Although they drove me absolutely bonkers doing walk-on on the ferry ----I don't think EITHER of them have seen a leash in their life!---, now that they're home, they've fit in rather well.
Allie the Spaniel, "Allie Baba", is shy, but she's also very curious. Everything is new to her, but she isn't shut down and she's keen to explore. These are all great signs that she's going to come around quickly. I also very quickly discovered she is a dog's dog. She loves Alphie, met Beckett and Lemon, and its as if a big sigh of relief went through her. "Thank dog, I'm among my own kind!"
It might take a few weeks, but she's going to figure out how to be a house pet and not a breeding momma. She's zonked out now on a cushion close to all the dogs, but is keeping her distance from us. On the ferry she came up for some attention here and there, and I saw glimpses of a wagging tail. She'll come around. I've done worse, so I know she'll be fine. She'll be coming to daycare with me, going out on group walks and get leash skills and learn to enjoy being pet. I'm not worried about it. I'd rather have a clean slate and work from scratch than have to address a lot of bigger issues.
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| Allie hanging in the crate. I'll be monitoring her crate use over the next day or two. If she's using it as an escape from the rest of the world, she'll have no crate access. For now, she's exhausted, so she might as well get some rest. |
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| You could feel her relief once she 'came home'. Soft bed, dog friends. It'll be okay. |
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| Out for an explore. Lemon has already become a role model for her. |
Foster #2 Alphie is a cutey, but is not photogenic in the least. Maybe its the black-dog thing. He was recently neutered, so he's still wanting to get the girls. Doesn't help that Allie was recently spayed -looks to be healing very nicely!- and Lemon is still intact. She goes in for her spay in January.
On the bright side Lemon told him off really well! One snipe and bam, Alphie hasn't humped anyone else today. He's a darn quick learner. Am I'm still surprised how the heck Lemon has managed to acquire great tell-off skills. I didn't even know a good tell off was in her arsenal.
Anyway Alphie was initially petrified of Beckett -fear aggression on leash, nothing bad-, but has warmed up. He postures quite a bit, but I'm pretty sure he's full of it. Put it this way, I know who'd win that one.
He's friendly with everyone he's met people wise, a little reserved, but friendly. At one point, I'm pretty sure he must have been somebody's dog. He's too cuddly and seemingly housetrained not to be.
The only thing so far with Alphie, and to be fair its not such a 'little' thing, is that he's got the worse leash skills I've ever seen. I'll take a puller, overeagerness can be dealt with. But Alphie throws himself into temper tantrum after temper tantrum, screaming and biting (at the leash), and choking himself until he's a tangled mess of leash and dog and you don't quite know how the hell the collar managed to stay on. So for Alphie, after the inital day or two of settling in, his 'life skills' include, most importantly, figuring out the leash ---who the heck wants to adopt a dog they can't even take on a simple walk!---, and socializing him around bigger dogs. Beckett will help him. I think he's fine once there's a calm environment, meetings need the work, and it certainly doesn't help that he's a three year old guy who was only just neutered. Ahh little dog syndrome. It's mild for now. We'll see if that holds true down the line. Once we master the leash -or at least get to a point where he's not a extreme bucking bronco-, he'll be a good fit for most any family.
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| Passed out after travels. |
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| Cold in Canada |
Alvin is a 2 year old Chi (I'm pretty sure he's a purebred chi, but he doesn't have papers so it doesn't really matter.) Anyway, he's the complete package. Outgoing, adventurous, good on a leash, quite likes the big dog, okay with a bunch of girls in his face, backs away from a challenge. He has odd way of carrying himself that is EXTREMELY confident, (not dominant!) that might put off some other males, but I think that's mainly a Chi thing. He's definately a chi! He's got confidence out the wazoo.
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| 6 Pounds of Confidence |
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| I Like to Play with Toys :) |
The next couple of days will be a bit of trial and error, as the first 4-7 days can be very trying, but expect things to get to normal shortly.
Here's hoping I haven't bitten off more than I can chew already!
Emily Out
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