I was back at the boarding kennel today to straighten out an error on
the bill. (They hadn't charged us for the extra week we didn't plan to
leave her there.)


I got to talking to the vet tech who takes care of Cubbe when we're out
of town. It turns out they adore her. (They'd said that before, but I
figured they had financial motivations to lie.) She told me about the
Sunday when there was no one else in the office. She let Cubbe out of
her crate and gave her the run of the office. It turns out that Cubbe
put her head in every cubby hole she could find, kept running to the
surgery where the vet tech was doing some organizing, got a biscuit each
time she checked in, then flew off again, tail flying high, to explore.


At home I treat her with plain generic dog biscuits made of wheat and
additives. They tried her on some flavored organic biscuits there.
Cubbe refused them. They put a pile of them in the crate with her. She
kept looking at the biscuits, then looking at the staff with a confused
look on her face. "You don't expect me to EAT that, do you?"


They say she's not great with other dogs yet. We knew that. But they
also say that she's better. She's learning that the other dogs
don't/can't bother her at the kennel so she's not nervous with them.
They recognize her territoriality so they're careful not to change her
crate. For as long as she's there, she gets full possession of her
space. They also say she's good about not getting possessive.
Apparently they get dogs that bark or growl when people get near their
crate, and Cubbe never does that.


I'm hoping for the day when Cubbe will wag her tail for her buddies at
the kennel only a little less than the way she wags it for us.


--Lia