Another first for Pippa!

The little girl is getting more brave every day!  Tonight, she actually joined in getting in to mischief with my Britts.

At the back of my yard, I have a 4 and a half foot tall retaining wall, with 6 foot fencing on top of that.  My neighbor behind me is at a higher elevation and they have trees in their yard.  My Britts spend lots of time with their front feet on the retaining wall, watching for birds or critters in the trees and on top of the fence.  When I'm sitting on the patio, I'll often look up from a book or my cell phone or laptop and see the backs of two Brittanys stretched out with their front feet on the wall, heads turned upwards.  I usually call to them and ask them to get down, as Buster has been known to climb up on the wall to get closer to the critters.

Tonight, I was sitting outside, checking email on my phone.  I glanced up and saw two Britts side by side with front feet on the wall.  I called to Buster, and out of habit, was about to call to Charm when I realized that Charm was right next to me!  I looked again, and sure enough, the dog with her feet planted against the wall and stretched out to check out critters was Pippa!!!  Not only was she feeling brave enough to do what Buster was doing and check things out, she was right next to Buster!  Usually she keeps her distance from my dogs.

Also, I noticed this evening that when I went to feed Pippa, she was waiting for her food and didn't shy away from me like usual.  She's stopped flinching every time I approach.  She still watches me, but it's much less warily than she used to.  I think I'm actually seeing some real progress with her!

Pippa relaxed!!!

This evening, I decided to take Pippa's rehab up a notch.  I decided that she was going to come out of her corner and sit on the couch with me for a few minutes.  I've tried this before, but as soon as I take my hands off of her, she scurries off the couch and runs back to her corner.  Tonight, I picked her up and carried her out of her corner and over to the couch.  I sat down with her and started just giving her a little massage.  After a few minutes, she put her head down and seemed to be enjoying it!!!  I decided to shift positions a little and see if she'd snuggle with me at all.  She got a little anxious as I shifted us both around so that she was laying next to my leg on the couch.  Once I got her situated, I just rested my hand on her back.  It took her a while, but eventually, she put her head down and settled in.  Then, she took a deep breath and relaxed!!!  I was so happy for her!  Of course, at nearly the same moment, Buster scratched at the door to be let in.  I gave it another minute, then got up.  As soon as I moved, Pippa jumped off the couch and scurried back to her corner.  Oh well....we'll try it again tomorrow.  She is making progress, even though it's very, very slow.

Smart Pippa

Well - typical for a Brittany, Pippa is a very smart little girl, even when she's scared.  This evening, my Border Collie was dancing around in the hallway, so I asked her if she needed to go outside.  She danced towards the back door, so I got off the couch to let her out.  Britty, my BC, was being silly, and when I opened the door, she decided to go in to my bedroom.  She does weird things like that...she wants me to invite her outside, I guess.  Or maybe it's just because she's a Border Collie.  So, I'm standing there at the back door, and calling out "come on Britty, outside, go potty!  Outside, outside, outside."  Just as I moved away from the back door to go track down my wayward BC (who is 12+ years old and starting to go deaf), Pippa came around the corner of the hallway, headed outside!  Every time I tell Pippa to go outside, I tell her "outside, go potty" and apparently that's sunk in enough that when she hears it, she starts to head outside.  Of course, as she came around the corner, she saw me walking towards her and had to scurry back to her corner.  I got out of the way, called for dogs to go outside, and Pippa came around the corner again and headed out.  What a smart girl she is!  And, yes, the wayward Border Collie went outside eventually too.

Pippa is also a typical Brittany clown, even though I don't think she means to be.  She's a very short girl - probably under 17 inches easily.  Now, my boy, Buster, is a very tall Brittany at 21.5 inches.  Lately, every time the dogs come in from outside, Pippa and Buster have been at the front of the crowd.  Buster calmly trots in, while Pippa scurries.  Every time they are the first two in the house, Pippa ends up scurrying in, and somehow sliding UNDER Buster as she comes inside.  I'm not entirely sure how she's getting between his back legs to get under his body, since she's wider than he is (have I mentioned she's a fat little thing?).  Somehow, though, she manages to slide between his back legs, under his belly, and out between his front legs!  Every time, Buster gets this look on his face like 'what the heck?!'  He stops and looks back at me then back at Pippa before heading the rest of the way in to the house.  Meanwhile, Pippa has finished scurrying in to her corner of the hallway.

Every day with Pippa is an adventure!  She's adorable and I'm anxiously waiting for her full personality to come out.

Pippa's Back!

Yup, Pippa is back home with me now.  Actually, she came back to me on Monday night, but I've been too exhausted to post.  My friend that is watching Kipling asked if she could foster him for a while longer...she's enjoying the challenge of getting him to trust her.  I had no problem with that, so Kipling will get to hang out with my friend and her dogs for a while longer.  In the mean time, I now have Willow (another of the Magnolia dogs) here with me.  Willow was in temp foster care, and now we're trying to find a spot for her in the Denver area so that she can get free heartworm treatment.

So, Pippa....she's readjusting to my home.  It's taken her the last two evenings to remember that "outside, go potty" means that she needs to go out the back door, not run to her crate and sit in the back.  She is remembering, though, and that seems to be the only step back that she's taken.  She still loves her corner of the hallway, and I'm fine with that.  I do wish she were more willing to come out and be social, but I know it will come in time.

Last night, I sat outside with the dogs for a while, and Pippa actually was pretty active and peppy.  She gave a little bark of excitement, which is the first sound I've heard from her.  She RAN around the yard, and almost seemed like she wanted to play.  She was being silly and happy, and it made me smile.  She knows her name, and every time I say it, she looks at me.  In the yard, she even play bowed at me when I called her name and asked her if she was being silly.  I also managed to get her to take treats from my hand...I had some left over treats in my pocket from Charm's training class, so I offered them to Pippa.  She was more than happy to take bits of hamburger and cheese from me.

Today, Pippa has been pretty quiet, and I'm letting her adjust to having Willow in the house.  They haven't interacted much yet.

Willow is another of the Magnolia Britts.  She's been in a foster home that make phenomenal progress with her.  When she went to her foster home, she played keep away constantly and didn't want people to get close.  Now, she's willing to sit on the couch with me, and I can pet her easily.  If she gets spooked, she still bolts, and you have to approach slowly and step on the light line that she drags around with her, or you'll never catch her until she calms down.  This evening, she let me pet her, she wagged her tail, and she was even interested when Charm came in to the room playing with her squeaky toy.  As I type this, she's curled up in a dog bed in the corner,

Still alive!

Sorry all!  Pippa and Kipling have been on vacations of their own while I was on vacation the week of Labor Day.  Then, due to scheduling, and an agility trial this weekend, they just stayed on vacation.  Pippa is coming back to my house sometime this coming week, and Kipling will be rejoining me soon as well.

Over the Labor Day weekend, I was off in Monroe, LA, showing Charm in conformation.  Then, I was home for two days and back on the road to Colorado.  I returned from Colorado last Monday, and was then swamped with work.  This weekend, I was gone all day Saturday and Sunday at an agility fundraiser trial with Charm and Buster.  I had a great time with all my trips and events, and Buster and Charm had fun and were great dogs!

So - Pippa has been staying with my parents while I've been gone.  Pippa has adjusted well.  She lays in the corner and seems to enjoy being brushed and petted.  According to my Mom, Pippa actually barked the other day - just one little bark - at thunder.  She didn't seem scared of it, though.  The report from my parents is as follows:  "Pippa is very curious as to where we are and even though she does not get up and look for us she will turn her head and try to see us when she hears our voice. She will look at us now and not turn her head away when we bend down to pet her. She does seem to enjoy the attention given to her. She watches us a lot as we are sitting in the same room as her and at times will sit up for awhile instead of laying down."

Kipling has been staying with a friend of mine who has experience working with fearful dogs.  She's been enjoying working with him.  Kipling has learned to leave cats alone, and has started coming up to her voluntarily at times.  Kipling was playing keep away and didn't want to go in his kennel - the cat got irritated at him, and chased him in to his crate and held him there until my friend rescued him.  He's been learning how to live with cats and Belgian Tervurens and that there are dogs other than Brittanys out there.  

I'll update more once they come back from their "vacations" and get settled back in at my house.