Update 12-2-07: Bella is now in her permanent foster home, during the past week she has made significant progress.   She is  walking with almost straight legs, her tail comes out  from under her and is no longer tucked all the time.    She will have eye contact with her foster mom.   Her foster Dad has been feeding her and she is now comfortable with him, she eats when you feed her and no longer waits a long time until no one is around.  The other Goldens in the foster home looked at her at first like "What is wrong with you"  but they now sense she needs special love and attention and try to be her friend, Bella does not have a clue yet but she watches them play.  Very tiny steps but steps.

 

Update:12/14/07    Bella is doing a little better, my young Golden has taken her under her wing and we feel this is helping her.   She is still very afraid of us put yesterday when I tried to offer her a treat which she did not take she did lick my hand she was laying in her crate which is her secure place.    Outside the circles are less and she will dart across the yard rather than follow the fence line.  She likes to spend time in the yard as she is comfortable there,  today I saw her coming into the patio enclosure, when she saw me looking she ran.    With all the rain and mud it has been difficult ,  but now she is a lot better with that and gives up quickly.  She will not go potty on leash so we let her loose.   One thing we are doing which we feel has made a big difference, she is on a supplement, Resources Anxiety and Stress, this is a Natural Supplement and she has been a lot better since taking it.   She is so beautiful when she looks at you and she is not stressed.

Update 1-5-08:  Bella continues to slowly improve. She much prefers to be outside then in the house. She does not circle as much in the yard, she will stop and sit, roll or look around and then start pacing again. This is a big improvement for her. She has also started to interact with other Goldens in her foster home while outside, she has tried to play a little.

In the house she is stressed, a foster buddy for Christmas gave her Canine Lullabies CD and this really works on Bella, while the CD plays she lays and relaxes in her space, it is amazing. She has also started to spend time laying in the dog bed while we watch TV in the evening, each evening she relaxes a little more.

07/01/08:  Bella has been making very slow improvement since the last update.  She is very comfortable outside, she tosses a ball around and tries to play with other dogs in her foster home but she just does not know how to do that.  Her circles have almost stopped.  She comes inside as long as the door is open and there are no humans in her path.

Inside progress is much slower. The family room, on her big pillow, is her comfort zone and this is where she lays.  She does not walk room to room and this is the next thing we hope she will conquer. If she is outside and wants to come in and we are sitting in the family room, she has just started to come in as long as we freeze.  Her progress is very slow and we do not push her as we are aware she could go backwards.

When Bella is outside playing she is so beautiful but she is so weary inside and often has that untrusting look on her face.  Her tail is no longer a whip but has great feathers and looks so good.  We give her treats.   She will not take from us but we lay on her pillow and we think she is eating them when we are not looking,  We do not think her Golden buddies are taking them from her which she would be fine with.