Tula

Tula has been truly AMAZING. My husband thanks me several times daily for finding her on Petfinder. She was timid the first couple of months but has really blossomed since. She has a pretty regular routine. I get up and feed her and let her go to the toilet and then I work in my home office and she naps at my feet so very patiently until walk time. We go for a long one hour walk--believe me, this girl has tons of energy; she runs the whole time, with periodic stops to sniff out some duck poop or something equally yukky (it's nice that I live by the river--we have a lot of different routes we can take) and we always end up with off-leash games. Although we fenced our yard, it's been too muddy for her (not the best drainage back there) but luckily we live next door to the a school which has a beautiful car-free campus and a huge fenced running track. We go to the track area and play there at the end of our walk but I always make sure she is leashed when we're not in a fenced area.

In the afternoons we go to Starbucks together where she is a 'regular'. She naps while I write. Then it's back home to hang out with bunnies. She has been amazing with them--extremely patient, sweet. The only 'bad' thing she likes to do is steal their carrots! One day, she was gnawing on a vegan dog biscuit and one of the bunnies came along, sniffed at it, and evidently liked it because he then proceeded to take it out of her paws and mouth (she was holding it between her front paws and chewing on it)! He hopped off with it and she came and sat at my feet with such a sad face I had to laugh. I retrieved the biscuit from the bunny and gave it back to her and this time, she ran about the kitchen in circles, biscuit in mouth as the bunny hopped after her. She finally ran to her 'house' and hid it there!

She eats very well (!)--I cook for her and she gets lots of organic fresh produce. My husband has been teasing me endlessly because I hardly ever cook for us but Tula's different, of course! I had the vet do a dental cleaning last month and her teeth and gums are fabulous. I brush them everyday, clean her face and ears and groom her daily as well. She also goes to the salon every 2 weeks. She sleeps with her head right next to mine on my pillow and I have to confess, she does snore a little! She has gone through Obedience Levels 1 & 2 and is set to start level 3 in April. Her teacher thinks she is the sweetest, most well-behaved dog ever and she is truly, truly the best dog in her class. She learns quickly and has no 'problems' but her timidness around other dogs so I bring her to class mostly to socialize her. She has only barked twice (really!), both times at German Shepherds when we brought her to a park. She seems anxious to get away from other dogs but has gotten to the point of playing with the dogs in her class and now when we meet other dogs on our walks, she still wants to get away but she has her tail high and chest up and looks confident. Oh yeah, and she learned to play with her toys finally! I had bought her TONS of toys even before she got home but then I would lay them out in front of her every night and say, "come on, Tula, play." And she would just sit there and look at me or the toy and do nothing. One night, my husband saw me with her and started laughing. "YOU don't know how to play, so how can you teach her?" he said and he began throwing the toys around and moving them. She got very excited and started running back and forth, giving play bows and tugging at the toys. I was SO happy to see her playing at last, and now we BOTH know how to play with toys!

Anyway, I have gone on and on--which I usually do when I talk about her--but I wanted to let you know she is doing well and absolutely PERFECT and we are so thankful for HALO and all your hard work. Tula and her bunny brothers and sisters thank you too!