Friday evening, we raced off to Orangeville to the house of Too Many Dogs. After receiving the ritual body-slams against the door we quietly knocked on, we were soundly barked at, and then welcomed in, as 11 dogs clamoured for our attention. We had the almost 2 hour paper-work, last-minute care, instructions and advice from the very passionate breeder, and we made our escape, with our Little D, Disco Dog curled up on my jacket in Linda's lap. Disco's official name is two parts breeder, one part us: Echobar Double Disco. What a weird system.
Disco started crying about 8 minutes in, and then the howling started, but every time she got wound up, we talked to her, looked her in the eyes and gently said "no," and then started singing. After about 10 rounds of Frere Jacques and another dozen nonsense songs that we just subbed in Disco wherever it made sense (or didn't), she did pretty well.
On arriving, Dallas and her met, made tentative friends, and then the house introduction started. She ran around, trying to take it all in at once. She strategically peed on Dallas' bed within the first 5 minutes, and despite my certainty that no puppy could climb the stairs, she was up there within 15 minutes to my complete astonishment, and she had left a present on the bedroom floor. Well, live and learn. The barricades went up.
We spent the weekend doing the predictable things- We took about 30 pictures and another 20 minutes of puppy's first weekend video. We delighted in her every move- if she poked her head out of the crate I didn't want to buy and I thought she'd hate but she loves, we were there to see it and ooh and ahhh. We lavished toys and treats on both dogs the entire weekend. We took them for four walks, despite being warned not to overdo it too soon.
She has the most amazing trait- she can get sleepy and fall asleep in the span of about 3 seconds. You can look over, see that she's getting drowsy, and she just collapses and starts snoring. Sometimes she's snoring before her eyes are closed! It doesn't matter if she's inside or outside, on a mat or tottering on a stair step. There's only a 2 second window for her to gracefully settle herself, and then it's lights out.
Dallas and her have become fast friends, with lots of play-wrestling already, toy and treat sharing, and Dallas seems to be feeling like a Very Good Dog lately, as she does something like "go pee outside!" and gets lavish rewards for it, while the puppy struggles to process what's the desired behaviour. And on trails, it's super easy. Disco just watches everything Dallas does, and repeats it. Sniff the bush- this exact spot? Sure thing! Oops, you're crossing the path- Me too, Me too!!! She comes on command, she seems to know her name already, she's learned NO, and she's already about 60/40 for successful peeing outside rather than inside. Definitely the smartest puppy I've ever seen.
Dallas took months and months to settle into predictable desireable behaviours, but on the other hand, there wasn't another dog to model after. So lots to write about, and as you can surely tell- I'm super happy to have this second dog. I was nervous about it, but I am so glad we did it. If nothing else made me sure, it's watching Dallas come alive, and the way that each dog constantly monitors and checks on what the other dog is doing. : ) *gush!*
The only other non-puppy-centric thing that happened this weekend was that I finally went to the gym. I've realized that with the puppy here, and her own limits to what she can do, it won't be so easy to go on 4 hour hikes, day-tripping canoe rides or long bike-rides. We went for lots of little walks, but . . . more is needed! So after already having this membership for 3 months, I finally went in yesterday, and I must say- it wasn't that bad. Of course I didn't know what any of the machines really did, but my strategy of jumping on a bike for 15 minutes and watching how other people used the machines seemed to pay off. For the rest, I just stood there, read the instructions, and puttered around trying things. I can report that in a 50 minute workout period, I exercised more of my body than I would have in a whole weekend of hiking and biking alone. So, back to plans of BUFF, starting from a health baseline of WIMPO.
What I missed this weekend was an Adventure Race with 3 of my friends. I can't say I regret it an ounce though, all things considered.
