Pepper's progress

After our week's tour to Italy, we spent two and a half days with my parents and sister in McLean and also got to catch up with some friends (my godparents, Erin, Phi, Jordan, Anna, and Eric... sorry, no pics) in the D.C. area. It was a nice way to "transition" back to life in the states, as well as to rest up, although somehow I got sick with a cold. We had to leave our house in McLean today around 4 a.m. to get to the airport and after two 3-hour flights, a BART trip, and a 5 hour drive back to Arcata, we are home. We had missed and were so excited to see our puppy, who Elise took excellent care of while we were gone.

While we were gone, we had gotten a couple of updates on Pepper from Elise, who had been graciously watching her at our house in between juggling work and her classes. While we knew Pepper was is in good hands, we were a bit unsure how she'd handle our absence as, although she has gotten a lot better, she is still quite clingy and unsure of "strangers" (i.e. anyone other than us). Here are some snippets:

On Monday:
"Pepper and I are getting along well. Friday night, it took me about 20 minutes to get her to go out for a walk before bed but then she was fully cooperative. She slept by the front door that night in hopes for you and Tara’s return. Saturday she was very cooperative with allowing me to approach her. She only ate one treat paw and a treat stick all day and didn’t want to eat her food just laid in her bed downstairs most of Saturday. Sunday morning she scarfed down her food. She does the growl and run at night or in the middle of the day when I have been gone for more than 3 hours but it only takes me a few moments to get her and then we are on our way. She has been sleeping down stairs either on the couch or her bed. Today (Monday) and yesterday she went into your room during the day to nap, but besides that she stays down stairs. She stands next to me when I am filling her food bowl and then eats as soon as I sit the bowl down."

Pep, chillin' on the shoe rack (doesn't that look comfy?!)

On Friday: "Pepper is the cutest thing. On Wednesday morning she was standing in the hallway pacing between my room and yours doing a low growl with a slight bark that woke me up. I laid there trying to figure out what she was doing and listening for sounds that could have startled her. When I didn’t hear anything I got up and she was instantly jumping up and down and doing circles around me. I walked down stairs, she ran straight to her leash and we went out. Every morning this is her ritual with me now. She has become Velcro Vu with me. Excited to see me every time I come back from somewhere and Wednesday night she started sleeping in the room with me :).

I think she might be bored because today (Friday) and yesterday I come back at lunch and after work and she has someone’s flip flop or a dust pan, or some other weird thing she found somewhere to play with. She loves to do laps around the living room into the kitchen and also from bedroom to bedroom. "

We got a very excited welcome from Pepper when we returned today-- despite the long trip back, feeling pretty awful from my current URI, and not wanting to go back to work tomorrow, it was nice to come home to such a fun, warm bundle of fur. We are so thankful that Elise was able/willing to stay at our house and take care of our "baby." We are hopeful that, after this experience, she is more willing to trust other people (and maybe we'll even take her back to daycare!).