Our 9th foster over the course of a year arrived this weekend, want to see her?

She’s a gorgeous brindle girl only about 30 pounds and a year old. She’s about as opposite as she can be from our last foster in personality. She’s terrified of people. Dogs seem ok. She would prefer we did not touch her or approach her at all most of the time. She’s been a challenge because while we don’t want to scare her, I do have to put her on a leash to go outside for potty time, and she absolutely does NOT want me to do that to her. Once she’s on the leash, she’s fantastic. But the act of going to her and putting her on a leash is terrifying as far as she’s concerned.

So, she’s got a long way to go compared to some of our other fosters. With other nervous dogs, they’ve wanted to be snuggled until they feel better. This gal absolutely doesn’t want that. But, she is warming up! She plays around the house when people are sitting quietly, she entertains herself very well. She approaches us humans when we are still and sniffs us all over. She’s taking treats out of our hands, seems genuinely happy to see us even though she doesn’t want to be touched, and even hopped up on the couch to sit at the other end while I was on the couch. Progress is being made!

She has been treated for heartworms and still has about 3 weeks of kennel rest so we will have time with her. Our last 3 fosters were adopted within 2-3 weeks of getting them in, so it’s nice to have one we know will stay for a bit. She’s never lived in a home before, we suspected this before it was confirmed. She is much more comfortable outside than she is indoors. I thought there would be a lot of learning for having never been in a home before, particularly in regards to potty training. But in reality, she likes to go outside for her business, so that hasn’t been a problem at all. Now it’s just teaching her what is and what is not an appropriate toy. Since she’s so scared, she is easily corrected even in the gentlest of voices.

While the confident fosters are fun, they are often also a handful and I don’t feel I have much to give them other than a warm home until they find their forever home. With the nervous ones, I have even more of a sense of joy from fostering as I get to teach them, show them gentleness, and work with them to gain their confidence. The gains are so easily seen with a nervous foster and as such, I am having a great time with this little gal.