Another visit to one of our rescued dogs,

that is, Chocho.

Indeed, today's visit came as quite a random decision, on a random August afternoon.

Knocked on the door of the apartment and the pack in which Chocho didn't have much of a problem integrating sang to me with their affable barks. I'd fondly called the pack the 'United Colors of Benetton' -- for the obvious diversity of breed, size, shape and colour all under one roof.

We've got in descending order of rank: Gigi, the shiba inu, Lil' John, the cocker spaniel, Dizzy, the retriever, Wawa, I presume, a terrier-mix, and Chocho, our chocolate medium-sized mongrel. What a sight, what myriad splendour of the canine world! A's pack epitomizes, truly, the global village of dogs of different sorts.

Chocho's deep-throated bark, which I heard for the first time, was part of the pack orchestra. While Lil' John and Dizzy literally stood on their hinds and greeted me as if to offer a welcome embrace, Chocho squirted pee in the back of the party -- out of the chain effects of excitement mixed with anxiety, perhaps.

And then, her tail upright, she was prancing confidently and happily with the rest. Her eyes sparkled bright. Her body language gave her wariness away, that was yet tempered by a familiarity of my scent and figure that she still cannot quite put a finger to. She would duck her head away when I went so close as to rub her forehead, but very visibly, there was less stiffening of her limbs, as compared to previous times, and vibes that spelt she was opening up to me -- just still quite cautious.

Save for Wawa, each had a oral-hygiene rawhide bone. It was most interesting to watch how Chocho who naturally doesn't take fancy of such commercial flavours actually observed how Lil' John zeroed in on the treat so comfortably, received her assurance from the exuberant feasting displayed by everyone else, and then, chewed on her share of rawhide just the same.

Next, in the cool of the late hours of the afternoon, R and I took Dizzy and Chocho out for their earlier-than-usual walks. I say 'earlier-than-usual' because in the foster's pack, the routine inclusive of pee/poo time, walks, meal times, treat occasions and slumber hours has been built into the dogs' individual body clock and their system.

R with Dizzy, and myself with Chocho. Our chocolate mongrel took lead and showed me her afternoon route through the pathways cloistered by hedges and trees, the nooks and crannies of the neighbourhood. This girl sure knows her walks.

Every so often, she would look up to me, as if expressing uncertainty over the bizarre timing of the walk and as if most likely expressing, why the heck is he walking me and not my pack leader, R? At the same time, she would gaze back at R and Dizzy, who looked joyfully living in his own bubble, to keep her newfound family in sight and perhaps make sure she wasn't just stuck with me.

As A informed, Chocho doesn't like men in general and in particular, men donned in dark clothes. Upon such encounters, her tail would droop down and be burrowed between her legs. We attribute this to either an unpleasant experience with said figures when she was living out at the farm, or the occasion when the professional dog catcher strategized to capture her after she ran away from her foster home.

As a result of her escape, A and R have since opted out of leashing her to merely a collar, but securing the leash to a harness with double rings. Less chance to wriggle out of the harness' straps at times of unpredictable paranoia. Simply, we cannot afford to lose her again.

For a dog who's been through a series of 'misadventures' -- from darting from unnecessary human attention at the farm to fighting with other strays for food to repeatedly asserting her position, however low, in the stray pack to being captured by the authorities and brought to the pound to being handled by strange hands of her rescuers to being tackled by a man in dark clothes -- the transformation that we see in Chocho now is, indeed, encouraging.

The socialisation into the pack, the socialisation with other dogs and humans, the routine built into her system... have established in her a sense of belonging to A's family, enhanced her receptiveness to the ways of domestic dogs, effected a boost in her confidence and improved her potential, behaviourally, as a pet dog, a family companion.

Not so much that she's less of a stray and more of a dog in 'captivity', but that she now lives and sleeps peacefully within the boundaries of SAFETY. There's a warmth she is experiencing and can seek solace in, being a social creature, a sentient being.

In time, we will make efforts to rehome her.