is just 2 minutes from my home. I thought that way if she did become stressed we could get back to familiar territory easily without having her become too worried. I also decided that her first outing should be with one of the dogs she is familiar with. We decided to bring Bama along for moral support for her. I figured she would read his signals and with him having fun there, she would think this must be OK. Sarah did very good at the park. She even walked up onto one of the slide platforms with me. She had to walk up a wooden plank board and then onto a steel grated walkway. She took everything in stride, following Bama's lead. She did not seem like she was stressed at all. We went home and after dinner we decided to go to Petsmart to see how she would do there. Again, I took Bama with us to lessen her stress. My husband walked Bama and I walked Sarah around the store. She seemed very curious of everything in there. She only got a little spooked once or twice, but I just told her "come on Sarah" and kept walking and she recovered quickly. I did not want to make a big deal out of the couple of things that scared her. The first was someone coming up closely behind her with a shopping cart. I think it was just the fact that it was something she did not see until it was directly behind her. The second was the birds. When she went past the birds in the glass enclosure she startled a bit when they flew up. I took her past the birds a few more times to show her that it was nothing. My husband and I stood there with her for a few minutes and just talked for while so that she would see that it was nothing that anyone else was worried about. She did let a little girl, and the girls parents, pet her and she seemed to enjoy being petted by them. We stayed there a little while talking dogs while they pet her. She also got a few rubs from some other people in the store.

I think this was a good day for her all and all. Once her confidence is built up a little more I will have to start taking her out on her own, without Bama, but for now we will wait. There is time for that when she gets stronger.

Donna