Now don't get me wrong. Graelee is more than welcome here. She's got dog-skills up her butt, is very good with all two and four-legged, and is that ridiculous kind of cute that makes your usual big-dog lover want to hurl. How can anyone possibly stand something THAT cute!
Proof:
I'd take her back as a paid customer no problem :P But this ridiculously cute PomX got under my skin. She's a total cling-on, doesn't get that there's any sort of personal bubble around anybody. Doesn't get -even after multiple corrections- that she's not allowed to do certain things: like jump on the coffee table, or that she's not allowed in the kitchen, or that she isn't to be an idiot and try to climb up my leg if I'm not giving her any attention. Of course she'd smarten up for about 2-5 seconds until I let my guard down and then she'd be right back in there doing whatever I told her not to do 5 seconds previously!
Which is also annoying, because she's a smart cookie as far as things go. She learns quick, she comes when called (especially when if she doesn't I just shut her outside for a few minutes on her own), and when you're actually working on something, she's right there trying her best to learn.
But for whatever reason, she INSISTED to do everything her way, and she landed herself in a lot of time-outs, and once or twice she got the dreaded 'scruff' (which ironically was probably the least effective of anything as she just looked quite pleased with herself that she got to be escorted to time-out instead of having to go there herself.) The biggest time, she was barking her head off on the other side of the yard.
Me (from the opposite side of the yard): Graelee, quit it!
Graelee: BARK, BARK BARKBARKBARKBARKBARK
ME: GRAELEE!
Graelee: --as if the volume had been turned up on her bark to tune me out. BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!!!!
ME -moving over to the other side of the yard with that "I'm going to kill you look" (That usually shuts them right up cause 'the look' is business.)
Graelee: (throws her head back) and BARK!!!BARK!!!BARK!!!!BARK!!!BARK!!!
Complete eye contact and complete disrespect!
And by this time I'm pretty much seeing stars. Cause she's acknowledging me completely. She knows I'm yelling at her, she knows I mean business and she couldn't give one shit that the shit was going to hit the fan soon.
And mid-bark, I grab her by that big-arse scruff she has and yank her so high in the air I we were face to face. She shut up real good, but that smug little face (a face I wanted to crack up at, and that probably prevented me from shaking the living beegeegers out of her) just said `Fine, I didn`t want to walk back to the other side of the yard anyway`.
Jerrad nearly peed himself when she saw me carrying her by the scruff into the house.
Luckily, I think I won that battle in the end, as she never again barked past the `I`m going to kill you` look. The only battle I seemed to have won in the not quite week she was with me was the war on barking. She's a pom, barking is in that breed through and through. Bark and anything, everything, and nothing. Luckily, with enough stubbornness on my part, and Graelee's dislike of being unable to play, she figured that out pretty fast. You play quiet, you keep playing. You start barking -more than just your once in a couple minutes bark- and you're going down.
Plus, whenever she was bugging me too much, I stuck her in a crate with Trunk. Cause Trunk would shut her up fast! My good little helper dog :)
Put both of them away when I go to work. I leave the house and here the beginnings of Graelee`s 10-minute fit (I timed it to make sure it was less than 15 so she wouldn`t annoy the landlords), and I hear `BARKBARKBARK--YIPPPPP!!!!!`And then silence. Another victory for Trunk :)
That said I'm glad to say I spent almost all of Saturday bark-free. Thank god, cause if there's one thing that drives me up the wall its barking for no reason -second only to barking for no reason after I`ve told you repeatedly to stop barking for no reason.
Graelee really is the kind of dog a lot of people will fall in love with. She`s cuddly, personable, doesn`t take much to heart, likes to learn, and gets away with so much because she`s tiny, a pretty, and fun to watch. Maybe its just my usual frustration with little dogs getting away with things because their little, but for whatever reason I both loved, and loved to hate that little blue merle speedy gonzales.
---But on her end, I think she had an absolute blast. (especially since she got to be so darn annoying along so annoyingly cute).
Some pictures that acknowlege I a) didn`t kill her and b) that she did in fact have a good time.
Make them DO something!
Hanging with the Current Crew
Getting Ren to Play. ---I think Ren will miss her a bit. Graelee grew on her.
Wrestling with Trunk
Chew Stick
Nylabone Heaven
Why does she always give me the eyes that I should do something about sleepy play partners
I`ll give Graelee credit for helping Ren discover play the TG way.
Hopefully all her vetting goes well, as despite a love-hate relationship with her, she`s so happy-go-lucky, so good-natured, and so very POM! Just as I`m a sled-dog lover, any pom enthusiast is getting exactly what they`ve asked for, and a little bit of Aussie thrown in somewhere along the line :P Whoever eventually adopts her into their circle will be a lucky family indeed.
P.S. Yvette -no barkies, okay!
All the best Graelee!
Your short-term foster mum.
1 comment:
She reminds me a lot of my late blue merle sheltie - Graelin hence Graelee in memory of a wonderful little dog. She was jsut startin gthe bark thing here when she left. She got hauled in a lot here too - I do not allow nonsense barking!! Too many dogs. It will be nice to see here but she is going to foster in Telkwa close to our vet in Smithers.
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