Le-Le has been part of our family for 7 months now and we are having a wonderful time. Each day brings her more out of her shell. She comes to life at dinner time, and right before bed. So funny that she wants to play with her toys then, runs between the bed and other rooms. She steals a sock, a dish towel, napkin out of the laundry basket and runs outside if the door is open, another room or under a sofa to have a quick chew. She notices the leaves falling & tries to catch them. She is so sweet and calm. Waits in the truck for us while we work on location, sleeps by my side when we work on our computers, up for a walk whenever we are. She does not bark yet and is still so scared of strangers though she is better with loud noises except thunder or fireworks.

She and I go to a 'basic buddy dog obedience' class on Sat morning. We get up really early Sat. am drive up river to Raspberry Ridge Farm where Fran greets us and there is only one other dog in class, a young Australian Shepherd who is doing agility training. Le-Le is there to get socialized, build her confidence and to train me to be a better leader. I am learning that I must carry really good treats for Le-Le that means meat, chicken has worked well. The smelly bacon or other dog treats don't cut it when her stress gets up there. Sometimes cheese works but really meat is it. Fran spends time working on 'stuffing' Le-Le to get her to come near the 'scary' strangers. Le-Le makes good eye contact with me, my husband and sometimes with strangers. We are not worrying about the basic commands yet. I am to try and 'mark' them such as when she sits I say 'sit' or when she lies down I say 'down'. this should help mark words. I am to say 'good' when she does things we like and ignore the bad or walk away. The only bad thing she does is try and hid from strangers or shy away. I never say anything to her when she does this now. I also try to not let her hid behind me, side step away from her. When she makes eye contact to a stranger I mark it as 'good'. The most important things is to get her more at ease with the big world. Baby steps and time is helping.

Both my husband and I look at her and think how lucky we are to have her in our life.