Changes

A month after our scary incident, Addie is now very weird about noises. Any loud, odd noise sends her scurrying for my bed pillows.  I've read that Border Collies often are very sensitive to noises, and I'm wondering if there's some desensitization exercise you can do to help that.  She's also very leery of strangers now.  When people come over to visit she hides in my room and sometimes she comes out and sometimes she doesn't.  It seems that certain people are okay, and I wonder what her criteria is for okayness.   I have 32 people coming on Thanksgiving... and I'm wondering how she's going to handle that!  (I'm also wondering how I'm going to handle that!!!)

She is still totally obsessed with the ball and carries it around with her everywhere.  She's a little better about bringing it back, but she hangs onto it a few minutes, then rolls it to you, and stares at you or the ball.  She's very cute!  We're working on catching the ball in the air.

Her hair is growing.  For a long time I thought she was going to have short hair, but now it's getting longer and her pantaloons are filling in and her tail is getting feathery.  She gets many compliments when she's out in public.  I still call her "longnose-longbody-longtail" (I tell her that's her Indian name) because she is so long and lean.  She really is a beautiful dog and I love her so much.  My only complaints are that she is TERRIBLE on the leash, pulling and tugging even with a harness, and she doesn't always come when I call her, at the dog park and if she's scared somewhere at home.  These are two problems that just cannot be so we have some work to do!  I'm thinking of enrolling her in a "Fungility" class, which is an agility class that's fun... I guess.  I think it'd be very good for her.

Addie is a very happy dog (except for those occasional times when she's scared) and she makes me happy every single day.  She is so affectionate and funny and smart.  It's so wonderful to have her as a companion, and if I have to leave her at home, its always such fun to come home to her.  I am very thankful and grateful for my little Addie.