Laverne

We have a new foster dog. She is far and away the shyest of the dogs we've had here.

Her owner surrendered her to the shelter a couple of weeks ago, and she has been living with a foster family that had planned to leave town for Thanksgiving. We told them she could stay here with us over the holiday, and they dropped her off this afternoon.

Well. Laverne had some Thoughts about coming to our house. She growled at me when I tried to take her leash from their son, so I gave it back. They wound up carrying her up the porch steps (she weighs 50 pounds, so this was not like tucking a little purse dog under your arm) and plunking her on our welcome mat. We got the storm door closed behind them, and Laverne sat there, immobile and tense, for a solid hour.

We tried the treats they brought; we tried our peanut butter-oat dog treats. We tried peanut butter on a spoon. I scrambled her an egg, which they told us she loves, and she just looked at it, like, "Haven't you ever heard that you're not supposed to eat any food when you visit hell? I'm Laverne, not Persephone."

Slowly she let us pet her, and after that first hour we got the front door closed. But things didn't really improve from there. She spent the next two hours in the same spot, waiting forlornly for her family. At one point after I thought she and I were on petting terms, she told me to back the heck off.

After a little walk she came back inside more willingly, and parked herself on the steps for half an hour or so. Our steps are not the place I would choose to park myself if I were a 50-pound dog. She did not appear comfortable, but she was also not willing to move. 

As I wrote this post she eased cautiously down the steps and took up her station on the welcome mat, right by our drafty front door. With some coaxing she consented to move a foot or so to her dog bed, and she fell asleep there. I guess there are some tenuous good signs so far: she made a small effort at grooming herself, she gave Pete's face a tiny lick (he is her favorite so far), and she relaxed enough to fall asleep. 

But man, you have to wonder what could be in this dog's past to make her feel this anxious. I hope she is not having sad dreams about her other foster family.