Happy Teddy :)

Teddy is getting so much better! She's really starting to enjoy our walks. Her tail is up and wagging and she enjoys sniffing around and REALLY enjoys running! She runs all happy and jumps around like a puppy, it's really great to see. She's gotten used to cars now, they pass all the time and she barely slows down. Sometimes we pass other people. Today we passed a family of 5 or so and she was definitely hesitant to go towards them, but once I led her out on the street in the bike lane, she felt much more comfortable. Kinda funny, she'd rather face an oncoming car than pass strangers walking away from her.
But when we got to the park today, there was a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids and a puppy, playing basketball near where we usually hang out. So me and Teddy gave them a wide berth and wandered around them. But as an experiment I started heading towards the family. I was hoping since Teddy loves other dogs so much the playful puppy might entice her over to the family. And she stuck pretty close to me and didn't go near the strangers, but she followed me pretty close to them. I finally stopped 5 or 6 feet away long enough to tell them how adorable their puppy was and then I let Teddy go back. She was definitely wary, but she willingly followed me to within 5 feet of a small group of people she didn't know! A definite improvement :) I'm curious as to how she'll react if I let Arron take a walk with us. Will she freak out all throughout the walk or will she accept him as pack and start trusting him more? I think I'll experiment with that when Arron's free.
When we get back from our walk I always put the bowl of water in my room so Teddy can drink from it. This time I decided to make her work for it a bit. I put it out in the hall instead. And Teddy made several false starts before tucking tail and running, but after just a few minutes she made her way out of my room to drink. Whenever there was the slightest noise she was dart back in my room and this happened a couple of times, but after the first few noises didn't hurt her, she decided it was safe to finish drinking her water. And when she was done, THEN did she dart back to my room, lol. But improving every day :D
Another something little. When I got home from work I was giving Briar some love and Teddy approached me and gave me a lick. It was such a small thing but just the fact that she took the effort to stretch her head over to me and lick my hand just to let me know she was there was amazing. She came to me looking for attention! And when I rub the side of her face she leans into my hand. Such a small thing, but so different than the shivering unmoving mass that cowered when I walked into the room that she was 2 months ago. Her improvements make me so happy! :)