Michelleva

Everytime I think of saying goodbye to her, I feel the tears start to well up.

Bonnie is continuing to impress me with her fabulous attitude to life. She is now trying to get one of the cats to play with her, she's picked her favourite but he's being a bit stand offish at the moment. I wonder if she will win him over in the next 3 days. I have to tell you what happened today. Bonnie has mastered sit, so I thought we should teach her to drop. My son and I got a bag of her favourite liver treats out and got her and Georgia to sit a few times for treats. Georgia did a few drops then I started teaching Bonnie to do it. She did it a couple of times, so just needs more repetition to master it. However, everytime I gave the command of "drop" to Bonnie, Georgia was about a metre away and going, sit, drop, roll, sit up again, goofy grin... and REPEAT.. she was working hard for a treat. She did it at least 4 or 5 times. My son and I were in hysterics. As much as she's a high maintenance dog, she's such a clown and I'm so impressed with how she's taken Bonnie under her wing and shown her the ropes. I'm super proud of my little yappa. I have no doubt we're all going to miss Miss Bon Bon in a few days.

She's improved so much Mita, but I still wouldn't say she's completely at ease with the world, but she's taking steps toward that every day. I just hope she doesn't fret too much when she has to say goodbye to me. I have the hope that she is able to bond with her new Mum as quickly as she bonded with me. Thats my greatest fear really. Her new Mum is very understanding of her needs and plans to continue my work, so deep down I think she's going to be ok.

I'd love it if we could have some catch ups down the track with Bonnie and Georgia. The couple who are adopting her only live 30 - 40 mins away, so you never know. This is the first photo I took of Bonnie Mita, here she was totally shut down and trying to block out the whole world. It makes me so sad when I see it, but it also reminds me of how far she's come in only 6 weeks, she certainly is a remarkable little dog.

We've only got Bonnie for another five days, she's continuing to steadily improve. Last night she started playing with Georgia for the first time. I wonder if they'll miss each other.

Guess whose starting to become a bossy little princess? :laugh: All of a sudden she's started to tell me when she's been outside long enough and should be bought inside. I really don't want her to go down the seperation anxiety path, as least not while I've got her. So I make her spend time on her own, inside, outside, plus time with us and Georgia. She's gone from the dog too scared to open her mouth, to one that feels she needs to try and boss me around in about a month. Not bad huh!

She's had a polar fleece blanket in her favourite sleeping spot since she got here, I was going to send that to her new home with her. But I will touch it myself more and rub it all over Georgia too. I don't think it will take long, she attached herself to me in the first day too.

Now that wouldn't surprise me at all. We will definitely be snapping lots of pics and continue her socialisation over the next couple of weeks.

Thanks guys, I'm proud as punch, we did well. The rescue group is already asking if I'll foster again. I have a feeling Miss Bonnie is going to be one spoilt pooch, like every princes deserves to be. When they left I felt no sadness, just joy. Its a great feeling. I had a lot of love and support from everyone here too, which I really appreciate, so I'm passing on big hugs to you all.

Well I'm overjoyed to say that Bonnie has picked her forever family and they are so awesome, I'd be happy if they adopted me too. She's going to get taken to dog obedience, visits to the local dog park, the beach, numerous other walking tracks, her own crate, grandkids coming to visit and a brand new outlook on life. The people were wonderful with her, they've had shelties in the past so know what to expect, re grooming etc. She instantly went up to them, took treats gently and had no fear of them at all. I can't believe it. And as a bonus, we get to keep her for the next two weeks because her new family is going away and we all thought it best that she have a nice smooth transition. I'm a very proud foster Mum, I'm going to treasure the next two weeks with her. Her new Mum has promised to stay in touch, which softens the blow a little. :laugh:

Thats exactly what I'm doing. This "friend" has fostered before, but I don't think she's ever let any of them go, she lives on a rural property so has a lot more room than me. She took one that came from the same place as Bonnie and within 20mins decided she would be staying. She obviously assumed I would do the same. Through this whole process I've had a lot of pressure from her, and when I said I've really enjoyed fostering, she'd come back with, they're not all going to be as easy as her. In other words, don't bother, you won't be able to do it. I honestly don't know if I'll ever have two dogs while I have Georgia, and I'm totally ok with that. Ok, I'm letting her negativity go now and concentrating on the job at hand. Bonnie is my priority not, stupid pushy people who have their own agenda. Breeeeeathhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeee :)

I feel horrible. The friend who rang me and asked me to foster Bonnie initially is putting me on a guilt trip for not adopting her. I think she just assumed she'd be able to talk me into it. A pet is a big responisibility and not one I take lightly. Its a time commitment, a financial commitment and adds extra to my workload. I don't think I've done anything that I should feel guilty for. I just don't understand some people. None of this is coming from the rescue group I might add, although they would have been very happy for us to adopt her. I've never been made to feel that I need to justify anything to them. I'm trying to put it out of my mind and focus on getting Bonnie a great new life, which she deserves.

Thank you for the good wishes. To be honest I had serious doubts before going ahead and planning the meet and greet, I really questioned if we were doing the right thing. But the reality is we had no intentions of getting a second dog at this time and regardless of the fact that she's a real sweetheart, I need to follow my gut. I know the rescue was getting more dogs in yesterday, so there will be plenty more opportunities to foster. :) I've come to terms with the fact that she will be leaving and it will be ok.

Bonnie has a meet and greet tomorrow.

The rescue has been inundated with applications........ sigh

Don't worry the tears started welling up when I knew the ad was live. But it will be ok, we will survive, tears and all.

Bonnie is improving in confidence every day. She's even learnt to bark at the neighbours, Georgia sure is a great teacher. I'm so proud of her, I've been trying to teach her to sit for her dinner, but the excitement level was so high, she virtually would do cartwheels every night, but I've persisted and today she sat before I even asked her to. She's so smart, I really think she will excel at obedience and maybe even agility down the track. She is officially up for adoption, feel free to spread the word. I know the perfect family is out there for her. I'll be sad to see her go, but I know in my heart I'm doing the right thing for her and my family. http://www.petrescue.com.au/listings/267384#

Thanks for that, I'll pass it on.

Someone else who is also trying to teach her out to crate train, said the pup should be put somewhere where she can't see her family, like a spare room. I don't agree with that at all. Our crates have always been in the bedroom and family room, dogs want to be where their pack is. And how would you know a pup needed to get out to go to the toilet if it was locked away. We all have different idea's I guess.

Thanks guys, I'll check out the links Pers. I told her how I crate trained our foster dog, but just wanted to give her a bit more info.

Have fun Teddy, after a year I understand the tears K9Angel. xo

A friend has just got a puppy and is asking me about crate training it. Can anyone recommend any websites or articles that would be good to pass on? Thanks in advance.

ha ha, she's not just teaching her good habits, she's teaching her all her best sheltie tricks and Bonnie just follows along. :laugh: Yesterday the dogs and I went to visit our friends with the black lab, this time we went to their house and Bonnie was scared in the beginning and did her woo-hooing, just think a cross between a bark and a howl.. but after a while she went off investingating their backyard and looked pretty happy to be there. Today I thought I'd walk Bonnie on her own and see how she went, she went fantastically well, in fact she walks better on her own than with Georgia. She had a nice trot going on a loose lead, right next to me. She had her biggest smile on and all looked good in her world. We stopped at two parks where there were lots of kids and adults and she approached several of them without me saying a word. She got lots of praise from me, I'm starting to think it won't take that long to get her to the point of being ready for adoption. A lady at the park said she doesn't walk, she prances.. ha ha, thats because she knows she's a lady! I'm happy to hear that Danny's circling decreased over time, I suspect that will happen with her too. She doesn't pace at all anymore, but its been replaced with the circling, not all day, just at times of excitement and fear mainly.

I just realised today that it was Georgia's 4th Birthday yesterday... oops. So as I usually take a birthday pic every year, I thought I better get one. So I had a treat in one hand, camera in the other, and look who photo-bombed the birthday girl. Tonight Georgia has been trying to get Bonnie to play with her, she was definitely interested but still holding back. Its kind of like one step forward, two back, but steadily going in the right direction I think. She seems to be scared when we have different people come over who she hasn't met and will bark in fear for a while, then settles down. But if they come back a second time she remembers and is fine with them. Oh and she has a new nickname 2IC (second in charge).. Georgia pees, Bonnie pees, Georgia has a drink, Bonnie has a drink, Georgia walks on the grass, Bonnie walks on the grass, you get the gist.. :laugh: she's a big copycat. I guess thats how she's learning from a more confident dog. What I notice is that she walks in circles quite a bit, when she's unsure or scared. I don't know if its something I can get her past or if she will always do it. I feel its coming from anxiety. Hopefully the less anxious she gets, the amount of circling will decrease.