Lilly is the leader of this motley crew. She might be Sally’s mother, but of course we don’t know that for sure. She is absolutely gorgeous. She came to us weighing about 45 pounds. Now filled out nicely at around 53 pounds. She is always the first to greet you and has been tagged as the “outgoing extrovert” of the group. Although more timid than probably a “normal” dog with a family home upbringing would be, she has come up to us for affection from day one, and that has just become easier and easier with time. If you get down on the ground with her, she will in fact crawl into your lap and try to lick you to death…hence her moniker “Licking Lilly”. Recognizing that it is not always ideal to have a 53 pound dog snuggle into your lap, we have worked really hard at making it as easy as possible for her to settle before attention, not to jump up even when she is super excited to see you (which is always), and to not always need to be the one getting the attention. As mentioned, it is her nature to be outgoing, and we have not sought to change that. But manners are always a helpful thing, and I am very proud of how much she has improved with this over the past several weeks.

She is also doing really well with confinement training. We have taken baby steps, but she has come a long way with this as well. When her crate first arrived, she wouldn’t even look at it let alone go up to it. It was super scary in the beginning when someone just walked by it, or if someone’s tail caught the door making that clangy, rattly wire crate noise. But as we slowly made it into a super cozy doggy haven, she began to venture in all on her own. And pretty soon all the dogs wanted to hang out in Lilly’s house. Lilly herself would often sleep in it all night (and still does). But for a long time she was not okay with closing the door on the crate. And then one evening while she was napping so cozily, maybe around a week ago, I softly closed the door. And she just kept on snoozing. She’d wake up from time to time but seemed unfazed, just went right back to sleep. And then today my mom noticed that without any prompting she went right to her crate and waited there for her afternoon chewy treat, even while treats were being handed out to the other two. Crate means treats! We love the small wins!!!

Potty training, on the other hand, has been a real challenge, I’m not gonna lie. But don’t despair – we are making tons of progress!!! That said, let me just take a moment to tell you about trying to train 3 adult rescue dogs to potty train all at the same time. Understatment of the century: It has been a CHALLENGE with many many many frustrating moments. Of course not taken out on the dogs, no point in that at all whatsoever and would only make things worse. But, holy cow, talk about frustrating. I could literally write a book about this process alone, but also no real point in doing that at all whatsoever either as I doubt there is anyone else out there crazy enough to try it (if there is, please feel free to reach out: I’ll happily share some pointers and at a minimum validate your inevitable frustration paired with the necessary indomitable spirit). So at this point feel free to insert comical montage of dogs peeing while human’s head quietly explodes over and over and over again, and zip to the happy ending which is zero accidents in this household now for 5 days running (and that slip up was by our rock star Nellie who had had a 3 week streak going prior to that – I believe I know why this happened, a story for another time). I realize 5 days doesn’t seem like a win – but trust me, it’s HUGE. Not just the count, but what we have witnessed in their BEHAVIOR :) As for Lilly, we’re now 9 days running, which is the longest stretch she has had since she landed here!!! AND, the best part is that the past 3 days, she has come up to me with her little wiggle dance to LET ME KNOW when she has to go. MIRACLE of miracles!!! I am not saying she is rock solid potty trained by any stretch, but I AM saying she is definitely trainable in this regard, she is moving in a very good direction, and I am no longer losing my mind trying to watch all 3 dogs every moment of every day for fear of NEVER having a pee free household. Don’t get me wrong, I still am paying close attention, but I truly feel we are on the downhill slide of this. Side note that none of them has had a #2 accident in the house ever. We are very happy to keep this streak going! And at this point they are all 3 solidly moving in a very good direction in terms of house training overall.

While it has proved IMPOSSIBLE to provide meaningful consistent general training for ALL THREE of these dogs, I can say from the little I have been able to accomplish that Lilly is VERY trainable. Yes, she is a hound and yes, she generally prefers to do things her way, but it truly does not take long for her to pick up on the notion that sometimes it is beneficial to do what the human prefers. It took about 20 minutes to get a decent “down/stay” started. And after maybe 10 days or so of just one time a day, a couple minutes, of clicker marker training, she had it down. Had I been able to continue to work the down/stay consistently, I have zero doubt she would be a rock start with it by now. And it is clear to me that the clicker has the potential to be a super useful tool for this girl.

But it has just been more, to be honest, of survival mode here. Focusing on the really really essential things like safety, and not destroying my house LOL (to be fair, other than some rug cleaning and a few minor chewing issues in the very beginning – like a couple of inexpensive coasters – the house remains fully intact – noting this has required us to be proactive by setting them up for success in the environment as much as possible). But what a joy and thrill when you do get little snippets of time to really work with them – there is so so so so so much potential there. Which is why it pains me to have them all three here and at this point, despite how much we love them and provide for their basic needs, we cannot take them to that next level. And that’s where it’s really at, you know? If you are reading this and relate to the joy of seeing a dog succeed and progress on their way to living their best life through doing the work of becoming a solid responsible canine citizen, you really ought to consider that you might be Lilly’s soul mate. She is that girl…she’s got it in her. If you have it in you, too, that’s where it’s at. It’s just exactly where it’s at! The bottom line is that these dogs are destined for so much more. They WILL work for you, if you set them up for success. I just have no doubt of it.

In terms of Lilly’s ideal home, I truly believe she would thrive as a hunting dog. Her size, her outgoing nature, her confidence (which has always been greater than the other two, and has only improved further during her time here), her athleticism, of course her natural instincts and her nose all set her up for, I believe, loving life on the hunt. But at the same time I don’t think this is the ONLY way in which she can thrive, and I also don’t believe she would thrive as this being the only aspect of her life. She also needs to be part of a family. She is extremely loving as mentioned, loves to snuggle up by the couch in her dog bed, loves to be scratched and snuggled by her humans, loves her afternoon Kong and, despite her improving confidence, still needs a very gentle touch where training is concerned. But, as above, just so so so so so much potential there and I think she could also do really really well with nose games on long leash or in securely fenced in areas. I think she has the potential also to do really well in a doggy daycare setting and/or at dog parks but of course this would not be right away, only after time to settle into her new home and get some solid training time under her belt.

As far as being on leash, she does very well – from what I have experienced actually too well. While I have seen no evidence that she has any other type of training, she does definitely seem to have been taught to heel – and rather harshly I believe. She cowers when approached with leash in hand, and so I get down on the ground and she relaxes somewhat. She will start on the walk in a cower, eases as we go, tail and gait relax some. But she remains quite tense. There is zero sniffing (imagine taking a foxhound on a walk with NO sniffing happening), there is no pulling – lots of slack on the leash. She won’t take a treat. She might get a step or two ahead but then reins herself back in. While on paper this sounds ideal, in reality I don’t believe it is healthy. She won’t release by any command and trot ahead, start to sniff or anything. I am certain with time and the right training she will come to understand that she doesn’t have to heel the ENTIRE time on leash, that she can relax and sniff. But when I think about the ways in which she might have been forced into a static heel, I can imagine it might take a good long while. But again, we have only had the chance to scratch the surface here (imagine trying to walk three dogs on separate walks every day, and also provide for all of their other care, and also get anything else in life done – IMPOSSIBLE – but it is just so good for them to get out of the fence – safely of course!). With focused time and attention, she will progress with ease, I am certain of it!

The remaining critical things to know about Lilly are largely included in the main post “My Beautiful Distraction”. It is otherwise just down to meeting her. She would love to tell you her own story, in her own beautiful words 🧡🤍🤎