Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

Abbie viciously spearing me with her antlers!




Or may be she was just finding a place to rest her head.




She loves them! ... Really...

Happy Halloween Weekend!

So this weekend we came upon the first "oh no- what do we do with the dog" times as we had my Aunt's Halloween party to go to. Every option seems like a catch 22.
1) We leave her at home, she stays mainly in the basement with people checking in on her, comes to see the basement as a place of abandonment.
2) We put her in a kennel for the night, it brings on feelings of being left again, having to readjust to yet another place, and possibly hinders progress we have made in our home.
3) We have her go to my mom's (or someone's house) and again she is forced to adjust to a new home before being entirely comfortable in ours, and potentially acts up- thereby removing that person as a go to in the future when she is better adjusted and behaved.

We decided option one. We stayed with her till 6:30, had fed her dinner and gone for a walk, and put her in the basement. My mom took her for a walk again later that night. And then my dad took her for a mile walk first thing in the morning and fed her breakfast. Then picked her up a few hours later to come play in the backyard with Maggie. It was perfect. We did find out that she can get out of my parents yard (par of their gate is broken) but fortunately my mom was smart and after calling ABBIE to no avail, she thought to walk around with Maggie... and sure enough, Abbie came!

Soon after, I picked her up and she was very happy to see me.

Then after decorating the house, we all hung out in the living room watching Slither (a scary movie) and handing out candy to children. It was great... Abbie didn't over react to the loud noises in the movie, and since we have a dutch door, we were able to open the top half and hand out candy. Abbie would jump up with her paws on the door to see the kids. I wish I got a pic of this- it was VERY cute.

It was a good weekend of socialization and prooving to Abbie that even if we left for a bit- that we would be back. I think she is really starting to feel this is her permanent home. As the night went on and we kept opening the door for kids, it got a little chilly and so I covered Abbie with a blanket and we snuggled.

Happy Halloween!

Vet Visit #1

The Vet says...
1) Abbie has fox hound in her.
2) She is not spayed, but that we should wait until she's been at the house for a month so it is not traumatic.
3) She is very sweet.
4) She is about 1-2 years old.
5) Abbie is 40.5 pounds and will likely not grow anymore but if so, 50 is the most.
6) She is in terrific shape, has great teeth and gums.
7) She should come back for their Halloween doggie costume party (sadly we did not have time for this).
8) Flea/tick collars = no good, we should use Frontline.
9) In order to help her bad gas, we should teach her to eat slower by forcing her to stop and chew and show her that even if she leaves food in the bowl- it will still be there when she returns.

Here are some pics of that process:

Play Date

Abbie and I got real comfy with each other...



...And then I became a more ambitious photographer.



Murphy was the real trooper though it all...



...But in the end they all pulled together.

Car Rides

Abbie is SUCH a good girl on car rides. So far we've had two play dates to my mom's house (the one where they could run outside went better than the first which was an indoor date. Abbie scared teir dog even though she's half the size!)

Truce?

I swear. They love each other...I swear...ok fine. May be neither one knows the other is so close.

Welcome Home!

First night we met Abbie in the city on 58th 'tween Park and Lexington. I was nervous. Would she be as cute as in pictures? Would she be friendly? Scared? Assertive: good or bad? Would she be smaller or bigger than I expected?

Brendan and I stood on the side walk watching every car pass by. "Is there a puppy in that one? Oh- Nope, no puppy. How bout that one? No." Then I heard someone call out. There she was, walking down the side walk all tiny and cute and tail up with attitude. Happy and healthy looking and absolutely perfect- Love At First Sight.

It was sad for her to say goodbye to the family that saved her and took care of her the last few weeks. I could tell she was confused as we got her in the back seat and I held her leash while she went in circles looking out the windows. Finally, as we entered the Lincoln tunnel, she calmed, resting her front legs and head on my lap. We spent the following 40 minutes cuddling until Wal-Mart.



After buying supplies we took her home and began with a walk around the outside of teh property. Then we gave her the inside tour and introduced her to the cat. Rosie (the cat) was NOT a fan. She's been our one and only baby for years now, but as far as I see it- it's a healthy adjustment for her to make. She'll need to do it one day when we have kids anyways, so might as well make a friend to keep her company when that day comes.



For the most part, Abbie really didn't care about Rosie, but if you started petting Abbie, or if she went somewhere the cat was used to going, Rosie would be right there meowing. At that point Abbie would go to inspect what was making the noise, and then you would here the hiss and a jump from the pup as she avoided a swipe.



The good news is: they are not afraid of eachother. It's about territory and sharing of affection. So long as we show them both love and make it clear their are no favorites. It should be fine. Still... we figure puppy sleeps downstairs to give the cat some space at night and make sure she doesn't have to feel on edge.

It worked pretty well. We heard some banging on the gate, and she cried for a good 20 minutes. We tried to think of it like children. When you put the baby down- your supposed to let it cry itself to sleep. She eventually quieted down and so I drifted off as well.

The next day we got up and wa-la... no mess! And she had slept in her new bed! We left her in the kitchen for the day, feeling good that she couldn't get into anything bad and the kitty would be able to do her thing. That lasted until Brendan checked in at home and she was on his arm chair. Turns out she jumps the fence.



We had a few casualties. Not pictured: a drink coaster. Nothing tragic. It did mean we needed to rethink her "safe place". As much as we would LOVE to give her free reign over the house, until she and kitty get along better (which takes typically 3-6 months) and she's better trained... that ain't happening.

That night we tried to keep her in the kitchen, not having thought of an alternative yet. We figured 'let her jump the gate, so long as she doesn't come upstairs.' Brendan got up four times to bring her back downstairs and put her back behind the gate. Finally, as we laid there in the dark listening to her walking up the steps, I said 'let's just pretend to be asleep and see what she does. At least we are not re-enforcing the bad behavior with giving attention to it.' With kitty on my right, the puppy laid next to Brendan's side of the bed (on the floor) and went to sleep.

Perfect.


SO, as of the next morning (10/20), here is the puppy breakdown...

TRAINING
1) Housetrained - yep, so far so good.
2) Leashtrained - nope, Brendan tried taking her for a morning run, which would have worked out well if he wanted to run in tiny circles.
3) Sits on Command - yep, when not distracted.
4) Lies Down on Command - not really, sometimes does when you say sit down.
5) Heels on Command - nope.
6) Comes when you whistle/call her name - not really, comes because you get her attention and she's interested in what you are doing.


LOVES

1) Rawhide sticks - yes, devours them quickly.
2) Big Bone - first night too excited to give it the time and energy needed but second night went to town on it. 1/4 eaten.

HATES

1) Being Alone