Her biggest improvements have come since introducing her to my dog, Fred. The two of them are best buddies and she is willing to follow him anywhere he goes…. Even cuddle with him on the couch. My other foster dog, Tally, seems to be jealous of this connection, as she now plays with her too.

Spirit has learned the sound of the basement door and she knows that as soon as it opens, everyone runs down the stairs and outside. She goes right along with them. They all wrestle and have a great time in the yard. She looks more like a “normal dog” when she is outside with them than any other time. When they are finished, she follows them right back inside. She is also learning the word “kennel” and is very content to go into hers when we leave the house. It is where she feels safest.

The other day, she stunned me by playing with a plastic bottle. That prompted me to bring an armful of toys upstairs. I spread them out on the floor and she slowly checked out each one, grabbing it in her mouth and tossing it back and forth while egging on the other dogs and trying to get them to play with her. Every day, I have been introducing her to new toys and she will now chase a ball across the floor when I throw it. She then carries it in her teeth to where she wants it to be. When she is finished playing, she gathers up all of the toys and stores them in her kennel. (This sort of “hoarding” is something I have seen in other dogs that had to defend for themselves in the wild. I assume it is a self-preservation technique.)

The fear in Spirit’s eyes seems to be less every day. She still gets uncomfortable when I approach her. However, she will run up to me and “bump” her nose into my leg as I walk across the floor. I have yet to figure out what that is about. We moved an extra kennel into our bedroom and she sleeps there now. This is forcing her to let her guard down around us. For the first time ever, she fell asleep while I was holding her last night. I am hoping this means she is learning to trust.

We switched her to a higher quality food and her fur is looking much better. She also went to the vet last week and got her first shots. The Vet estimated Spirit to be 20-24 weeks of age (about what I figured). That means she is going to need to be spayed shortly. Therefore, I am now trying to find a program that will help me with her. The Vet immediately noticed the huge scar on her belly. There are two distinct lines that run across the underside of her stomach. They were completely healed when she came to me. However, there is a chance that she may have internal damage from whatever caused those.

I am still not sure what our future looks like. But, I feel like she is working so hard that she deserves more time… and I am willing to give her that.

UPDATE ON LITTERMATES:

As you may recall, Spirit had two littermates in the wild with her.

Leroy, her brother, is not doing very well. He is definitely the Alpha dog and seems to be the most stubborn of the group. I believe he is the one that I almost hit and started this whole thing. Unfortunately, there may be little we can do for him. However, his foster parents are still holding out hope.

Maggie, Spirit’s sister, is doing very well. She was the tiniest of the group and also let me get the closest to her in the wild. She was so emaciated when we found her, that I really doubt she would have survived the cold spell that came the day after she was caught. The other day, she bolted out the door of her foster home. Her foster mom’s heart dropped, thinking she would never get her back. (Remember how hard these guys were to catch in the first place?) She called out her name, Maggie stopped, looked at her and ran to back to the front door and cried to be let back in. It appears that she is much happier being waited on hand-and-paw… rather than out in the cold!