I have
written twice about the new dog, and that she was shy, but those were both
within her first month. At the one month mark something opened up. I promised I
would write about some sweet and beautiful things, and this will be one - the blossoming
of a dog. Let me tell you about Adele.
The first
thing I will tell you is that we don't really call her that. With greyhounds,
they always come already named. There is a racing name and a kennel name. Sometimes
they are similar, like Geno was Oxbow Geno. Adele was Jstrollinthedeep, so yes,
it was connected to that Adele, and we don't like her. We nonetheless love this
Adele. We are mainly calling her Dellie (I guess that's how it would be
spelled). It works.
She was
straight from the kennel, had never raced, and was shy and scared of men. Our
contact thought we would be a good fit, because it is an all-female household
and Geno (the lone male) is a confident dog and she could learn from him.
Dellie came
on December 14th. Part of kennel life is that the dogs are usually crated. They
get let out to run, and maybe to eat, and things like that, but they spend a
lot of time in the crate, and sometimes the new freedom was uncomfortable.
That first
day, which was a Saturday, Dellie decided that the bathroom was her crate. It
would be a little big, but about the right shape. She parked herself there, and
we would lead her out to eat and go in the yard, but otherwise she did not
budge. That included Sunday morning, when four women were getting ready for
church. This may be why she found a new location.
Her new
spot was a dog bed in my bedroom. It is bordered by my desk, bookcase, closet,
and dresser, so it does feel a little enclosed, and it is not as high traffic. We
would still lead her away for meals and walks and the yard, but she would
always run back to this bed. She would make herself fit there, even if Geno was
already on it.
I'll admit
there was some frustration, especially with getting her housebroken. She was so
scared of the yard, and actually so scared to go anywhere, that for a while she
would only pee once a day, despite us giving her multiple opportunities. We had
to put her on a leash to get her into the yard, and to get her to her food, and
to get her to come into the living room.
Still, I could
see some progress. It did not take long for her to get to the point where she
was happy and content while she was on that dog bed and I was working on the
computer next to her. I would see her stick her head into the hall, and know
that she wanted to be around us when we were in the living room, even though
she could not bring herself to come out on her own yet. I believed she would eventually
feel comfortable at any spot in the house, and it would be okay.
There were
two ways in which I was completely off base. One is that I thought it would
take longer and progress more slowly. Also, mistook shy for quiet. Dellie is a
spirited little dog. It started at about the one month mark, and it really
started with the toys.
I'm not
sure how she first got the idea to put one in her mouth. Geno doesn't play with
the toys a lot, but he will sometimes so maybe she saw him. They often have
toys in the kennels, so maybe she suddenly remembered. Suddenly she was playing
all the time, and making them squeak, and carrying them around all over the
house where she was now roaming freely.
The yard no
longer terrified her, and she started running. I suspect the reason that she
didn't race is that with her shyness, it seemed unlikely that she could do
well, but she's a fast little thing. Sometimes she is more into trying to get
someone to chase her than running laps, and sometimes she uses this weird
prancing type of motion, so maybe she would have been too goofy, but I have
seen her do laps and she does okay.
She has
also found her voice. She barks a lot. Teaching her to be okay with visitors is
taking a while. She is not attacking, but she will stay just at the exit of the
room and bark these low throaty barks, like a German Shepherd. So now we will
bring her to the person, and have them pet her, and then either let her go, or
hold her and pet her while we visit, depending on whether the initial petting
stops the barking. She does not love this process, but she did not love it when
we made her spend time in the living room or in the back yard, and those worked
out.
I suppose
there are differences that are not completely positive. My shoes move around a
lot, but I can usually find them. I can't get in and out of my room without a
few squeaks now. We will periodically gather the stash of toys out of my room
and the other depository in the family room, and return them to the toy basket.
They come right back, but it gives her something to do. But it's fun. Our pets
cheer us up. They make us laugh. In her case, much more than would ever have
seemed possible.
She has
learned to love home life, and we have found an eagerness there that was
completely hidden. We're all lucky.
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