First Days With Peanut (Old Post 8/24/2010)

Days 1-60, he stayed in our bedroom corner, scared, only ate once every two days during the middle of the night. Had no idea what a toy was. He had no voice, peed and pooed all over the placed and would quickly hide in the farthest corner he would find.

Days 90- 120. He started eating once a day plus treats. Began to pee on the pads, but still ate his poop. Toys, where not scary any more, learned to climb into bed, learned his name, learned humans are not to scary. Yet loud noises, loud laughs, just plain anything loud would take him back to his corner. Let's not even mention the outside walks where no where in sight, don't show the leash otherwise you couldn't take him out from his corner until the following day.
Then came day 180, or close to it. It was one of those dreaded days every "Human" parent waits for yet just wants to avoid: First Day of school. Lucky for us we could check out there online cameras. For weeks at school, he stayed far away from other "kids", found his corner, his safety net. Had no idea what was going on, had no idea why he was there. In my head I wondered if this was a good idea, maybe it was to soon? Maybe it was to much, but for 2 days a week, sometimes even 3 days, we made small lunch sacrifices to take him to his school. Dropped him off, went to work with no lunch, and hope for the best. Every day, after work we wondered if taking him to school was even paying off. All the counslers where amazed the small progress he would do every so often. Wehre he would come out of his saftey net and follow other dogs or humans. Where he ran around for 5 mintues, or just hanged out in human arms surrounded by other dogs..... Would he ever truely come out of his shell? Or was this all he would do?
At home tho, he started playing more, his toys where his joy, chasing after us was a delight for him. Tail wagging, often barks, it was all he could do with us. Learned food is served twice a day, snacks are available all the time. Learned we get super happy when he does not eat his poop and pees on the pads. Has learned to bark when he is happy, has learned we come home. most inportantly has began to recognized humans won't hurt him under our care, the outside world is quite at night, safest place is where we leave him....
but as humans, we still wondered if all that we have done has made an inpact.... and we found out day 272....
 The chasing, the barks, the tail wagging turned to his cousin, Waldo, a Jack Russel, 7 pounds heavier then him.


See, for any human who has rescued any pet from a shelter, or off the streets, we never know what the annimals future will be like. We never know if they will overcome there fears, some due, others don't. And we often wonder if everything we do for them if for the best. for us, new time dog owners, we got critizised by family for "spoiling" Peanut with Doggie Day Care, to the best toys, clothes and waht nots. We got lectures onhow Dogs are just "animals" and pampering them is not right. And every day we questioned it. Everyday we wondered if maybe people around us where right.... But from the video, and this whole weekend expirience, we feel so overwhelemed knowing we did something so SO right for Peanut We have taking our time with him, we have given him all that we could. And sure it may seem crazy to "spoil" a furry pet, but you know what this is who we are. This has given us hope that Peanut will be the best dog we could ever ask for.
After 9 long months of many If's, and's & but's, we have seen such a huge progress in Peanut. the greatest moment in our move to Las Vegas. =)
To those animal lovers out there with sheltered dogs all I can say is Be Patient, Be kind, get educated and don't give up. A dog with a harsh pass can be happy, they can learned to let things go, but it takes lots, and lots of patience. Just remember, nothing in life is simple, nothing is learned in a day, it takes plenty of patiences, knowledge, and love.
To my little Peanut, we are not giving up on you buddy, we will be there one step at a time.