doggy chronicles – rides in cars

slurp

Mississippi seems to love the car. I’m encouraging this love by making sure we stop by somewhere fun every time we take a trip. Today we went to Sellwood park for the first time. It was a treat for me because I saw an eagle. It was a treat for her because there were all sorts of gopher mounds to sniff and a new dog to meet. She’s still barking and going crazy around other dogs but I’ve occasionally managed to get her to sit quietly for a little bit before she tugs me over to greet her new friend. She doesn’t sit every time. Sometimes it’s just too exciting. Yesterday she met three dogs. One was an old yellow lab with a huge belly tumor. They played for a while and had a good time. She met a mut, maybe rottweiler mixed with something smaller and fluffier. She was very afraid of that one but I just let her back off and try again. Soon they were sniffing and playing. The third dog was such a cutie and had just fallen into the casting pond while chasing a duck. Still thankful Missi doesn’t care much about other animals besides dogs and humans. She’s getting better at not barking at people but yesterday she barked at a nice woman waiting at a bus stop.

We went to a class Monday night and we’ve been practicing our ‘come’ and click treating. I’m very excited about her training classes. She gets 8 hours of private training and 4 weeks of unlimited classes as long as there is room. So we’ll be going to a minimum of 4 classes and I’m going to try to go to as many as possible. There are 8 different topics and you can repeat anything you want. She’s getting slightly better at ‘down’ and is still a pro at ‘sit’ and ‘shake.’ She now sits at the corner without being asked, unless there’s another dog around. She’s getting better at ‘wait’ which is how I have been trying to deal with the pulling. She isn’t motivated by following a treat to ‘heel’. If the treat isn’t released to her immediately, she assumes she’s not going to get it so she goes and does her own thing. So I am confused on how to get her to walk by my side. She’s starting to catch on that we like it when she stretches. We’re trying to teach her ‘bow’. She hasn’t connected the word with the action but she knows she gets a treat when she bows. She’s going to be quite the trick dog. The other day she was running and leaping past me, I think flaming hoops could be in her future. She also did a funny crawl yesterday while we were playing.

The leash tugging is making me nuts. I don’t understand how people with larger dogs can handle it. I feel like she’s going to twist up my spine like a peppermint stick. I’m hoping we can work on that next Monday in class. I can’t take much more. Sometimes on walks i just want to turn around and go home.

I’ve stopped putting peanut butter in her kong, it’s obviously not good for her stomach. Now I pack it with her food rations so she’s not overeating. It keeps her occupied for longer periods of time that bowl eating alone. She needs to be occupied all day long or she starts to act out. Very difficult to work while she’s threatening to eat the house down. She doesn’t seem to chew when we aren’t there, it seems she does it for attention. It works, since we are renters, I would really prefer she not destroy the house! protruding wood like window sills are in danger when she’s frustrated. She brings me her kong and food puzzle when she is done or she can’t get the food out.

We got a little too comfortable with her yesterday. At night she sleeps on her bed at the foot of our bed with the bedroom door closed. We left our bedroom door open and I found her sleeping on the couch in the morning. We’re trying to keep her off the couch. Then in the morning, before we had a chance to take her outside, Tom left the door to the basement open while he checked his email. It took her all of 30 seconds to poop in the basement. Our first accident since we got her. Because she spends less time in the basement, and because she was ready to do her business, the basement must have seemed like a logical place to go. I’m trying to have play time in the basement so it’s more familiar to her as a part of her house and not a good bathroom place.

I lost my cool yesterday with her tantrums. I had to take a time out as soon as Tom got home. She is hard and it’s difficult for me to keep a positive perspective all day long. I caught myself stomping my foot because I’d just had it. I’m starting to dream of sneaking out to the studio and leaving her alone in the house. I wish I could put her on a long leash by the garage and hang out with her while I paint. I doubt she’d have the patience. Yesterday she got three walks and two big plays in the backyard. Until we can get her off leash where she can chase balls for long distances, I think the tantrums will continue. She needs serious runs. We aren’t physically capable of wearing her out. Humans are so sedentary compared to her. Even running with her is not enough.

I want to give her a bath but I’m so afraid of scaring the hell out of her. When I take a bath, she cowers in the living room shaking with her ears down. We have to show her our baths aren’t scary.

We’ve been playing tug of war in the backyard. She is a mighty force. It’s a little frightening how strong and fast she is. I like to play matador with her. I have to be careful when we play fetch with a stick that she doesn’t accidentally grab my hand. She’s so cute with sticks. She rolls onto her back and uses her paws like a raccoon to hold and chew the stick. It makes me feel good that she’s comfortable playing on her back with me. She absolutely loves to dig so I need to make her a safe place to dig. I’ll go to the hardware store and get some 2x6s and build her a sand box. Our trainer says to hide toys in it.

We took Tom to the airport very early today and when he got out of the car and walked away, she started crying. She stared at him from the back window until he was out of sight. She was very sad that we left him at the airport.

Today is day nine since we adopted her. She’s so damn cute. It’s a definite bonus for her. When she’s hyper and barking at people or dogs, she still manages to look cute and harmless so people are more tolerant of her. She’s such a lover too. No matter what else happened at her previous home, it’s very apparent to me that she was very loved. It must have been a difficult decision to give her up. I wish I could tell the people who had her before that she has a good home now and we’re going to figure out how to work through her issues. I don’t blame them for her issues. They were probably frustrated and didn’t have the time or resources to get her trained and well adjusted. They probably did the best they could. She is a hard dog. Our trainer thinks maybe she was around an infant and got into serious trouble because she has fear of some toys. I sometimes feel like we are saving her life and that makes the difficult times a little easier to swallow. I just have to remember to just leave the house when it gets to be too much to handle. She’s fine on her own for a little bit and the breaks make me a better dog owner.

Being with Mississippi is mostly joyful and things will only get better with more training. Just gotta hang in there and keep my cool.


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