Baby Steps

It's funny the things you take for granted like being able to put a collar on a dog.  And a leash.  And go for a simple walk around the neighborhood.  Tess had never had a collar on her when she came to me, the foster mom warned me of that, so I've been taking the past few days to get her used to it.  She scratched at it at first.  A lot.  I shifted to a slightly lighter weight collar with no tags that had come with Ruby and that was better.  Sorta.  Put her collar with the tags on today and she was scratching more again.  She'll get used to it and she's no longer pitching a fit when I put it on.

We also took her for her first 'walk' yesterday.  She still needs her last set of vaccinations so she can't go very far.  I live on a corner so we went from the back yard, around the corner to the front yard and I did a crap job of keeping her off the grass and in the street partly because of cars.  My neighborhood used to be considered rural so there are limited sidewalks but now the traffic and growth have not kept up with the infrastructure and it's a suburban neighborhood with rural amenities (or lack thereof).  Anyway.  She did great with some treats and Ruby leading the way.  This morning went even better and later we'll take her for a short drive and more short walkies somewhere else.

These photos are from Wednesday, she seems so much bigger today (Saturday).

Neighbor girl came over on Thursday and things went much better all the way around.  Tess took treats from her and was only a little wary.  Part of this is because we already had her outside in the yard after her little 'walk' and the girl came into the yard seamlessly with little fuss from Ruby so there was less emotion about it all as opposed to the day before when the girl came through the house first and this got Ruby barking and Tess upset.  But she has to get used to people in the house at some point.  A friend came over on Wednesday and she took a little while to warm up but relaxed eventually yet she was perfectly fine on Sunday when another friend came over.  She seems much braver now, will have to get more people over here.  It's only her first week of getting used to a new place so it's hard to know if she's wary in general or just unsure in a new home.

She's finally playing and exploring in the yard.  I've been working on various tricks and shaping exercises in the yard, she likes that and I think it's helped her be more comfortable out there.

Ruby has been great through all of this.  Such a good, patient girl.

Baby steps for the country as well.  We'll see what the future holds but with the implosion of Trump's 'Health Care Plan', which was really a tax grab for billionaires, I think we see the first chink in the armor.  If he sticks to his guns about ignoring the health care crisis it will certainly be the end of him because this is a huge problem, one of the biggest this country faces, and cannot be ignored.  Obamacare is something but it's not a long term solution and there needs to be some major reforms to the whole corrupt health care/insurance system or there will be serious civil unrest and social and financial instability.  Unfortunately the folks in charge seem unwilling and unable to take this problem seriously and come up with reasonable and effective solutions.  Because one thing is for sure, the system as it stands is unsustainable.