Stella is doing great with the kennel. She’s learning the word “bedtime”, and when I open the kennel door, she just goes right in on her own, after I take off her collar. She’s also doing great with the food exercises: She knows now that she must make eye contact with me to get the small handfuls I give her from the bowl, and she’s learning to give space instead of crowding me to be close to the bowl.

We did have an incident yesterday in which she tried to attack Glimmer. Glimmer came to see me and I offered both her and Stella a little treat. Glimmer accepted the food, but Stella started giving lip. I corrected her, but she did try to bite Glimmer, which resulted in the resumption of wearing the muzzle. Just to offer reassurance, Stella did not succeed at delivering the bite.

Over the course of the rest of the evening, I made a point of having Stella and Glimmer in the same rooms at the same time, and giving both of them affection. Stella seemed to be okay with that, but I kept a close eye on her body language just the same. She did not raise her lip or growl or practice any of the behaviors that led up to her trying to bite Glimmer.

Gui and Jenn had informed me that Stella can be “a little possessive” about food. Jenn said Stella is fine with her but she gets growly with other people, including Gui. However, when I asked if Stella has any trouble eating with other animals, they told me that as far as they knew, she was fine; that she had eaten with other animals while she was being fostered, and there had never been a problem. But, Stella does have a problem being around other animals when there is food involved. Now that I know that, I can begin the process of helping her change her behavior.

Overall, Stella is doing very well. She’s learning the rhythms and rules of the house, she’s being respectful of Glimmer’s and Violet’s space – and for the first time since she arrived, Stella approached my husband for affection. She was not muzzled, as we had just gotten up and I had taken her straight outside so she could do her business. Glimmer was on the bed beside him, and Stella greeted her first. Then, she went to my husband. He allowed her to rub her head on his lap but he did not attempt to touch her. Baby steps, baby steps…

Today, we begin the process of teaching Stella the correct way to behave around Glimmer and Violet when there is food involved. This exercise requires two people, so my husband will be helping me. Stay tuned for the results….

Stella had an excellent first day. She showed respect to Glimmer and Violet, she offered play to Glimmer, she accepted being kenneled when I had to lay down for a bit of a nap – she didn’t whine or cry or anything – and she did a wonderful job of accepting her food from my hand when it was time to eat her supper. She did react to my husband coming in the house – she barked, growled, and hackled – but to my great surprise, she only did this for about a minute before settling down and just being watchful.

Stella’s first night in the kennel was… awesome. She didn’t resist going into it, she didn’t whine or cry or try to chew at the gate, nothing. She just laid down and went to sleep. She slept peacefully all night.

Just as I did with her supper last night, I hand-fed Stella her breakfast this morning. Stella is very uncomfortable with human touch. She will accept it, but she does a lot of lip-licking and her body tenses up. Among other things it helps create and nurture, hand-feeding also helps build and nurture trust. And Stella desperately needs to be able to trust humans.

This morning, I am showing Stella trust by allowing her to be without the muzzle. I have to earn her trust, but she also has to earn mine, and giving her time off from her muzzle while keeping her on a relaxed, loose leash is proving to be very effective.

I am very happy to report that since her initial reactive behavior towards my husband, Stella has not repeated that reaction. She has growled a couple of times and she becomes tense and alert, but she has not barked at him or tried to lunge at him. He even stood in front of the kennel with his back to the gate while I was first getting up, and she did nothing. No barking, no whining, nothing. Instead, she watched, she remained calm, and when I opened the kennel door for her, she came out calmly and quietly and then she waited while I put her collar and leash on her. It was beautiful.

Based on what I’ve observed in her so far, Stella has a long way to go before she will fully trust humans. But, she wants to trust, she is trying, and she is doing her best. That’s all I can ask of her right now.