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Keely |
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Also, I found Keely�s right canine tooth is chipped last Saturday, a couple hours before the fight. So I�m sure it�s not from the fight. Keely does not appear to be in pain, so I hope it�s nothing serious. |
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Saturday, August 26, 2006
I took Keely to the groomer�s this morning because she was scooting on the carpet (I only saw her do it once) on Wednesday. The person who expressed the anal glands said they were almost full. But we did not see Rebekah at the store. Rebekah had asked me to bring Keely in for her to see because Keely�s her favorite (just stands there when she did her anal gland, and also small enough that Rebekah would carry her around).
Keely�s parents called this morning and said that since they left Tampa early, they will be able to come to Auburn to pick her up from my apartment (instead of meeting in Montgomery). When Keely saw them, she was so happy. And they are so understanding about the ear situation, even reimbursed me for the vet bill. But I still feel bad about it. I will definitely watch them more closely from the beginning next time. I told them that the vet said the sutures need to be removed in two weeks. Ed and Barbara said that Keely and Milo are doing fine together. Occasionally they would drink out of each other�s water bowls, and Milo would swipe his paw over Keely�s back as she walks by, but overall they respect each other�s boundaries. Also, they said that Keely now has no problem during meal times. I told them that I was very surprised when I let Tara stand near the entrance of the kitchen while Keely was eating at the other end of the kitchen, and Keely did not growl (actually Keely did growl once on one day, Tuesday I think, anyways, I picked up her bowl and made her Sit-Down-Stay, and she immediately seemed to know she did something wrong; she didn�t growl again over food after that). I am very impressed. I didn�t allow Keely to go near Tara while Tara�s eating either, because I didn�t want Tara or Keely to start guarding Tara�s food. Ed and Barbara said that Keely is eating her food very fast now, just like Milo, and Sit-Down-Stay very well before they give her meals. And they said that when they (the humans) are eating, Keely also knows that she�s not supposed to be right next to the table and would sit in the family room. And occasionally when she comes near them while they are eating, they would just have to tell her once and she would go to the family room by herself. They said that Mark had come home the day before and is asking about Keely. Their cell phone ranged while they were at my apartment, and they said that was Erica, who was calling to see if they had picked up Keely yet. I think it�s so nice that both Erica and Mark like to spend time with Keely too. I have given Keely a �puppy� haircut a couple days ago, Keely was very good with the grooming, but I wasn�t able to give a bath because her sutures are not supposed to get wet. Barbara said the haircut looks great, and she said that she also saw Keely scooting on the floor before, but that went away when they took her in for bath at the groomer�s. Ed and Barbara also brought a bonsai for me. I don�t have a good track record with plants, they usually die within a month because I over-water them. But I will follow the care instruction sheet closely and hopefully it�ll live a long time. When Keely walked to the car with her parents, she didn�t looked back. I miss her a lot, but it�s nice to know that they�ve bonded and that she knows they are her family now.
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Monday, September 11, 2006
I called Keely's family yesterday. Barbara wasn't home, but Erica (the daughter) answered the phone, so I guess Keely has her big sister around for a few more days until school starts.
Ed said the vet removed the suture and said her ear is fine. They went to the first obedience class on Saturday (instructor is Peggy Harrington, she's one of the trainers quoted in the August issue of Whole Dog Journal in Pat Miller's article). First class is for owners only, he said Peggy has three dogs, and there are three other dogs registered for class (Peggy likes to keep class size small), all rescues. Ed said everybody seemed nice, and they are going to learn clicker training, and that Peggy also has an agility class on Sundays. But they go to football games on Sundays in the fall, so Ed said they will try it for the Spring session. He said Keely's doing great. He said they are trying to train her to let her outside in the yard without leash (with them outside with her of course). He said most of the time she would come immediately when they call her, but they would have to call her twice when she sees a bird or squirrel. Is he complaining or bragging (haha), because I told him most Springers would not come no matter how many times you call them when they see a bird or squirrel (thus a long line � not Flexi (retractable leash) � is needed sometimes). They do let her leash free for short periods in the fenced-in pool area couple times a week and he said she likes that a lot. He said they try to take her everywhere, when they go pick up dinner at night, one of them would stay in the car and the other one go inside. He said she's wonderful in the car and also great on walks.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Saturday morning Tara and I drove up to Nashville to visit Keely (and then afterwards we went to see Brenna and their new house). Tara only slept maybe 1 hour out of the four and half hour drive. Ed opened the front door for us. He led us toward the sun room, and Tara was curious and sniffed around. Barbara was in the family room, I'm gussing to wake up Keely. Keely walked slowly toward us, stood in front of me to pet her. After I bent down to pet and kiss her, she suddenly recognized me and got all excited and started licking my face. Barbara asked if she could help with Tara and I handed her Tara's leash. The picture of Keely and me was taken by Ed because my digital camera batteries ran out near the end of the visit.
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Ed and Barbara said they were in the first obedience class with Keely this morning (last week's class was for owners only), and that Keely's most well-behaved dog in class. They were pretty impressed to see all the commands she knows. Ed and Barb said Keely did pretty well considering it was a completely new environment and people and dogs. Barb gave me a clicker and said they got several (I've told them before I never learned clicker because nobody around Auburn teaches it). Also they showed me the reading material the instructor gave them. They also made me a copy of the folder and I will be very happy to read and learn from it. Tara did fine with Keely, but Keely growled when I was petting her and Tara came near us. Keely did the same thing when Tara got near her when Keely's mom was petting Keely. Keely's parents talked about their obedience class with Keely, they said the other two dogs were adopted from shelter and have very obvious fear issues (hiding under a shrub). They said Ed and the instructor got into a little "discussion" because he was using firm, deep voice when telling Keely to come. They came to agreement that Ed will not have to use high-pitch, happy voice, and that he will prefer to use the clicker. Barbara prefers to use "Yes!" instead of the clicker but they will practice using a clicker. Also they said they will need to get a long line to practice the recall command with Keely in class. I saw a candy dish with what looked like peanut shell inside on the kitchen counter. Then when Keely first started growling (at Tara for being possessive over me and over Keely's mom), Ed took out the "peanut shell" and had Keely come to him. Then I realized they had little broken pieces of treat in the candy dish. Ed and Barb explained that Peggy, the obedience class instructor, said that they need to have treats all over the house, so that they can train the dog wherever. Ed and Barb said Peggy even said to carry treats all the time, but an alternative is to have little bowls of treats in high places in each room, so they can train the dog wherever. Barb said Peggy forgot and fed Keely some hotdog pieces in class today (Keely has food intolerance toward artificial preservatives), but she seems fine right now. Barb said she has three different treats for class training, one regular biscuit, one dried chicken pieces she got from Peggy's store, and the other treat I forgot (freeze-drive chicken liver?). Barb said Peggy saw her trying to juggle three bags of treats, and suggested that they get a carpenter's apron for a dollar at home improvement store and that should fit all three treats. Barb said that Keely has been wonderful when meeting other dogs in public, still not playing with them, but just stands still letting them sniff her. She said there are two Springers they saw on walk, one b/w and one l/w, same family. One time the b/w one came out of their yard and toward Keely and Barb. Barb was a little worried and then Keely slipped out of her collar (I don't know when this happened, but I did tightened the collar when Keely stayed with me two weeks ago) so Barb was a little freaked out. But she said Keely just stood still at the same place until Barb went to get her. Barb and Ed were petting Tara while I was petting Keely. Barb said Tara's fur is getting longer even from two weeks ago, but she said she doesn't like the dog shaved like that, she likes the way Keely's fur is long. I told them that Heather had to shave Keely too when she first came to rescue because she was matted. I call Keely�s hairstyle a �puppy cut�. |
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Tara enjoys pets from Ed and Barbara. Then Ed asked about Tara and Peter, I told them that Tara got along better with Peter, because he's a submissive female. He said he remembers during the phone interview that Debbie told them that she prefers males because females are harder to train and if they get into fight it's harder to break. He said they did a lot of research before applying. He made a list of all the dogs they've had and what he likes about them and what he doesn't like about them, and what he's willing to accept. Then they decided on a Springer, because Maggie (their previous English Setter) was a wonderful dog but the biggest problem was Maggie loved food, and when they set the table for dinner, one person would have to watch Maggie or watch the table, or else she would eat everything she could reach. Same with countersurfing and trashcan raiding, and she was a large dog so she had a good reach. And Springers are smaller and a small Springer won�t be able to reach onto top of the kitchen counter. He said they looked at all the bios and liked Keely. He said there are a few minor issues they had to go through and be trained and train Keely, but they think Keely is perfect for them and just the dog they were looking for. He said Keely is very quiet and they like that about her. And he said Keely follows Barb everywhere around the house. In fact, Peggy told the class that they should get their dogs to focus on them just like Keely is focused on Barb, and that Keely is very well adjusted to her forever home. And when I was there I could tell the devotion by the way Keely looks up at her mom. Barb said Erica (the daughter) was home last week and Erica said if she could take Keely in a suitcase back with her to Chicago she would. All of them just love Keely. Ed said Erica likes to pet Keely, whereas Mark (the son) likes to play fetch with Keely. Then Ed went downstairs to copy the training manual for me, while rest of us continued to be in the kitchen area. Then Milo (the cat) came up. I picked up Milo and said his fur is so soft. Barb said now she puts a couple drops of Keely's fatty acid in Milo's food too. She said last week Erica fed Milo and Keely, and Erica watched them and saw that Milo didn't finish all his food (he loves food) and then Keely would come to finish for him. Barb said that she hadn't notice that before, maybe Milo doesn't finish his food when Erica's around, but Barb said she will watch for that so Keely doesn't get sick from eating cat food. Earlier Ed said that Keely and Milo are getting along better. Keely would drink out of the cat's water bowl, but it used to be that she would not like it when Milo drinks out of her bowl. But he said earlier last week, he was working on the door lock, and saw Milo drinking out of the dog's bowl again, and he saw Keely staring at Milo, but did not growl and no chase. He said one time Keely was taking an afternoon nap in the bedroom, and Milo zoomed by, that scared and woke Keely, and got Keely chasing the cat, so they had a cat-dog chase through the house. But Milo never did that again, at least not near Keely when she's sleeping. |
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Tara knows exactly how to get people to pet her. Whenever Ed stopped petting, she would start whining, and Ed and Barbara would pet her again. See how much Tara enjoyed the extra attention.
Keely looks so happy and well adjusted to her new home and family.
�I want to let you know how much Keely likes her new toy. She has been playing with it quite a bit tonight.�
I got it when we were dog-sitting Jake and he had a lamb toy and Keely really liked it. So I searched online and found one that looks exactly like it and got it for Keely for the visit. Keely didn�t play much with it when Tara and I were there, maybe she remembered that Tara is possessive of toys. Anyways I�m so glad Keely likes her new lamb toy.
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