Introducing Valletta Waterstraut

Most of you have heard by now, but we added to our brood. The boys had been lobbying for another dog, and so we finally decided to go to the shelter to check out perspective family members. 

On Tuesday December 12th, we picked out this sweet girl. She was a bit hyper, but she had been a stray, and all her notes talked about what a sweet girl she was. Not great on a leash, and a little wild- but very smart and eager to learn. She had also come in with another dog, a couple of months ago, and had been depressed since that dog got adopted. So surely she got along with other dogs. 

But, she needed a more recent vet check to be cleared to go home, finally on Saturday the 16th we went to pick her up. Since we got Ellie at the end of our president's project, and named her accordingly (after Eleanor Roosevelt), we decided to name our new dog after our country project. 

We finally settled on a name: Valletta, after the capital of Malta. She's not very formal though, you can call her Etta. 

We brought her home, did the normal backyard introductions and gave her a bath (she was in desperate need of one). 

It took awhile for her to settle down, but once she did, she climbed up on the couch- and took in the cuddles. She seemed to get along fine with her doggie siblings. We did the 'introductions' just like all the books and websites say, and things were fine. 

But, that night she pinned Phenom down. She didn't use her teeth or anything, and I'm not sure how 'agressive' she was being, but we separated them and then kept an eye on them. The next morning, it happened again. 

So, we struggled with what to do. Ellie walked in, climbed up on the couch and has been listening to every word we say since the minute we brought her home. Etta clearly was not going to be as easy as Ellie. We googled, and googled and googled. We freaked out at the prospect that we might have to take Etta back. We talked to our vet. Everything assured us growing pains are normal, and it can be difficult to integrate another pet. It would take time, training and patience. So that is what we've been doing ever since. We adopted Etta, we're not giving up on her so easy. 

We got some toys to keep her busy. 

We've done lots and positive meet and greets, and even though she was never 'aggressive' toward Ellie or Porkchop, we decided to 'start over' with her interactions with the other dogs. We're using 'high value treats' (aka canned chicken), and have worked up to taking walks and spending backyard time together. All of that has gone positively. We've been told just being in the same space but not being able to get to each other is good for her. It'll help her figure out she lives here, with these other dogs too. 

She even got to enjoy Ellie's two year adoption anniversary cake with her doggie siblings, even if it was outside on the other side of the screen

We've also determined she loves peanut butter, so it goes in her bone she gets in her crate. She's actually happy to go in crate, because she's associated the bone with the crate. We've set up a lot of 'positive associations' for her. 

And she has calmed down, some. The thing about having a stray, is we've determined it's like trying to tame a wild animal. A sweet, loving, ready to please, wild animal- but wild nonetheless. 

She's also a runner. She's been running (mostly with Asa) almost four miles every single day. She's down to one run and one walk a day, but she still pulls. We're working on getting her to like her head harness to help with the pulling on walks. She gets her breakfast hand fed to her while she has it on as a reward. Today she didn't even try and paw it off- so, progress! 

 

We've also been taking the other dogs on walks, where Asa does the whole 2 mile loop, while I walk another dog down to the park and back. At first we did just Ellie as a walking buddy, because she's never taken issue with Ellie. The last two days we took Phenom and Porkchop, and it's gone really well. Etta will even take off running, look back and see if we're keeping up, and if we aren't- she waits for us. It's really cute. 

We did try to have her in the house with the other dogs on Christmas, but it was just too overwhelming, and yet again she was startled by Phenom. Still, no teeth or growling or anything, but clearly something about him still makes her a bit uneasy. I have hope we'll get there though. 

In the meantime, while we live in two seperate rooms entertaining various dogs who can't quite live in harmony yet, we're working on 'sit', and 'stay', and 'leave it', and 'come.' She is picking it all up pretty well. She's learned to 'sit' as a way to say please, so that's a good sign. Peyton was training her on Christmas, even. Because dog training doesn't stop, even for Christmas. 

Anyway, in short- she is still a work and progress 11 days after she came home for the first time. She barely jumps on people anymore, and she'll stay at the door waiting for her walk. She's getting along fine with her doggie siblings under controlled outside environments, so we're just working on re-enforcing those behaviors over and over again and slowly increasing how much time she spends with them. We have noticed she gets overwhelmed, so we're helping her manage that. 

It's a lot of work, but we love her. It'll all work out, she's come a LONG way in 11 days. 

Welcome to the family, Etta!