The World of Cornell

Saturday, July 27, 2024 07:07 AM PDT

in Santa Rosa, California

Adopting a Rescue Dog

Last July(2014), my wife decided she wanted another dog because she was uncomfortable being alone home at night while I was working. So one day when she went to the grocery store, a dog rescue center was having an adoption event. There was one dog there that was not very friendly which my wife seemed to like.

The dog's name is Dutchess and she was sitting at the back of the kennel and would not allow people to touch her. She was black with a white chest and some white on her paws. Her breed was listed as an Australian Cattle Dog mix. Definitely a mix.

Needless to say, that was the dog my wife wanted and so we got her. We don't have a car so we had to walk her home. When we got home, we showed Dutchess the house and took off the leash. She went right to the front door and that was where she stayed for the next several weeks.

She ate there, had her water there and she would not move from that space. She would only eat at night when we were in bed. We took her for walks, took her to a dog training class but she was not showing much signs of affection that our other dogs had had. We have a cat which Dutchess seem to ignore which was fine with us.

She seemed to like going to the dog park. We took her there quite a bit because she didn't want to walk along the creek paths. She did not warm up to other people or dogs at the park but she did enjoy running a round.

One day at home she started to walk into the kitchen and drink out of the water bowl there. If you looked at her she would run back to the front door. She also started to eat when we were around which was nice to see.

The creek trails no longer frighten her and we even walk them at night.

One day while watching tv, Dutchess jumped up in my lap and now we watch tv together. It was nice to see her coming out of her shell.

It took a long time but it is nice to see how friendly she is. She even lets the cat walk over her and they both sit in my lap in the evening.