| April 17, 2010 |
Reese
|
Hi, Jessica. Wanted to drop you a line to let you know that Reese is doing really well. She hasn't had any accidents in the house at all, and she's adjusting to not having any other dogs around. That's probably the hardest thing for her right now, so it's making her pretty clingy/needy. We're working with that, though, by making sure she gets lots of attention but then also knows that there are times when she needs to entertain herself or just take it easy (ie, she can't have our attention 100% of the time). I've worked from home all week and, as you know, Jim has been pretty much gone, so she's had time downstairs to spend by herself. The first few times, she whined a bit at first, but now she settles down pretty quickly when I come upstairs to work. I make sure she gets lots of fetch in before any stretch where I have to work, and we've been working on her training in the evenings. And you were more right than I can believe -- this is probably the MOST food-motivated dog I've ever met! ;-P It even makes it hard to work on training since she's so fixated with what's in my hand and finds it hard to focus! She's learning sit, shake, and down -- she has to sit for her meals now, and once she gets her wiggle under control, she's pretty consistent with it. :-)
Unfortunately, all the dogs around us have decided to be snarky with her -- or rather, at least one in each yard does that and the rest follow suite. We're getting a privacy fence installed beside the garden where the worst of the "neighbors" are, but we've been planning that for years anyway, so it's just escalated. We've talked to them, and we're also going to work outside of anyone's territory to see if we can make them more friendly, but for now, I'm looking forward to the privacy fence! We're getting the quote today. Reese handles it fairly well, although she does snark back. She's learning "quiet" and is really good about being called off, especially compared to the neighbors' dogs. If you call her in a happy voice, she pretty much walks away, and if you have a squeaky ball, well, even better! She can be distracted, so that's what we try to do for the most part.
Tehya (cat) is doing pretty good. They haven't met face to face, but they've been plenty close, and while Tehya might sprint off, Reese just ignores her. Last night, Tehya kind of stood her ground in the bedroom entryway for a minute when I was bringing Reese up to bed, which was huge progress for her, before she jumped up onto the window sill. I think she knows that she's not in any danger, but she's just taking her time and being cautious, which is her MO. She'll come around! And Reese appears to be pretty patient about waiting for that. I think they'll be good friends once that happens, and Tehya will provide some valuable companionship for Reese at that point.
Just wanted to let you know that things are going well! She's got lots of energy and is still more puppy than dog, but I'm getting used to that. I've actually never had a dog this young and puppy-like, I've always adopted "grown-ups", so it's a learning experience for me, too! I'm just glad she's such a good girl. She did eat one of my sandals, but it was only a "going outside in the yard" sandal and it was my own fault for leaving it out and not paying attention. I keep her contained in the kitchen/family room area when I can't be with her, and she hasn't bothered anything else. She's gutted one squeaky so far, but we had a spare! ;-P
Thank you again for everything you and RMLR did for her! I'll keep you informed!
Cindy |