Pippa's Story and Day 1

Pippa is one of 103 Brittanys that were rescued from a neglect case in Thibodaux, Louisiana on July 24.  American Brittany Rescue (ABR) took in 32 of these Brittanys, and the rest were divided between National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network (NBRAN), New England Brittany Rescue (NEBR), Flordia Brittany Rescue (FBR), and Brittany Rescue in Texas (BRIT).  I've been a foster home for ABR for 9 years, and I decided to take on the challenge of fostering Pippa and getting her ready to be adopted.  I thought it might be interesting to chronicle her rehabilitation in to a normal dog.

Pippa has been in boarding for a week, while she was assessed by a vet, and I made space in my house by adopting out my previous foster dog.  On the day she was removed from her previous home, she had to be spayed due to pyometria.  Pippa is completely terrified of the world around her.  She hides in tiny spaces and sits in the back of her crate pretending she doesn't exist.  My goal for her is to get her to come out of her crate on her own and interact with people willingly.  Right now, her terror is so severe that when she has to interact with people, she urinates and defecates.

Day 1:  I picked up Pippa from the vet clinic where she was boarding and carried her out to my car with a towel wrapped around her in case she had an accident.  I loaded her in to the crate, and drove home.  Once home, I carefully lifted the crate containing Pippa out of my car, and carried Pippa, in her crate, in to the house.  Her crate is set up in the living room, where she can see all the action.  At the moment, she is curled up in a ball in the back of the crate.  The crate door is open, and she can come out if she gets brave enough.  My own dogs have all put their head in the crate to check her out, and then decided to just leave her alone.

Pippa hiding in the crate

Charm watching Pippa in the crate