Ping is my first “rescue.” I committed to the adoption sight unseen and she traveled to Newington, Connecticut, all the way from Corpus Christi, Texas. I trusted the organization and the foster-mom. What the heck. I really wanted—I needed—what my friend Gary calls a “canine companion.” Introductions could wait.
When she arrived on Friday, August 23, 2024, we had a two-hour ride to Boston in the middle of the night. I think she slept most of the way. I ended up snoozing most of the weekend because I am just not the kind of person who stays up late or embarks on journeys in the wee hours of the morning.
Getting to Know You
four weeks in
“Getting to know you” is a song from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.
Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.
She would like me, wouldn’t she? She would like the toys I bought her, and taking walks with me, and snuggling with me? I hoped so. I really needed to be liked.
On September 14, we started Doggy School, Foundations I with Coach Leah. Well that turned out to be a huge amount of fun and we were even stars in our own way. Ping had intense and unwavering eye-contact. That was the first skill. She walked on loose leash like a champ. I didn’t even have to teach her that. Sit? Easy-peasy.
On November 3 she turned two years old. I couldn’t help but wonder what happened in that eighteen months or so before she found her way into the foster’s care.
The 3-3-3 Rule
the window seat
Getting to know you,
Putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely
My cup of tea!
There’s a “3-3-3 rule” for adopting a rescue dog: three days of decompression, three weeks of settling in, and three months of creating a bond of trust. We decompressed in bed for about two of those three days because I was exhausted from the drive. Settling in was pretty easy. Doggy School—both Foundations I and II, then Agility for Fun I—took us right through the first three or four months.
Suddenly there were signs that she had gotten comfy, decided that my home was hers. Where before, she’d follow me everywhere around the apartment, to the bathroom, wait anxiously while I went downstairs to get the mail, worried, perhaps, that I was going to go away, now she was prepared to command my attention. I write. I spend a few hours daily at my desk, tapping away, looking at flickering lights on the screen. Well, if I’m focused on the screen, I’m clearly not focused on her ladyship. And there was only so often she wanted to go fetch Hedgehog and fling him about.
There was a sound. Was she growling at me? I mean, barking me into better behavior? When did she decide she was in charge?
I’m OK if You do What I Say
harborside
Getting to know you,
Getting to feel free and easy.
When I am with you,
Getting to know what to say.
Confidence. Pet parents at Brophy Park at the corner noticed that she was noticeably more confident. She wasn’t fearful of the other dogs or jumping at the sound of airbrakes on the MBTA busses.
Ping is certainly making “free and easy” with Mark, Twiggy’s dad. Mark carries a baggie of superior-quality beef jerky treats. In fact they are prescription treats because Twiggy’s kidneys are delicate. Now I am feeling guilty because Ping will run from one side of the park to the other if she sees him coming—or failing that, drag me from one side of the park to the other if she sees him coming–and those treats are pricey.
And that loose-leash walking at which she excelled in Foundations 1? She now drags me down the block. In fact, we had to go back, review the instructions for loose-leash walking and start learning it from scratch. She’s better. Not as good as she was when she first got to Boston, but better.
The Princess
office pillow
Haven’t you noticed?
Suddenly I’m bright and breezy
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I’m learning about you
Day by day.
I learned a new thing today, though. Ping likes great, big piles of pillows. She needs heaps of squishiness beneath her the way that the Hans Christian Anderson’s Princess needed all those mattresses and all those featherbeds to protect her from the pea on her bedframe. I bought a Muddy Mat to keep in my office and carry around when we travel. She didn’t seem overly impressed. This afternoon I put a pillow from my bed on it.
That was considerably more appealing. She knocked off the huffing and gruffing and pawing for attention, and has slept most of the afternoon.
Hope it lasts. I actually have work to do.