Days 10-12

Days 10-12, have been pretty similar in action. Nothing dramatic has happened, but we've still made some good progress. 
I've started letting her into the front room for the majority of the day, with her pen open. She scratches to come into the living room and lay on the couch, because I think she thinks the couch is a safe spot. 

Day 11, I put the baby gate up in my french doors, so she could get some nice clear sounds of my house. I did my normal things, ran lots of laundry (the spin cycle is scary), vacuumed the living room (also scary), listened to some music, watched kids movies and dealt with a toddler! Needless to say, my house is FAR from quiet. She did REALLY well. She laid in the dog bed in the front room, laid in her little spot between the fish tank and shoe basket. 
Periodically, she did get up and cruise around the front room. She came to the gate several times and looked into the living room. She even let my son touch her!
She comes right up to you when you sit down in the floor with her, I ate a snack with her, she likes organic cheese. LOL

Day 12, I couldn't put the gate up between the doors as long, because Stanley is back from the vet and fully recovered from his neuter. *Insert eye-roll here* Hes a little aggressive with my other cats, and I have to let him heal properly and his hormones need to die down before he can be fully integrated into my house. So the gate was up for a few hours, but he got too interested in the main house so I had to shut the door again.
I had another thought though, since I couldn't have the gate up, I just let her into the house! While my son was napping, I let her in and she laid on the couch for a few hours till he got up. I laid with her for about 30 minutes and she seemed pretty comfortable! Once he got up, I put her back in the front room because I wasn't sure how they would do.
Shes back in the living room now though, since hes in bed and shes under a blanket on the couch.

Somethings I've been doing with Annie:
Letting her outside with Woody and I when we go out. Since I can't open the front door when shes loose in the front room. Rather than going out the back door, I put the slip leash on her and we go right outside. Woody comes with us, he gets to explore in the front yard too, and Annie gets to walk around a bit. I usually stay out for about 5-10 minutes. She does pretty well on a leash, considering there are usually about two points during the walk that she tries to get away from me and run. But after she realizes that she can't get away from me, she calms down and walks with me.
Also, she knows that the house is the safe place. She will walk right out the front gate with me and right to the front door like shes lived here forever. Its really nice to see her look excited to come back into the house!

Since we finished the first chicken, I haven't gotten another one. I know that she'll take food from me, we've moved passed that I think. As long as she'll eat it, she'll take it from me. And I really need her to eat normal dog food.
I stopped feeding her canned dog food too. She wasn't eating it. So I would feed her in the morning and either it would sit there all day or Stanley would eat it and it was ruining his tummy. Or I would put it down at night and it would sit there all night and be dry and no good in the morning. So no more can food.
She has started eating her dry dog food though, which is what I was hoping for. I know that shes not super excited about it, but she needs to eat it. She'll get used to eating it and be okay, but I think my continuing to feed her people food was hindering her eating progress.
I was thinking about different ways to get her to eat more dry food, I was thinking a little bit of olive oil on her food, maybe some salmon oil, some sweet potato? We tried a sweet potato today and that was a no go. I'll try some of the other things though. At least with the olive oil and the salmon oil, her fur will be soft and shiny and her skin won't be dry! And with those things being put on top of the food, I can wean her off them as she learns to eat more food, if I decide to use them.


So there are a few things that I need to do with her. 
1. Get her a pen. I've been looking at them for the last few days, and I just need to find the right price. There are a few that have caught my eye, but I need to comparison shop.

2. Get like 50 more tennis balls. For her new pen! Duh! The ball is the toy she wants to play with, but its hard when you're on a leash and can't be trusted to be on a retractable leash! So once she gets a new pen, I'll be able to give her a ton of balls. Plus, Woody popped the ball I just got, he also likes balls!

3. Get her a properly fitting collar. She has a collar, but she suffers from puffy fur small neck, so its hard to fit one to her correctly. She just needs a smaller size. That way I can stop using the slip leash so much and use her collar and the harness while walking.

4. Find the right treat for her. She doesn't like milkbones, so I need to find something that she likes. I want to get her something a little healthier than Beggin Strips or those other funky treats, so I'm going to check out the Animal Supply in York and see if they have anything chewy-yet-healthy. And then maybe we can work on training and treat giving with the treats she likes! (Woody is picky too, so if anyone would like 400 milkbones, I have them!)

5. Tether her to me and/or Woody. I read something when I first got her home, about a lady who had a puppy mill Aussie and she wound up tethering the dog to her for whole days at a time. She would do her desk work with the dog attached to her, walk around her house, clean up, walk outside with the dog. So the dog could get used to her constant company. I think, its a great concept. Annie is good around us, but is still scared of some of our movements. I think, if she spent some time tied to me, she would get used to my movements a little bit better and I think it would help her to be in constant contact with a person.
Tethering her too Woody would be a little different. She really, really, likes to be under his feet when they're outside and I think she seeks shelter in him. My thoughts are, inside, he follows me around like a shadow, lays on me on the couch, will sit in my chair with me at the desk, (is right behind me right now). If Annie was tethered to Woody, she would go wherever he went and maybe she would get used to being around both of us together and get to know my house with her Shelter.
As for the tethering, I would have to do it while my son was gone for the day or over night. Hes too much for her, he means well but hes almost 3 and y'all know how that is! Hes always over excited about her. But, he does tell her shes a good girl and asks if she wants to "go for walks with mommy." I thought that was really nice.

Tomorrow, Saturday, she will be getting her first bath. I don't know why I've put it off this long? I guess trying to let her get used to us as much as possible, before we take those 10 steps backwards in trust. Hopefully, she'll do well and it will make her feel better and it won't be as traumatic as I think it will be!

Those are my ideas and plans. If anyone has any input, especially on next steps, the tethering, or the food, I am all ears!
Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has a great weekend!