sweet Caroline
Award for easiest adjustment to the move goes tooooooooo…..
Caroline!
Quite a few of you have asked for an update on how she’s doing, so I figured it was about time for a little Caro update. (Our last Caroline update is here, and here’s the story about her adoption.)
Over the past week, she has entirely transformed. The Pilot joked that maybe she instinctively knew she needed to stick with the pack during this busy time.
She’s always been a timid and shy girl, likely a result of how much she’s been through in her short life. I’m thankful that part of her life is over and she can enjoy being a puppy.
Over the past year that we’ve had her, we’ve overcome a few major hurdles (like that potty training thing); but, there was one where we didn’t seem to make much improvement:
walks.
We tried EVERYTHING to get Caro to come on walks, because we knew she’d love to exercise and enjoy some fresh air. Little lady is a bit of a couch potato, and I thought she’d benefit from daily walks. Turns out, walks are horrifying if you’ve never had one before.
We tried a comfy harness, treats for every step, lots of praise and patience, but she never seemed to be a huge fan. So I gave her a break from trying, and we decided to let her ride in the wagon with Liv for family walks, which she loved.
That worked out well for us, but with the move, we’ve had to make multiple trips from the car to the hotel room with the pups. We quickly realized that we didn’t have the leashes (they were packed) and relied on the dogs’ good listening skills (+ a hint of Caro’s fear of everything) for them to obediently walk beside us. It was shocking, really. Both dogs walked with us, went outside to go potty and came back in without a hitch. While it worked well, we knew we’d have to get them new leashes for safety reasons, so the Pilot picked some up from the BX.
No harnesses: just regular ol’ leashes + a retractable one for Caro. She walked with this leash with no problem at all, and has been ever since. Who knew that a different leash would make such a huge difference?!
I think it’s because she doesn’t feel like she’s being pulled, and she walks next to us, to it’s not really a problem of her having so much freedom with distance. (If Bell had a retractable leash, she’d tangle herself up with us, give us rug burn and then give herself whiplash.)
Some of the things I’ve learned from having a rescue dog:
-Kindness and patience go hand in hand, even if you don’t see the results right away. With Caro, we only did positive reinforcement (which honestly, was sometimes difficult, like that one time she peed in the bed and I wanted to dinosaur cry), and had to wait it out. Even though you may feel like you’re taking steps backwards, eventually the forward steps will outdistance the regressions.
-You have to give them time to trust you. For quite a while, Caro wouldn’t go up to anyone for scratches or snuggle sessions. We continued to be kind and sweet to her, let her see that we’d never hurt her, and now she’ll easily walk up for a pet. I wasn’t sure her tail could wag, but now, it drags across the floor as it happily whips back and forth. A major turning point was this past week: I was sick with that virus thing, curled up on the recliner at my mom’s house, and Caro jumped up to sleep in my lap.
-If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to give it a break and try again later, or try something different. You may be surprised!
-Love from a pet is one of the best things ever, and love from a rescue pet is an entirely different world. I can still see a little sadness in her eyes, but there’s a lightness and joy to her little smile. Hopefully one day, the sadness will be gone too <3
Tell us a sweet, funny or mischievous story about your pet! I’ll NEVER forget when I was taking a shower and Viesa ate an entire yellow cake that was cooling on the table.
xoxo
Gina
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I made waffles (and covered it in peanut butter) one morning, ate half and left the other half on the table while I took a shower. I got out of the shower, the second half of the waffle was gone! I asked my friend if they ate it, nope… next thing I know I see the dog licking his lips in the corner, from all the peanut butter! He got on the chair and ate the waffle off the table!! Now I always push the chairs under the table :).
I agree with all of these. I rescued a pup two months ago and he has tried my patience multiple times but we have finally gotten to a place where we have started to be ok. I realized a wire kennel was not going to work but he chews so I have to kennel.
I got a plastic one and voila he doesn’t bark or cry in it! So trying new things is the way to go
Gina I totally agree with you that the love of a pet is the best thing in the world! My husband and I have four cats. We found three of them (brothers) living in the sewer drain near our mailbox! We immediately fell in love and kept them all. The three boys did not trust us at first and it took some time before they were comfortable with us. Our fourth came a few months later – he was found under our neighbor’s deck covered in flees and very underweight. He loved us immediately! Obviously we don’t and won’t know what really happened to him, but I am so happy he is safe with us!
Funny story: Snowy Bear (our fourth cat) LOVES cinnamon and sugar! If I’m baking he comes running! The other boys only go crazy if I open a can (thinking it is tuna or canned cat food). But SB loves the sweet stuff. He has snuck up to the dinner table, and swiped a cookie right off my plate onto the floor!
Caroline is so beautiful! I’m so happy she’s now going out for walks!
Josh and I adopted Punkin from the Nebraska Humaine Society. At first he was so timid he stayed under the bed for three days. I cried thinking he didn’t like his new home. Now he is our shadow cat and follows us everywhere when we’re home, and greets us at the door when we get home. He usually curls up at the end of the bed and sleeps with us but this morning I woke up to him laying on my chest happily puring. My heart melted.
awwwww Gina, this post made me cry!!!! It’s so beyond sad to think of animals being abused. I am so happy Caro found such a warm, loving family like yours!! She is so adorable and such a strong lady!! Give her a good scratch for me!!
I love that you’ve shared a positive story about having a rescue dog. I am a huge supporter of animal rescues and wish more people felt the same. Too many people are too quick to give up on them, but who knows what kinds of lives they’ve led up to that point. Thank you for sticking by little Caro. She is adorable and very lucky to have such an understanding and loving home.
This is so sweet! My husband and I got a rescue in December and for the most part he is pretty good, but he struggles with bonding, is timid around food, doesn’t listen at times, and has some separation anxiety. While I sometimes get frustrated with him, I have to remind myself that I don’t know what kind of life he has before we took him into our home. You’re probably right in that he needs time to trust me, and when he’s ready we’ll have a deeper bond than I ever would have expected. Thank you for sharing your story!
She is adorable!!!
I love this post, and am the proud owner of a rescue myself :). Our boy, Thomas, is terrified of thunder storms and will pant and shake ceaselessly until the rain is through. Back when we lived in our apartment, we had a shower curtain and not a glass door, and I was happily all soaped up in there from head to toe when a loud thunder clacked, and out of nowhere Thomas jumped like his life depended on it right in to the shower with me! I was absolutely covered in soap, and decided that rather than try to coax him out of the shower and get suds everywhere in the process, I’d cut my losses and just let him stay in there with me until I was clean 🙂
I so admire the way your family has taken Caro in and made her life so much better. We rescued a kitten from a shelter because I was desperate for a pet and our apartment didn’t allow for dogs. I’ve always been a dog person, but he has won over every dog person he’s met. He plays fetch, follows us around, and “talks” back when we tell him no. In the future we hope to rescue a dog, so thank you for posts like these and setting a wonderful example!
Aaaahhhh, this makes me happy and sad. To think she still has sadness from her previous life just kills my heart.
Our dog (golden doodle ) is a rescue too. We’ve had him for 5 years or so. He’s what you call a carb addict. He’ll frequently get into the bread drawer. Eat what fills him and hide the rest under our boys pillows- we’re not sure if this us his way of saving it for later or blaming it on the boys! He’s trouble but we love him!
We have a rescue dog, too, and you are so right about everything said in your post. Love from a rescue dog is like nothing else. We have had Zoey (an English Bulldog) for almost 5 years and her personality just shines through. She’s bossy and lazy and so loyal. She’s also a sneaky tooter…..suddenly, without a sound, you’ll catch a whiff of a toot and it just blows you away! She also sneezes and snorts a lot. Between that and her Bulldog breathing, you can always hear her coming. 🙂 She is our baby!
New-ish reader who’s never posted but is a total sucker for animals so I had to come read/comment….
(PS – love the blog!)
Yes, have adopted two rescue cats. Second was a bundle of silly/out-going joy. The first, well… She was already 10 when we got her; the story was she had had elderly owners who had passed away. At the adoption centre, she’d been happy enough when we met. So we carted her home, set out food and water and excitedly released her (this was the first pet hubby and I had gotten together).
She shot into the blackest corner of the closet she could find.
“OK, she’ll need time,” we thought. “Makes sense.”
She came out occasionally when coaxed for a pet or two or to do her business. But we never saw her outside that closet for three weeks.
Then: Occasional trips out! She’s still pretty much scared of every new noise–for a while there I had to practice closing books quietly–but when we moved a couple years later, she only lived in the closet for three hours! We were extremely proud of her and ourselves for the giant leaps she’s made. The old girl happily curls up on our chests every time we sit down, now.
This made me tear up. Caro seems like such a sweet dog and I’m just so happy and grateful she has wonderful, loving, patient owners and that she’s adjusting so well. I hope she loves San Diego! My dog as a teenager was also a rescue and when we went to the shelter to meet her, she immediately got attached to my mom and fell asleep in her lap. You could tell she’d been abused because she hated tall men and was terrified of them, as well as the vacuum cleaner and brooms. She was such a loyal dog though, very protective of the family and sweet to us. Unfortunately, she passed away from Leukemia about two years ago but she had a happy life with homemade meals (she had a digestive disease so my mom made all of these semi-gourmet dog meals for her), treats, and walks. Both of my current dogs are rescues but they are so different. My puggle (who has an underbite and his name is Buddha) was an owner surrender but his previous owners took great care of him (they both worked and he spent a lot of time alone but he was healthy and well-adjusted)–he barks at the weirdest things. He watches the sky for airplanes and birds and will bark at both (Napoleon complex?) and he also doesn’t like Dumbledore–the second one. The other one I adopted in Philly but she came from a kill shelter in Georgia. I think she has some very close wild ancestry–she’s crazy! But such a sweetheart and could be a dog model.
Oh man it might be the PMS but this made me cry! My two favorite stories about my current rescue are:
1. the first time she ever cuddled with me. (And how she hasn’t stopped since)
2. The time she wanted some of my dinner and kept putting her bone in my lap like she wanted a trade. When that didn’t work she went and got a pack of nail files off my bedside table and put that in my lap like she was trying something human instead of the bone!
My dog is a menace she has so much personality and I love her for it (my dad disagrees). I take her running and she has to carry part of the leash in her mouth other wise its a no-go. She also does at least three victory laps around the yard for every time we toss a frisbee so we usually only get a few tosses in before I’m afraid I’m wearing her out (she never admits she’s tired). So much energy its unbelievable.
I am a foster failure. Our puppy (now 7) was a rescue and that we agreed to foster while she healed from her horrible past. I was bringing groceries in one day and had to make several trips. When I was done, I was putting the groceries away and KNEW I bought a HUGE roast but didn’t put it away. I went back to the car thinking I forgot a bag. I figured I just left the bag at the store until I went to sit on the couch and noticed the packaging! My 10lb 8 week old puppy had eaten a raw roast almost the size of her! What a butthead!
Our current rabbit has taken years to warm to us and we had a hard time adjusting to him because he was so different than our other rabbits. He’s very smart (for a rabbit) and very wary of humans. Over the years he’s come to trust us in his way and enjoys hanging out with us on his terms, which we’re fine with. The reward of him being able to enjoy himself is immense!
One time I accidentally left the TV remote on the floor. I left the room and by the time I got back one of our buns had nibbled all of the buttons off, so that we were left with a working remote, but barely any idea of what was what on it. They love that rubbery surface to chew on, so you need to be super careful, especially with wires. Thankfully we ended up moving not long after, so we were able to get a new remote when we switched cable companies. Funny little guy.
So glad she is coming around!!!!!!!
This post made me cry!! What a sweet sweet dog. It is so true that love from a pet really can’t be beat! I love my dog so much and sometimes it is frustrating, but there is nothing I wouldn’t do for her! Good for you for being so patient and kind with Caroline! She is such a sweet girl 🙂
My dog Jack was the same way when we got him. We got him at 6 months and think he was abused before that. Walks were THE MOST terrifying thing for him and all he wanted to do was run home. Now he LOVES them and insists on doing 2 laps around our neighborhood. He also took a long time to warm up to men which was sad in that he is my brother’s dog. My brother used to lay near his dog house and sing to him while Jack stayed in the house all day. Now he is the the most lovable dog ever who wants nothing more than to hang by you and get petted.
Funny pet story, we host Christmas dinner every year for 30-45 people. One year my mom made 4 pumpkin pies the night before and put them out to cool overnight with a flour sack towel on top. We woke up the next morning to a line of paw prints down the pies. My cat took a little stroll on them during the night. We threw a little whip cream on the paw prints and nobody knew any difference.
What a great update – so, so happy to hear Caro is “coming around”! Hope your move is going well 🙂
My kitten (ok, 8 year old cat) was rescued off the streets back in ’06 with a few brothers and sisters (whom we found homes for) – when we brought them to our house, my little guy (then still very much a kitten, maybe 2 months old) would take food off the kitchen table (like entire chicken legs, loaves of bread) and drag them around the house and “hide” them for later.
Which is crazy to think of considering he’s such a stinkin’ picky eater now!
Seriously, you guys are amazing people for taking on a rescue pet! 🙂
So cute! I can’t wait until I’m settled enough to get a puppy!
I’m so glad she’s come around. She looks like such a sweetie. My dog was rescued over 6 years ago. She was abused before, but now she’s super spoiled… and she still has those sad eyes. I think her pathetic look is just part of who she is 😉
Your pup is so adorable! Love from a pet IS the best thing in the world! I love that you rescued her! We have a Westie and we volunteer with a local westie rescue and foster westies in need of a home, it’s very rewarding and feels great to help whenever we can! Our westie, Oliver is quite the independent one, and very stubborn, but we love him to pieces!
My vizsla will go to her friends’ houses (neighbors) and sit on their front porch hoping someone will notice she’s there so she can play with her friend. It’s hilarious and frustrating at the same point because she then won’t listen to me. Pretty hard for anyone to notice she’s there since the front door is usually closed but it’s getting warmer out so now her doggy friends will see her.
I swear she also thinks she’s a person. She burrows under the blankets and will sometimes sit on the couch like a person, sitting up with her back against the couch.
Having family night watching a movie. We had a rotisserie chicken for dinner. We are watching the movie and my grandmother comes in and said “what happened to the chicken?” We could see little grease spots on the floor. We found the container in the office licked clean. She ate the rest of the chicken AND all the bones. Nothing was left. We Didnt know how to act! We laugh about it now but were shocked when it first happened! She has been a chicken girl ever since!
My favorite story about our rescue pup, Ernest, was the time my mom put a cheeseburger and applesauce on the table for dinner for my little brother (he was probably 7 at the time) while he was in the shower. She went off to her meeting and Ernest (who had never done this before) apparently hopped up into the chair and ate the burger and didn’t leave a crumb. My brother came into the kitchen, saw the burger was gone, and called down to my dad (who had his office in our house) and said “MOM ONLY LEFT ME APPLESAUCE FOR DINNER!”
Our dog Mitch likes bathrooms and tubs/showers. One day he walked into our walkin shower and just laid down. Ever since, he gets in tubs, showers, lays down on the floor. It’s only when one of us is in there, but it’s so cute!
Our dog is a rescue and is seriously crafty! I mean, she has to be since she was a stray for at least a year. A couple years ago around Christmas, we were enjoying some homemade treats from a friend. Out of sheer laziness, when we finished, we didn’t put them away in the kitchen, but just in a cupboard drawer in the room we were in. Well, when she was alone, she managed to open the drawer and eat all the fudge (and spit out the nuts!)
I was horrified at the amount of chocolate she consumed, but “fortunately” she just had the runs for a day or two.
That’s wonderful that Caro is finally really getting settled into her new forever home 🙂 Kudos to you guys for being so patient and kind to her. I’ve always thought our next dog should be a rescue but I want to wait until we’re completely settled enough to give it all the love and attention it deserves.
Caroline is so cute!
So this is a gross story, but one time our beautiful rescue hound got into a bag of birdseed. By the time I found out, she had already eaten probably 2-3 cups of seed. And about 2 hours later, she pooped inside the house–seeds everywhere…EVERYWHERE. I still can’t look at chia seeds or Mary’s crackers without shuddering.
I have a rescue cat (just celebrated her 8 year anniversary of adoption!) and she was extremely afraid of bathrooms and doorbells. She got over the bathroom thing after about a year, but she is still terrified of doorbells. Every time there is a commercial on TV with doorbells, she hides under the bed and I don’t see her for a couple hours. Those commercials with multiple doorbells? Forget it… Poor thing! I got her when she was 4-5 months old, so I don’t know what happened prior to that. I just know she was found on the side of the highway in Wisconsin in January! 🙁
I have both a husky and a giant malamute who love to eat any and everything. We can throw food across the room at our malamute and she will catch it in her mouth, she also drools if you hold a treat in front of her and tell her to sit before giving it to her. The one thing I will never forget though is when we lived in an apartment and they somehow got into our refrigerator and CLEARED it out. They ate at least a dozen raw eggs and random take out food. It was awful. They loved it though.
Aw! My two pound mutts still have a little of the sadness and fear of abandonment, even in old age.
Sometimes it’s good, though. I came home at 8pm recently to find a wind storm had blown an accidentally-left-unlocked side gate open and I was horrified to find they were gone! But within 30 seconds they ran into the garage, celebrating our return, so they were very close and watching for us! PHEW!
Aww I love this story. She is so adorable! 🙂
My favorite story of my kitty, Belly Button (yes, that’s her real name), is when she was a kitten, I used to shower with the door opened because if it was closed she would sit outside and meow like she was dying. Well, anyway, she would prance on the edge of the tub between the liner and the curtain, and all 2 pounds of her slid right into the tub as the shower was still going!!! She laid sprawled with all four legs spread out, looking around like “ok, what do I do now?” Once I controlled my laughter, I grabbed her and wrapped her in a towel to dry off. It was the cutest thing ever.
Aww, such a sweet face!
Writing this while I have Tessie, my blenheim Cav sleeping soundly on my lap. CKCS’s are so tenderhearted and to think that Caro was not loved and well cared for as a puppy is heartbreaking. Thank you for bringing that sweet pup into your hearts and home!
Love your blog!
So glad to hear that Caroline is doing well! 🙂
Once, I was in the middle of crafting up some Christmas cards with stamps & ink pads, and decided to leave my half finished projects on the coffee table while we went out to run an errand. Our pup had never jumped on the coffee table when we were around, but had evidently figured out that she could — when we came home, she had gotten into the ink pads and left multicoloured paw prints all over the beige rug. I was not impressed! 🙂
Our beloved rescue boxer, Moose, was the best family dog we could ask for. His drool was out of control and would hang from both sides of his jowls and form a “drool necklace”. One night, he jumped up on the counter and ate the entire meatloaf my mom had made for dinner. We were laughing so hard when trying to scold him. He sat on the stairs looking so sad for having ruined dinner the rest of the night.
Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for a long while, but I just wanted to say THANKS A MILLION for all of the rescue/shelter dog tips and for adopting a dog from a shelter. As someone who does dog rescue work and fosters some pretty sad cases (health, behavioral, etc.), it is great to see a family who is willing to put in the time, effort, and patience with these wonderful animals.
Caro is lucky to have you…and you her!
Caro is adorbs!! I have two little terriers who are both very mischievous. They have done many things that I consider unspeakable (it’s bad, they are troublemakers), but I do have one incident that is appropriate for sharing. 🙂 We came home one afternoon to find a printer ink cartridge that had been knocked off the table (by the cat, he was in on it, i think). The ink cartridge had been destroyed, and there as a large blue ink stain on our NEW carpet. As were were trying to figure out the situation, we looked at Frank, our boston terrier, whose mouth and face were covered in blue ink.
So great that Caroline is doing so well! My rescue is a 3 year old Beagle and just a few minutes ago, I was stepping out to get my bag from the car and she followed me onto the patio. I gently pushed her back with my ankle to avoid her getting out of the gate. fail! She bounded out the gate and down a flight of stairs with me chasing after her yelling like a mad woman. I finally reached her right before we reached the street. Phew! My last dog was such a good listener and relied on my cues of ‘wait’ and ‘ok’ for everything. Our current dog has only been in our home for about a month, so we’re still working on it.
This post makes me want to adopt a dog this minute! Such a cutie. A few years ago my friend brought her dog over for a Fourth of July party and the dog jumped up on the counter and ate an entire homemade apple pie.
Gorgeous dog!
We have a rescue dog too, she still has anxiety issues but is a wonderful and loving creature. She’s done many many silly things over the years, including eating a nappy (oh so ewwwww!), eating my lunch when I was otherwise occupied with the baby, stealing cookies directly from the kids hands… the list goes on!
My old dog earned the nickname “pizza dog” because he once at half a Little Caesar’s pepperoni pizza that was left unattended on the table. Realize he was a 15 lb chihuahua mix, and I could never eat half a pizza on my own! My sister and I found him laying on the living room rug, tummy bloated, with this look like, “I regret nothing!” He passed away last November, and I miss him terribly. Give as much love to your fur babies while you can when you have them! They really take up so much space in your heart.
Oh, what a beautiful story. I love to hear about Caro because we have two cavaliers, and one is a rescue, also. When he was brought into rescue, he had never stepped foot on grass and was terrified of people, especially their hands. It took a LOT of patience, love, and treats to get him to come out of his shell. Now, he lives quite the life of luxury! I’ve woken up many times to nudge my husband to stop snoring, but I look over and it’s Buddy with his head on my pillow and the rest of his body under the covers snoring up a storm! He loves sneak up in the middle of the night and sleep like a human.
Oh my goodness what a doll. So glad things are turning up for Miss Caroline 🙂 I had never had a pet before I got my weenie dog Rodney 3 years ago. After I’d had him about three months, we were on a walk, and some scary pomeranians got out of their backyard and chased us. Rodney freaked the F out and so did I…right as one of the dogs bit and latched onto my leg I scooped him up and booked it back to our house. I shook the dog off and once we were far enough away I started walking. I turned to look at Rodney and he looked right at me and licked me right on the nose just once and stared at me. It was like I could hear him saying “Thanks for saving me Mom!” First time I really got what it means to own a pet 🙂
We’ve always had rescue dogs, but our little guy now was definitely beaten before we got him. He still, after five years, occasionally ducks when I go to pet him, but he’s the biggest sweetheart. He’s so attached to us that when we go on trips, he’ll ignore us prior to departure and then act like we abandoned him when we return. I think he does it so we’ll give him extra treats! 🙂