Nervous Nicole is my first candidate for Kitty Bootcamp for Greyhounds and is doing quite well with the cats so far, however the bigger challenge will likely be gaining her trust and helping her to develop confidence. We’ve been keeping things pretty calm and quiet around her, not too much direct eye contact or interaction, allowing her to approach on her own terms.

Sweet Pea really, really loves greyhounds, so she thought Nicole was her new best friend and was quite affectionate right from the start. Sometimes I take her away just to make sure she isn’t too overwhelming for Nicole. She also stole the dog bed for the first few days, but Nicole eventually got a chance to use it as well!

Nicole is slowing learning what it means to be in a house, as all of this is very new to her. She has been in a kennel environment for all of her young life, with very little human interaction and exposure to the wide world, so everything is quite scary at the moment. We are taking things slow, with quiet walks just down the back alley with a lot of encouragement to keep walking, as she is inclined to put on the brakes if she gets too nervous.

Nicole is slowly, slowly coming out of her shell, and I expect to see a lot more of her personality emerge over the next few days. I offered her a dog toy to play with today, and while she was apprehensive at first, she eventually took it to her bed. Then a few minutes later she came back to look for another one, and another, until she had quite a stash in her bed, which was a good step forward in learning how to play. She also ate some dog kibble out of my hand, also a good sign as she is not very food driven and is slow to eat her meals. It’s a gradual process to earn her trust, but we seem to be on the right path so far…