Pippa is a "real" dog

In the past week or so, Pippa has suddenly gotten incredibly brave and decided that she might like to be a real dog and do stuff like play with toys and hang out with me in the office.  She's been coming in to the office while I work and laying down on the dog beds.  As long as I pretend she doesn't exist, she'll stay there and sleep or chew on a bone.  If I look at her for too long or say her name, she leaves...but she comes back after just a few minutes.

She's also started carrying toys and bones around the house, playing with them, and even playing with Charm.

I thought, instead of a lengthy text update, I'd just post a few photos of Pippa being a "real" dog.

Pippa's first day of laying in the office - in the dog bed at the opposite corner from my desk

Sharing a bed with Britty

She got brave and moved to the bed right next to my desk, and even brought a toy

laying down 3 feet from me, with her toy

playing with her toy, with Charm and Cobalt in the background, and Buster under my feet

playing with Charm and a toy, less than a foot from me.

Charm took her toy, so she went to find another (yes, Buster is still sleeping at my feet)

Cobalt staring at me while Pippa and Charm play with a toy

Cobalt watching Pippa and Charm play

Pippa and Charm managed to find their own toys (yup, Buster's still snoozing)

Pippa, caught her looking up at me!  

Pippa checking out another toy, and Cobalt checking out the still snoozing Buster

More progress!!!

Pippa is very slowly coming more and more out of her shell.  Today, while I was working, she came in to the office and checked things out again.  Then, she and Charm kinda started to play, just a teeny bit!  It was mostly some head bumps and circling around each other, but Pippa was actually interested in interacting with another dog, which is amazing for her!!!  This is the dog that tried to become one with her crate or a wall when she first came to me.  Now, she comes out of her crate (sometimes, mostly when I'm not looking), will look at me, and is starting to interact with the other dogs!!  She even brought a bone with her in to my office this afternoon, and lay down on a bed to chew on it for a bit.

Pippa started her heartworm treatment last week, and once that's done, she'll be a healthy dog (physically), and I'll just need to work on the mental side of things with her.  I've taken many dogs through heartworm treatment, and I know all the protocols.  I have to admit, though, to being a bit lax with Pippa, just because I don't want to discourage any progress she makes.  Pippa is incredibly sedentary most of the time, so I don't have to worry about crate rest (she does that herself) or taking her out on a leash to potty (the leash would freak her out and she's usually very calm about just going out, pottying, and coming back in).  Where I've been lax, though, is when she decides to get the zoomies.  It doesn't happen often...maybe once every few days, and it's a brief burst of zooming around the yard.  I'm so happy that she feels safe enough to run in joy that I don't want to stop her.  I figure, 5 minutes of racing around the yard two or three times a week is not going to negatively impact her recovery from heartworms, but asking her to stop may impact her socialization.

I'm just so very excited to see Pippa actually starting to act like a real dog - interacting with my dogs, getting the zoomies, carrying a bone or toy around.  This is pretty big stuff for the sweet girl.