In the winter of 2010/2011 we had a lot of snow.  My 6 year old sheltie Jamie was getting bored with attempting to get the cat to play with him, was annoyed that I wanted to knit instead of throw him a frisbee, and was disappointed we couldn’t walk every day due to ice on the paths.  I’d noticed when we did take our walks that many of the dog-walking humans had more than one dog.  I decided to look into getting a second sheltie.  I’d bought Jamie from a breeder as a puppy but wanted to adopt one this time through a rescue group.  I began the process of filling out an adoption form, had not gotten around to mailing it yet when I ran into a young couple I slightly know who have shelties and I knew that they did rescue work.  They told me the name of a woman to contact and I wrote to her.  It was winter, there was snow, it was hard enough to just find a place for my one dog to do those things dogs need to do outside.  When Donna from Shetland Sheepdog Club of Greater Baltimore, Inc. wrote back that she didn’t have any dogs available right then but would put me on a list, I thought that was good if it took til the spring when perhaps the snow would be melted.

The last week in January when there was a lot of snow on the ground and I had a cough which wouldn’t go away, Donna called to say they had gotten in 3 shelties and I could choose one. She could supply me with a photo in a few days.  Even though I wasn’t feeling well and the timing wasn’t perfect I was eager to see the photos.  I figured I could always turn down these particular dogs, wait to the spring. Besides, I had 2 other rescue groups watching out for the perfect dog for me.  By then I’d had my animal communicator ask my current dog if he would like another one and he said yes he wanted a girl.  Jamie is sable and white with brown eyes.  There is a joke that after a while people look like their dogs. So I always said in order for that to happen, I’d have to have a blue merle sheltie.  Some of them have blue eyes.  My own hair is salt and pepper and I have blue eyes.

When I saw the photos of the dogs the next week I immediately knew I wanted Chrissy, a 4 1/2 year old female blue merle with blue eyes.  I was only the slightly bit worried about how my 6 year old somewhat fussy Jamie would take to a brand new dog living in his house.  Once he turned 2 years old he no longer liked every dog he met. I spent the next few days ordering a new dog crate (Jamie has his own), buying a pink leash, pink collar, a toy with pink in it. Okay, so I’d never had a girl dog before.  When Donna let me know Chrissy had been spayed and I could come meet her and take her if I liked her, I was pretty excited.  I left Jamie home and drove the short distance to where Donna was fostering Chrissy and another sheltie, as well as taking care of her own 2 dogs.  Chrissy was beautiful and terrified.  She did not want to come out of the crate to meet me.  Donna got her out and she didn’t seem to want me to pet her. I took her for a little walk and was impressed how nicely she walked on a leash, especially compared to my Jamie.  She wouldn’t take a treat from my  hand.  I filled out the paperwork, wrote the adoption check and hoped it wouldn’t be a mistake taking home a dog who didn’t seem to like me.  Oh, the other dog who was available was in a crate, happily barking and wagging his tail at me. I tried to ignore him.  Quiet seemed like a good choice for me.

I brought Chrissy home on February 3, 2011. The foster Dad put her in her Port-a-Crate in the back of my CRV.  I drove home. She didn’t make a sound. Got home and realized I was afraid to touch her. So I stood there and had a conversation with her for about 10 minutes.  I couldn’t allow her to just jump out like Jamie does because she’d only been spayed a few days before that.  I had to put my arms around her and slowly set her on the ground. I doubt she was scared but I was. I finally got brave enough to pick her up, she was fine and walked nicely into the house with me.  Jamie came up to her and wagged his tail!  Jamie is not a high-wag type of a dog. I was so happy.  On Donna’s advice I put Chrissy in a crate and then we all (Jamie, my Ragdoll cat Benji and I) stared at her.

Chrissy had ended up in sheltie rescue due to the illness of her human, a man.  She had apparently met very few women and did not particular trust them. I’m one.  I’d been told that because she’d been boarded at a kennel for a couple months she might have lost her house training so I should take her out every few hours to at least pee.  Being retired, I didn’t see that as a problem.  The thing I didn’t anticipate was even though she would go anywhere with me on a leash, she would not follow me anywhere at all without  one.  So the first time I tried to take her to the backyard, she ran into the livingroom and peed there instead, just trying to get away from me.  I quickly became trained to put her on the leash while she was still in her crate to avoid accidents. From the beginning she was happier to pee and poop while on a walk than to do those things in my nice fenced in backyard where Jamie is perfectly willing to when necessary.  And of course it took her a few weeks to find favorite spots outside.

In the beginning she was afraid of just about everything.  She wouldn’t walk if an airplane went by–I’m 20 minutes from an airport.  If she ventured out of her crate and I picked up an  8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper she would run in terror back into her safety zone.  Having other people pet her was out of the question, along with getting near any dog other than Jamie whom she fortunately loved right away. It hasn’t helped that a Pomeranian did try to attack her in the first few weeks while we were walking on our leashes.  It was a dog Jamie likes so I was surprised when he tried to chew on her neck.  We avoid that dog now but Chrissy avoids all dogs except Jamie. She refused to walk the 4 feet from her crate to my computer chair to be petted or get a treat for about the first 9 months I’ve had her.  On the other hand, she has none of the “normal” sheltie behavior of my other dog such as barking and chasing at runners, bikes, skate boards, people walking by the yard, squirrels, birds. She does look interested at bunnies.  She still won’t walk if anyone is in back of us. Just insists on waiting for them to go by.

Chrissy apparently didn’t play much with anyone or anything before coming here.  She was only in her foster home for a week and had surgery and other medical stuff some of those days.  She absolutely still can not tell what is a toy and what is not.  I continue to be amused by the things she eats which come back out.  I no longer panic like I did when she ate nearly a whole suede fireplace glove in the first month she was here.  The glove was brown and I never saw it come back out either end.  The vet said as long as she was eating, drinking, peeing and pooping not to worry.  She is very good at taking the binding off any “indestructible” dog toy. So sure, she might not be able to chew through things made out of firehose. But if they were sewn together, she can take them apart.  She doesn’t seem to have any interest on just chewing on suitable dog items the way Jamie will such as Kong toys, clean bones, etc.  But once in a while she and Jamie play tuggy with a toy and I can’t begin to explain the joy I feel.

When people said it would take a while for her to adjust to her new home and especially me, I figured oh sure a few days, a few weeks perhaps.  Now after almost 11 months I realize I cherish every single tiny little bit of improvement and notice things I probably never paid attention to with Jamie whom I’ve had since he was 8 weeks old.  It took months to convince her it’s okay to be in the livingroom.  Jamie is not allowed on furniture and Chrissy has never attempted to get on anything. I admit I’ve been deficient at training her. As well as she walks on a leash and as beautiful as she is, I would believe she had been a show dog. But she doesn’t know any commands at all.  So for 10 months I’ve been trying to just get her to sit.  She clearly doesn’t know the word or hand signal.  But all of a sudden in the past few weeks, she’s figured out I like her to do it.  So a few times a day she walks up to me and sits!  And yes she has managed to train me that a treat should follow this fantastic event.

I did take her with me to talk to a dog trainer in PetSmart which is where Jamie went to puppy school.  He said my big goal should be to bond with her alone. Therefore, most afternoons she and I go for at least a little walk without Jamie.  I still haven’t felt she’s paying enough attention to be able to   go to official training.  But she’s letting people pet her–even women.  And people say she never takes her eyes off me when we’re outside walking.

Dinner time matters to her. Before I explain I must say I’ve always felt my Jamie had poor language skills and almost no reaction to most normal dog things. He does not care at all what you say in front of him.  So “go for walk, put on leash, ride in car, do you want dinner?” have no effect on him at all.  He does know sit, ball and frisbee. Chrissy knows those are all fun things and the braver she gets the cuter she is at telling me yes she wants to do them.  She has managed to include the recently learned sitting into the trying to run around in small circles at dinner.  Normally, before dinner I am at my computer which is in the same room as both dog crates.  Chrissy loves to be in her den even though I only close the door to it at night and if I leave the house.  I finally can take a shower without having to lock her up.  So if I roll back my chair and ask who wants dinner, Jamie and the cat might walk up to me. But Chrissy is clearly more excited.  I realize there are things I shouldn’t allow her to do now in the winter time with my blue jeans on or I will end up with scratches on my legs when I put on shorts in the summer.  Her newest way of saying “please get my dinner” is to run up to me, sit and then put both of her front paws on my legs. I have a feeling only the reader who has rescued a shy dog will not be saying “so what?”  If for some reason I’ve had to put on “grown up clothes” before feeding the pets, I have to say “no no don’t jump on me” which so far has worked.

Right now the only main challenge to conquer is to get Chrissy to come in the house through the sliding glass door from the fenced in back yard.  First, she refuses to go outside at all unless she’s on a leash.  Her rule, not mine. She will allow me to take the leash off once outside to play with Jamie without getting tangled up.  When she wants to come back in, she will come to the back door and stand there.  Jamie will also. The difference is when I open the door, Jamie will walk into the house.  Yay Jamie.  For months I’ve been having to go out and drag her in on  a leash or slightly “chase” her into the house. I don’t really like either of these options, even though they were no real problem in the summer. Now it is winter.  It’s cold. There will be snow.  So we’re trying a new game.  I mostly only do this last thing at night when the dogs go outside for Jamie to pee and Chrissy to just stand around for the most part.  I’ve been attaching her to a very long cotton webbed leash we call beach leash because I first got one for Jamie when we went to the beach.  The yard is so small that there is room for her to go across the deck, down the stairs, into the yard without dragging the whole leash with her.  So now when I need her to come back in (keep in mind she’s already seen Jamie walk safely into the house) I call her and gently reel her into the house, telling her all the while what a good girl she is.  Sounds silly but progress is being made.  Maybe some year she will be able to walk into the house on her own.

Because my other sheltie Jamie does not bark too much for his breed, I was concerned how much Chrissy would bark. Chrissy can’t exactly bark. She was apparently de-barked but does make enough sound that I can hear her if she tells me she has to go outside in the middle of the night which has only happened about 3 times. And she barks when I come downstairs in the morning. And does bark if someone comes to the door. Jamie didn’t start barking at that until I got Chrissy. He used to just pathetically whine and try to find me.  Now he sounds like a dog.

With all of Chrissy’s quirks and shyness, I’m very glad I adopted her.  She is a sweet lovable girl who is getting closer to me every day.  Many days, especially the past few months, she’s one of the few things that makes life worth living.