The cocooning period (I.e. The first two weeks)

Howdy,

Having just started this blog, it's a bit hard to post in accurate detail about all the things that already happened in the past two weeks, without sounding like a boring summary. I'm thinking that posting up a mashup of my Facebook posts + pics will allow me to capture what I was feeling the moment and be a bit less boring lol.

We spent our first two weeks isolated together at home, just her, my husband and I so we could tighten our bond with her. We had no visitors and we avoided meeting other people and dogs in the street until we got to know her better and make sure she is feeling comfortable and recognizes us as her "people". You can read more about the cocooning period here.

The Introduction:

"This is a pup I might be rescuing ... We were selected out of a few families to adopt her! Sleepover try-out next week!! 2.5 year old american staffordshire/pitbull mix and she loves cats and babies! What a cutie patootie!"

A friend of mine told me I look like a kid on a Christmas morning, I certainly felt that way!

The Drive Home: 

My friend Sophie Pinto and I drove up to Trois-Rivières, Québec (3 hours from Montreal) to pick her up on a Monday night. She was so happy to see me again (ok, ok, so she is happy to see just about anyone). Surprisingly, even though she was with two new people in an unknown car, she didn't make a sound the whole 3 hour car ride back to Montreal! What a trooper!

The First Night:

We set her up in our spare bedroom on the first night and she quietly settled in to relax:

Look at those cute puppy dog eyes 

Life around home the first few days:

We spent the first few days tethered together with the leash, as a sort of umbilical line training. This is a technique used when you first bring home a rescue dog. Basically, you use the "umbilical cord" (lead attached to the belt) so that the dog has to stay close, get used to you changing directions and learns to pay attention to you. It also aids in housetraining problems as you can spot the signs of wanting to go early enough and avoid accidents.

Luckily our girl is fully housetrained and we had zero accidents!

Here she is lazying around: 

And frolicking in the snow (actual frolicking not pictured) on the last snowfall of the year ;) :

By our first weekend she was getting very comfortable around me and I learned that this girl loves to pose for the camera, much like her mama pitbull!

In the middle of our second week, we realized how important the "drop it" and "leave it" commands are. (More on our training method used in a separate entry):

"We had our first emergency and serious bonding moment last night.  Poor girl picked up a branch and started chewing, she dropped it after I gave the "drop it" command, but there was a big piece stuck in her mouth beside her gum and she was in alot of agony trying to get it out. Took alot of trust from my hubby and I to put our hands in her mouth to remove it. Such a good girl, she would stop biting when our hands were there and despite her pain, was kissing our hands. We got it out finally and there was a huge hug'n'kiss fest. Thank god we avoided the trip to the emergency vet. Here she is relaxing after the big mess in her new bed. I don't think she will pick up branches anymore!"

Not to mention, did anyone notice how huge her bed is? Lucky girl!

Every morning we have a set routine. We go for a good 25-40 minute walk (more about teaching her not to pull on her leash in a separate post) and then we cuddle for 5-10 minutes after she has been fed. She looks so peaceful here. And skinny. Got to work and bringing her weight up a bit.

By the second weekend, she had learned some new tricks! What a hipster dog she is!

If anyone wonders why we aren't referring to her by name it is because we haven't decided what to name her just yet. She came to us with the name Casey from her prior home, but we aren't sure we want to keep that. And if we use it, it will stick. Does anyone have any suggestions? :)