Upon arrival at her new foster home, Buffy immediately decided that her foster Dad, Jerry, was bad news. To this day, she still holds her imaginary grudge against him. We're hoping that someday soon she'll get over her problem with Jerry, who faithfully walks her every day and bought her $45 a pound dog treats. His only reward (for now) is Buffy barking at him and skittering away as soon as they get home from their walk.
Buffy refused to make eye contact with us for a long time. Instead, she'd isolate herself from the rest of the family and just stare at a wall. She's getting over that since we introduced "steak night" (the occasional evening when all the dogs get a tidbit from the dinner table) and now she's always close by waiting for her share. She is still a shy, quiet dog. She likes to nestle under tables, in corners, and her bedroom crate has become her special refuge. She's not openly affectionate but, once in awhile, when the other dogs aren't looking, she'll come up for pets. She still startles easily and will cringe at any unusual movement or noise, but not quite as often now and without as much drama as when she first arrived.
Buffy's best trick now is how incredibly well she does on a leash. We didn't teach her that - credit Kris Brown and Lorayn Walser. Once the leash goes on, she's very attentive and obedient. She even went through 6 weeks of fun conformation classes (on the leash) this summer and received a lot of compliments on her behavior from the other participants - many of them show dogs with their owners.
She now attends doggy daycare once a week with her brothers, Reno and Shadow. She pretty much ignores other animals and people. Which is good since our home also has had half a dozen other fosters dogs and weekly traffic of dog and human day-visitors, plus the birds and bunnies in our yard. Buffy seems content in her own world and just doesn't care about any of them.
Buffy got the best Christmas Present of all when her foster home became her forever home in December 2008. Her new Mom, Mary Ann had this to say about why they adopted her “we didn't know what else to do with her. Just kidding - it's because we love her!”
Buffy refused to make eye contact with us for a long time. Instead, she'd isolate herself from the rest of the family and just stare at a wall. She's getting over that since we introduced "steak night" (the occasional evening when all the dogs get a tidbit from the dinner table) and now she's always close by waiting for her share. She is still a shy, quiet dog. She likes to nestle under tables, in corners, and her bedroom crate has become her special refuge. She's not openly affectionate but, once in awhile, when the other dogs aren't looking, she'll come up for pets. She still startles easily and will cringe at any unusual movement or noise, but not quite as often now and without as much drama as when she first arrived.
Buffy's best trick now is how incredibly well she does on a leash. We didn't teach her that - credit Kris Brown and Lorayn Walser. Once the leash goes on, she's very attentive and obedient. She even went through 6 weeks of fun conformation classes (on the leash) this summer and received a lot of compliments on her behavior from the other participants - many of them show dogs with their owners.
She now attends doggy daycare once a week with her brothers, Reno and Shadow. She pretty much ignores other animals and people. Which is good since our home also has had half a dozen other fosters dogs and weekly traffic of dog and human day-visitors, plus the birds and bunnies in our yard. Buffy seems content in her own world and just doesn't care about any of them.
Buffy got the best Christmas Present of all when her foster home became her forever home in December 2008. Her new Mom, Mary Ann had this to say about why they adopted her “we didn't know what else to do with her. Just kidding - it's because we love her!”
Buffy with new brothers Shadow and Reno
Buffy's Million Dollar Shot
Congrats to Buffy!
I was very happy to hear that Buffy found her forever home earlier this year. Hope too is making progress at a very slow rate. I wish that I could have learned more about the quirks and slow adjustment of so many other Gabbs dogs 10 months ago after I adopted Hope. Even now though it is uplifing and encouraging to read about the Gabbs dogs' progress as Hope and I are still on that journey and will be for a while to come. Congratulations Buffy!
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