Strudel: Sunday 1 Nov. Day 5 in care

[koalathebear]

Strudel is doing so well in foster care so far. Despite being in quarantine, we're doing our best to make sure she's still learning things and getting cuddles.

She likes playing with toys and cardboard


She has good prey/toy drive

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She is very curious and likes interacting with us


Her quarantine set up is for her protection and that of our dogs


She is bearing it with fortitude




Although would clearly like to be out of quarantine with everybody else




Fortunately, she's happy to play on her own and chill out


Although she does occasionally squeak in protest. She learned she knows how to bark yesterday (day 4).


She enjoyed her first Halloween


Strudel is very winsome - enjoying contact and cuddles


And we're making sure we give her lots of quarantine-safe cuddles - quarantine clothes and towels for us. F10 and bleach as required and no contact with our dogs until she's out.


She was wormed on Thursday morning, day 2 in care and expelled a large burden that day. None since then. She has been happy and bright, no signs of listlessness or vomiting. Poos are regular and while not firm yet, they are not runny. She is taken outside to toilet after every meal, as soon as she wakes up and fairly regularly through the day. Her house-training is going really well and I am pretty certain she understands that she is supposed to do all of her toileting outside.

Progress Table

Behaviour	Arrival into care Wed 28 Oct	Update: 1 Nov (Day 5 in care)
House-training	Too early	Strudel is doing really well with her house-training. No accidents overnight so far, touch wood - even though she slept in a larger cratelast night. During her first night, she woke us up 3 times night for toileting and was toileted twice - once was a false alarm. She woke us up 5.30 am on night 2, 3 times on night 3 and just once on night 4. For the last two days, after being toileted at around 5.30 am, she has been let out of her sleeping/housetraining crate and left to roam her pen so that we could sleep in. She has behaved well with no toileting accidents. She is toileting very well in her outdoor toileting area and seems to understand that she is supposed to toilet outside.
Doorway etiquette	Too early	Still too early
Car travel	Cried for a few minutes but generally quiet in the crate	In quarantine so no more car travel until she is finished quarantine
Mealtime manners	Too early	Is learning to sit for her food. She has a good appetite, but is easily distracted from her food so sometimes needs to be hand-fed the last part of the meal.
Basic focus work (Watch), sit and drop	Too early	Very good eye contract. Has a good natural sit and knows that she will be rewarded for a sit. Too soon for drop.
Go to your mat/crate/bed	Too early	Too early, but can be lured to her bed and create easily.
1-2 camera-friendly tricks	Too early	Too early
Assess friendliness/neutrality	A little timid. Seems friendly and curious about people and dogs	Very friendly and affectionate. Curious about the other dogs.
Assess other behaviours	Too early to say. A little timid. Cries a little when left alone but then settles. Seems to have an offswitch. Need to cross off as much as we can from the Socialisation Checklist.	She has done well around the washing machine, dryer, coffee machine, vacuum cleaner, loud thunder storms, loud rain, loud wind etc. During quarantine, she is learning her name and marker word 'yes'. She shows good prey drive and knows how to tug. She enjoys playing with toys. Although she whinges and cries a little bit when left alone, she settles quickly and is happy to chill out, sleep and play alone - no signs of separation anxiety at this stage. She definitely has an off switch and is very alert and smart. Has a very soft/gentle mouth when taking food - no grabbiness or roughness.

Optional:

Behaviour	Arrival into care 28 Oct	Update: 1 Nov (Day 5 in care)
Sit-Stay	Too early	Too early
Drop-stay	Too early	Too early
Recall	Too early	Too early
Loose leash walking	Too early	Too early
Slightly more complex trick	Too early	Too early

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