Buddy's second day-Sunday July 26,2009

Well, we survived the night. Everything was peaceful and quiet. In the morning, my husband took Buddy out for his walk. Since walking on a leash is a fairly new experience for him-it takes awhile. Unlike normal dogs-puppy mill dogs don't know what a leash is-nor grass-nor do they know how to sniff around for a place to go potty. Scooter has been going out with Buddy to help him adjust to his new found world in the backyard. It is a lenghty process-walking with a lightly held leash-frequent laying down by Buddy when a sound he doesn't recognize is heard(which is practically just about everything).

After he had done his business, we got dressed and went down to eat breakfast. First, though, we had to tackle the stairs. I laid down a trail of his "stinky" treats for him to follow and then sat on the steps waiting for him. We would get to the top and no farther. I kept laying down the trail of treats one step at a time until we had made it down all five steps. Then we went back up the stairs and did it all over again. By the fourth time-Success-all the way down with no treats! He is a really smart little guy.

We went to my studio so he could hang out under my easel or the desk-whereever is closest to me. We had a visit from our other son and his wife and we were back to square one by the time they left. It took about two hours for him to come out of his crate again.

Potty training is going well-no accidents in the house-yet. It still takes about a half hour to an hour to accomplish but it is well worth the wait.

Buddy has become my little shadow. If I get up to get something across the room-he is right behind me. Miko and he are getting along well. They have started sharing his crate. She goes in there and he follows and lays down with her. They take their naps together usually there or under my easel.

It has been so sad to see how much Buddy does not know about the world. He has spent his whole life in a small cage-never walking on grass, never being touched or petted, never getting treats. The pet rescue group said he was terribly matted when they first got him. He still needs some more hair taken off around his eyes but we will let Laura,our groomer, deal with that in a week or two.

Before you purchase that cute little puppy from a pet store-I hope that you will remember Buddy and not do it. If people would stop buying their pets from pet stores-there would be no puppy mills. Amazing!

Buddy is still pacing when any new situation confronts him. It usually takes about half an hour for him to settle back down in the quiet of my studio. Tomorrow we go to the vet-we'll keep you posted on that adventure. But for now, it has been a long day and we are going to sleep.