This is Cricket the hound.
I was waiting for a different dog to foster. Bumble the cattle dog is Niko's mirror image - he's got the same white body with black spots, but his big black spot is on his right side, and he has a tail. Apparently he's also just a skittish as Niko, so I was going to work with him. But this girl came up a week before Bumble, who doesn't get here until the end of this week.
She came up from North Caroline with two of her siblings, who were getting along just fine at the doggie daycare that hosts many of the city's rescue dogs. Cricket wasn't getting along fine though. She huddled in a corner and wouldn't come out, and when leashed she'd just hunker down and refuse to go anywhere. She was just terrified. How could I not bring her home and give her some rest?
It turns out that's all she needed to blossom into a sweet, loving pup with a little bit of confidence. She started at my house huddled in the crate and refusing to go anywhere. By the time I got home this afternoon, she was bouncing up to the door to greet me with a full body wiggle and vocalizations. She is even playing with Niko a little, pretty much entirely on her terms. She's great with Harvey, too - just interested enough to say hello but not enough to give chase. She's supposed to meet a potential family this week, and I so hope they connect. She needs a person of her own.