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.
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