Meet Boo

Our new foster dog arrived yesterday afternoon. She's a 7 month old black lab cross (possibly a collie). She's quite small, just about an inch taller than Bryan. She was much too frightened to come to us on Wednesday and had shown some aggression. So they assessed her at Dog's Trust and found she was fine once she'd got to know them.

When Lou got her out of the car I ignored her. We walked the dogs together and Boo sniffed me a couple of times. She was quite bonded with Lou so we left for another walk as Lou left. When we got back, Boo was running up and down the stairs and in and out of the house - presumably looking for Lou.

She's bonded with me very quickly (I suppose because she's so young). She was very scared of Richard when she first saw him. She cowered and growled at him. But she soon came round after being fed pieces of cheese and cooked chicken on our walk.

When we got back she laid in front of the front door for maybe 20 minutes and had a little nap. We kept ignoring her and let her have her space. Then, she came to join us. She brought toys and played with Bryan. And she jumped all over Richard

Richard is on nights right now and when he came in this morning she was scared of him again (I was expecting this). When she growled at him, Richard just stood still and looked away from her. She's much better with him now, but is still very wary of him at times, especially when he stands up.

She has two burn marks (probably from a cigarette) - one right near her eye and a big one on her leg. She also has a scar on her leg which looks like a cut.

We're having a bit of a problem wanting to wrestle with Bryan all the time. She's never lived with a dog before so it's very exciting for her. And Bryan can be a bit of a grumpy git At first we were stopping them, but that seemed to make them more frenzied. So this afternoon when she started batting him with her paw, we just ignored them and they stopped (after some growling from Bryan).

I'm a bit concerned about this also because my nana is looking after them on Monday for a few hours. I don't want her to have to break any fights up (not that I think they would bite each other), so if Boo hasn't calmed down by then we'll have to keep the living room door shut and Bryan can stay upstairs. He's usually up there all evening anyway.

Boo is very good offlead - we went for an hour walk through the woods this afternoon and she was offlead for most of it. She doesn't go very far away from me. I'm aware though, that things might change once she gets more confident, so I'll have to be careful. I'm not going to introduce her to our morning crowd until her and Bryan are totally fine with one another. I think this was the mistake I made with Z.

I'm hoping she settles better tonight. She did a lot of wandering last night, but we got about 6 hours sleep. It's not so bad when Richard is on nights, but he's doing overtime tomorrow so needs his sleep!

Wish us luck!

P.S. Only one wee in the house so far (touch wood there'll be no more).

well done you again !!
she sounds like she has been in the wars a little - poor wee lamb

Bless her. So many big changes for her. She is a lucky girl to have ended up with you.

She sounds a sweetie. What a poor girl with the cig burns breaks my heart ;-(
Well done to you

good luck hun, im sure you will have her settled in no time at all x

Best of luck, not that you will need it

That poor little lady sounds like she needs some serious tlc and I know she's in the right place to get all she needs You are an angel. Thank goodness these poor babies have people like you to care for them

The hardest thing is 'telling her off' if she's doing something I don't want her to. Not that I actually tell her off, but even just saying 'No' is difficult because she's had such a bad life. But I know I can't let her get away with everything. So I'm just treating her the same as I treat Bryan. The cutest thing she's been doing is pinching Richard's flannel and bringing it downstairs to show us. Can't tell her off for that - even if I wanted to - cos I'm laughing too much