Gotta Watch Out For Those Shovels.

Callie tends to startle pretty easily. As in, if someone other than Preston or I extends their hand out to her, or says, "Hi Puppy," or basically just breathes anywhere within a fifteen foot radius of her, she kind of freaks out. We (and our vet) have always attributed this to her (very likely) history of abuse before she came to BARK, where, by some miracle of wonderfulness, we found and adopted her.

As we've introduced her to more and more different people, places, and objects, she has gradually become more trusting; for example, she now knows that children won't eat her, that when the wind blows, she won't die, and when people breathe, it doesn't mean that they're going to hurt her. And when we turned on the fan the other day (before it got frigid again...WTF, spring??? Did I not complain ENOUGH about winter in this blog?), she did REALLY well for the first three seconds. She obviously still has a long way to go.

I was reminded of this this morning when Callie and I were on our walk. We were trotting merrily along past the apartment complex at the end of the street, when she stopped DEAD in her tracks. I quickly whirled around to see why the leash had tightened, only to see Callie, standing face to face with a shovel that a landscaper had left speared into the ground (so that it was standing straight up).

So I wanted to chuckle, but Callie looked so completely terrified, I just couldn't. Her tail was down, she was slowly backing up from the shovel, and there was this look of utter terror on her face. I called her and she bolted straight into my knees. I knelt down with her and whispered embarrassing things like "It's ok booboo, I love you, the shovel's not going to hurt you, you're the best dog in the world, are you the best dog in the world? I think you're the best dog in the world," etc. When she was breathing easier, we walked over to the shovel together (tail still down) so that she could sniff it, and realize that it, like the toddler down the hall (who also used to terrify her) was not in fact going to eat her.

Now she's curled up next to me on the couch, and looking very peaceful, and I'm realizing how much I'm going to miss her when I'm in Richmond for Project: Wedding (speaking of which, wedding rings arrived today! I'll post pictures soon!). It's only two and a half weeks without her, but still, that's a hella long time. And I'm *mildly* obsessed with her...there will be serious withdrawal.