I was pleased on the second day to wake up and find Tessa (then Maggie) still on the bed with us. She still had her leash on, but of course I had let go of it during the night.
First thing in the morning I went out with all of the dogs. My dogs thought it strange, and maybe even funny, that I had gone out with them during their potty time. That doesn't happen often here at home!
I had the leash on her again in the house, but I dropped it most of the time. She stayed right with me. She was also slightly more relaxed. On the first day she startled any time I moved, even a little. On the second day, she did not respond at all to small movements. If I stood, she jumped up and followed me. But if I reached for a pen or something, she did not care.
I really noticed her love for furniture on the second day. The look on her face when she was on the futon, or on Sammie's chair, could only be described as beatific. It looked as if she wanted absolutely nothing else in the world than to remain on that piece of furniture! She wasn't guardy of furniture at all. She didn't mind in the least if any or all of my dogs wanted to share her space. In fact, she enjoyed snuggling up to them. When she was on furniture, she was the picture of contentment. And that was so good to see in her because she was that was about the only spark of joy I saw in her at all.
Doors were an issue for her. At first she would not go through a door ahead of me. That was extremely annoying, especially when I wanted her to go ahead. She was very reluctant to go into new spaces, small spaces, and to go anywhere ahead of me.
Eating also posed a bit of a problem. She liked the food that I gave her, but she got very uncomfortable when I watched her eat. I had to keep an eye on her, though, to make sure that none of my dogs tried to trick her out of leaving her bowl! They don't pull that stuff on each other, but they will pull it on a guest if I don't watch. When I realized that she was eating even more slowly with me watching, I tried putting her in the bedroom with her food. She would eat nothing. I finally let my dogs out and kept her in so she could eat in peace.
I asked Lillie, the owner of the rescue, to change Maggie's name on the second day because Maggie was just not working. It sounded too close to Maddie. Maddie was not pleased to hear her name being used for this young girl! So, Lillie changed her name to Sadie. She actually responded better to Sadie, so it worked nicely.
These pictures are from the first day.
Not sure yet whether I was a friend or not, but looking less miserable than she was in the shelter. Maybe this wasn't such a bad place . . .
On Sammie's chair, one of her favorite safe places, which is now known officially as the Sammie-Tessa chair. You can see here, too, her back end where her coat was in very poor condition. I had to chop a whole chunk of burrs out of her tail, and the look of her back feathers didn't improve for quite a while.
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