Cassie had her evaluation for doggy daycare today. It was at the same place we do our dog training classes. It was a long shot because, as an older rescue dog (as in past the puppy socialization stage) she has issues.

The evals run about an hour long.

Cassie only lasted 15 minutes. Poor baby.

She was great when I handed her over to the evaluator. She was fine, I am told, with the other strange person she met for the first time. People skills, 100% okay.

They brought out the first dog, the marshmallow dog. The dog they say if your dog has issues with it the problem is all with your dog. Cassie had no problems but she also wasn’t interested in having anything to do with her.

Then they brought out Blaire. Cassie knows Blaire from class. Cassie and Blaire were co-valedictorians in class. They love to play together so with Blaire, Cassie was fine. They ran and played just great.

Then the brought out the next dog who is a bit of an in-your-face-stand-still-let-me-smell-you kind of brat.

And she had a melt-down.

They tried a couple more dogs but it was way too much for her. There was no way she could handle being out with the pack all day long. The evaluator brought her back out to me so Cassie didn’t have any trauma associated with the visit.

I knew it was a long shot, her making it in so quickly. She just doesn’t have enough confidence yet. She is MUCH more confident than she was when we brought her home a few months ago. At first she couldn’t stand to have us leave the room, she had to follow us everywhere. She also had a "closed mouth" all the time. Now she is happy to watch us as we leave the room and most of the time has an open, happy mouth.

She is fine with other dogs one on one but the group thing, still too much. We’re supposed to organize more play dates with multiple dogs but there is no place around here to meet with other dogs. Our yard can’t handle it and the dog park is too much for her too.

We’re not giving up. Hopefully a few more months or so down the road we can try again.

So because I felt bad, I bought her a tunnel to work with. (and a hula hoop.)

She seems to like it just fine.