Bailey Progress - Day 10

Wide angle close-up of Bailey

We'll, it's been just over a week and a half since we rescued Bailey and so far everything has been great. In fact, it's been really great! Some progress that we have made over the past 10 days includes a seamless transition into our home from her foster home. We're getting to know her pretty well and there hasn't been any surprises yet.

When we got Bailey we knew she HATED the crate. Her broken canines prove that she has difficulty with being locked up in a crate and will go to the extreme to get out of that situation. For this reason we have decided to NOT lock the crate and allow her to roam free on the first floor of our home. She also shows signs of mild separation anxiety, although we have not left her alone for more than a couple hours so far (in which she sat in the front window). We were only across the street but she seemed to settle down as long as she didn't see us... We'll have to check back on her progress this week as she spends a little more time alone this weekend.

One thing that she really loves is swimming. In the lake or in the pool, it doesn't matter to her... she just wants in! She'll stand up at the side of the pool waiting for me to pick her up and put her in with us. I can't imagine what it's doing to my filter but oh well...... She also likes to "eat" the water spraying from the hose. This is something we're not used to because as soon as Darby sees the hose she's off in the opposite direction! Someone must have terrified her (Darby) with the hose at some point in her life.

I've been working with Bailey for the past week with the E-Collar and she's starting to get the hang of it. She's not pulling near as bad on the lead and last evening she walked like a little princess.... She seems to be getting the hang of "Heal", something in which I'm pretty sure she has NEVER learned in her life. She is sitting most of the time on command as well as going "down". She has also caught on to "Stay" fairly quickly. She amazed me last night when working with her on "fetch". I picked up a nice floating retrieving toy from the Petco and as of last night she was retrieving it and would "drop it" at my feet. "Come" is another story..... we have some work to do but we're working at it day-to-day. Not too bad for the first 10 days. These pups are much smarter than you imagine, just take the time to train them and the entire family will be much happier in the long run.

As far as getting along with my other dogs, she's been great. She leaves Glacier alone (Glacier is our 13 year old Samoyed), and she's getting closer to Darby daily. Bailey and Darby even shared the dog bed the other night which is HUGE progress because Darby doesn't like anyone in her "space". We'll see what the next few days bring. Till then enjoy and check back for more updates!