Over the weekend I had the privilege to dogsit Penny for a day. I picked her up Sat night and upon first impression I wasn’t sure if she would let me take her anywhere. She was scared to meet me and kept howling and jogging around. After a few minutes she started to ignore me and followed her foster mom around which eventually led to following her out to the car.

When we got to my apt, she met my cats and immediately turned and stared at the front door. My gf took her for a short walk and we entered again, this time walking her through the whole apartment and right past the cats, who are almost the same size. Penny is a petite little dog and was very unsure, shy, and frightened of her new surroundings. She spent a lot of the first night in her crate or peeking into the living room, where the cats were. The cats spent a good part of the night walking into the office, staring at Penny, and walking out with big puffed tails. To my surprise, there was no fighting or fur flying through the air.

The next morning, Penny and I went for a good mile walk around the neighborhood. She got to explore new territory and pass dogs. Penny is amazing with passing dogs, she sat and watched them walk by her - no jumping, lounging, or aggression. We sat on the stoop for a while afterwards as cars drove down the street, bikes went by, joggers, lots of challenges and movement to react to. The whole time she was great. It seems if she feels that she can trust the person she is with - she is ok, still nervous but overall ok. I had to keep reminding myself to not react to her bouts of nervousness and keep her walking or just sit there and let her see that it didn’t bother me.

Penny relaxed in a night and played with us, ate, and seemed pretty content. She was thrilled to see her foster mom on Sunday night and ran around the apt with delight. We miss Penny and think she needs a home where the owner has some dog experience and could work with her insecurity. She showed me her teeth once out of fear and a quick “Hey!” that wasn’t loud just firm, stopped that for the rest of the time she was with us. She struck me as a shy and quiet dog - who needs time to feel out an environment, its noises, smells, etc and once it seems ok she’s fine.

Posted on May 6th, 2008 by kathy
Filed under: Penny | No Comments »

This little cutie pie is Penny. Penny is almost two years old and she’s a small, tri-colored - or what some people call a red-headed black and tan - Shiba Inu.

Penny was purchased from a pet store as a puppy. She wasn’t taught the rules or boundaries of her new home and grew up making her own rules. She was surrendered to us a few days ago because she was reportedly an ankle and foot biter, with a tendency to nip at visitors or when startled.

The first day Penny was with us, she was very quiet. I think she was sad and confused. By the second day, though, Penny was snarling at me and at Snickers when we came into “her” territory (near her crate) or when I wanted to pick her up or put her leash on. She was clearly nervous and trying to stake out her space and protect herself. After a day of quiet, firm reprimands from both myself and Snick, she decided to respect us. Now, after only four days, she is a snuggly loving girl who plays with Snickers and lets me handle her whenever and however I want. She’s adjusting to the city and she’s learning to accept new people and situations faster every day. She feels confident and safe with me and Snickers; she hasn’t snapped at anyone and I don’t really think she will.

Stay tuned for more information about Penny.

Posted on April 26th, 2008 by jenna
Filed under: Penny | 8 Comments »