Fortunately Lilly is a very patient girl who seems to understand Roman's need to take his time in welcoming her to our family.
Roman has his accepting moments and those where he takes himself away from interaction seeking the security of a closed crate or gated area.
We have begun to press him a bit when we settle in for an hour of TV watching before sleep. He is safely enclosed in his kennel; we allow Lilly to join us bedside. There is an initial space claiming reaction but Lilly patiently stands in the doorway until Roman regains balance. Then it is time for cookies and a mystery. At lights out Lilly goes back into and is gated in the office.
Yard time is turning out to be an excellent opportunity for advancing tolerance. There is plenty of room to move closer then away; to watch the other or ignore. Steve has been rather surprised at the lack of Steve resource guarding; neither dog chooses to cling to his leg as he walks around the yard doing cleanup. We consider this in itself huge progress.
"He will come around," I reassure Lilly. "I know you want to walk up and greet him; thank you for being such a sensitive sister. Roman has a lot of baggage to overcome...and I am sure you can relate to some of it."
No comments:
Post a Comment