From Rescue to Best Friend

Hello! Welcome to The Rural Dog.

My goal with this blog is to share personal stories about my own dog, offer training and grooming tips, and delve into different dog breeds.

To start, let me introduce you to my best friend, Harley. She's a five-year-old Zuchon, a Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise mix.

I received Harley as a gift on December 21, 2022. She was two at the time, and I don't know much about her life before me, other than she was living at some sort of breeding facility. She had never lived in a home before and was terrified of everything—she would sit in the corner and shake, startled by the vacuum, other dogs, people, or even just a loud noise. The first few weeks were a blur as we adjusted to life together. Soon, she began to get used to my family, and we formed a comfortable routine.

I watched countless videos on how to help her anxiety, how to train her, and because she has hair instead of fur, I even learned to groom her myself. It was definitely hard work and a steep learning curve, but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done.

Over the next few years, things progressed beautifully. Harley went camping for the first time, she became best friends with my family's dog, Sky, and she went swimming at the beach. We became inseparable. Last January, she got pregnant and on August 18, she gave birth to a male puppy I named Ace. She was a wonderful mom, and when Ace left for his new home, it was a sad day.

Having Harley has been an amazing experience, but I don't want to pretend it was never hard. For a few months, I struggled with potty training her, her anxiety was tough to deal with, and even just having a dog is hard work. I'll go through some of these challenges in more detail later on.

Today, Harley is five years old (and will be six on November 29th). She's my best friend. Her anxiety is gone—the only thing that still scares her is thunder—and she loves to spend her days stretched out on my bed, sunbathing.

Throughout the next few months I’ll introduce some of the other dogs that have impacted my life, whether they’ve shown what true loyalty is, taught me a valuable lesson, or simply been a friend.

If you have any questions feel free to email me at kaileighpost@gmail.com. 

This is a picture of Harley her first time at the beach!