Eye Contact--Eye Contact Is Good

Because of scheduling and weather, we haven't been to the park since the beginning of the week, but on a late morning walk, we encountered a group of people outside the neighborhood coffee shop. We stopped near them because Chance had moved into the grass to do her business, and the men and women standing near us proceeded to check out the two dogs and ask us questions about them. This doesn't seem very exciting, I know. But this was the first time that we've been able to stop near strangers and that those strangers have actually been able to talk to us and make eye contact with Mabel without her barking in fear. She tucked her tail for a little bit, but she didn't freak out. We wish progress in this area were coming faster, but hey, at least it's still happening--we can work with that!

P.S. A big thank you to the readers who came across this blog and sent sweet, supportive e-mails this past week about Mabel. Individual replies will come soon (after I meet a deadline in a few days), but in the meantime, thank you, from Mabel and from me. :)

The Young Pit Bull and the Going-on-Geriatric Corgi Lab

Moments such as this are part of why I hope so much that we will be able to still invite Mabel over now and then or visit her, with Chance in tow, once Mabel's permanent family has been found. She had one of her periodic excited "IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou!" episodes with alpha Chance late yesterday afternoon. After plopping herself directly in front of Chance and proceeding to lick all over Chance's mouth, face, and ears, she then followed Chance to her new location a few feet away, where Chance moved when she tired of the slobbery attention, in order to lie down directly against her.

Clearly, she is a ferocious, dog-aggressive maniac.

Mabel the Playful

Mabel coming when called, after an impressive sit-stay

In the last week, Mabel has been feeling better than ever evidently--she has been so playful! She's been affectionate from the beginning, and she's even been silly and mildly playful from the beginning, but not like she is now. Every day now, when she gets into the yard, all she wants to do is play bow, run with me, and bounce around--and "bounce" really is the perfect word. She looks like a giant oddly shaped rabbit darting around the yard. And apparently, she has some nocturnal tendencies too because no matter how active her day has been, for the last several nights, when we've let her out for that one last chance to relieve herself before bed, she's been just a giant ball of ecstatically happy, noisy (Ah-ROOOH!) energy. Forget end-of-the-day exhaustion; she's at her most energetic! She calms down quickly and easily as soon as I get her inside and to her bed, but the surge of excitement that comes out of her every night is something to behold.