Underestimation

Yet again I underestimated the resiliency of dogs. The transfer of Natasha and Nora went as smoothly as it could possibly go. As usual all 4 puppies greeted us at the gate, excited to have visitors who they knew would have goodies for them. Emily and I both entered the pen, armed with treats, with Carol waiting on the outside. We spent a few seconds giving them all a few treats, then as quickly and calmly as possible, while I fed her, Emily picked up Natasha. She carried her out of the pen while Carol offered her some hamburger. Natasha wouldn't take treats but she was calm - no shaking, no snapping or struggling. She remained completely calm while Emily carried her toward the car, I gave her her first vaccination (yah!) and she never even flinched. We put her in the crate in the car and went back and repeated the entire process with Nora. It went just as smoothly, and Nora did take a few treats after she was picked up. As Emily and Carol were preparing to leave I opened the car door and offered Nora and Natasha some hamburger through the crate door. I fully expected them to be too scared, but amazingly both girls started gobbling up hamburger as fast as I could feed it to them. Wow. They are on their way to their new foster home as I write this. It was very difficult for me to see them go, I have gotten extremely attached to them. These girls have their little paws wrapped firmly around my heart.

After Natasha and Nora were on their way, I went out to clean up the pen and spend some time with Nina and Nevada. Once again, I was expecting a different reaction than the one I got. This was less than 15 minutes after we'd removed Natasha and Nora, and I figured the experience would be almost as stressful on the remaining two. Instead I was greeted at the gate with tails wagging, as if nothing had ever happened. They hung out with me while I cleaned up, and as soon as I started digging in my pockets they ran over to me because they knew it was "training" time. Nina was climbing up on me immediately while I pet her, and here is a photo of Nevada with her front feet up on my legs eating treats. She has never done this before.