PART 3 - keisha earns a second chance.
working with keisha was tough sledding from minute one. we saw gains but they were infinitesimal and the kids zeal for the true rehab work at hand was waning given the small returns they were seeing in return. after several months, the guy who placed dog with us, andy, brought us a second dog that was part of the same rescue. he apologized for the slow going with keisha, thanked us for our ongoing efforts and said that adding this second dog might help. when andy sat the new dog down in the foyer, keisha rounded the corner to check on the commotion. upon spotting one another each dogs countenance (and ears) perked up. they trotted towards one another meeting halfway. they shared cursory sniffs. then keisha turned and with a regal-air trotted to her bed where she and the new dog, baker, ying-yanged themselves into the small space. for the next six months those two dogs would prove inseparable.

but for as good as keisha and baker got on, their trust of the adults in the home remained distant. if anything, they might have become more standoffish than they were before. one of the things we would do to try to socialize the dogs would be to have/make them sit with us on the couch. these events always began the same, by two of us having to catch them and then force them to stay next to us while we watched tv. to keep them from bolting, someone always had to have a hand on their back petting them. the moment a hand was not in contact with their back, they would bound off the couch and dart to their hiding spot. when this would happen you'd have to let the second dog go for how nervous they became at not being together.

i feel we could have gone on for some time, any amount of time really, if we were seeing some sort of progress but we had definitely plateaued with them and everyone's interest and patience was waning, the kids so much so they were starting to slip on their chores. so at dinner time one night i said that unless the kids started doing better at taking care of the dogs i was going to call andy and tell him to come get them. with almost no emotion, all three kids said that was probably for the best. i was ready for more of a fight but getting none made the decision to send them back a no-brainer. i said i would call the next day to have them picked up.

on the next morning, i had the dogs out for their morning walk. we were about a half mile from the house and i had just turned to start heading back. baker stopped to smell something and jerked my arm back to stay put. this action caused me to drop keisha's retractable leash and the sound of the plastic casing hitting the ground spooked keisha and she jumped in the air and the second she landed she bolted forward, her leash bouncing behind her and giving the effect that something was chasing her. baker and i watched her greyhound-like charge down the sidewalk. the girl could move.

baker and i then looked at each other, convinced that was the last we would ever see of miss keisha. for those thinking i should have ran after her, i assure you a high school sprinter would not have caught this dog. and remember the leather gloves episode. she is not the type that is going to voluntarily go to any person. and best i could tell because of the way the leash handle was bouncing behind her she was convinced something was inches from sinking teeth into her rear haunch so for as long as she was in our sight, she was in a dead and fearful sprint.

so baker and i continued our walk home. baker looked wholly confused as to what happened to his besty. i explained to him that someone would find her in time and call the house, as she had a name-tag with our home phone on it. baker still looked dour. we finally rounded the corner to our street and walked across our front lawn and took the steps onto our porch. sitting at the front door and looking mildly annoyed was our keisha. the red handle of her leash looked tattered and streaked with all sorts of mud. her expression said little more than, "what took you so long, i'm thirsty?"

this unexpected sign that keisha felt this was her home bought her another six months with us.

NEXT: PART 4 - bella saves the day

PHOTO: bella snapped this photo of me saying goodbye to what might be cutest dog i'd ever seen. we met this family and dog while camping in northern michigan and i kept crossing paths with it. they just happened to walk by our site right before we rolled out to head home so i got one last tussle with the pup.