 |
March was mainly a blur of the everyday life we have settled into. She doesn't need to go to doggy daycare anymore. She is OK being left alone during the day while I'm at work. She is sometimes busy while I'm gone. Pulling things out of the garbage, dragging things from the bedroom into the living room and vice versa, and once in a while, chewing something she shouldn't. Not all in one day...she really is a good girl! Her chewing seems to be reserved for paper products! Kleenex boxes, books, catalogs, tissue paper, the back of tablets...you get the idea. In a strange way, I'm glad she is at home enough and confident enough she will do something kind of naughty. She'll do it, know she is wrong, and I can scold her and we are still friends. That is actually a big step for us. Before, she would shy her head away and "shut down." Now it is just the normal challenge of me keeping things out of her reach and scolding her when she gets something. She'll stay out of things for a while, and then, like a normal dog, she'll think it sounds like a pretty good idea. This is something I would never tolerate in another breed of dog. Maybe it is because she is mine that I'm such a big softie. Or maybe it is because this is a special kind of dog and you are |
|
grateful for the normal behaviors, naughty or not. It somehow signals to me confidence. We have become terribly fond of each other. During our first 3 months, I had a trainer tell me very matter of factly that the dog would bond to me within the first 3 days we were together. I think we got comfortable with each other. But I don't think she really bonded to me for a few months. And now, 6 months later, we have a very special loving bond. I've never been this attached to a dog before. And I love animals tremendously, but I'm just a fool over her.
| |
 |
Last night, she put the greyhound mind-meld on me and I forgot to close the kitchen door before I took the laundry down to the washer. In those 2 minutes I was gone, she rooted through the garbage until she found the chicken wing bones, took them to her bed in my bedroom and proceeded to almost finish them off. I knew something was wrong when I came in the door and she wasn't anxiously waiting for me. When I found her I scolded her and gathered up what bones I could find. Great, cooked chicken bones, these could kill her! And what didn't kill her was going to give her bad diarrhea (bar b q sauce). So I was pretty mad. She was kinda quiet and meek the rest of the night. That evening she wouldn't get in bed with me so I just settled down to go to sleep. About 1am I heard her moving around. So I invited her on the bed. She ran over and got right up there. She mashed her head against my chest with quite a bit of pressure actually, and then just toppled over onto her side. I swear it was a heart-felt apology! Her obediance is much better. I need to put it into practice in public places tho. She gets distracted so easily. I want to sign us up for obediance classes but I think I'm going to try clicker training. Other sighthound owners speak very highly of it. She does sit. |
|
That is a great debate amongst greyhound owners. I tried it out tentatively with her at first and she was pretty receptive. I never made her sit long because it did look uncomfortable with those bunchy muscles. Now that some of the muscle mass is gone (not a lot, we run quite a bit) it is more comfortable and she does it on her own sometimes. "Want to go potty?" We went on a Greyt Greyhound Adventure over Easter. Click here to read about it. | |
|
 |