From A Pauper To A Princess - The Journey of a Puppy Mill Dog (Entry 15)

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, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen)

11/13/07
Rusty's adoption is approved!! I am so happy that she now has a home to call her own. Rusty's new name is Maisie, what a beautiful name for a beautiful soul. Maisie is going to have a 3 year old Cairn brother named Murry and a black and white kitty named Micha. Oh what joy!!

Sheryl will come out the first of January to pick up Maisie. The reason for the delay is that she has company coming for a couple of weeks before Christmas and thinks it would be best to integrate Maisie into her home, when it is back to normal. She is so thoughtful; I couldn't agree more!

11/30/07
I have been terribly remiss about writing, so I will write about observations that have occurred over the past couple of weeks. We have been using Maisie's new name around the house, and she has already learned it! She looks at me when I say her name.

One thing I have noticed in the past few days is that she is becoming skittish again, when we walk past where she is laying. I can't figure out what would have triggered this. I try not to pay attention to her and continue doing whatever it was I was doing. She will stop skittering away and look back at me and realize I am not going to "get" her and will lay back down. It's as if she is expecting me to grab her and hurt her.

I am working with Maisie on trying to get her to come through the sliding door without me hiding. I am standing about 6-10" from the door, with my back to her. If she doesn't come in, I close the door. She protests when I do this, by letting out some cute barks, so I open the door and try again. We do this several times, until she relents and comes inside.

Tonight at bed time, I brought everyone back to the bedroom and Maisie didn't run and jump into her crate right away. I was giving chicken treats to everyone and Maisie would inch closer, then spin around and go back into the hallway, and then she would come back, while I continued treating the others. Finally, she inched her way over to me and took a treat! She spun around into the hallway and looked back to make sure I wasn't going to go after her. After a few times of doing this, Maisie stopped turning away and stayed right there for her treat. You could see the torment in her eyes, she tries so hard to trust.

I love this sweet girl so much; I hope that one day she will beat this fear!

To Be Continued ...