5th Morning Report

Today is their 5th morning here, and such a big difference from their first! I've been out twice this morning for feeding and clean up, and Scott was out once to give them fresh water. When they see us coming they jump around and bark and stay at the gate until we get very close. Today when I bent over the put their food bowls down, for the first time nobody retreated to the dog house. They stayed a couple of feet away, then started eating when I moved away from the bowls. Today I wanted to load up their dog houses with fresh straw again so I used this opportunity with all of them eating to put the new straw in. This is the first time I have walked around nearby while they eat a meal. I usually stand a few feet away. I was going back and forth and doing a lot of walking near the bowls, and interestingly it was Nora that this bothered the most. The other three kept their eyes on me but continued to eat. Several times Nora backed away from her bowl and started to retreat. They no longer seem too concerned about the big bucket and shovel I bring in every morning, and they all wander around while I'm cleaning up. If I turn and walk toward them, then they retreat to another part of the yard, but not back into the dog house. Once again I was able to remain standing and bend over to give treats to Natasha, Nina and Nora, with Nevada remaining a few feet away watching. They love all the new toys that Sarah and Randy (Thanks guys!) brought them yesterday, and even managed to get the big ball rolled into the dog house. This morning I covered all the toys up with straw and they had a blast finding them and digging them out. Linda (Thank you!) brought more toys for them last night that I will give them today. Later this morning my plan is to do another training session with touching them. My goal is for Natasha, Nina and Nora to accept some touching while being fed treats. I would like to see Nevada taking treats from my hand again.