Thursday, February 11, 2010

Making progress

We took Megan with us to a Super Bowl party on Sunday. She did not bark
or growl once. At first it was hard to keep her out of the kitchen but
once I gave her a blanket and told her that was her place to be she
pretty much stayed there. If she started to wander toward the kitchen,
all I had to do was tell her to come back and she did.

This morning we brought her outside to shovel snow with us. Since the
bolting incident on the second day she was with us we have been very
careful not to have her outside a fence without holding onto her or, in
some instances, hooking her to a post. Today we just put a leash on her
and let her drag it. There was no attempt to run away at all.

She and Pam are now good friends. She has jumped up in Pam's lap and given her kisses several times now.

You can see an example of this here

We continue to have some adventures. Sometimes it is our fault. We're
still not used to a dog that can counter surf. She ate a leftover
enchilada (opened the plastic container it was in and everything) and a
bag of chipped beef.

I am treating her for ear mites and a bacterial ear infection. She is
so good about it. She comes to me right away and lays her head on my
lap.

Eventually, we will take her to obedience class. We'd love to be able to
take her to the dog park but with her tendency to run away (maybe we're
overcoming that) and her wariness of other dogs, we don't think it's
possible yet.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Megan's new trick

Going on a month with Megan now. It's hard to believe! It has been a struggle leaving in the morning. Usually just telling her to stay works but if we forget, doG help me! We have a mudroom that connects our house to the garage. Today she ran out the backdoor and plopped down in front of the door into the garage. When we told her she had to go in the house, she rolled over onto her back and presented us with her belly. For a while,we didn't think we'd be able to get her to move. She weighs 55 pounds, so we could pick her up if we absolutely had to but we'd rather not. Eventually she did go back in the house and jump into "the chair formerly known as my chair". I wish I could make this easier on everybody!

Other new tricks:

1) Opening the dog food bin. We had to close it with a twisty tie. Suppose it's a matter of time before she figures out how to work that, right?
2) coat-eating. Well, not really, but she goes absolutely wild over the fur trim on the hood of Pam's coat. I found this out late one night when I heard a terrible racket. When I went to investigate I found the chair on which Pam had put her coat was knocked over and there were little tufts of fur strewn about. The damage wasn't noticeable but I guess we know better now.


Having a smart dog is both a blessing and a curse.