Dahlia update!
I know...you've all been dying for this one, eh?
The past few days with her have been great. Monday was, for the most part, a relaxing day with her. We got up, had a lazy morning. David did some grading, we played with Dahlia. And then decided to take her up to SUNY Oswego with us as David needed to get some papers. The drive up was entirely uneventful. She is so incredibly well-behaved in the car. We sat in the front and let her take the back of David's car and she just curled up and dozed a bit. Not a peep out of her the entire ride!
Once there, we got out and walked to the building where David's office was. Since we weren't sure about dogs in the buildings, I walked her around the outside while he went in. He came out, realizing he had forgotten his keys. So he wandered back to the car with Dahlia while I went in and found a building. I discovered that dogs were at least allowed because a man came out of the building with a cute yellow lab puppy. When David got back, we decided to bring her in with us. She did REALLY well with the elevator on the way up, though she seemed a bit perturbed by the floor moving underneath her.
When we got into his office, a woman from down the hall came down to greet us. It turned out she was the secretary of the department and had seen us coming into the building. She's a HUGE dog lover and just adored Dahlia. She was amazed at how sweet she was. She spent some time talking to us and then we grabbed the papers and headed out. Our first order of business at that point was to get ice cream. I turned out they had baby dishes of ice cream so we got Dahlia her own, which she very quickly scarfed down. She was one happy doggie!
We headed back to the house and took a nice walk in the woods. She does love her walks! We took an abbreviated walk, however, because the guy who was going to hook up our water was supposed to be there around 6pm. Lo and behold, at 5:30pm he calls and says he'll becoming the next morning. I was NOT happy. We had been without water since we got there on Saturday. Working toilets are a MUST. We headed out to the store to get something to eat and decided to take Dahlia with us. It was a bit of a test for her. We left her in the car while we were in the store (5-10 minutes tops) and snuck out a bit to see how she was doing. She was doing nothing more than standing in the car looking around. Her tag started to wag when she saw us. She was still incredibly calm and not barking a bit!
After dinner, we headed over to the porta-potty (lucky us!) and walked her around a bit. She found a dead fish and started to roll over onto it (yes, our dog seems to like rolling in things! lol) and we quickly yanked her away from it. Luckily, she didn't get smelly from it. Phew!
We headed to bed with a contented doggie sleeping at the foot of our bed and again, in the morning, she crawled up between us and got a lot of attention for awhile.
I decided I REALLY needed to take a shower, so I headed off to Liverpool to do just that. David waited for the guy to show up (and he finally did!) and then joined me in Liverpool with Dahlia. Since he needed to take a shower, Dahlia and I headed over to the dog park. Her first experience with one. I wasn't sure how she'd be, but it turned out she was GREAT. She spent the first little while wandering around quietly, ignoring the other dogs there. But then the little cockapoo ran up to her and barked and Dahlia started chasing him. She did a great job running around playing with the other dogs, though still not a peep out of her. There were 3 other dogs there -- too larger shepherd mixes and the cockapoo. The lady with the cockapoo had little bits of hotdogs that she gave to all the dogs. Boy was SHE a hit! Dahlia had a GREAT time. David came over to join us for a bit and then the three of us headed up to OCC to pick up some papers. From there, we headed to my workplace to introduce her. We wandered through and she met a lot of people, all who adored her. We saw her first bit of skittishness here. When one of my coworkers slammed a desk drawer, Dahlia jumped back a bit and then didn't want to come into her office. She doesn't seem to like loud noises much. At one point, David got out his banjo and then fiddle and both seemed to make her nervous. :-( I know David was sad over that. We hope she'll come to accept it sometime.
After my workplace, it was off to the vet. She did GREAT there. She barely paid any attention to the office cat. She was fantastic with the vet. He was able to check her ears, mouth, nose, and feel her heartbeat without her doing anything more than trying to lick him. He pronounced her in good health and was most impressed with her shiny, soft coat and slow heartbeat (he said she's very physically fit). She weighed in at 49.5 lbs. They gave us our heartworm and flea/tick stuff and we were on our way. We were there for no more than a half hour. Good folks there!
We headed back to pick up my car and decided to bring her back over to the dog park. This time there were several small dogs there and she had so much fun with them, even playing with a tiny little Pomeranian. A beautiful young Border Collie showed up (further making us realize she definitely had BC in her) and she played with him for awhile. At one point, one of the kids there tried to throw a ball for Dahlia and she had NO interest. So far she's the retriever that doesn't retrieve. lol After the dog park, David and I parted ways for a little while. He took Dahlia over to Emily's and Brandon's so he could grade on the front porch. And I went back to the apartment to pack some things. So not fun, but it has to be done. I headed over to the new place a little later and got to hang out David, Brandon, and Dahlia. Emily showed up later and then Jocelyn (from upstairs) did as well. Everyone seemed to be quite taken with our quite little (or not so little) girl. Em thinks she looks like a little bear cub.
We saw a few more issues at this point. She did NOT want to come beyond the couches into the dining room. We finally coaxed her in with some chicken and eventually she was able to wander around the room at ease, even getting underneath the dining room table. When we got home later, she seemed to have some same threshold issues all of a sudden. She wouldn't come into the kitchen even though she had no problem with it before. Very odd. She's been hesitant ever since. She does come into the kitchen after a moment's hesitation, but when she first arrived she came and went without thinking about it. Very odd.
Yesterday we had a relaxing day. We decided that Dahlia had been a bit overstimulated the day before, what with all the running around. I headed out in the morning to pack some things up in Liverpool, while David took Dahlia to walk in the woods. After I returned home, we hung out for awhile and then took her for another walk in the woods together. All together, she walked 4.4 miles yesterday. David did too. I wish I had, but I'm happy having walked at least 2.2. We had a nice relaxing dinner and Dahlia did come into the kitchen and eat bits of the chicken we offered her. The vet had recommended feeding her either Science Diet or Iams, so we switched her over to Iams lamb and rice. She had been eating a lamb and rice based food at the foster home and had liked it, so we figured she would enjoy this as well. She's eating much more slowly, leaving some of the food and coming back later now. I think she's finally realized she's the only dog and no one else will steal her food. She's taken to bringing her cookies over to her bed and saving them for later too. So I guess she's relaxing in that way at least!
This morning she woke up very playful and even played a little tug of war with me! I'm excited to see her play. She hasn't done much of that so far.
We had a really nice several days with her. Now I'm back at work (*sniffles*) and David's out walking her in the woods. Lucky David! He gets to spend a lot more time with her. I'm admittedly nervous that she's going to come to see David as her person and me as "that other person." I wish I could be around more often, but it just doesn't work that way unfortunately.
The cockapoo ran up the little agility thing and Dahlia followed him!
Wow...you're really far below me now!
This lady had hotdogs. She was a HUUUUGE hit!
Tired out doggie:
A couple pics from when we were at OCC.
And a few pics David took of her second visit to the dog park:
The past few days with her have been great. Monday was, for the most part, a relaxing day with her. We got up, had a lazy morning. David did some grading, we played with Dahlia. And then decided to take her up to SUNY Oswego with us as David needed to get some papers. The drive up was entirely uneventful. She is so incredibly well-behaved in the car. We sat in the front and let her take the back of David's car and she just curled up and dozed a bit. Not a peep out of her the entire ride!
Once there, we got out and walked to the building where David's office was. Since we weren't sure about dogs in the buildings, I walked her around the outside while he went in. He came out, realizing he had forgotten his keys. So he wandered back to the car with Dahlia while I went in and found a building. I discovered that dogs were at least allowed because a man came out of the building with a cute yellow lab puppy. When David got back, we decided to bring her in with us. She did REALLY well with the elevator on the way up, though she seemed a bit perturbed by the floor moving underneath her.
When we got into his office, a woman from down the hall came down to greet us. It turned out she was the secretary of the department and had seen us coming into the building. She's a HUGE dog lover and just adored Dahlia. She was amazed at how sweet she was. She spent some time talking to us and then we grabbed the papers and headed out. Our first order of business at that point was to get ice cream. I turned out they had baby dishes of ice cream so we got Dahlia her own, which she very quickly scarfed down. She was one happy doggie!
We headed back to the house and took a nice walk in the woods. She does love her walks! We took an abbreviated walk, however, because the guy who was going to hook up our water was supposed to be there around 6pm. Lo and behold, at 5:30pm he calls and says he'll becoming the next morning. I was NOT happy. We had been without water since we got there on Saturday. Working toilets are a MUST. We headed out to the store to get something to eat and decided to take Dahlia with us. It was a bit of a test for her. We left her in the car while we were in the store (5-10 minutes tops) and snuck out a bit to see how she was doing. She was doing nothing more than standing in the car looking around. Her tag started to wag when she saw us. She was still incredibly calm and not barking a bit!
After dinner, we headed over to the porta-potty (lucky us!) and walked her around a bit. She found a dead fish and started to roll over onto it (yes, our dog seems to like rolling in things! lol) and we quickly yanked her away from it. Luckily, she didn't get smelly from it. Phew!
We headed to bed with a contented doggie sleeping at the foot of our bed and again, in the morning, she crawled up between us and got a lot of attention for awhile.
I decided I REALLY needed to take a shower, so I headed off to Liverpool to do just that. David waited for the guy to show up (and he finally did!) and then joined me in Liverpool with Dahlia. Since he needed to take a shower, Dahlia and I headed over to the dog park. Her first experience with one. I wasn't sure how she'd be, but it turned out she was GREAT. She spent the first little while wandering around quietly, ignoring the other dogs there. But then the little cockapoo ran up to her and barked and Dahlia started chasing him. She did a great job running around playing with the other dogs, though still not a peep out of her. There were 3 other dogs there -- too larger shepherd mixes and the cockapoo. The lady with the cockapoo had little bits of hotdogs that she gave to all the dogs. Boy was SHE a hit! Dahlia had a GREAT time. David came over to join us for a bit and then the three of us headed up to OCC to pick up some papers. From there, we headed to my workplace to introduce her. We wandered through and she met a lot of people, all who adored her. We saw her first bit of skittishness here. When one of my coworkers slammed a desk drawer, Dahlia jumped back a bit and then didn't want to come into her office. She doesn't seem to like loud noises much. At one point, David got out his banjo and then fiddle and both seemed to make her nervous. :-( I know David was sad over that. We hope she'll come to accept it sometime.
After my workplace, it was off to the vet. She did GREAT there. She barely paid any attention to the office cat. She was fantastic with the vet. He was able to check her ears, mouth, nose, and feel her heartbeat without her doing anything more than trying to lick him. He pronounced her in good health and was most impressed with her shiny, soft coat and slow heartbeat (he said she's very physically fit). She weighed in at 49.5 lbs. They gave us our heartworm and flea/tick stuff and we were on our way. We were there for no more than a half hour. Good folks there!
We headed back to pick up my car and decided to bring her back over to the dog park. This time there were several small dogs there and she had so much fun with them, even playing with a tiny little Pomeranian. A beautiful young Border Collie showed up (further making us realize she definitely had BC in her) and she played with him for awhile. At one point, one of the kids there tried to throw a ball for Dahlia and she had NO interest. So far she's the retriever that doesn't retrieve. lol After the dog park, David and I parted ways for a little while. He took Dahlia over to Emily's and Brandon's so he could grade on the front porch. And I went back to the apartment to pack some things. So not fun, but it has to be done. I headed over to the new place a little later and got to hang out David, Brandon, and Dahlia. Emily showed up later and then Jocelyn (from upstairs) did as well. Everyone seemed to be quite taken with our quite little (or not so little) girl. Em thinks she looks like a little bear cub.
We saw a few more issues at this point. She did NOT want to come beyond the couches into the dining room. We finally coaxed her in with some chicken and eventually she was able to wander around the room at ease, even getting underneath the dining room table. When we got home later, she seemed to have some same threshold issues all of a sudden. She wouldn't come into the kitchen even though she had no problem with it before. Very odd. She's been hesitant ever since. She does come into the kitchen after a moment's hesitation, but when she first arrived she came and went without thinking about it. Very odd.
Yesterday we had a relaxing day. We decided that Dahlia had been a bit overstimulated the day before, what with all the running around. I headed out in the morning to pack some things up in Liverpool, while David took Dahlia to walk in the woods. After I returned home, we hung out for awhile and then took her for another walk in the woods together. All together, she walked 4.4 miles yesterday. David did too. I wish I had, but I'm happy having walked at least 2.2. We had a nice relaxing dinner and Dahlia did come into the kitchen and eat bits of the chicken we offered her. The vet had recommended feeding her either Science Diet or Iams, so we switched her over to Iams lamb and rice. She had been eating a lamb and rice based food at the foster home and had liked it, so we figured she would enjoy this as well. She's eating much more slowly, leaving some of the food and coming back later now. I think she's finally realized she's the only dog and no one else will steal her food. She's taken to bringing her cookies over to her bed and saving them for later too. So I guess she's relaxing in that way at least!
This morning she woke up very playful and even played a little tug of war with me! I'm excited to see her play. She hasn't done much of that so far.
We had a really nice several days with her. Now I'm back at work (*sniffles*) and David's out walking her in the woods. Lucky David! He gets to spend a lot more time with her. I'm admittedly nervous that she's going to come to see David as her person and me as "that other person." I wish I could be around more often, but it just doesn't work that way unfortunately.
The cockapoo ran up the little agility thing and Dahlia followed him!
Wow...you're really far below me now!
This lady had hotdogs. She was a HUUUUGE hit!
Tired out doggie:
A couple pics from when we were at OCC.
And a few pics David took of her second visit to the dog park: