megatronix

Those dark black eyes of hers just about bowled me over from the instant I first saw her. But of course, that's how I felt about most of the dogs I've ever met in my life. This girl was no exception. Black lab, black eyes, a large girl, but still - just a baby, really. It was an easy decision to name her that: Baby.

She'd been through some rough stuff in her short life, I heard, though I didn't know the details. And now here she was in our shelter, scared, but still wanting to be playful, no idea who we were or whether we were safe.

We took turns walking her, as assigned. I loved when she was on my list for the day. Each of us got about 7 or 8 dogs on our list and we walked all of them four times a day, once or twice around the block. Then we came back, unleashed our dog, locked them in their kennel run, and leashed up the next dog. Over and over.

As I said, I loved having Baby on my list, but my goodness - she was kind of a nut! Those short walks didn't do much to dissipate her nervous energy, and often, as I exited her kennel, she jumped all over me, playfully but roughly mouthing my arms all over. I got some note worthy bruises from her crazed puppy play! I began wearing long sleeve shirts at first, then stopped, for fear that hiding it would only make people fear the worst about my new husband! So I openly wore the bruises from this nutty little friend of mine, and continued walking her every chance I got.

"She needs to learn to sit," our training consultant, Ian, told us. "She'll never get adopted jumping all over people like that."

He had a point.

That was the first project. It took a few weeks, but with our joint efforts, we got her to sit as we entered the kennel. Her butt waggled furiously as she tried valiantly to contain herself. It was hilarious and amazing watching her willing, persistent spirit.

Weeks passed. One day I walked into the kitchen, and Rachel had this look on her face, brows furrowed, arms folded against herself, shaking her head.

"What is it?" I asked.

She shook her head and sighed. "It's Baby. I tried taking her out to a park today, to give her a space to run. ...Dude. She is terrified. Absolutely terrified. I couldn't even get her IN the car."

"Oh no! Really?? Why?"

"Well it makes sense, considering..."

"Considering what?"

"How she got here in the first place. You didn't hear her story?"

"No, just that she came from a bad situation, I don't know more than that."

"Yeah she came in with her mom. The house they were at was awful. They were neglected. A neighbor saw them just outside and ignored all the time, so called Animal Control to investigate. They'd just moved without them and left them there! So Animal Control took them, brought them here. And when they went to take them out of the van, Baby's Mom lunged hard, and bit the guy. So... she was put down. So here's Baby; the only car ride she's ever had is when she was pulled from everything she ever knew, shoved into a van with her mom, then never saw her mom again. The whole thing must've been so scary for her, so no wonder.... But still...."

"How's she going to get adopted and go home, if she can't get in a car? Is that what you're wondering?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"We can work with her, though, right?" I asked.

"It's going to take a little while. Maybe a long while. You want to be part of her training program?"

"YES!"

"Okay... Let's see if we can teach this girl how to get in a damn car!"

"Okay!" I laughed.


Rachel and I were on Project Baby. It was just the two of us, and we compared notes and progress all the time.

After the first week, Rachel told me, "So! I can get her to walk in the middle of the sidewalk now! She had been only shoving herself against the wall opposite all the cars parked against the curb. But now - middle of the sidewalk! So that's something!"

"Ok!" I said, and set out with Baby, in between walking my other six assigned dogs. I had a pocket full of cheese and a mission. I started out, and got Baby to stay in the middle of the sidewalk, while I walked really close to the cars. I tried touching one, and she jumped and ran to the brick wall, smushing herself against it. "Oh, sweet girl, it's ok, it's ok," I said. Too far. Shit. I gave her cheese while petting her. I offered some more, just out of reach, and she came closer to my hand, back to the middle of the sidewalk, and I gave her more cheese.

For the next two weeks, Rachel and I walked Baby in the middle of the sidewalk. Two weeks after that, she learned to be comfortable walking on the right side of the sidewalk, right next to the rows of cars.

The NEXT week, I began touching cars with my fingertip intermittently, like I'd tried before, and she was ok! No jumping, no freaking out!!

The week after that, I began touching the handle of just my car. And I'd just tap the other cars. Baby needed less and less cheese in order to handle me doing that without getting nervous or trying to bolt away.

A few days later, I was able to open my own car's passenger door, without too much of a reaction from Baby. She watched me, I gave her cheese. I closed the door again, and gave her cheese. Then she just stood and watched me, like "what next?" She was really starting to understand that all she was getting was cheese, and that maybe, just maybe, she could be safe while we crazy humans touched cars and open their doors.

The next step was me sitting inside my own car on the passenger side. That took about another week, because as I tried to go sit in it, Baby pulled hard backwards and tried to run away as fast as possible. So I broke it down smaller. Me starting to put a foot in my car, then pull it out and give cheese. Then putting my whole leg in the car and giving her cheese, then leaving the car for the rest of the day. Rachel did it with her car, too, worked up to sitting in her car, then just sitting in the passenger seat of her own car, and giving Baby treats for sitting calmly on the sidewalk next to her.

And then the next week (week 6!), I sat in the passenger seat as usual. But THEN... I slid on over to the driver's seat. Baby's ears went back. "It's ok, Baby!" I said. "Good girl!" and tossed her some cheese onto the side walk. She gobbled it up. Then she looked at me, and I looked at her. Then I looked straight ahead and just sat calmly, and still. And she JUMPED INTO MY CAR NEXT TO ME!!!! It was nothing short of a miracle. I gave her a HANDFUL of cheese!! And all the praise. "YEESSSSS! Yes yes yes, YES! GOOD GIRL, Baby, oh my god, good girl, sweetheart!!" I pet her all over her head and she leaned over and licked me all over my face. I put my arm around her and just leaned my face into her neck and cried and laughed. "You got this, Baby girl. You're safe. See? So safe. You did it. Oh my god, I can't believe you did it. We did it!!" I breathed deeply, and said, "See, sweetheart? You just stick with it, and next thing you know, you're going places!"

Rachel and I both jumped for joy together and beamed so hard our faces hurt when I told her what had just happened.

When I came in on Monday, I walked through the kennel and saw Baby's run was empty. Just as the thought ran through my head that it was too early for someone to have already started walks, I saw an update to her profile sheet hanging on the front of her kennel. Only one small change. One word added. That word? ADOPTED.

"Oh my god, Baby got adopted??" I shouted out loud, as I ran to the kitchen/general gathering spot to find whichever coworkers were there that day.

"Yep!" Rachel called out.

"But, wait! I mean, we only just got her ok with cars, was she really ready to--"

Rachel, giddy and beaming, put her hand up. "By ME," she said.

"What? REALLY?" I said.

"Yep! By me!! I was SO excited she could finally be cleared to be adopted and go home, and then realized I just couldn't let her go home with anyone else. So... she came home with me!"

"That's WONDERFUL, congratulations!!" I said, and gave her a huge hug.



Multiple times a week, Rachel drove Baby to dog parks and a few times a month, they drove to the mountains for epic scenic hikes. One time, they even went on a road trip. And Baby had the time of her life!



===========





This has been an entry for The Real LJ Idol Prize Fight Writing Competition. Prompt: "It's hard to beat a person who never gives up"