Roxy – days 6 & 7 in foster

Roxy has stunned me with her progress in such a short amount of time. she is really coming into her own now!

Day 6 – Before I went to bed Roxy and Tess were cuddled up together on the couch holding paws! it was the cutest thing ever –

When I went through to bed Coal was already lying in the small crate so i got him out and put Roxy in, but Coal followed her back in and they snuggled up with each other until roughly 5am when they both decided it was time to move into my bed, very sneakily! As the two of them were in the crate I hadn’t closed the door, this was a good amount of time that they stayed in the crate especially with the temptation of the open door.

The next morning after going into the garden by herself with the other two dogs, but without me and started playing.

After I managed to get them all back inside the house it was breakfast time, each meal Roxy is eating more of the biscuits. She then sat on the back of the couch watching the world go by

watching the world go by

Then it was back outside for a short walk then a play in the garden

My dad visited later in the afternoon, not to see me but to meet Roxy! lol We were in the garden when he arrived, playing. Once Tess and Coal saw him, they got all excited and started jumping p at the gate and Coal started his excited barking, which of course drew Roxy’s attention. Roxy ran towards the gate, jumped up then started walking backwards barking at my dad. She is very wary of men, even though my dad owns two dogs, so Roxy would have smelt them which usually endears dogs to you, but not Roxy! My dad eventually got in the gate but Roxy was still running up to him then backing off barking. She has only barked twice since she arrived and it is the cutest high pitched bark. She was still barking at my dad as we entered the house, even though my dad was talking calmly to her and holding out his hand for her to sniff. Once he had sat down she then felt confident enough to approach him to sniff his hand, then jumped up on his knee to get cuddles. She reverted a few times to barking at him and running to me but by the time he was leaving Roxy had came round to him.

We then went a walk and I took the long line lead with me for the first time so Roxy could have a little run with my two – wow can this girl run! Tess is very fast as she is so compact making her aero dynamic and beats even my friends youngest staffy to the ball, but I think Roxy blows Tess even for swiftness! She only ran a couple of times, chasing Coal, as Tess was too focused on her ball as usual, so it gave Coal some more interaction on the walk rather than him just chasing Tess about, when she’s running for the ball. Roxy has the sweetest way of running, she has a huge staffy smile on her face and her head bobs up and down! The only problem with her running is that she has no brakes and as she gets near you she jumps at you to catch her! She had me on my back a few times lol Her recall was excellent though it may just have been the sound of my voice that got her attention rather than recall training, but I’ll take it! I wish I had got a video of it but I was too stunned to think of it but I will get on soon! We passed two dogs on the way back but Roxy just looked at them, then looked at me, then Tess & Coal and continued walking. There was football training going on at the football pitch and the men were shouting which petrified Roxy and she gave the pitch a wide berth, walking at the opposite side of me, shaking and nervous peeing but as soon as we passed she was fine. We then passed a garden with barking dogs, Roxy didn’t like this either and sped up until we had passed the garden.

When we got home I put my dinner on and came through to the living room where Roxy initiated rough housing with Tess. I kept a close eye on them both, making sure both tails were wagging and that it didn’t get too boisterous. They were having a great time here’s a video of it –

At dinner time Roxy ate most of her biscuits! She did walk away from her bowl three times, to check that Coal & Tess were getting the same as her, then returned to her bowl and continued eating. On her third return I picked up her bowl and gave it a shake about then held it for her to eat which she ate one biscuit then walked around me and under my arm that was holding her bowl and started eating there so she was getting a cuddle whilst eating! She is just the sweetest wee angel! Then Tess came in and sniffed her bowl then pinched a biscuit, I thought this might of caused a problem but it didn’t and they both ate from the same bowl! At treat time, Roxy wasn’t as fussy as usual and just took every treat without sniffing it first. I eventually got a short video of her pig noises!

Later we had cuddles on the couch and Roxy licked Tess’s ear but Tess didn’t like this so gave a small growl. Roxy took the telling and left her ear alone, then cuddled into Tess and Tess gave Roxy’s head a lick then snuggled into her.

Then Roxy found her hyde chew from earlier as did Coal so they started chewing them, looked at each other and swapped treats, musical treats went on for a while.

At bedtime again Coal went into the small crate and cuddled up- with Roxy so again I left the crate door open for them, this time they both sneaked onto the bed at 7am, so lasted another 2 hours than the previous night.

Day 7 – 1 week here already, I can’t believe it has came in so fast but as the saying goes, time flies when your having fun and we have certainly had lots of fun this week!

First thing I let them out into the garden to toilet but couldn’t get them to come back inside as the sun was out so I put down the cool beds, got their outside toys out and gave them breakfast outside. After breakfast they all sunbathed – Roxy realised that the cool beds were for lying on instead of rag dolling them!

Whilst in the garden I noticed Roxy eating some of my seedlings, hopefully the leaves grow back! Here is the evidence –

They then started playing with the toys in the garden so this gave me a chance to continue with the lead hooks that were won in the Staffie Smiles Rescue Facebook auction and to start making some glow in the dark paracord collars, which Roxy kindly modelled for me

After Roxy’s modelling debut she decided to help me do the washing and had a nosy around the kitchen

Then after her chores were complete she headed into the living room to play with Coal & Tess. Once my chores had finished up came Roxy for a reassuring cuddle.

As Roxy was getting cuddles I noticed that her neck was red and had a small rash where the Adaptil collar sat, so I removed the collar as I think she has a wee allergy to it so back to the thunder shirt and I still have the Adaptil plug in diffuser on which hasn’t caused a problem. It might not be an allergy it might be just that she has very fine hair in that area that anything round her neck will rub and cause this reddening but whatever the cause, the removal of the Adaptil collar has solved the problem, that and the application of aloe vera.

I bought them 3 elevated dog bowls today which I am going to personalise with diamond initials and heart. Coal & Tess both have wooden raised bowl stands, Coals holds 2 bowls but when Tess arrived Coal didn’t like her eating from the same stand as him, so I got Tess a single bowl stand. Roxy was just eating with her bowl on the ground, which I don’t like as it is bad for their digestion as well as their joints and spine, plus the bowl moves around the floor whilst she’s eating from it. I looked into bowl stands online, but space is an issue in my small kitchen and they are a bit bulky to store when not in use. I then came across these elevated bowls by Dog It which are actually higher than the stands and take up far less room, so I invested in 3 black ones. I found the cheapest place for these was http://www.petplanet.co.uk and if you are on easy fundraising like me they donate 2.5% to your chosen cause (mine being Staffie Smiles Rescue) and if you spend over £39 you get free delivery. The bowls cost £13.49 here but elsewhere online they cost up to £22 + postage!

Just deliberating whether to get an F for foster or an R for Roxy for the third bowl, so bid on both! These diamond letters are made of metal, self adhesive and meant to be placed on cars but will look great against the black of the bowl and should last longer than a normal letter sticker.

Roxy is playing with the toys and the dogs more and more, which is so great to see her develop. She has done so well and progressed so far but we had a set back today. As it was sunny there was a plethora of screaming kids and barking dogs walking past my garden today that I think it scared Roxy as she point blank refused to go a walk today I got her ready 4 times throughout the day and she was all excited to get her harness on and trotted to the gate quiet the thing but the minute I opened the garden gate she dug her heels in and refused to move, no amount of coaxing or treats would get her across the gate threshold! One of the times I picked her up then put her down outside the gate but she just bolted back in. She was getting herself very stressed showing the usual stress signs of whale eyes, panting, shaking and nervous peeing. So she never got a walk today as didn’t want to force her and increase her anxiety, especially since she’s come so far, so fast. She did get enough exercise though with all the playing she did both in the garden and the house

Roxy ate all her dinner – biscuits and all! Same with her after dinner treats. Then her and Tess had some rough housing again,

then she got cuddles from John when he came

If you are interested in adopting Roxy or any other staffie in their care and live in Scotland, please fill out the online application form here –

http://www.staffiesmilesrescue.com

Please don’t forget that there are many other ways to help rescue dogs other than adoption, there is fostering, fundraising, donating, helping out by walking the dogs or simply by sharing posts on Facebook and Twitter.