Shylie (Katie)

I went to an adoption event to check out the possibility of adopting a dog - I have an 11 1/2 year old rottweiler and was playing with the idea of adopting another dog, but didn't know how Nikita would take to that idea. We saw Katie in a crate all by her self and Nikita seemed to like her right away. I spoke to one of the DPS reps and we talked about fostering Katie as she was really timid and Nikita could definitely teach her some confidence. Turned out that Katie was timid because she was deaf. I decided to take on the challenge to adopt her and teach her sign language. Katie and Nikita get along really well. I've renamed Katie so she is now Shylie. The girls play togher, eat together and sleep together. Shylie is not so timid and her tail is no longer stuck between her legs. Last week, I was happy to see her dreaming (her legs were twitching like she was running) and her tail was wagging super fast. Training has been pretty easy as Shylie will do whatever Nikita
does. I've also had to make up some of my own sign language - Shylie tends to cower if I raise my arms - I think she may have been abused and expects me to hit her if my arms are outstretched. So now, I will live my left leg and she sits (!). Not exactly what I had in mind, by she gets it and it works.

Here's picture of Nikita and Shylie napping on the couch - not the best picture as it was taken on my cell phone - I will try to go to another adoption event with the girls. Thank you DPS for brining Shylie into my life and for giving Nikita another chance at being a puppy.