Saturday, January 15, 2011












Puppy (as she is most commonly called) has lived with us for about 5 weeks now. Until Dec 22 her only job was survival. And we weren't sure she'd be succesful at that. She also had to practice being handled (pilling wiggly puppies - oh joy!) but that really was about the only expectation for her. In three weeks the expectations have gone WAY up.
She wears a collar (a cat collar with a bell) now, and walks nicely on leash - usually trotting along side us no matter what there is to look at - occasionally I have to chirup and sweet talk her but more often she looks, wags, and keeps on trucking.
She is clean in the house - or wants to be - obviously if I was oblivious we'd have accidents but since January 2 she's peed in the house once (and at work twice - whoops!). She is actually much easier than many puppies we have lived with - she'll go out into the back yard ALL BY herself, do her business and come back. I think that's partly cause usually one of the other dogs is happy to go out and model for her - and also because of the nice sliding door here - so we can watch and praise from the kitchen!! It is a real treat living with a clean by nature house trained puppy.
She has learned that cats and dogs need different play if they will stay engaged with you. She has learned different cats and dogs are individual and will tolerate less and more from her. She has learned that humans have the most tender skin ~ and if you bite too hard by mistake you can lick immediately afterwards to get most people to forgive you.
She fetches and returns a tiny tennis ball. She tugs gently and releases when asked.
She sits - both as a default and this week on cue. She is being shaped to down. She plays a mean game of doggy zen (treat in hand and she chooses to look away and wait for it).

She's a pretty awesome puppy.

She needs a home.

2 comments:

Muttsandaklutz said...

She sounds like a perfect catch...

She needs a home? I think Sally thinks she already has one ;-)

andrea said...

Sally, Thea, the spousal unit, at least one of the cats all think she has a home

the males dogs, the rabbits and I are holding out for a better solution though!!

the brown girls are way too much fun to watch playng though ...