Daca Arrives.....

Since I have some time this morning I thought I would start with this blog.  This is a completely new concept to me so bare with me.  I sent Krisitn so many updates yesterday that I am going to share some of them here.  

Daiquiri arrives.....

You can see she was really stressed when we arrived at Delta to pick her up.  But by the time we arrived home she was already starting to calm a little.....

She was scared but not carrying herself as overly stressed.  She had shut down, which I expected.  She did not growl or bark at me yet she did not want me to touch her.  So I took her down to the semi-finished part of the basement where there is no chance of escape yet a large area and opened the crate door.  I sat on the floor with treats in hand.  We sat together for about a half hour.  I laid treats on me in different areas each time asking for her to invade my space more and more, all without me attempting to touch her to gain her trust.   We went thru her commands all of which she did wonderfully, even "down" within inches of me.  She also gave me her paw which I liked to see happen already.  I put her back into her crate for more decompressing after the flight.  Then I went back down with her dog food in hand this time.  I fed her a few pieces at a time while I used my other hand to softly touch her while still crated.  Then I moved her collar around to where I could attach the leach easily.  So now we were on leash and headed outside.  She pottied and walked around with me, coming over for food and some command work.  I released her in the fence with leash in tow and she did well, she never tried to hide nor did she feel a need to keep a constant eye on me.  So after some time I took her back to her crate for more decompressing.  She had been thru a lot the past few hours.  She still did not want me to touch her at this point bit I let her have that.  I knew she would come around all in good time.

I got Daca back out to meet the husband for the first time outside.  He had sat on the ground about 10 feet from the door we would be coming out.  Daca surprisingly started wiggling her butt all over him and giving him kisses like it was her long lost friend.  He did not even have a treat in hand!!  She was still hesitant with us but getting better by the minute.  At this point we brought her squirrel out for some play.  She brought on a killer game of tug and even played a light game of fetch for me.  

So after so more playtime I needed to work my other dogs then take time out for some updates to CA.  The entire time Daca was pitching a fit in her crate so I headed down to get her.  I did my routine of getting food and offering prior to opening the crate door.  She turned her head like "no thank you".  I though oh crap, set back.  I went ahead and opened the door held the treats in one hand while I hooked her to the lead with the other.  She came out of that crate like never before.  I do believe I was officially licked to death!!  Then she started pushing her head on the ground rooting, smiling away all while wiggling all over.  She finally flipped completely over on her back all happy with the world.   I could not stop laughing at her tactics.  At this point I knew that she was my friend!!!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  We spent time just sitting observing my sons so that she can learn that they are no harm to her.   She is doing very well in that area too, as good as can be expected really.  She does not want to be their friend yet but is being very respectful of them.  She takes treats every no nicely and even does her commands for my oldest.   My sons are accustom to having to work with pups like this so it is not new to them.  However this time they know it is for a dog that is theirs forever!!!  

To sum it up 24 hours into our "Daca Adventures" and I feel we have been very successful to this point!!  It is going much better than I ever anticipated!!  Updates from here may be slow coming as I do not expect much more to happen the next week or so.  Here is a happy face at the end of the day...