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Keely |
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Saturday, May 20, 2006
Angie and her husband met me at Waffle House parking lot in Auburn. Alfie, the puppy, had chewed half way through the leash that was tied to the headrest. And also Angie found a urine puddle, they think it was from Alfie. Angie said the person who's in charge of kennel at the vet clinic said the two dogs always kept their area very clean, so maybe it was because Alfie drank a lot of water that morning. Angie also said the kennel person told her that Belle's pretty hard on Alfie, that when he does something wrong, she would correct him. Both Belle and Alfie pottied on the grass, and both did Sit on command, well, not every time we told them to, but they appeared to have some concept of linking spoken word with action. Belle looks very sweet, Alfie is just a typical puppy, full of energy and curiosity, picking up everything he could find and chew them. Angie said Belle was very good in her car, so we didn't tie Belle's leash in my car. But she said Alfie would try to get into the front seat if we don't tie him, so we did. Angie asked if I had anything in the car for Alfie to chew to keep him occupied, but I said no. I told her I guess if he chews through my leash, I brought an extra one that we can use.
Immediately Alfie started trying to get into the front seat. Luckily we had him tethered to the door handle. Within 3 minutes of in my car, Alfie started chewing the pet car seat in the front passenger seat (Belle sat on the backseat, Alfie sat on the floor of the backseat). I told him "hey" and slide my hand between his mouth and the pet car seat. Alfie nipped me. It wasn't a hard nip, and he only did it once. I pushed him back into the backseat. Then he was quiet for three minutes, but I turned around to check him, I found him chewing a hole through my backseat cover. So I again slide my free hand between his mouth and the seatcover, again he nipped me, and I said "ouch" in a high-pitched voice. I didn't snatch my hand away, don't know if I should've. Anyways, he didn't nip me again, but he still was very interested in chewing the seatcover. So I decided to start petting him to keep his attention on my hand instead on my car seat cover. I kept petting him for 20 minutes, maybe this constant attention to him is not good, but neither does chewing inappropriately, and I didn't have anything appropriate for him to chew. Anyways, I kept scratching his neck, thinking if he extends his neck for me to scratch, it would be harder for him to chew at the same time. I kept scratching him for 20 minutes, getting slower and slower by the minute, until my hand and arm were tired, so I quietly stopped scratching him.
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When I turned around to look at them, Alfie had fallen asleep on the floor... |
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They remained asleep for another hour until we got off the freeway, then Belle woke up first. |
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Karen said she likes Belle a lot and that she loves puppies. Her son, James, seemed to have a lot of fun meeting and playing with Alfie too. I don't think Karen brought a crate either, but she said she brought James along to help watch the dogs in the car.
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Also, when I was sewing tonight, several times Keely was growling on and off (I don't know for what reason, I was busy sewing and didn't pay much attention). Samson got scared and stayed near me. I went up to Keely and said "hush" to her, and she stopped. Here�s the tablecover I made for ESRA events. The cover is made for a 6-foot long table. |
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... so did Belle on the seat. |
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Belle and Alfie and I were in the Ruby Tuesday parking lot waiting for Karen. It was too hot to wait in the car, so I took them out and they both pottied and then I sat under a tree in the shade. Belle was very calm and sat with me, but Alfie was again full of energy and walking around. First he chewed on an empty bottle on the ground and I led him away. Then he chewed on the sprinkler head in the grass and I led him away again. Finally he started chewing on the concrete, so I decided to take them for a short walk. It was pretty hot so we didn't go far. When we sat in the shade again, Alfie found a pine cone and started chewing that. When I put my hand out to take it away, he nipped me once again. So I took them back to the car. Belle seemed to be content to remain in the car, but Alfie started chewing stuff in the car again. Luckily Karen and her son came right about then. |
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Overall Samson and Keely are doing fine together. I have no problem leaving them together unsupervised while I'm still at the apartment (in the bathroom, doing dishes, etc). However, I had to leave them for four hours to help out with Alfie and Jasmine�s transport this morning, and I decided to leave Keely in the bedroom with Anastasia, and left Samson in the livingroom by himself. I think Keely's feeling more comfortable around Samson, less growling today. Tonight when Samson blocked her way in the hallway, she even jumped over him without hesitation. I didn't walk them today, just several potty breaks around the apartment. Then after dark, I took them to the tennis court to let them run without leash. A kid (5-6 years old) saw us and "teased" the dogs by barking at them (please teach your kids not to tease dogs, not all dogs are as friendly as Samson or as supervised as Keely!). His parents were right there too, drinking beer by the picnic table. Keely didn't pay any attention to the kid, but Samson barked back, I think he thought the kid was trying to make friends with him, he thinks about that with everybody. Finally I led Samson away to stop him from barking. The neighbors will complain if my dog barks too much, but they probably won't if a human kid does it. Samson tried to play with Keely with play bow (well, not as obvious as when a "tall" dog does it, but he does it in his own Basset way). Keely looked confused and just stood there, but did not growl. Finally Samson gave up. I think Keely will loosen up enough in a week to play with Samson. Several times tonight, Keely slept on Samson's bed, and Samson slept in hers, but they returned to their own beds by the time we turned in for the night. Also, for breakfast, Samson would not eat his. Recently his parents switched him to Iams and dry kibble only (used to be Kibble N Bits dry mixed with Alpo wet). I tried to leave his food out longer for him to eat. Keely was very good and did not go eat Samson's food without my permission, but she did become possessive of Samson's food and started growling when Samson came near it, so I just took the bowl away. I left it out for five minutes again about an hour later, he refused to eat again. For dinner, I left the food out again for five minutes, still he refused to eat. Then I took up the bowl, added water to the food, left the bowl in the fridge. Two hours later, I showed the moistened food to Samson, and he ate immediately. |
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