From A Pauper To A Princess - The Journey of a Puppy Mill Dog (Entry 10)

Karen, one of CPCRN's foster mentors, has graciously allowed us access to her diary documenting the journey of Flopsy, also known as Rusty, from the puppy mill to her forever home. The diary will be broken up into short sections and posted. Check back for new entries in the series entitled "From A Pauper To A Princess - The Journey of a Puppy Mill Dog". (Previous Journal Entries: Entry One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine)

6/30/07
I put Rusty on the grooming table this evening and she did wonderfully. She let me work on her coat for 40 minutes. I even trimmed her nails.

7/1/07
This evening, I took Rusty outside to try and take some pictures of her. I had just cleaned the kiddy pool, but hadn’t filled it yet, because that is the first thing Rusty does (jumps in the pool), when she goes outside! I was sitting in the grass with MacKenzie, when suddenly, Rusty had this burst of energy and zoomed around the yard. It was the cutest thing to watch, and I got some great pictures of it, too.

I think Rusty continues to “test the waters” with her newly found freedom. It is so awesome to watch and be a part of her life. It’s going to be so hard to let her go, because I have been so focused on her, for so long. I’m just not going to know what to do with myself, when she’s adopted - although, it will be a great thing for Rusty.

I really think Rusty needs an adoptive home with a fenced yard, because she loves to explore and she has never had this before in her life. She would also do great with another canine, because this is how she has learned to become a pet. I think most of what Rusty has learned has been from our fur kids. She does lots of observing.

7/17/07-7/31/07
We took Rusty on a 2 week camping trip with us. She is an absolute “dream” traveler! Rusty of course, wore her seatbelt for added security.

On our second day, we arrived at Three Rivers, CA. On this day, we had a truly scary incident with Rusty. Tony had backed our trailer into our spot and was unhooking. I took each dog out to let them go potty, and then put them back in the truck, with their leashes on, but did not hook them back into their seatbelts. We had left the truck running with the A/C on to keep the dogs cool. As I was walking up to the office with Starry to pay, I heard Tony holler at me. When I looked back, I saw Rusty running towards me, her leash dragging!! Apparently, we had forgotten to set the window locks and one of our dogs had rolled down the back window. Rusty had jumped out!! My heart just dropped to my feet when I saw her. As soon as Rusty saw me look at her, she started running the other way, but then she saw Tony and went in a completely different direction! I was afraid to leave the road where I was standing, because this was the only way into the park and I feared if she got out, we would never catch her. A lady saw my panic stricken face and asked me what was wrong and I told her. She was nice enough to stay where I was so I could go help Tony. Tony was racing though RV sites, calling Rusty and telling her to “stop.” Finally, she got herself into a corner and Tony was able to pick her up. I think God was watching over us that day, because Rusty was in a total panic, when she realized she was out in the open.

From then on, we would always keep Rusty buckled in, had I done this after the potty break, she wouldn’t have escaped. I didn’t even think about something like this happening, because we were at our destination and just unhooking the trailer. All I kept thinking about was Sunny/Hannah’s escape.

Rusty did really great in our trailer. She was a little nervous being in a different setting, but relaxed a little, after several days.

Potty time was a little difficult on the leash, since she isn’t used to doing it outside of the yard. We set up an x-pen like a little yard and this made her more comfortable.

To Be Continued ...