One of our latest rescues to have made it to the UK, Mabel has finally reached her forever home.
The first few days are exhausting, with lots to get used to! Mabel’s little human is helping her keep a diary of her progress!
Day One
02:00
Mabel came at 2am today on the happy bus and was handed to us, paperwork and all. I stayed with her for the rest of the night on the sofa. She was really smelly because she had been in the transport for two days! As soon as she had eaten some boiled chicken and rice (it’s good for upset stomachs), she did a wee and then a poo a few minutes later.
07:50
I successfully got a few hours of sleep once everyone else went upstairs. Mabel did a bit of exploring but in the end, she went to her bed and stayed there for the rest of the night.
11:50
We fed Mabel around 8am and she hasn’t done a poo yet, but we don’t want to bring her into the garden yet because it is raining and for all she knows, we could be putting her back on the transport. To get to our garden, we have to go across a little alley so we will have to put her slip lead on, and we are still in training. She also likes her toys and whenever we bring one out, she will always take it back to her bed – like you can see in the picture! We tried working on a recall and she seems to be getting the hang of it, I guess.
Day Two
10:30
I didn’t get woken up that early, so I guess she is settling in a bit. When my brother came downstairs, he woke me up. I don’t think I am going to sleep on the sofa tonight. We fed her and she ate it up in a matter of minutes, she’s a very hungry dog! Then after we fed her, I taught her to sit. I am so proud 😀 What she does do though, is sometimes come to me like – if i sit then I will get a treat? I don’t give her one though because I didn’t ask her to!
13:15
We brought Mabel outside after she ate some lunch in the hope that she would do her business outside instead of on the floor inside. She doesn’t always go on the puppy pads, but we have located some spots where she does it regularly. We had to carry her across the alley because she was nervous of the noises. But once we got into the garden, she started sniffing around and then became very interested in the chickens. We called her to us a couple of times, I think she is getting the hang of that. Once we came back inside, we had lunch and Mabel started playing! Now this may not sound like much, but she didn’t know how to play [at first], so this was a great step! She was playing with her toys like nobody’s business and once we had lunch, we called her to us and played with her too!
16:45
We carried Mabel outside again in the hope that she would do her business. She didn’t… sad times. What she did do though was to sit in front of the chickens and look at them, so they started clucking loudly 😀 However once we went inside again, she did a wee and a poo. We were like… next time we will wait outside for much longer!
Day Three
10:40
I brought Mabel outside in the morning and she did her business right where she did it last night! We were very happy, these are the first steps towards getting her toilet trained. What we did was I took her out and then we gave her breakfast. She then slept for a bit and we took her out, but eventually we went back in. Next time we have to stay out until she does her business. She is now sleeping.
16:51
We went into the garden for like ages to see if she would do her business. She only did a wee though, but when she went, we praised her and gave her a very nice treat. However, when we came in, she did a poo and a wee. Oh well… small steps, small steps. Also she was very tired when we went inside, she went straight to bed and fell asleep.