Since I have nothing to loose, I am challenging Bella more. As with all things, she is cooperative and fearful. With me, I think she is feeling increasingly more relaxed by very small increments. With others, she is polite and anxious.
I have extended her easter egg hunt further into the hallway. In the morning, all the treats are gone. I am bringing her into the living room again on her leash for very short stays. Early on in our acquaintance, I did this, but as I recognized her degree of fear, I stopped. Now I am trying again, both when no one is here, and when one person is here. She tolerates it, but looks at me as if to say, Mommy, I want to go back to my room. After a few minutes, I tell her ok , go ahead. Bella then returns to her bed quite efficiently, but without a tucked tail.
She is much better with petting. I have been petting her regularly and respectfully. She doesn't turn away, or pant. She doesn't show that she likes it, but nor does she show that she doesn't. I reward her with a treat, and she likes that. The other day, for the first time, Bella accepted a treat in the living room in the presence of another person. She did it only once, but it inspired me to work with treating her in other spaces. If Bella will accept treats away from her bed, I can start teaching her. Maybe I have even inadvertently encouraged her to be a patient by always treating her in the bedroom. But in the beginning she wouldn't accept a treat at all, or even look at me, so bedside treats were the only option.
This morning, at dawn, I let Bella off her leash at the beginning of our walk and followed her. As I expected, she kept exactly to the routine. With a very quick trot, she found a place to pee on the edge of the road, continued to trot another 20 feet and then made a sharp u-turn to trot home. I watched for cars, keeping to the middle of the road where I could be seen by a driver if necessary. I didn't expect traffic at this hour. Bella looked back at me periodically, as if to be sure I was near.
Bella smiles by looking at me with bright eyes and perky ears. Her smiles are enough to encourage me, for now. It seems to me that my insistence that she look at me when I give her any form of food has been helpful in anchoring her to me. Bella is beginning to learn specific words and commands as I make the effort to be consistent and instructive. I think this is helping. Learning engages her doggy mind, dulled and trapped by years of senseless containment, and lures her out toward the world of human/dog companionship.
I have extended her easter egg hunt further into the hallway. In the morning, all the treats are gone. I am bringing her into the living room again on her leash for very short stays. Early on in our acquaintance, I did this, but as I recognized her degree of fear, I stopped. Now I am trying again, both when no one is here, and when one person is here. She tolerates it, but looks at me as if to say, Mommy, I want to go back to my room. After a few minutes, I tell her ok , go ahead. Bella then returns to her bed quite efficiently, but without a tucked tail.
She is much better with petting. I have been petting her regularly and respectfully. She doesn't turn away, or pant. She doesn't show that she likes it, but nor does she show that she doesn't. I reward her with a treat, and she likes that. The other day, for the first time, Bella accepted a treat in the living room in the presence of another person. She did it only once, but it inspired me to work with treating her in other spaces. If Bella will accept treats away from her bed, I can start teaching her. Maybe I have even inadvertently encouraged her to be a patient by always treating her in the bedroom. But in the beginning she wouldn't accept a treat at all, or even look at me, so bedside treats were the only option.
This morning, at dawn, I let Bella off her leash at the beginning of our walk and followed her. As I expected, she kept exactly to the routine. With a very quick trot, she found a place to pee on the edge of the road, continued to trot another 20 feet and then made a sharp u-turn to trot home. I watched for cars, keeping to the middle of the road where I could be seen by a driver if necessary. I didn't expect traffic at this hour. Bella looked back at me periodically, as if to be sure I was near.
Bella smiles by looking at me with bright eyes and perky ears. Her smiles are enough to encourage me, for now. It seems to me that my insistence that she look at me when I give her any form of food has been helpful in anchoring her to me. Bella is beginning to learn specific words and commands as I make the effort to be consistent and instructive. I think this is helping. Learning engages her doggy mind, dulled and trapped by years of senseless containment, and lures her out toward the world of human/dog companionship.
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