Miss Cindy and the Stairs.

I am happy to report that as of yesterday.... (drum roll please)...Miss Cindy WENT DOWN THE STAIRS! I'd been carrying her down, because she was scared of them. But she doesn't particularly like being picked up. SO, it was a conundrum... when she was upstairs she wanted to stay up, and when she was down she wanted to stay down. We've been working on her confidence, going on bigger stairs and doing the lower part of the staircase. Well, yesterday she decided she'd want to try it herself, and walked up to me as I was sitting on the top step. So I put my hand on her collar to keep her steady in case she lost control and slid down on my butt one step at a time as she made her maiden voyage. She's gaining confidence daily, which makes me proud of her!!

after the park...

A late addition, but I thought this was cute... after her romp in the park...

Dutchie and Miss Cindy at the park...

Today we were going to go for a walk, Miss Cindy and I. We wandered down the street, her nose to the sidewalk back and forth, checking out the world. And we wound up at a little park. Where we met Dutchie. Dutchie was a very nice pug beagle mix who loved to play. And so we let them.

Our walk wasn't the longest, but I think Miss Cindy had loads of fun and that's the important part. On our way home she was more focused with a lot of the puppy energy burned out of her and at this moment she's crashed out under the coffee table, probably dreaming of wrestling with bigger dogs...

:)

Miss Cindy growing up...

 Miss Cindy is getting bigger. And still no home. I've been out walking her, showing her off to the neighborhoods and we'd thought that she might possibly have found a forever home, but it seems that it's on hold while we wait. But she's not waiting. She's growing, and learning, and getting smarter and more shepherd-like as you read this.

Here's what I have learned about Miss Cindy. And what she has learned. We've fallen into a lovely rhythm where I wake up at about 6:45 in the morning and take her outside to go potty. There are a couple of walks, one shorter, one longer, and several trips out just for potty. She is still scared of the stairs, but today I took her down to the laundry room to practice on the five stairs going down there, and she managed it quite nicely. I have a feeling that it's the darker red carpeting, the shadows, and the larger amounts of stairs that throw her off.

She's a puppy, so of course she's still in the nibble stage. She HAS, however, decreased on that one a lot. It pretty much happens now only when she's really excited. Whoever gets her will want to continue to discourage it by redirecting. I've seen many people who let her chew on them and say that it's okay because she's a puppy... but she's got to learn some time...better now than when she's big. Because she's going to be big enough that what is cute now is painful later. When she wakes up and before and in spurts she's very energetic, and loves to run and play growl at her leash, and play with her toys. I've figured out the key is to give her enough exercise. When she's able to run it off she becomes calm and loves to sit with you and just hang out. Right now she's laying under the couch. Well, she WAS. :-)

She can startle at things that she's not seen or heard before. This morning, she saw a garbage truck from about twenty feet away backing up...the beep beep beep part scared her and she wanted to run, but with a little hunkering down and calm chat she ran up and sat between my legs and was able to watch. Anything, she'll come and sit between my feet and then look at whatever it is with curiosity. Once she knows it's not going to get her, she's fine.

Once she's got her frenetic puppy energy run off (it's getting easier now) she does very well at Sit, Down, Touch, Paw (that's a great one, by the way, when she has her leash wrapped around her leg) and she's doing REALLY well at sitting on command when we see another dog coming along. Since she's a puppy and some dogs like their space, we leave it up to the other dog's non-fur parents to let us know if it's okay to play. If so, then it's on. What has surprised me, though, is her sweet side is coming out, and what I thought might be a dominant dog is sitting and rolling over on her back for pets and for play...a submissive gesture. And she loves putting her nose to the ground looking for stuff to pick up. We're using "ick!" "out!" for her to know that that's not a good thing to eat... :-)

Now if she still wants to stay where she's at, she WILL plop down and not move... and no, treats aren't really going to help. She's a bit blase about them. But she DOES love her evil squirrel squeaky toy and tennis balls. As long as you make it sound like it's the best thing ever to come to you right now she'll lay there and stare at you (that shepherd stubborn streak). So getting her to come to you solely to put her leash on or to get her to go into her crate isn't a great idea. She's smart enough to figure out that you're going to do something when you use a specific tone of voice... but if you call her over for nothing more than to give her lots of love and pets, well then she'll love you and won't mind coming over at all...

Oh, and she loves to argue with Mr. B. Until I tell them to break it up. :-D

Miss Cindy out and about...the social Butterfly...

 Today was a beautiful day. As of today, Miss Cindy is approximately 2 months, ten days old. She's getting bigger and stronger and so we went for a looooong walk. All the way around the block. :)  And here are some more things that I've learned about Miss Cindy...

 When Miss Cindy is out and about, she's almost ALWAYS got her nose to the ground, sniffing things out, wanting to pick things up. But with a nice firm "out" and a little tug on the leash she almost always drops it. Then she's off to find the next interesting thing....

 She met this gent, who was out walking his HUGE Mastiff (who happened to love puppies and drooled all over her back... but that's not a big deal. That's what fingers are for...to wipe them off) and they got along marvelously. As of yet, aside from a couple of VERY noisy dachshunds that made her hide behind my feet the dogs that she's met have been very nice to her and she has no fear or aggression... in fact, she wants to play, but kinda does the submissive puppy roll over... which is too cute. I'd have taken a photo of them together, but wanted to keep my hands free just in case of tangling or a need for a fast escape. Of which there was no need.

She came halfway up to the mastiff's belly, by the way... and I was cracking up.

 More sniffing.. Sniffing and looking around. That's what it's all about for her. She WILL need to solidify her sit when she meets people. We've got her sitting, but she loves meeting people so much that she forgets and wants to go prop her feet up on them for loves.....

 She DID let me know that the El's sound scared her. Cars? Nah (well, unless there'd be a really loud, scary sudden noise...but then I'd be scared too) But she didn't care for the loud train. She needed hugs and pets and loves to know that the train wasn't going to get her...but all she really DID was whine and pull back and try to hide behind me. I think the hugs were more for me than her... :)

 Yup... not too sure about that.

 Miss Cindy loves to walk next to the fences and try to get underneath to get some marauding leaves before they escaped.

We made it about 3/4 of the way around the block before she pooped out and, in the middle of a driveway, plopped down and gave me those big puppy dog eyes. So of course, she got a ride home. I'd say she did brilliantly for her first big trip.

She's also coming along with her potty training. If she has to go potty and I miss her signals (she gets more active and verbal) then she goes into her crate about 95% of the time now. Which gets her a "good girl!" She hasn't had a poo accident for several days now... which gets her a "GREAT!"

To keep her mind active we've been working on "sit", "out" (meaning drop it), "touch" (to touch her nose to my palm which is held up like a stop sign), and "paw" (to stick her paw on my palm as it is stretched out flat almost at the floor). We've also just started "down" for her to lay down. She's getting them all rather well, with just a few missteps..but hey, she's a puppy. I consider her knowing this like my three year old niece knowing the names of the Presidents of the USA.

She's doing VERY well at running up the half-flight to my apartment, but going down the stairs is still a VERY scary prospect to her. She'll need encouragement on that end. I've been sitting at the top of the stairs, petting and talking to her to desensitize her from them, and after a bit I carry her down to the last three stairs or so and set her down to walk down them. Which, when she does, of course gets a "Good puppy!" and lots of rubby-huggy-loves.

When she gets really excited she gets nibbly. Not as much as she did, and I have a feeling it is because she had pent up energy. On our walkies today, with all the people she met, she was more stand on her hind feet lickie. So this is another reason for a good walk for this VERY social little doggy.

She's an energetic pup, so a good walk or two a day will probably be a very good thing as she grows up to keep her happy. So far the only thing she's gnawed on in my apartment are her toys, she likes to drag my shoes around for a casual munch (we're working on not doing that, either. She's getting pretty good, but she can slip.) and she did carry an old paperback that fell off the shelf into her crate to gnaw on the corner. That got a "no!" but she didn't know, and now she does. :)

 Post walk, we came in and went into my bedroom where I accidentally caught her tiny puppy toes under the door. BAD foster mommy! She cried, and held her paw up, and I almost cried, and hugged her and petted her and told her I was sorry, and checked her little toes and movement and put her down to walk around and she was fine, except for the scare and the way it probably felt like when we take a step into something and stub our toe...owie! So we had lots of snuggle time after that...

 Awwww....looookit that faaaace.  Don't let her fool you, though. Two minutes before this she was goading Mr. B. on, trying to get him to play with her...barking (which she doesn't really do...she's NOT a very vocal girl (Except for the first night in a new place, but she settled in quite nicely)... then running and hiding behind me if he turned to look at her to say "Boo!"

Mr. B.

I have nothing to say today....

Except that this is the most photogenic little pup I've seen. :-D

And she loves my bathroom mat. I was eating dinner tonight and she was running around getting exercise. For a minute she disappeared, and as I got up to go check on where she was.... she came trotting (well, TRYING to trot) out of the bathroom dragging this fuzzy red carpet. So we had to locate evil Squirrel quickly for a bit of diversionary tactic as I hid the bath mat in the tub.

Another day...

IF this uploader works, you will see the FABULOUS Miss Cindy running her little tushie off. We've started getting her out, going to the bathroom, then taking a puppy run out to the end of the courtyard and back. It works really well because 1. It takes the edge off that puppy energy. 2. We'll invariably run into someone. And the more someones we run into, the more socialized she gets. 3. It works out her little muscles. We never go faster or farther than she wants to, that she can handle, but she really seems to enjoy it. She might do really well with an energetic family or even as a runner buddy, once she gets big enough to go.

 Above I'd like to label as Exhibit A. Meeting new friends. Earlier in the day we ran into a really nice lady who  gave her loves then went up into her apartment and came back down with her two huge golden retrievers. She told me that her dogs loved puppies and were gentle, and so we let them meet, and it was a big old sniffing love fest. SO: good with people, cats, dogs... she's becoming well rounded. :-)

She doesn't mind being an independent little soul, but she's still a little baby who loves a snuggle...

Little Nibbler...

 Well, we're a week into Miss Cindy's stay. She's over her cough, so we're back to going outside to learn to go potty. And she's pretty much got it down. Obviously, with a bladder the size of a walnut she has to go more frequently, so when I get up to let her out in the morning and after work (yes, she sleeps in her crate at night and when I'm gone... it keeps her from chewing on something in her puppy stage and getting hurt, and she really does like her bed) there's usually a little present in there. But as she grows her bladder is going to grow too, so she'll grow out of that.

It's all about keeping a regimen when you have a pet. It keeps them happy. And it keeps you (me) happy too.  We know what to do, we know what to expect. So every morning We wake up at 7am, and go outside to go potty. We go to one spot, and we stand there IN that spot until she's gone potty and poo. (I can tell when she has to go poo...she gets verbal with little squeaks and ruffs and runs around crazy in circles out to the end of her leash until she goes. One of the main reasons I stand still. If I walked with her until she was satisfied with her "restroom" who knows HOW far we'd have walked..). THEN we play for a few minutes since she was such a good girl, and come back inside for a lovely breakfast of kibble and canned and play. For the next couple of hours or so we play with the Kong, or evil Squirrel (I've become a pro at tossing evil Squirrel while putting my shoes on).

Before I leave for work we go outside again to go to the bathroom... same thing. Stand in one place (We're inside a courtyard, working our way gradually out toward the scary noisy outside) while she goes to the bathroom, then a bit of play for being good.  After work...yup, same thing. Then it's back inside for dinner, for more play, and outside a couple more times (same routine) before bed.

Things I've noticed? That German Shepherd stubborn sometimes comes out, which means that if there's something that she really likes... she can be distracted from it... but it may take a  few attempts. When she gets wound up playing she tends to be a nibbler...those puppies DO like to chew...so once again, something to distract her usually works well. :-D  We're working on being better at this. But that stubborn means just a bit more working. But she's SO worth it. She's just a loving little thing, full of spunk and fun.

Thoughts on puppies:
1. It's all about the routine. Keep a routine, don't confuse them, you'll all be happy...

2. Keep Potty time and Walk time separate. If it's 5 degrees outside and you have to take the dog outside to go to the bathroom but Fifi is used to walking around the block before she goes...it's going to be a loooooonnnggg cold walk. I used to pet sit a dog who did exactly that. To go to the bathroom we'd have to walk around the block...rain or shine... to go. I, on the other hand, trained George the dog (my lovely lovely yellow lab) to go out to go "potty". Once that was done, then he knew it was time for play, or "walk".

3. A lot of times when you get a pet from a situation where there are a lot of other animals together they can develop Kennel Cough. Sort of the equivalent of a dry, scratchy cough in a human with a bit of a retch at the end. One of the best things I ever did was get a warm air humidifier. It soothes their dry air passages and helps them get over it faster. That and mainly moist food while they're sick...which is more soothing to swallow...

4. All puppies are going to be nibblers and full of energy. They're BABIES. :-D We have to remember that. And not hold it against them or give up on them and take them to the shelter.

That's how I got my George dog. A young lady was walking him, and he'd been stuck in a cage all day long so he was running in circles. She couldn't handle it. Her loss became my gain for a decade. Because I COULD and he became the best friend a person could ever have had.

:)