Martha's Arrival

Martha is home home after quite the excursion yesterday!
We (me and my friend Nikki) drove to Portsmouth and met my last fosters Mimi & Coppers adopters and said goodbye.

We were then off to Hudson NH to meet up with the transport to get Martha, and also two Boston terriers, Polly and Shurlock, for two other volunteers in Augusta ME. We got all three in the car without any drama, the two boston's in crates and Martha on the backseat, but not until Martha had pooped on Nikki, poor thing was scared stiff!

Martha laid quietly on the back seat the whole way home, she literally didn't move a muscle!
We met up with the other volunteers in Portland and dropped off Shurlock and Polly (read more about Polly on her blog.
Wee got home and I literally had to carry Martha out of the car and into the house, she was rigid as a board, she was so scared... :(
Once in the house I introduced her to my alpha female pug mix Bela, and you could see every muscle in her body relaxing at the sight if another dog! She perked up, and started following Bela around. And she had the same reaction to our other two, it's clear that the precense of other dogs are gonna be a huge help in her rehabilitation!



I tried taking her for a brief walk with Bela, but it was a no go. I knew it was a shot in the dark but was hoping that Bela would encourage her to walk. She took a few tentative steps into the flowerbed in front of our house, then sat down as far back as she could in a corner by the stairs, hiding and refusing to move. It was the sadest thing I've ever seen! She is just so terrified...

She will let me pick her up, if necessary, but she goes stiff as a board. Anytime I walk near her she runs away and hides, so for now I'm competely ignoring her. I want her to get comfortable and feel like nothing is expected of her besides just being a dog. She has known nothing but cruelty at the hands of people and it will take time to change that...

She found one of the crates and stayed there for 5 hours. I was starting to doubt my techniques about ignoring her, but sure enough, all of a sudden I hear her tiptoeing into the living room! She looked around, sniffed the other dogs and went back inthe crate. If even for just a minute, it's progress!

Bela has been barking and beckoning for her to come out and play, she even went into the crate and nudged the blankets in front of her! If anyone will get Martha out of her shell, it'll be the dogs... ;)

Poor Martha was too scared to eat, but that too will change soon enough. She needs to relax first and make herself at home. She is not gonna starve herself and will eat when she's hungry, especially seeing the other dogs eat...

I feel like she has surrendered to the horrors at the puppymill and needs to be completely reprogrammed. She has forgotten how to be a dog... She needs time, patience and reassurance that not all humans are evil...

But I am very excited to work with her and help her come out of her shell! She is just the most adorable thing and I'm completely convinced that in time she will blossom into the most amazing little schnauzer ever! Just wait and see... ;)