MORE BEACH TRIPS AND TRUCK TRIPS

Things are going really well with Rona.  We've had a week of dog daycare and then trips to the beach to enjoy the water and sunshine.   Rona has really gotten into the groove of the beach.  She's happy meeting other dogs and she's pretty good at going up to people too.   On Saturday I went to dog daycare for a few hours to dog sit all the dogs that are being boarded.  

Rona, with me at daycare on Saturday.

There were about 10 dogs and what a nice, well behaved group they were.  I actually had alot of fun being there.  I imagine working at a daycare can be quite a challenge at times but for just a few hours it was really a joy.  The bonus of doing this was that I got to see the daycare version of Rona.  She runs and plays and I finally got to hear her bark.  She really doesn't bark much but in play she is more vocal.   She's got a nice bark actually - it suits her cute personality.   In this last week I did notice that while she had lots of wags for the daycare staff in the morning, she was dragging her heels when she saw me at the end of the day.  I've become 'that woman who puts me in the truck'.   That's okay, I can live with that ("ego...please step aside"), but on Saturday I entered her daycare world and found that between playing she stuck near me and showed me she's more bonded with me than I had been able to see before.   Here's a quick video of Rona moving through the daycare yard, so people can see how nicely she moves.

Today we went back to the beach and met with Foster Mom Gloria and two of her own dogs - Tess and Charlee who are both TG adoptions.   Rona really liked being part of a group for our walk and she really wanted to run and play with Charlee.  I don't feel that Rona is ready for off-leash so she couldn't really play with anyone the way she wanted to.   She really enjoyed the water though.  She has been getting more and more confident going in, as the week went on.   Today, she decided going in and dunking her head for pieces of driftwood was the best thing ever.  

When the waves come in and make foamy bubbles on the beach she bats at them with her paw or tries to catch them with her mouth.  She's so darn cute at the water.  Lifting her feet higher than necessary as though expecting to walk ON the water.

Truck update:    Every day that has gone by, she has looked ready to spring into the back of the truck all on her own, but then she hesitates too long.  Finally today, she jumped right in on her own!  I had predicted she'd do this by the end of the week and she made it just under the wire.   This is the beginning of a real turning point for her - getting into the truck on her own terms.   It probably helped that Gloria had her two dogs jump into the back seat of my truck to show Rona how its done.  Once they jumped out Rona followed me up to the door, thought for a moment and the hopped in.   Sometimes you just have to have patience and wait long enough.   Her fear of vehicles is not just about riding in them though.  She is now riding very well in the truck once she's there, but she is also afraid of walking past or near any parked vehicles.  On the way home today, we went to a strip mall parking lot and walked all around, between cars, and on and off curbs until she was moving much more easily with me.   She has made some huge progress this week....way to go Rona!

Here's a picture of Rona, taken in the last hour...she's exhausted!