Emma

If you are expecting an action-packed doggy story, you might consider skipping this one.  At around 3:00 on Friday only Emma had not yet had a volunteer walk, she is currently considered under socialized and her log sheet suggests that volunteers use lots of treats.  I could handle this; what could be so bad?  I confidently loaded up with treats and went off to meet Emma.  She offered a happy face and happy tail as I greeted her from the front of her kennel; so far so good.  I opened her back door  to get her harnessed; she was flattened against the front trying to disappear.  She is a big, beautiful black and tan, seven month,  Coon Hound puppy, way too big to hide under her blanket. Emma and her three brothers were found wandering on a road and brought in as strays; who knows what they have been through in their short lives.  After much coaxing, treats, etc; I gave up and went for help from the staff.  The staff person crawled in from one direction, I stayed in the other and the staff person got her harnessed.  Emma froze and would not budge more than a foot from her kennel.  After continued coaxing from both of us, the staff person suggested  that she carry her to a private adjacent staff hallway and we would just see where things went from there.  She also put a large comforter in the hall so that Emma had a place to hide.

Emma stood in the hall and trembled; I sat next to her talking and petting.  As the staff went about their normal duties, they all acknowledged her.  One staff person was very encouraged that she was brave enough to stand there and not hide in the comforter - socialization one step at a time.  After about 15 minutes, I asked a staff person to help me carry her just outside the door.  It is a fairly quiet grassy spot with a view of the exercise yard and used only by the staff.

I sat on the walkway, she lay next to me as close as possible, but soon her nose began telling her that there are lots of interesting things in the world. After just a few minutes she got brave enough to stand up and walk around sniffing, but only within a few feet of me.  At one point, the staff led two big dogs  fairly close to us. They were taking them into another yard and we were in their path.    Though they barked at Emma, she was not at all afraid; she actually walked toward them wagging; but the minute she realized what she was doing she turned around and quickly and  buried her head in my lap.  Another staff member came out to see how she was doing and was really impressed that Emma approached  her independently.  I was about to get another surprise when Emma spotted her brother, Mason in the exercise yard.  She stood up bravely and barked at him, her shoulder ruff standing straight up.  It's against  the rules for the dogs to be in contact with each other, so she could not go visit, but she was certainly not at all timid concerning her brother.  

Once the exercise yard was free, I thought I'd see if I could get Emma to walk toward it.  She picked up her brother's scent, bravely walked over to the yard and through the gate for some serious sniffing.  At last Emma was behaving like a real Coon Hound!   When it was time to return, we went through the Shelter's main door but unfortunately much of the shyness returned.   She had to be carried most of the way.  I still think she made a lot of progress today, though there is still work to be done.  I think she will make a very good pet for the owner who likes Coon Hounds since, unlike some of them, she seems very dependent on human comforting.  Hunting dogs are sometimes type cast as being too independent, this is definitely not the case with Emma.  If anything, she leans toward the "needy" side.