Carley (we call her Red) has come a long way since she first came into our household. Her journey has been slow, but this morning when she jumped on the bed to snuggle I realized that although the progress may not happen in leaps and bounds, she is enjoying life and really learning how to be a dog.

When she first arrived, she was afraid of everything, and now she has learned the sounds and activities of household living. She has learned not to just accept being petted but to seek out people to give her attention, talk with her, and give her the ear rubs that she loves.

Of course, there are still bumps—she is still frightened by Foster Dad occasionally and also unexpected noise or motion. But now she spends 90% of her day with us, only occasionally going to her safe spot for a nap.

She plays with our pack and is still the first one to run to the door when she hears the call for “Outside.” She runs with abandon in the backyard when the weather permits and loves to chase and be chased by her favorite dog friends. She is the first one to wake up in the morning, always excited by her breakfast and then moves quickly to her morning nap.

I think the best way to sum it up is that Red (Carley) is learning to learn and is learning to trust. When she first figured out how to jump on the bed, she was very rigid and couldn't relax, but then she learned to settle into the bed and enjoy the coziness.

And now it's even better—she jumps on the bed, snuggles in, and leans against me so I can give her the attention she's learned to love, not just tolerate.

Red has a lot more to learn and she's not going to be the right dog for every family. But a family with a quiet household and that has experience helping dogs like Red will find that they are rewarded with lots of tiny dog kisses and the joy that comes from watching a dog grow and learn to trust.

Little Miss Carley is really enjoying this cold weather -- she doesn't miss an opportunity to go outside and dashes out quickly to romp and run. The snow doesn't bother her, although she's much quicker to come inside now that the temperatures have dropped. She comes in each and every time now and she's much faster about it if you just turn your back to the door.  

Carley is still a bit frightened by foster dad -- his movements sometimes catch her by surprise and she still startles and runs to the safety of her bed. Even when she's playing with me or with the other dogs, she keeps a close eye on him.  

There are two things that Carley loves more than eating or playing, and that's being petted and being combed. She can stand still indefinitely for that kind of attention -- and I always accompany it with lots of praise and positive talk. 

It truly warms your heart to see the steps forward that she's taken, realizing that she still has a way to go before she can respond well to life in an active household with young children. Carley is going to need a family who can give her the calm attention she needs and who will coax her into trying new things. 

It's wonderful to watch her get ready to try something new -- she approaches the activity/task/toy very carefully, taking several steps forward and then turning away and then walking back again. She's a brave little girl who just needs time, patience and encouragement to be the dog she was meant to be. 

And, I have to tell the truth, we have been calling her 'Red' so often that she now responds to that name as often as she does to Carley. She learns all sorts of things, even things you didn't really intend!

I've included two pictures - the first is Carley (Red) watching me as I type this and the other is a picture of Carley (Red!) playing with some of our dogs after breakfast. She loves that time in the morning, it's her happy time each and every day!

This has been a great week for Carley -- she's enjoying herself, playing hard, napping hard, and best of all, really enjoying her people!

Here's what she's been up to:

Carley went to the vet to have her nails trimmed and she handled it very well - she went with a buddy dog and when it was her turn to go back for a nail trim she walked very confidently on her leash and gave the vet no problems at all. Carley was visibly relieved to get back to Foster Dad who was waiting for her and she eagerly went to the car. All good!

Carley now routinely comes back into the house each and every time without much to-do at all. If you've been following Carley, you know this is something she's struggled with and it's not an unusual issue for breeder dogs. 

This last week Carley turned the corner and she goes outside with a *lot* of enthusiasm and when it's time to come back in, she gladly follows her buddy dogs into the house. If her buddy dogs get inside too much ahead of Carley, we just send them back out to 'Go get Carley" and then everyone goes out and comes back in, typically with Carley in the middle of the pack. 

We've learned that Carley is most comfortable if we're not standing by the door, so we open the door, call for the dogs to come in, and then just walk into the kitchen, away from the door. 

100% of the time Carley comes inside without anything more difficult than an occasional re-try. We don't go outside and show her the leash anymore, that stage is behind us.

Carley is responding exceptionally well to a bit of doggie massage. We start by gently petting her and then move into a more deep massage which she totally loves. Somehow, I think this has really strengthened the bond between us and she now regularly comes to be petted and talked to. 

She still likes to eat in her dog bed away from the pack and she also likes quiet time in the evening - often going to bed early, around 8:00 pm. When it's really time to go to bed, we just call her with her favorite phrase "do you want to go outside?" and she wakes up and comes running.

Carley is almost ready for her own forever home. We would like to give her another week in this routine and then we'll update her status and hope to find an experienced family who can open their hearts to Carley as we have.  

She's the happiest alarm clock dog we've ever known! She still does the bouncy wake-up routine each morning, ready to go outside, have her breakfast and enjoy life.

It's been a while since we posted an update -- we went on vacation and Carley spent time in another RAGOM foster home for almost 3 weeks.  By all reports she was quiet and kept to herself.  She found a quiet spot in the bedroom and felt most comfortable in there, even encouraging the RAGOM temporary foster mom to feed her in bed.  Now that's a real vacation.

Carley did come back with a new experience and skill -- she's learned to walk up and down stairs.  Not with a lot of enthusiasm (yet), but she gets the job done.

She has also had more experience with cars and going for a ride, and we've learned that it's almost easy to take her someplace if you just take her dog buddy with her.

Carley is a small Golden but she will launch herself into the back of our SUV to follow her dog buddy - she does not want to be left behind.  That tells me the experience is good even if she's not totally relaxed about it.  Again, she does what she needs to and gets the job done.

Carley was very happy to get back to her routine with our dogs once we were all back together again.  I think she would have loved it if we would have fed her in the bedroom, but she's slowly getting back into her previous habits.

The one thing we're still struggling with is getting her back into the house after she's been outside to explore, sniff and take care of business.  She had been struggling a bit right before we left, did well at her temporary foster home, and then slipped back into this not-so-great habit when we returned.

We know she will work through this, as she's been successful before and I'm confident that she'll get past this.  With Carley there are always steps forward and some occasional steps backward!

She's a lovely girl and extremely gentle.  We'd like to think she missed us while we were away but I think really she missed running in the backyard more!

Carley has had an amazing week. In spite of being very unsure of her new surroundings, she has learned to:

• Eat from a dog dish standing up instead of curled up in a ball on the floor. She now stands up and eats when the rest of the dogs eat and does it in fine style. No more picky eating for Carley!
• Sleep on a dog bed. Her buddy Abbey showed her how the resident dogs do it, and she's decided that's a really good thing. She is now trying to figure out how to get up on the bed with her people. I give her a few more days to master it, as she's very determined!
• Walk back into the house without hesitation. Several weeks ago, Carley mastered going outside, darting or walking through the door to get outside with the rest of the dogs. Coming back in was a bit more difficult for her, and she would wait for you to go into another room before she would enter the house. This week she decided that she could enter the house with the rest of the dogs, no big deal. We're all pretty darn pleased with this!
• Wag her tail while being petted! She now responds to her name easily and approaches expecting that she'll be getting lots of pets and wags her tail during almost the entire event. She seems to luxuriate in the attention.

Next week I believe I'll be able to report that she's taking treats from my hand -- she's close this week, but not quite there. She will take a treat from my hand if my hand is on the floor. If I lift my hand off the floor, she's quite wary.  

Carley goes in to the vet to finish up her shots, and we're going to inquire about medication to help her be less anxious, just a bit, so she can continue gaining confidence. Please check in next week for an update!