Dottie & Dolly

Dottie & Dolly attended the Meet & Greet last Saturday, and boy was that an interesting experience. 

Dottie, who is normally quiet, got really excited with all the new dogs and people.  So she barked quite a bit more than normal.  Another interesting tidbit: she's normally not too bad of a shedder, but the stress of the situation seemed to have caused her to go into overdrive.  I don't remember her shedding a ton when I first brought her home with me, but just an FYI to her future adopters that the first couple weeks might be quiet hairy until she calms down.

Dolly was exactly the opposite.  She was very quiet the whole day (not unusual for her).  I could tell she was nervous though because she jumped up into my lap a few times, which she normally does not do. 

Neither of my girls had anyone come specifically to see them, but a few families did stop by just to say hi.  Both girls did great with everyone they met.  In fact, there was one younger boy who took both of them for walks (separately).  Except for one issue where Dolly was scared to jump over a bar, both did really well with him.  Dolly even let him pick her up to sit on his lap a few times.  Dottie chased a tennis ball for a little bit until all the other dogs became more interesting to her.

We also had our first significant snowfall this weekend!  Dolly was not at all excited about it.  The first time we went out (before I shoveled), she just sat by the door waiting for me to let her back in.  Now that I've shoveled the sidewalk for them, she'll go out.  But she does not venture more than 2 or 3 feet into the unshoveled yard.  She did follow me out into the yard once, but decided very quickly to get back to the safety of her sidewalk.  It's understandable...she's very small and gets cold quickly.  I think boots or a jacket would do wonders for her.  Dottie, on the other hand, does enjoy running around in the snow as long as someone is out there to play with her.  When I just let the dogs out for a quick potty break, she stays pretty close to the shoveled area too.

Dolly enjoying our newest Barkbox toy!

Not quite best friends, but they tolerate each other enough to chew on toys next to each other.

Dolly not really enjoying her first significant snowfall.

Dottie really getting into the snow!

These 2 definitely love each other.  Dottie is such a good big sister to Dolly.

Three butts as they eat their breakfast in their crates.

Dottie & Dolly

Just a quick post to update everyone on these 2 adorable girls.

In the last week, Dolly has started to transition from playing with all the toys to playing with the other dogs.  She's wrestled a bit with Dottie, and last night she and Bella were chasing each other around the house.  It's been so fun to watch Dolly come out of her shell.  She is still a bit toy possessive, but fortunately Dottie is patient and persistent, so I think Dottie is wearing Dolly down on that front.  Dolly is not yet potty trained, but I'm getting much better at spotting her signs, and Dolly is getting much better at going out when I open the door.  She doesn't have any accidents in her crate during the day or in the house at night.

Dottie is, as always, a sweetheart.  I don't have much new to add about her...we still play fetch for 30 minutes-an hour every day (lately Dolly has been joining us).  She still loves to cuddle and will occasionally jump into my lap (she's just slightly bigger than the ideal lap dog size that my rocking chair will allow, but we make it work).  She 100% knows the bells mean I will let her outside.  She doesn't abuse them, she usually only rings them when I say it's time to go outside and she beats me to the door.

All-in-all, I can't believe I still have either one of these girls!  Both are fantastic!

Dolly requesting tummy rubs!

Dottie with her best model pose!

Dottie is back!

Sort of a good news/bad news situation.  Miss Dottie is back with me after having been adopted shortly before Christmas.  Her adopters absolutely adored her, but unfortunately discovered that they had a previously unknown dog allergy, so were forced to bring her back.  They had nothing but good things to say about Dottie from their time with her and are hopeful that she will find another family who will love her the way they did.

It took about 5 seconds for Dottie to settle back in with me once she arrived.  She went straight to the toy box and brought me a tennis ball so we could play fetch.  This girl is always happy and bouncing along, so I know she'll make another family extremely happy.

A quick update on Dolly while we're here (yes, I have a Dolly and a Dottie...please help me!).  Dolly is finally coming out of her shell with me.  She still cowers a bit if I move too quickly toward her, but she's been coming up to me when I'm standing and walking around now.  We're still not quite housebroken, but are making significant improvements and I don't think it'll be long.  Dottie being back has actually helped this one...Dolly seems to follow Dottie around, and with Dottie being housebroken and going outside with no troubles, Dolly seems to be picking up on that.  Dolly has started playing with toys.  So far she doesn't seem to have a favorite type, she's just focusing on quantity.  At first, she would growl whenever Dottie would come close to a toy she had, but now Dolly seems to be warming up to Dottie, and they even played together for a short bit this morning.