Meet the "Doo" family. That's Scooby Doo on the left and Scrappy Doo on the right (No, I didn't name them!) They are 4+ month old Jack Russell terriers whose foster family is going out of town for a few days, so they moved here. They are, if possible, more skittish than Russell.
They dropped the puppies off in a huge carry crate (which they are peeking out of) and the melee was on. The other three dogs barked and barked and the new guys cowered. I didn't open the cage door until they'd been here for a little bit. When the dogs started calming down, I opened the door and let Scooby and Scrappy decide when to come out.
They pretty much spent the evening cowering whenever either Walt or I came near them, but they did eventually start playing with the other dogs. Russell was in 7th heaven, having someone that was about his age and size to roll around with. Everywhere there was a ball of puppies whirling around in a circle, a blur of brown and white.
They were clearly interested in human beings, but it was a real approach-avoidance situation. Walt tried picking up Russell (who, with the arrival of the new puppies, was much more open to being picked up by Walt, after all this time) and the puppies were very interested in Russell, but absolutely did not want to be touched by either Walt or me.
While Walt called to them and tried to let them know he really was a good guy, I decided to just leave them alone. I sat in the middle of the room watching them, but not trying to touch them, not calling to them, waiting for them to decide on their own that I wasn't the big bad wolf.
They were definitely intrigued. They would stand on the blue recliner and half cross the table between the two chairs, they would sniff my hand, if I put it on the table (without looking at them), but they were just too scared to actually get closer to me.
Walt finally went upstairs, Russell settled into my lap and "The Doos" curled up on the blue recliner.
When it came time to go to sleep, Russell and I left the puppies on the chair, hoping they would sleep all night, and we went into the living room. We had all settled down in our little "pack" -- Me on the couch with Russell on top of me, Shelia lying on the floor next to me, and Lizzie on the chair next to the couch.
Suddenly I thought I heard a sound from the family room. Then I heard something fall. I decided to ignore it. Pretty soon, I saw the two puppies creep very cautiously into the living room. Nobody moved. They tentatively began sniffing everywhere. I hoped they would climb into the recliner in the living room and go back to sleep, but they didn't. Soon they were starting to feel more comfortable so they started picking up things, which made noise, and Russell started barking.
This wasn't going to work. I got up and, followed by all the rest of my pack, went into the family room Scooby and Scrappy were so scared they ran into their cage, which was perfect. I locked them in and they were quiet the rest of the night.
In the morning, we all went outside. They were SOOOOOO happy to be outside and kept running over to jump up on me and then run away before I could touch them (which I wasn't really trying to do).
Breakfast was a real challenge (it is with three, with five, two of whom are afraid of their shadows, it was significantly more challenging!)
Slowly, over the morning, they got braver about me.
In the afternoon, they slept on my feet while I worked on the computer.
They still aren't real sure about coming up to me, but whenever I get into my recliner, sooner or later, someone will join Russell in my lap. They let me pet them. They will take treats out of my hand (sometimes).
I don't expect to work miracles before we leave for Los Angeles on Friday, but Ashley will be here while we're gone and she's the expert in winning doggie trust, so I'm sure they will do just fine until their "real" foster family comes home.
They sure are cute!
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