Darleen Finds Her Foverver Home

Here is an email from Darleen's new guardians.

HI Sonya
 
'Hope your week is going well.
 
Darleen is becoming a little more confident and relaxed each day. She loves her cushion, showed an interest in and started ruffing around a little with her toy monkey. She is still very reserved, docile and either sits on the deck and checks the whole world out, or sleeps under the garden furniture table on the deck. She has 2 safe and cozy spots. Always wagging her tail. The first day, she refused to eat (most likely due to stress and anxiety). Still eats very little, but her appetite is improving and she decided to try out a few treats on Sunday for the very first time.
 
She loves the dried cod skin sticks, freeze dried liver and chicken. First she chewed some of the funny (fancy) treats only to spit them out quickly. I'm sure the after taste must have gone straight up to her brain. She immediately smelled back at it, cautiously tried chewing it again and all of sudden realized how delicious they are. She even licked her lips. One thing we know for sure, she does not like salmon treats (oh, and the loud noise of thunder).
 
We learnt from Alex that Darleen prefers wet food. Well, we added a little warm water to her pellets. Once it softened and swelled out, she initially ate only a little bit. Of course, later on when her bowl was free, our little Lilly (Chihuahua and Daschund mix) discovered that she actually loves the softer food too. Needless to say, Lilly ended up eating quite a bit of what was left and afterwards looked at me with her fruit bat expression while wagging her tail. We have now introduced a wet and dry dog food mix which Darleen is starting to enjoy. Also, we've got to remind Darleen that there is a water bowl for her. She would just lick whatever water she could find up from rain on the deck tiles or from the gutters.
 
She is super obedient and very comfortable with the retractable leash. She made no fuss about putting her harness on. Poor thing did not resist at all and was just so docile. Everything is new to her as each morning and evening walk is an exploration adventure - at least 2km each day. She even figured out that squirrels run up and can climb trees. She witnessed a bear in our backyard, is curious about the deer walking by and playfully discovers the wonders of little critters hidden in the grass.
 
We have less than four months to prepare her for the coming winter. Poor thing has no idea what -20c is all about! Yikes!! Needless to say, she will get her very own winter coat and muttlukliks to dress for the occasion.
 
Still getting her into a peepee and poopy routine. She slept a lot during the first 4 days. The house is calming. Lilly is respectful of Darleen's space. They are becoming more playful in their camaraderie before and after our walks. We got her an Adaptil collar from the vet on Saturday to help with calming her down.
Click on this link to learn more: http://www.adaptil.com/ca_en
 
We're trying a whole combination of approaches to make her settling into her new environment as safe, calm and predictable as possible. She is such a lovely dog and we are so happy to have her. Just wishing that all those adopted dogs find loving and deserving forever homes.
 
Thank you for allowing her to become a special member of our family.