A beautiful Sunday afternoon. For the first time, put Juneau on my old dog Hayley’s leash in the back yard. It was a little sad. Hayley’s old brush was on the tree stump next to the leash. Think I spotted a few of her reddish-brown hairs. Hayley died last April. I hope she doesn’t mind Juneau using her leash.
I put Juneau on the leash while I picked up trash revealed by the melting snow, including an empty bottle of raspberry vodka. (I live next to an elementary school that the high school kids occasionally gather around after dark.) Suddenly, I heard a yelp. Juneau had sprinted toward me unaware of the concept of a leash not being held by me. She nearly strangled herself.

Took Juneau to Lynn Beach for the first time. Another lesson for her. She learned that salt water is not for drinking. Eating dead things on the beach is another story. The other day at Breakheart Reservation, she began gnawing on what I thought was a big stick. Upon closer inspection, that big stick was what was left of a leg of a deer. (Can coyotes kill a deer?)

Juneau has gradually worked her way onto our bed for a few nights’ sleep. She seems to sense when I’m too tired to lovingly soothe her to sleep inside her crate. We did move the crate from the kitchen into our bedroom, thinking the closeness to us would satisfy her. But three feet away wasn’t close enough. She has to be ON the bed. The only time she will sleep in her crate now is when she is too tired to put up a fight. And with her sleeping on me most nights, usually I am too tired to put up a fight.

Overall, Juneau’s progress in overcoming her fright is painfully slow. She is totally attached to me. It’s wearing me out. If I’m home and sitting with her, she barks and growls at my sons Matt and Tom if they get too close. And that is the only time she barks or grows. She is a totally silent dog 99.999 percent of the time. In fact, until Juneau barked and growled at Tom, I didn’t even know she could bark and growl. Her bark and growl are not too menacing. Nothing against Juneau — but if I wanted a guard dog, I wouldn’t have picked the most frightened animal at the shelter.
If I’m not around, Tom takes Juneau for walks, once he wrestles her out of her crate. He called me excitedly the other day after he ran Juneau clear around Lake Quannapowitt. Again, once you get her outside, different animal.