This One's For You Maggie!

 I still feel bad about how badly Addie treated little Maggie, the Boston Terrier we visited for ten days.  Addie wouldn't let her near her food bowl, water bowl or any toys without growling, snapping and living up to her gender.  It had me very worried about her being able to get along with other dogs.  Unfortunately, I just didn't know how to handle it at the time.  Too late I learned about a very effective way to discourage her from doing anything I don't like with a simple water bottle with a squirt top.  Sure wish I'd known!  I bet Maggie does too.

So it was with great trepidation and worry (before I learned about the squirt bottle) that I took her to the local dogpark. Even though she gets along great with our dogs,  I just wasn't sure she would get along with other dogs she didn't know. The first time we went there were probably about 8 dogs and they were all very excited to see the newcomer.  At first Addie was pretty scared. She squeezed up next to the fence and tried to get away.  But gradually she got braver and started sniffing around.  Braver and braver she got until she was playing with them and having a great time.

At home, she badgers Gus, herds him and hangs on his tail.  He's very good about all this.  I just wish he'd let her have it, but he just puts up with it.  It's not unusual to see Addie with Gus hair hanging out of her mouth.  At the dogpark, as soon as she was comfortable, sure enough she picked a dog to herd.  A tiny dog.  The owner thought it was funny, but I don't like her to do it so I was going to interfere when here comes another small dog herding Addie!  She didn't quite know what to make of that, but she didn't like it.  There was some confusion in her expression and she backed off tiny dog and the small dog backed off of her.  This went on for several times, and Addie found something else to do.  Great!

I bought a kiddie pool for Addie when it was hot several weeks ago, and although she loves playing in the hose, the pool didnt' interest her.  I showed her how to get in, she didn't get it.  But at the dogpark, a black German Shepherd ran down to the kiddie pool at the far end that's exactly like ours and jumped in and lay in it.  Addie watched.  Addie got in.  Addie laid down.  Addie loved it!!!  Now every time we go and she gets tired or hot, she goes for the pool.  Excitedly I filled our pool at home again, but Addie isn't the least bit interested and the pool just sits there unused. 

So going to the dogpark has been a very fun thing and we try to go every day now.  She gets along with other dogs, plays with other dogs, drinks with other dogs, gets treats with other dogs, plays fetch with other dogs, hangs out in the pool, and every once in awhile she herds another dog.  I have never even had to use the water bottle fortunately, but I promise Maggie, if we come visit again, I will be ready and armed.  We'll have zero tolerance for bullying!!!

Housebreak Heaven

Oh yes!  We are finally housebroken! Addie is using the dog door every time now and that has made things SO much easier.  She can be in the house with us and the other dogs most of the time now, and the only thing I have to worry about now is:
Our shoes
Our clothes
Oliver's toys
My plants
Toilet paper
Books
Baskets
Furniture legs
Pillows
The rugs
Knick nacks
And anything else she can reach or get her little mouth on!

But she's going to be a really good dog!  She's learning new things everyday and she really is such a joy to us. We are so very, very lucky to have her!

Addie on the Road

While my nicknames for Addie are "Angel," "Sweetypie," "Cutie," "Addie May," etc., others have nicknamed her "Jaws", "Shark Bite" and "No No Bad Dog." (Given with affection of course... I hope!)  I admit that their nicknames may be closer to the truth most of the time, but in the car, Addie is a dream dog.

On our recent trip we drove 13 hours to get to our destination in Washington State.  Addie was amazing.  We made regular stops to take her to go potty, which she did, and walk her around a little. 

We had the back of our Passat wagon folded down and she slept most of the way.  Since she is usually such a wild thing, I figured we got lucky.

After arriving at our destination, of course, she made up for lost time and was crazy wild!  Our friends have a sweet little Boston Terrier named Maggie, and Addie made her life miserable for ten days.  I was afraid I'd made a terrible mistake imposing her on our dear friends, and poor little Maggie.  She was a handful, and a pain, and exasperating, but Addie had a great time and loved everything and everybody. (Even Maggie, as long as she didn't get near her food, water or toys.)

On the way home we took several days to drive down the Oregon coast.  I was apprehensive about Addie being good in the car because I thought maybe that her behavior on the way up might have been a fluke.  But she was absolutely wonderful for all three days!  Sometimes she would sit perched between us, watching where we were going.  But most of the time she just slept in the back... I was very impressed.  Little Addie May was such an Angel!  And turning out to be so great!  We so enjoyed her company.

When we got home, she went wild again. She ran around at full throttle for hours in the backyard and just couldn't settle down.  Its been days now, and she still hasn't settled down!  I told Woody we were going to have to go back on the road!

Addie Meets a Llama

We are visiting some friends in Washington, and Addie is having a wonderful time!  Of particular interest to her are the blackberries, which she eats enthusiastically, and their three llamas; Wally, Ollie and Dolly.  She is oh so curious about those llamas, and they seem not even aware of her existence.  I was worried about her getting in their pasture and annoying them, but my friend Gary said not to worry.  "Those llamas can totally take care of themselves," he told me.  "Really?  You sure?" I asked.  "Believe me, they'll be fine."  So I didn't call her back to me and watched her slip under the fence.  A bound or two and a stop and sniff... a crouched creep a little closer and a stop and sniff.  The llama paid no attention.  A long stare and a creep a little closer, then she laid down and sniffed and stared.  A long time.  The llama moved and she darted back a little.  And so it went... no actual contact.  I got tired of it and called her back.  She wasn't really wanting to do that and it took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to crawl back under the fence.  All that day and the next she spent quite a bit of time peering down at them from the porch balcony, watching.

On our third day here, the husbands went out into the pasture to pick blackberries, and they took Addie with them without a leash.  Being the overprotective mom I am, I protested a little.  "You'll keep an eye on her?  Really watch her?  Are you sure you should take her?"  My husband rolled his eyes. "She'll be FINE!" he insisted.  Now my husband, Woody, is way more liberal with her than I am.  He lets her off the leash and trusts her in unfenced places, and he's always telling me "she's fine!" and that I am being ridiculous, etc. And so far nothing bad has happened to her, but I'm just not that trusting.  She could get into trouble so quickly!  Anyway, I watched them disappear down the hill and went inside.  Pretty soon I heard them talking and laughing and they came back with the berries... and Addie. Of course.

Well, apparently Addie helped them pick and eat blackberries, and then she sneaked off to check out the llamas.  They didn't see her, but heard a loud "Yipe! Yipe!" and Addie came running back to them.  The men were having a big chuckle over how the llama must have put her in her place.

So this morning, I went with Addie outside without the leash with new found confidence.  "She'll be fine..." I thought.  A llama was close by the fence and Addie fixated on him (I think it was Wally).  There are plenty of places for her to get under the fence, but I wasn't worried.  I stepped back in the house and told Woody she was out there checking out the llamas.  "No!" he exclaimed. "Don't let her go out there!  Those llamas can kill her!  One swift kick and its over, she'd be dead!  Bring her back in here!" 

Go figure!

The Hose

Addie totally loves the hose.  She is more thrilled about the hose than anything.  It commands her full attention and she chases it, bites at it, leaps at it and never takes her eyes off it.  Once that hose is on, I can't even get her attention with a treat! Nothing else exists except that stream of water coming out of the hose.  She gets soaking wet, and usually muddy, and she'll run in circles for a ridiculous amount of time chasing the water if I make it go in a circle.  I can blast her full on, and she just shakes it off and goes for more.  Sometimes she jumps so high at the water that she almost does back flips!

I have to admit that at first this whole hose deal made me quite grumpy.  My morning ritual watering was not going as usual, and it was taking a lot longer. She leaps on my plants, gets all muddy wet and muddy, leaps on me... whatever she can do to get at that water streaming out.  But it didn't take long for me to appreciate this new little ritual and now we have so much fun with it!  I told my husband all about our morning playtime with the hose, but I guess he wasn't listening.  Yesterday he washed his car and took her out with him while I was out.  When I got home he was so excited!  "You should see Addie with the hose!" he says.  "She goes absolutely crazy!  I was blasting her and she just loved it!"  Sigh...

Addie Meets a Cat

Our friends have a beautiful cat named Freya.  She is an Abyssinian, and is a redwood color with ticking and has a soft, rich apricot belly, and she is all cat.  She's sleek, alert, confident, finicky, and aloof.  Usually when we are at their house, Freya is discreetly hidden away somewhere napping.  When she does come out, it is very briefly and she pays no attention to us, and she usually only comes out for a little snack at her kitty bowl or a drink. 

The idea was to introduce her to Addie.  We were all pretty sure what the result would be and took precautions to make sure that Freya was safe.  The scenario we expected was Addie bounding up to her in clumsy curiosity, maybe attempting to chase her, and Freya, horrified, wanting to get as far away as possible.  Addie is very friendly with other dogs and with people.  So we were pretty surprised when it didn't quite play out the way we imagined...  Addie was scared!  And Freya was not!  Freya was curious and Addie cowered and tried to get away and hide.  She just didn't know what to make of a cat!  Freya knew she had the upper hand and was thoroughly enjoying it.  She stayed out with us the entire rest of the evening, sliding in and out of the furniture and watching Addie.  I'm pretty sure that if Freya had run, Addie would have chased her.  But Freya didn't run, and Addie never got up the nerve to get close.  We all supposed that if they spent a few days together, they might even play together!

Toy Wars

At my house, there are two kinds of toys; Addie's toys, and Oliver's toys.  Oliver is my 9 month old grandson whom I take care of Monday and Tuesday mornings, and all day Friday.  He's a wonderful little boy (of course!) and I love having him.  He's pretty much always happy, or you can easily make him happy, and his laugh makes the world a better place.  Oliver respects Addie's toys, well, he isn't crawling or walking yet so I guess that's not really a fair statement.  But Addie definitely doesn't respect Oliver's toys.  In fact, she finds them particularly more interesting and obviously more challenging (to get anyway!).  And she seems to have much more fun with them.  She isn't allowed to run free in the house, but somehow she sneaks in sometimes and runs straight for his toys.  Convincing her that her toys are the appropriate play things isn't easy.  She is clearly baffled when I try to make the case that her toys are much better.  Oliver's toys stay neatly in his play corner.  Addie's toys are all over the place.  Oliver is entertained by his toys for a quite a while.  Addie is done with her toys very quickly and immediately starts looking for something new.  Oliver will share his toys.  Addie will not.

There is one particular toy that gets a lot of attention.  It's a roly poly stuffed toy with a silly cow face and it has some mechanism inside that makes a "boing" sound when its bumped.  I bought it for Oliver before I got Addie, and I've been waiting for Oliver to get old enough to appreciate it and understand how to make it make noise.  That happened a week or so ago and Oliver thinks its pretty cool and beats the floor with it to make it go "boing."  I was very pleased.  Then somehow Addie found it.  Oh what joy!  She thought it was the greatest thing ever!  She ran out to the yard with it and I heard it going "boing, boing, boing, boing, boing, boing"... you get the picture.  By the time I rescued it (I was laughing so hard it took awhile), it was slobbery and filthy.  She was very disappointed when I took it away, and her little quizzical expression was heartbreaking; "why can't I have that wonderful thing?"  I was able to clean it up, but the question is... who shall I give it to?  Who will appreciate it the most?  I really think Addie will, but she'll probably destroy it pretty quickly.  If I give it to Oliver, he'll probably have it for a long time.  Until... Addie finds it again somehow!!!