Jenn’s co-worker Natalie was off island with her family over this past weekend, and was in need of a volunteer to dog-sit their six-month-old puppy, Rosie. Jenn, of course, was happy to help, the idea being that the first step in getting a dog at some point was to rid Ryley of her fear of them!
Rosie’s place is much more ‘dog friendly’, there is tons of (fenced in) room for her to run around outside to her heart’s content… unlike our house where she seemed cooped up and often looked very bored, many times I found her longingly looking out the window.
I took her for a big walk the first day she was here, down the Railway trail for a good 45 minute walk / light jog… she was pretty tuckered out after that, drinking her water and then dozing off in the middle of the kitchen floor.
For a really good run, we took her back to her place – and she took full advantage! Our kids did, too – they seemed to forget about the dog and took off playing on the Power Wheels car that was in the yard.
Ryley slowly but surely came around… by Saturday (we had her from Thursday to Monday morning) she was actually interacting with Rosie, bringing her water and petting her head. A step in the right direction!
By Sunday evening, she was pulling Rosie around on the leash, taking her for walks around the yard. Josh enjoyed having the puppy around as well.
In the end, it seems Ryley had come around quite a bit, she was still slightly squeamish when Rosie would approach her, but was much more confident around her as compared to the first day. Josh, of course, had no issues and had fun playing with the dog – there were many giggle fits as Josh was tackled here and there by Rosie while licking his face, he thought it was fun! (I suppose this is what you would call, ‘how to un-train your dog’.)
We had some fun with Rosie, the kids were sad to see her go. She was a pretty good puppy (though she had a few accidents in the house!), and overall I think Jenn was pleased with how her ‘experiment’ went.
