handsome girl, after her part of buddy's cheeseburger, originally uploaded by estacey.

when we got maggie, she was not like the other dogs.

for example, she didn't play.
when the other dogs would try to tear each other apart, she would just watch - confused.
we'd throw balls, and she'd just watch them fly across the room. "whatever."

she wasn't real big on food. if you gave her a treat, she'd often just drop it to follow you as you walked away. (the other dogs LOVED this. maggie was their BEST FRIEND.) it was actually kinda frustrating to get her to eat her food before the other dogs got it. if you filled her dish and then walked away, she'd follow you while the other dogs thought, "jackpot!" and munched away. sometimes we'd just have to stand there so she'd actually get to eat. considering she was so thin, and probably didn't get her fair share in the shelter, i found that strange.

at least with the playing thing, i figured that would just be the way it was. talking to a dog trainer backed that up. she said she was never properly socialized, so she was kinda just a messed-up dog.

fast forward, what, three months?

maggie still does the thing with the food sometimes, but usually she just gobbles it up. however, she's so sweet that all buddy has to do is growl and she'll abandon her food.
anyway, one big moment was when she did like the other dogs do: after she ate, she ran around and licked everyone else's bowl. this is something that makes us laugh, because gretchey will sometimes do it a half-hour after everyone else has eaten. you know, just in case they forgot a morsel or two.

regarding playing, for the past week, she and sebastian have been having a no-holds-barred brawl every night. i actually separated them the first two times i saw them doing it, to check sebastian for small wounds to his head or mouth, just to be safe, because they were REALLY FIGHTING. i put maggie in the crate to do this, and they both started whining... WE WANNA FIGHT, DAMMIT. i opened the crate and, WHAM! they were on each other again. now i know they're just playing so let them enjoy it until they collapse, panting.
i think sebastian likes playing with her better than gretchey because, after watching for a while, i realize that i don't think she doesn't even play as hard as gretchey does. she's really being gentle... except when sebastian runs away, she'll go after him and grab his leg and pull him back. but he likes it, so i just laugh. they can go for a long time, get totally tired out, and literally pant for 15 minutes after.

we have been playing FETCH with them lately, and maggie rocks at it. she beats the other two to the ball every time, and then happily hops back with it. she & sebastian also get into tug wars over toys all the time, which none of the other dogs do with sebastian. he loves that. i think he'll miss her too.

so much for her being a lost cause! she's playing with toys AND play fighting with other dogs, mouthing at them and NOT HURTING THEM! :)

but last night.. last night was the best...

i've been making oatmeal every night for me & chris to eat in the morning. i put dried blueberries in it, and whatever dog is begging for some food from me as i'm fixin' it up will get a few berries thrown their way when i'm done.

i love that the dogs ALWAYS catch the berries in their mouth. gretchen & sebastian, anyhow. buddy is a little too slow to catch stuff like that. but it's really funny to watch. i've tried throwing them at maggie, but she just lets them hit their mouth and then fall to the floor. she looks confused. it makes me laugh, too, in a feeling-sorry-for-maggie way.

so last night sebastian and maggie, post fight, are begging berries off me. i am throwing sebastian his and handing maggie hers. i see her watch sebastian catch his, then look to the floor, like, "what the heck was that?" making the realization that he CAUGHT IT. so i throw her a berry. she tried to catch it. i throw sebastian a berry. he, of course, catches it. i throw another to maggie: SHE CATCHES IT. i am so delighted that i throw them each way too many berries each and am surprised i didn't wake chris up with my laughing and howling. maggie catches every one, with a funny little, WHOOMP! mouth noise.

"MAGGIE! you're a NORMAL DOG!!!"

i know, i know.. i get way too happy over these little things, but.... little by little, maggie is becoming JUST LIKE THE OTHER DOGS. happy and healthy and well adjusted. i'm guessing she'd be safe to hang out with gretchey again. we really can't test this hypothesis, but still. i really think she'd be okay.

lucky patty gets a good dog!

:) :) :)