Tara loves attention. She would flip over on the carpet to entice me to pet her. I think she knows she's cute and pretty. She's smart too. She already knows to sit automatically in front of the door before I put her leash on.
We only saw one stray GSD on our campus walk yesterday. The dog had a collar on, and when Tara saw him/her, she pulled on the leash, but did not bark or growl. I tried to get close to the dog to read what's on the tag or possibly take him to the shelter, but he was a little skittish and kept his distance.
Tara met her first dog nose to nose this morning with me. I haven't seen Kia around since Keely got adopted. Kia is a female five-year-old maybe Siberian Husky/Chow mix, kind of like an Alaskan Husky, mellow yet majestic-looking. When Kia and her mom, Suzie, saw us, Kia ran toward us (not leashed), and Suzie said, "Keely got a haircut!" So while Kia and Tara sniffed each other, I explained to Suzie that this is actually a different dog. Suzie said her first foster dog just got adopted a couple months ago also. She said she had to keep the stray dog at school (she works at Tuskegee vet school), because Kia doesn't like to share with other dogs. She said she thought she was okay with the adoption until they drove away, and she said she kept worrying about if the dog is doing okay with the new family. I told her I feel the same things too whenever my fosters get adopted. She said the family told her she can visit anytime, and she's going to call them to see how the dog's going. Anyways, Kia and Tara got along great, no barking, no growling, they just sniffed each other for five minutes while Suzie and I talked. I didn't even bring treats because I didn't think we would meet other dogs at 6 O'clock in the morning. Then Kia had enough and sat about three feet away, with her back toward us. Suzie said to her dog, "That's kind of snobbish of you!" I thought that was cute. Tara wanted Suzie to pet her (Tara appears to love all humans, she would pull on leash toward my neighbors, wanting attention). Suzie said Tara has a memorable and wise face, and very cute paws too.
I just realized today that Leslie�s foster dog, Samantha, will be ten year old in October just like Tara. They even look similar, I wonder if they are biologically related. Leslie is the one who helped with Jake�s transport.
Leslie says about Sam, �This wily old girl manipulates the whole family, we eat sleep and walk according to her schedule. She is the most human dog I've ever known.� Haha I think a lot of senior dogs are this way, definitely sounds like Penelope. Before I got Tara, I thought she looked like Penelope from Donna�s picture, and also I get her at age nine just like when Penelope came to live with me. But just like with my other fosters, once the dog comes to live with me, I realized they are very different from Penelope, and are different from each other also, not just physically, but all have unique personality also. But they all have some certain traits that Penelope had, so I always say that I can see a little bit of Penelope in every one of them, it�s like Penelope lives on in each one of them.
We just went to the local dog park. We saw about ten dogs there. The first dogs we met were a male Kelpie and his brother, a Rottie. The Kelpie was very interested in Tara and kept sniffing her. Tara didn't care, she sniffed back the first 60 seconds or so, then just stood there letting the Kelpie sniff her, didn't stiffen up and didn't act scared. The Rottie got about three feet away from us, no growling or barking from anybody. We also met a Golden, a Lab, a little white dog, a hound/terrier mix (about 30 pounds), and a couple others I can't remember. The hound/terrier mix and Tara also sniffed each other, absolutely no growling or barking or any stiffness from anybody. She also went to the dog's owners for petting. I did bring a bag of treats, but Tara wasn't very interested in them, I'm not sure if she was more focused on the dogs, or because it was so hot and humid (the dog park trail is surrounded by grass and woods). Tara has no problem with the one-mile walk. One thing worth mentioning is that Tara does whine when we go new places, like she whined in the parking lots of the vet's office, on campus on Sunday, and today at the dog park parking lot. But she stops whining once I let her out of the car.
