Good news about R

Good news today - R's test for leukemia/lymphoma came back as normal. We're relieved about that, but there is still the issue of figuring out why his blood cells have been increasingly abnormal over the past 6 months. We'll be consulting some more experts, without a doubt. But, for today, we're relieved.

Here R is sitting next to his sister during an evening hike. Several of you have asked if Shyla is "petite", and indeed she is. She recently gained about 6 lbs of muscle but she still is a very small Labrador. I love her size (48 lbs).

We took last week off from socialization training in town while Shyla recovered from her spay surgery. Now, the only remaining sign of her surgery is her shaved patch.

So, we restarted Shyla's socialization training in town on Saturday and again today. Unfortunately, it has not gone as well as I hoped. Her sensitivity to loud sounds seems amped up, and her fearful reactions to strange people and objects seems to have become more extreme again.

Today, we spent an hour with our awesome trainer in town, and she agreed that Shyla has slid substantially backward compared to a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit discouraged. I like to believe that, if I try hard enough, I can achieve whatever goals I make. Yet, that's not necessarily true when it comes to socializing Shyla, at least not yet. I knew, when I met Shyla, that overcoming an isolated puppyhood is extremely difficult but I threw my heart into it.

We may still achieve that goal but I'm also beginning to accept that we may not. In any case, I'm not giving up yet. My trainer has seen dogs who started out more fearful than Shyla who eventually, after a year or more of training, became normal dogs who could handle everything that life threw at them.

The good news is that, no matter what, we have grown to love Shyla, and we're blessed to have her in our life, even if she's not comfortable with some parts of the bustling world. Moreover, she adores the mountains, forests, and meadows where she spends the majority of her time. She's never scared when she's out in nature.

I won't go into details about her basic training of everyday essential behaviors (heel, stay, etc.) or the details of her new "tricks", except to say that her "basic" training is still going stunningly well. I realized today that her vocabulary of "commands" now exceeds 20!

And she has grown to adore playing retrieving games. Most mornings, I bring a retrieving toy on our snowbike ride but I forgot today. Shyla found a stick, and brought it to me for a game of fetch. She now is almost obsessed with playing fetch, enthusiastically returning the object to my hand time and time again. That's a huge contrast to her apathy about retrieving when I first met her.

 Look at the fire in her eyes!

So, life is a mixed bag right now. We are grateful that R doesn't seem to have cancer. We are grateful that Shyla adores life in the mountains and training games. And, we hope that she can eventually adapt to the bustle of the human world. No matter what, we'll keep loving and caring for our Labraduo.