Settling in…one needs patience!

Blossom has been here for about 5 days. I am noticing some issues which are frustrating but I hope will be resolved quickly.

She seems to have a lot of anxiety going out for walks. The first day or two it was hard to get her out the door if she was on a leash (she would come out if I dropped it) and almost impossible to get her out the gate. I started (using treats and toys) to coax her out of the gate and our first couple of walks were just about 5 meters, from one gate to the other (I have two to the property). I realize (now) that I tried to get her to soon to go further. I never “pulled or dragged” her, but it took ages to go round the block. I will cut back now and just go very short walks till she gets more relaxed.

She LOVES chasing and fetching tennis balls. That’s a great thing.

She BARKS at anything that is “strange” and that includes the noise and subsequent decent of my son/grandkids down the stairs. Very annoying. Also to anything (real or imagined) outside.

The first three nights (Tues/Wed/Thurs) she slept tethered in the living room no problem (I didn’t want to deprive the cats of their regular place in the bedroom. As it is someone peed on our bed (luckily only on the covers, which have since been laundered)… perhaps a sign of cat protest.) Friday night, when I went into the bedroom, she cried and barked until finally (when there was a break).. I ended up sleeping on the couch. Last night, I tethered her to my bed and she slept happily enough. My initial idea was to have her sleep in a crate, but I can’t get her even to poke her head in a crate.

Another problem is that she seems to have a really bad ear infection/problem and it’s driving her (and me) crazy shaking her head. I must get her to a vet. The vet used by the Rescue Org is in Ramat Gan, which is a 35 min drive away (assuming traffic is normal…which it never is). So I will probably end up taking her to my local vet and paying for it. (Time is money, after all.)

I (at first) got really annoyed that I wasn’t told about these issues but after texting with her previous foster, I realize that maybe it is just something that has to do with settling in. Apparently when she got to her first foster, she wouldn’t leave the apartment for a week (this was when she was four months) and eventually she was happy to go for walks.

I started watching YouTubes about these issues and realize I may be moving too quickly and expecting too much. Also, I need to give the dog STRUCTURE… I am the most “unstructured” person around. But I’ll try.

Here’s a nice video (there are tons). “If you are concise and understandable and behave in the same way a hundred times out of a hundred, then your dog’s behavior will start changing starting with the fourth or fifth day.” (OK… i NEED to more patient!)