Today was another step forward! I took her with me to pick up Den from work, and as soon as I picked up her 6′ leash she started slinking around. Outside was the same, she was desperately hoping to just go back inside. But, alas, I unlocked the truck and opened the door. And you know what my little girl did? She jumped in!

The way it usually goes is this: leaving the house, I have to carry her into the truck; returning to the house, she drags me into the truck. But this time for the first time she went in the truck voluntarily while at the house. Yay Zoe!

She’s doing pretty well at Den’s office. She follows me inside without a problem (no backing up/pulling at the door). She’s skittish in the hallways, especially when another person comes into sight or sound range. But, she stuck right by my feet while I talked to one of Den’s co-workers (who is familiar with Zoe and her personality, so basically just says hi to her and doesn’t approach her, yay for helpful people ), and followed me into Den’s office where I closed the door and sat down. After a few seconds she starts relaxing - the office has become a safe(r) place for her to be, especially with the door closed. Today I had to wait a while for Den to come back from a meeting, so I just let Zoe sniff around and relax. She layed down a few feet away from me and licked her paws… she really seemed to physically relax.

Daddy walking in was a somewhat scary moment. It’s kind of funny in a sad way, because on one hand she knows his voice and wants to say hi to him soooo bad, but on the other hand she’s not POSITIVE it’s him and he looks kind of big and scary. So she paces back and forth… wagging her tail happily, then running back behind me. Oy. But then Den sat down and Zoe crawled over (literally, she still wasn’t sure) to say hi and lick him to death.

It’s just so rewarding to see all these little steps forward, even if they’re tiny. She makes me proud.