Friday, April 13, 2012

Nursing Home Visit - A First

In our area we have a couple of nursing homes that allow us to bring our fur-babies in so the residences can get some snuggle time with them if they wish.  We had taken Amiee several times last year and she did awesome, even as shy as she is.  She just loves the attention and if you are willing to pet her she will sit for you for hours on end.  If you stop she takes her nose and nudges your hand up on to her again for more petting.

We are working on trying to socialize Bella and expose her to different surroundings and things.  So last night I dressed her in her best dress and we headed out to see how she did with her first nursing home visit.  Well we have to say that she was pretty overwhelmed by it all.  We would say she got a 5 out of 10.

When we arrived we walked in by ourselves and she was just walking getting some petting and we then met two Golden Retrievers who she did fine with.  But as we began walking the halls a little later a young German Shepard approached her and was just a little to happy to be her friend.  She didn't welcome his snoot in her face and snapped at him.  She then began to shake and do some low growl noises for everyone.  It is odd because Amiee is in her face all the time and they are always playing bitey face together, but I guess that is different when they are your fur-siblings.  She did snip at my parents young toy poodle the other night as well but I just thought she was to high strung for her and Bella associated her with a "rat" of some sort.  BOL  After her encounter with the Shepard she was pretty much "stand-offish" with all the other dogs after that.  We basically let all the other dogs move forward and we kept her at the back of the pack and let her sniff and just walk and hopefully get use to all the different things.  Her experience with inside things is very limited since she spent the first 2 years of her live outside with no socialization with other animals or people.

We believe she is just very nervous inside buildings with new surroundings and other doggies.  She did fine when we took her to local community sale last month, but that was all outside and she approached all dogs with no problems.  So definitely an inside thing that we will be working on.

Of course we were really hoping to see our friend Bunny the stunning Greyhound during our visit and introduce them to Bella.  Well they arrived a little late and by that time Bella was feeling the stress of it all and really didn't want to be introduce to Bunny, even though Bunny was very interested in meeting her I believe she could sense Bella was having a rough night and kept her distance.  We also got the honor of seeing Blueberry as well from Tales and Tails blog.  Of course Bunny and Blueberry had the most stunning collars on and Blueberry felt like silk.  Their Mom Peep was able to get Bella to warm up to her with her famous treats.  She actually snapped a few pictures of Bella so we look forward to seeing and hearing what she thought about Bella.

We have to say that all the people there with their fur-babies were so sweet and understanding of Bella.  They kept telling her how well she was doing and kept telling me not to worry about her snip that she did.  I think they could tell that her being snippy was sort of upsetting to me.  They provide great support for us and we will be taking her back next week to the other nursing home to see how she does.  We may take Amiee with us for some moral support for her and see if she does better with her fur-sibling with her.

Here are just a few pictures I snapped of her.

Bella preparing herself for her big night


Bunny face and Blueberry's butt 
 

Our good friend Bunny 

A few Goldens that are regulars 

Blueberry she had the most beautiful collar

Bella had enough 

We are hoping next week will be a little bit easier on her.

Sniffs,
Bella and HoundDogMom

24 comments:

  1. I have heard it can take time for the dogs to get used to it all. Baily is certified and went through training but we moved before we got to start

    Stop on by for a visit
    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com

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  2. Well, the first time in that kind of situation was just a little scary. Next time should be better.

    :o)

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  3. Oh I think the second time around will go more smooth! It's great that she tried and I love her dress!

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  4. I would have been shaking, too. New places, people, and dogs are scary. How exciting that you got to meet Bunny and Blueberry!

    Your pal, Pip

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  5. I once thought Gretchen (the JRT) would like to be a therapy dog, but we have to get past her relatively new, other dog terrors first. Hem.

    Bella looks pretty!

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    1. Well we have no formal training and Bella may have the same fears as Gretchen. She really hasn't been around lots of other dogs outside of her siblings. Plus she has some fears with being inside buildings. This girl loves to dress up she is so funny. HoundDogMom

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  6. Way to go Bella. We can imagine that next visit you are going wag some tail. You did a great job. Mamas have been looking to getting me into going to some places and spreading my love around. Hopefully I'll be posting my first visit. :) Have a great weekend my friends.

    ~Charlie, the cute weiner from Weinerful Gang~

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  7. she will get used to it each time she goes! she sure looked very cute though!!!

    wags
    Jazzi

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  8. What a great thing to do! Mom really hopes one day to be able to take us on some visits too. We bet that Bella will do much better with each visit you do. How nice that you got to meet Blueberry and Bunny too - we love those pups. Wish we could meet all of you like that too.

    Woos - Phantom, Thunder, Ciara, and Lightning

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  9. Bella, I thought you did fabulously at the nursing home! You looked so beautiful in your new dress, too. We all had to start someplace, and I wasn't great when I first started, either. Of course, it doesn't help that Treat was the best therapy dog ever and Blueberry is so very good at it. It didn't make me look so good by comparison. Still, I learned the ropes and you will, too! Everybody loved meeting you and Mom kept talking about how adorable you are. Your pictures are on our Saturday blog post, too! ;)

    Bunny

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  10. Oh, I think Bella did very well for her first visit! I t does sound like an inside thing and I'm sure she will adjust in time. She looked quite gorgeous in her dress too! How nice to me Blueberry and Bunny!

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  11. I've just came ober from Tales and Tails, a read a bit of your blog. Considering where Bella comes from, she is doing pretty well.
    And she is just fabulous in her dress.

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  12. Great work, Bella!
    Licks and sniffs,
    Zack, Sassy, and Buddy

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  13. Bella, don't get down on yourself. You're really stretching your horizons and it takes some time to adapt to new things. You'll be a pro in no time!

    Nubbin wiggles,
    Oskar

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  14. Woof! Woof! LOVE the outfit. Definitely she'll adjust. Great Job! Can't wait to hear more. Lots of Golden ALOHA n Woofs, Sugar

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  15. Awesome! I'm sure Bella will get better with practice. I was going to have my dog Sephi train as a therapy dog, but she is standoffish and I decided that she just wasn't enjoying it as much as I was. I thought about training my Labrador Maya for it too but after almost 5 years I am still having trouble with her walking on a leash. We still have a lot of work to do before I can curb her of her tendancy to get over-excited.

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    1. Dawn, we make get to that same point. I hope she becomes to enjoy it as much as I do. She is really good with the people, but anything that doesn't look like her (basset) she sorta becomes a chicken butt. HoundDogMom

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  16. I hope that Bella gets the hang of it. Nursing home visits are so important for the residents.

    Mango Momma

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  17. OMD, how exciting! Sounds like it was a fun first trip :)
    Hope you're able to do it again sometime!

    -Brandon

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  18. A girl has right to put obnoxious boys in their place. When I took Beau for his Golden Retriever CCA (assessment to breed standard) and it came to the temperament part, they put my boy with another boy and a girl (all goldens) and we were told it was perfectly acceptable and appropriate for the girl to warn the boys away if they were rude! It wouldn't be held against her all. :)

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    1. Thanks for the information. We have never done formal training so we just wing it. Everyone did say that all the girls have put him in his place so I guess she was just following suite. HoundDogMom

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  19. Sherri I think she did great from where Bella came from and what she has been through in her life. The main focus is that she isnt snippy with people so you really are so lucky there! I mean does she have to play with the other dogs and greet them? When Fred and I were going through pet therapy we actually had to not allow any of our dogs to greet in class because in the hospital/retirement homes we dont want them ditracted and focused on other dogs we wanted them focused on the patients so if we stayed away from each other in the class the dogs learned to leave other dogs alone and just look at them from the distant. I understand the need to socialize her more but im sure that will come with time :) OMG she is so cute in that dress, I just love that face xoxoxoxxo

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    1. Kari, thanks for all the tips. Since our group does not require her to be certified she has had no training. I shouldn't be so hard on her (more like myself). We are going to do more meet and greet outside before we go in this time. Maybe that will help, because she is a different dog when she is outside vs. inside. Everyone from the group was so wonderful with her. We go for round 2 this Thursday night, maybe it was her dress. She had one lady tell her that she did not like that zebra dog. BOL Sherri

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