Monday, September 11, 2006
Deirdre emailed about Peter, �I found the forms to fill out to adopt Peter. I will fill them out this week. Peter is doing great! We love him very much!�
Audrey wrote a very nice new bio for Ringo. And she asked for Peter�s new family�s contact information, so that maybe Lily and Peter could meet again someday.
Pretty much with �Nothing In Life Is Free� (NILIF) with Tara I just do Sit-Stay before going outside, and Sit-Stay before getting a treat. I only occasionally make her sit before meal time, because she's still skipping meals, so I don't think the regular kibbles are that of a big deal to her. Today when it was raining, she slows down a lot. Her arthritis definitely slows her down when it rains. She's not limping, but just walks very slowly.
Today I got an email from Patty and Heather regarding transporting a Springer puppy from Mobile to Atlanta. Patty and David and Lucy are now living in Mobile, and they picked up a newly rescued Springer puppy from a Panama City shelter today. The puppy was named Phoenix. Patty said he�s very puppish but overall pretty good for a puppy. Also he is very sweet and takes cues from Lucy very well. Heather asked Carol and I if we could help transport Phoenix to Atlanta, so he could go to foster care in Tampa with Debbie, who was in Atlanta for the weekend visiting her new grandson.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Deirdre sent an update about Peter and also she contact Audrey regarding Lily. �Peter is doing great. He is such a sweet boy. He really just loves to cuddle and be close. We decided to keep his name because he seems to know it and we couldn't decide on something better.� I like the name Peter and also it fits him pretty well. So I�m glad they�ve decided to keep the name. Peter is such a smart boy that he learned his name after a week in foster care with Mary. So by the time he came to stay with me, he already knew his name.
The original plan regarding Phoenix was for Patty and David to meet me in Auburn and for Carol and I meet in La Grange. However, I called Patty today, and she said that if we transport today, then we�ll have to meet around 6:30 PM, because David gets off work at 3 PM and they can�t leave Mobile before then (they are coming to Auburn for the weekend for the football game). So that would mean Carol and I would have to meet at 8:30 PM in La Grange. However, when I called Carol, Carol said that�s too dark for her to drive at night. But if we transport on Thursday, I can�t get off work until 5 PM as we had planned to work on the new HPLC system all day tomorrow, so that also means nighttime drive tomorrow too. Anyways, we emailed Heather and I told her I can transport the puppy to as far as the Atlanta airport but no further than that (it would be another 30 minutes or so to drive from the airport to Heather�s house), and finally she got Liana to transport and temp foster Phoenix until the weekend. Also I need to mention that we didn�t want to board the puppy in Auburn until the weekend because there are no extra boarding funds from ESRA. Furthermore, if Patty transports him to Auburn at 6:30 PM, all the boarding kennels and vet clinics would�ve closed by that time, and there�s nobody around here who could keep him until he�s transported to Atlanta. So it was important to get him straight to Atlanta. Anyways, Patty and David and I met in Auburn as planned tonight. We met at a gas station right by the freeway. They said that the puppy has been sleeping in the truck, but he is not potty trained. In fact when they kept him at their house last night, he was very good in the crate and went potty outside, but pooped in the kitchen. David went to get Phoenix a bottle of water, and in the picture is Patty giving Phoenix some water.
Tara and I drove up to Nashville to see Keely and Brenna. We didn�t take Anastasia with us because I think she�ll be happier at home when it�s just a one-day trip, and also I�m not sure if I would be able to watch both Tara and Anastasia at the same time.
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.
Liana emailed updates of Phoenix, �Phoenix is safely here at my house until Saturday AM, and then I think Heather is going to take him for a night. He certainly is a cutie pie! And, that's a good thing, too, because he needs it make up for pooping my car on the way home!! Oh well, that's what I get for being too lazy to put the crate in the car. And, it was solid so it was easy to clean, and it was in the cargo area on a protective mat we keep in there. He still hasn't peed, so he's on leash in the house.
He is very much of a handful, but he does appear to know "No" and comes to you very readily if you just pat your leg. He is very submissive with my super-alpha-princess Oreo - belly up at the first growl. And, he is very interested in my kitty, but his interest doesn't seem malicious. We'll see how that goes in the next day or two. Thankfully, my kitty is very dog savvy, and is sticking to high ground as he always does the first day of a new dog in the house. The cat is pretty darned large, too, so he can be intimidating to a puppy. Hopefully, he'll break young pup into being officially "kitty friendly". He may like plush toys, as he immediately went for one here.
Anyway, all I basically have for you on him right now is that he's majorly cute, very friendly, playful, inquisitive, submissive, and NOT potty trained at all. :-)�
Thursday, September 14, 2006
When we go to walks, when we walk on or off the side walks, or near a hole, I would have to slow her down or steer her away from them, because if I don't, she would trip or fall. She had done this two or three times. I don't understand it, it's like she doesn't notice them herself or something. Tara does slow down and check herself when going up and down stairs here though, and I leashed her when going outside the first two weeks, so if she had fallen then I could've sort of caught her with the leash.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Another update of Phoenix from Liana, �Just thought you would like an update on young Pup (we can't bring ourselves to call him Phoenix - it just doesn't seem to fit - he's much more of a Toby or something like that :-).
He's been doing great. Only one pee accident since he's gotten settled into our home. In general, he already has the beginnings of potty training. He does know to "eliminate" when he goes outside. I think the truck incident was just because he was overwhelmed after such a long day of travel. He is a crazy boy, so lots of play time will be key for him. When he can focus long enough, he is starting to grasp the concept of "sit" - I hold a treat in my hand and just hold it up in a closed fit until he hits a good sit. In general, he is SUPER food motivated so when it's feedtime he goes crazy. Lots of jumping, wiggling, sitting, bowing, jumping, counter surfing, wiggling, etc, etc - almost all at the same time. I have been letting him scoff down about half of his meal, and then I use the rest to practice "sit" and put down a handful at a time. This gives Oreo time to eat in peace. In general, I think he will be rather easy to train and hope he gets adopted quickly so he can get into a puppy class. He's at the perfect age for it.
Other tidbits - on the bad side, he is a jump-up kinda boy whenever he's excited, which is basically whenever you move. He does countersurf big time, too. He has growled at Oreo and my kitty some, but he hasn't stalked the cat. I think he just doesn't know where he fits in around here and is a little nervous. I would suggest you get him as socialized as possible to prevent any bad behavior later on. Oh, he even growled at his own reflection in the window last night. He even had his hackles up!
In the car, he is super excited at first, but generally will settle down and sleep after a few minutes. He will likely try to jump out the window, so now window sniffing for him just yet.
I think he is used to getting on the furniture, but we've been keeping him off everything except for a few minutes in the bed in the morning. We are crating him at night and he does fine. One night he fussed for several minutes before settling down, but I think he was more tired last night and just whimpered for a second and then crashed. He does go into it nicely for his treats (I love a food motivated dog). Oh, back to the furniture thing, I think he would be a great cuddler if given the time/chance. We snuggled for a few minutes this morning, but he was too full of energy to stand for it for long.
And I love his markings! I'm partial to fieldies anyway. I think his mostly white face is adorable and it reminds me of an English Setter a little. Also, the top of his little tail is liver so he has this cute "spot" right in the middle of his butt. I think it's adorable.�
I emailed Xalina at the dog training school in Atlanta regarding the CGC test, and she emailed back that they had to delay the current session of CGC class because she had to go back to Vermont for a few weeks because of her mother passing away from cancer. So actually the CGC test is rescheduled to October 28.
I got a dog toy for Keely for the visit, but 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.