August 6, 2021:

Neeka has found her forever home.

July 22, 2021:

Neeka is doing great! She happily accepted our routines, loves our walks and playing keep away with her toys. Even the first night she slept through the night with no problem. She is so relaxed, you would think she had been here for a year!

She does still try to lunge after cats and squirrels on walks, we’re working on that. She can really pull the leash when she sees something to chase. We have encountered several other dogs on walks. She’s very curious, but respectful and doesn’t bark or growl, even if the other dog barks at her. I haven’t let her get close to another dog yet on our walks. But she seems fine with other dogs.

I think she’s shed a few pounds, she looks a little thinner already. It will be interesting to see what she weighs when we take her to the vet. We’re walking 4 ½ to 5 miles per day. She was slow the first couple of days, but now she pulls me! She loves to be outside and go for walks. We don’t have a fence so I keep her on a leash, hook her leash onto a long 20 ft. extension when we play in the yard. She’s a happy girl!

July 8, 2021:

The long holiday weekend brought about some major changes in Neeka! She’s now freely roaming in the house and the dogs seem to be getting along just fine. It’s clear now that a lot of her stress and barking was from being restricted. They even started playing together for a bit this morning. Most of the time they just nap in the vicinity of each other or watch the neighborhood from the porch together. We’ve been on lots of walks and all the neighbors love to tell Neeka how beautiful she is. Neeka loves people, so she’s definitely fine with this situation.

We tried to beat the holiday heat with the hose and a sprinkler, but neither dog seemed the least bit interested. The good news is we made it through multiple nights of fireworks without any stress. Neeka didn’t seem to even notice the fireworks and was mostly asleep by the time anyone was setting them off (she also doesn’t seem bothered by thunderstorms). Neeka now seems totally relaxed in the house, which is great to see. She is very vocal and will bark a lot if startled by a knock on the door or if she can hear one of us moving around upstairs. Her reaction is definitely outsized, but she seems to be getting better at calming herself down faster. We’ll keep working on that and trying to walk off some pounds. She’s extremely interested in food and gets very excited any time the humans eat. She’s also very crafty about sticking her nose right up next to your plate, so you really have to watch her (and your food) around meal times. We’re working on getting her to lay down politely through meal times and have had some success once we get over the initial excitement. She’s eager to please and very smart so I have no doubt she’ll figure this out quickly.

July 3, 2021:

For the first full week Neeka has been pretty anxious and we had a hard time having the dogs in the same room for very long together. She seemed totally happy and relaxed when it was just me and her in a room together, but would get agitated and bark a lot when we tried to hang out in the house with the rest of the family. We thought this might be anxiety from being in a new place so we tried various calming aids to ease the transition and in anticipation of 4th of July fireworks. So far I think the Thunder Shirt just makes her more keyed up, but we’ll keep trying it. It’s hard to tell yet if the collar is really doing anything, though we thought maybe she was calming herself down quicker when she started barking…we’ll keep an eye on it. She’s definitely most relaxed in the morning generally and we can all sit in the living room together for 20 – 30 minutes without too much trouble (we’ve tried it before going on a walk and after, doesn’t seem to matter). At that point my sister has to go to work (she works upstairs) and Neeka and I go to our separate area in the dining room for a bit while I finish my coffee and then go on a walk. In the evenings so far we’ve struggled to spend more than about 10 minutes before Neeka and I have to go back to the dining room to calm down. To be fair to Neeka, sometimes it’s that the resident dog has gotten sick and tired of all the restrictions on her and will try and get away from my sister which causes a bunch of excitement and barking. Neeka can be put in the dining room by herself of course, but she just barks and kicks at the gate. It’s hard to tell if she’s anxious or just indignant that we’re all hanging out without her.

July 1, 2021:

Neeka is a very friendly and sweet girl who loves being outside, going on walks, belly rubs, and playing with stuffed toys. She is eager for attention and cuddles and seems to love all people. She’s still a little anxious and settling in, but so far we can tell that she will do anything for a treat. She does need to lose a few pounds so we’re trying to be careful about treats and balance that with lots of walks. She is pretty good on walks. She pulls infrequently and mostly seems content to trot alongside with periodic stops to sniff things. We’ve passed several deer on our walks and she seems curious about them but hasn’t barked or attempted to chase. I was impressed! She already knows really well how to sit, lay down, and come when called. Overall she’s an adorable goofball!

June 27, 2021:

Neeka is new in foster care. More information will follow.