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I am going to talk about dog for a while. You have been warned.
So. Puppy!
Well, not puppy. She's three years old, according to the shelter; I assume they're good enough at guessing to be within a year in either direction. But people keep asking how old she is, and then being surprised; she really does look rather like a half-grown black lab, especially when she's doing her happy tail-wagging trot. And she's so small! 32 pounds, by the shelter's medical list, and we had to take their free collar instead of using the collar we bought for her, because it was too big and threatened to slide right over her ears.
I have named her Pixel. You can see blurry at-home photos here and here, because all of the outside pictures didn't come out; first she was too fast, and then it was too dark.
I begin to understand the new parent urge to show endless baby pictures and tell everyone about Their Kid. I can't seem to stop talking about My New Dog. She's good in cars! (Sat through most of the ride, stood up to look out the window for part.) She's okay on leashes! (Likes to run, but isn't allowed due to recent surgery; pulls a bit, but doesn't fuss for too long if thwarted.) She's house-trained! (Whines when she needs to be let out to pee. But also whines if she just kinda wants to go outside, which resulted in a lot of instances of the two of us standing in the back yard with flashlight in my hand and mutual staring.) She's good with cats! (She's attempted a friendly approach a few times; Peejee fluffs up to twice her size, and is having none of it.) She's good with dogs! (An off-leash chihuahua in the pet store came over to check her out, and they were quite polite with each other.) She's good with strangers! (She wants to meet them, but is okay with moving on.) She's good at meal times! (Stared at the food for a few minutes, and once she was sure she wasn't getting any, curled up under the table until we finished.) She's good in the office! (Curls up behind me while I'm on the computer, grunting and whining a bit but mostly happy to snooze.)
She is not so good with crates; she'll stick her head in to reach the water bowl, but has refused to enter otherwise so far. I'm afraid she may get some polite shoving tonight before bed, because she is not so darn trustworthy that I'm going to let her roam freely and unsupervised for eight hours. And so far she's utterly disinterested in treats or food, which I'm hoping is just some post-surgery blahs, and not signs of a Problem. It does make it harder to lure her places... She doesn't care for any of her toys, either; I know she likes chasing tennis balls, but per post-surgery instructions, I can't send her running anywhere for several days yet. Just sedate walks.
Well. Brisk walks. I suspect she's still waiting for us to Take Her Home, because she's deeply interested in strangers, cars, and walking very fast in a straight line towards...some unspecified goal. Poor dog. Someone must've cared for her once, in that she doesn't seem to have been abused or neglected, and she did get house-trained. And when two of the three people in the house today went out to move cars, she was sad and confused that she didn't get to go with them. She came back to the office to curl up there again, but went trotting over to the door to greet them as they entered.
I had to go outside without her to move some trash cans to the curb. Apparently she sat by the door the whole time, waiting for the Prophesied Return. Which...does make me feel warm and fuzzy, yes.
Tonight, she is going to have to cope with the crate a bit. Tomorrow, the fence-repair people come abominably early in the morning (yay?), and then when we go out at noon, she gets to spend two hours in a Very Secure Back Yard. I do think it's important to spend a lot of time with her right now, but also to leave and return periodically; she needs to learn that I'm going to keep coming back to her.
I have signed up for dog training lessons. (Or, as the trainer put it, people training lessons, so that we learn to speak Dog.) I need to figure out how to interpret her body language better, and communicate with her more effectively. She seems like a very Good Dog, but there's a language barrier there that'll need surmounting.
I hope she gets the "No, seriously, peeing time now" idea when we head out before bed tonight.She keeps drinking water! She's gotta pee eventually!
So. Puppy!
Well, not puppy. She's three years old, according to the shelter; I assume they're good enough at guessing to be within a year in either direction. But people keep asking how old she is, and then being surprised; she really does look rather like a half-grown black lab, especially when she's doing her happy tail-wagging trot. And she's so small! 32 pounds, by the shelter's medical list, and we had to take their free collar instead of using the collar we bought for her, because it was too big and threatened to slide right over her ears.
I have named her Pixel. You can see blurry at-home photos here and here, because all of the outside pictures didn't come out; first she was too fast, and then it was too dark.
I begin to understand the new parent urge to show endless baby pictures and tell everyone about Their Kid. I can't seem to stop talking about My New Dog. She's good in cars! (Sat through most of the ride, stood up to look out the window for part.) She's okay on leashes! (Likes to run, but isn't allowed due to recent surgery; pulls a bit, but doesn't fuss for too long if thwarted.) She's house-trained! (Whines when she needs to be let out to pee. But also whines if she just kinda wants to go outside, which resulted in a lot of instances of the two of us standing in the back yard with flashlight in my hand and mutual staring.) She's good with cats! (She's attempted a friendly approach a few times; Peejee fluffs up to twice her size, and is having none of it.) She's good with dogs! (An off-leash chihuahua in the pet store came over to check her out, and they were quite polite with each other.) She's good with strangers! (She wants to meet them, but is okay with moving on.) She's good at meal times! (Stared at the food for a few minutes, and once she was sure she wasn't getting any, curled up under the table until we finished.) She's good in the office! (Curls up behind me while I'm on the computer, grunting and whining a bit but mostly happy to snooze.)
She is not so good with crates; she'll stick her head in to reach the water bowl, but has refused to enter otherwise so far. I'm afraid she may get some polite shoving tonight before bed, because she is not so darn trustworthy that I'm going to let her roam freely and unsupervised for eight hours. And so far she's utterly disinterested in treats or food, which I'm hoping is just some post-surgery blahs, and not signs of a Problem. It does make it harder to lure her places... She doesn't care for any of her toys, either; I know she likes chasing tennis balls, but per post-surgery instructions, I can't send her running anywhere for several days yet. Just sedate walks.
Well. Brisk walks. I suspect she's still waiting for us to Take Her Home, because she's deeply interested in strangers, cars, and walking very fast in a straight line towards...some unspecified goal. Poor dog. Someone must've cared for her once, in that she doesn't seem to have been abused or neglected, and she did get house-trained. And when two of the three people in the house today went out to move cars, she was sad and confused that she didn't get to go with them. She came back to the office to curl up there again, but went trotting over to the door to greet them as they entered.
I had to go outside without her to move some trash cans to the curb. Apparently she sat by the door the whole time, waiting for the Prophesied Return. Which...does make me feel warm and fuzzy, yes.
Tonight, she is going to have to cope with the crate a bit. Tomorrow, the fence-repair people come abominably early in the morning (yay?), and then when we go out at noon, she gets to spend two hours in a Very Secure Back Yard. I do think it's important to spend a lot of time with her right now, but also to leave and return periodically; she needs to learn that I'm going to keep coming back to her.
I have signed up for dog training lessons. (Or, as the trainer put it, people training lessons, so that we learn to speak Dog.) I need to figure out how to interpret her body language better, and communicate with her more effectively. She seems like a very Good Dog, but there's a language barrier there that'll need surmounting.
I hope she gets the "No, seriously, peeing time now" idea when we head out before bed tonight.She keeps drinking water! She's gotta pee eventually!
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Remember that's she's Just as keyed-up as you are- some of this will relax w/time. Hopefully the treats/toys/reinforcers will also work themselves out as she relaxes and gets more comfortable- that should help w/the crate I would think.
Can't hurt to start her on a pee-command now. It's not really 'pee on command' of course, but some word you use to let her know that you're not just out for a sniff, but on a clock.
Yay new dog!
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