Molly

March 27, 2006

Every now and then something really nice happens. This week was a great one for all of us with the Second Chance program. Good weeks and adoptions like this provide all the motivation one could ever ask for. And, it provides the perfect answer to the question "Why do you do this?"

Sunday, March 27th little Molly came to us from the folks at the Calaveras Humane Society. It was clear that she had a pretty rough past. She was so scared and unsure, and it was very sad to see that fear was mostly of men.  She is four to five years old and a spayed female Boxer mix. She is current on all vaccinations and heartworm negative.

Her training started on Monday. We weren't sure how she would like this because she was facing a triple challenge. Her trainer is male, with a beard and wears a hat; what could be worse?!  But she showed that special resilience that dogs are often blessed with, and she made friends in only a few hours. The training was very simple and easy, consisting of walking nicely on the lead and learning to sit and hold that position. She had no problems with any of this, and came to really enjoy the long walks.

Tuesday started on a great note when Molly greeted her trainer with a happy wagging tail and standing eagerly at the gate in the front of the kennel. She couldn't wait to go! Quite a change from a scared little girl hiding behind her dog house. 

The first session started with a long walk, heeling and sit practice. She did very well and even made eye contact when praised for her good behavior. Then we tried something new and walked to the agility course. Hoping for the best, we introduced her to the low puppy plank walk. We were not going to push her, but the hope was that she would accept the walk and we could then use the equipment to build her confidence.  Well, she did not disappoint us! Since she had built trust during the heeling practice, she went right up and over the walk with just a small amount of trepidation and encouragement. Once more across and that was and that was all it took. From then on all the sessions started and ended with agility play time. The high plank walks and A frames were not problem for her!

The stars came into alignment when Margaret called the folks that were very interested in adopting Daisy. They talked about Daisy and how high energy and crazy she was. Then the conversation turned to the little Boxer mix girl we just got. They mentioned their previous dog was a Boxer.  Molly took a quick field trip down to Jackson Cleaners to meet the potential new family. That's when it all came together... our scared little girl seemed to know these were good folks and possibly could be her new family. She was on her very best behavior and laid down right at Becky's feet and just totally enjoyed the visit. That was it, within the week our frightened and unsure little girl was off to a wonderful new home and good people that will love and take of her. And that's all she ever wanted. Good luck Molly! And if you are ever in Jackson, stop by the Jackson Cleaners and maybe Molly will be there to peek around the counter and say Hi!

* Please excuse the quality of the pictures. She was in and out so fast, our tardy webmaster only had his cell phone camera to take them.