It's been one week...
As I write this, Samus is in her crate (door open, of course), sleeping peacefully. Every day this week has brought something different. Each day, she is a different dog. Yesterday, she was a little beastie and into everything. Today has already started out differently. Here are the updates:
Eating (food): She's not scared of the food dish anymore, nor does she wolf down her food. In fact, usually, she leaves some in the bowl to snack on later. She's eating 3/4 c 3x a day more or less. I'm going to call the vet today to see how much he thinks she should be getting. I can't tell if we're over- or under-feeding her.
Eating (non-food): I *think* she's attempting to eat slightly less inedible items when we're outside these days. Unfortunately, once she does get something in her mouth she shouldn't have, she's a lot more feisty about keeping it.
Biting: Better with us, usually, although yesterday was not a good day for not biting. She seems to get very excited with people (or animals) who aren't us, though, and doesn't do well not biting them.
Leash: Although she doesn't object flat out, she's not very good on a leash. She wants to chew it, first of all, and she doesn't like going where you're leading. She can't walk a straight line to save her life.
Coming when called: This morning, she impressed me by charging right at me three times in a row off-lead when I called her. However, she usually goes selectively deaf when she's called.
Name recognition: I think she's getting better with this. Glen says (and I quote), "No fucking way".
Housetraining: Little headway in this category, with the exception of at night when we're now only taking her out once overnight. She gives absolutely no indication of when she's about to pee, nor does she go stand by the door. Yesterday, her newest trick was being able to piddle in the house without us noticing until after the fact.
Crate training: Pretty awful, but getting better. She now seems to lie down and fuss as opposed to climb walls and scream. Still haven't left her for more than half an hour. Today, I plan to crate her and go shopping at the grocery store just down the street. Glen has started to tape her crate sessions with an MP3 recorder, and then we look at the waveform to see when the flipping out starts.
Basic obedience: She is managing to sit on command approximately 80% of the time. Part of this is helped by her propensity to sit down all the time anyway... "Lie down" isn't working yet, but this morning she went into it better than I've ever seen her do. (In other words, instead of really leaning on her, I only had to push a little...)
Grooming: HATES the brush. Any brush. Absolutely hates it. Loves being petted, hates being brushed. Will run away, or when restrained, will cry and twist and bite the brush as well as the holder. I think it's the SOUND she doesn't like though, since merely brushing my leg will have her going nuts. She's okay with her nails being clipped, although she likes to chew the nail clipper. We've been making a huge attempt to handle her feet and toes a lot.
Car rides: Moderately okay in the car if there's a passenger. Miserable and dangerous if it's just her and the driver. Working on it.
Nights: She was always pretty good about going to sleep at night. Last night was pretty near perfect on that account. We now have our heads back up at the head of the bed while she sleeps at the foot. Glen took her out at 10:15 PM, I took her out at 2:45 AM, and she slept until 6. It was lovely.
Naps: She sleeps a lot during the day, interspersed with brief periods of (sometimes frantic) activity. Yesterday, we took a nap together in the living room. I lay down on the couch and had her lie down under the coffee table, and, although we woke up several times, we got in a good hour and a half.
Play: Anything she can chew on, she loves. Her rope ball contraption is great, particularly when she wants to lie next to you and be petted, but can't control herself not to bite. She chews her Nylabone in the crate, as well as chewing on/shaking her bunny/dog. She also loves chewing on towels, like the one under her crate and the one that had Mocha's scent on it. Last night, she went absolutely beserk chewing her bedding. She totally does not understand what to do with balls. She'll chew on them, maybe pounce on them, but never chases them, and certainly never brings them back.
Vocalizing: Doesn't much. Only barking she does is at the "puppy in the window" when she sees her reflection in the sliding glass door and wants to play. (This happens just about nightly.) Whining and whimpering frequently happen in the car, and then there's the extreme noise of crate trauma!
Health: Been to vet, received kennel cough vaccine. Glen gave her her Heartgard on Monday, and removed a tick from her on Tuesday.
Fears: Traffic. The train. The garbage truck. She's fine if they're background noise, but just about refuses to walk in that direction. This is going to make walking her difficult. I've been trying to get her down to the end of the road each day, but she takes an awful lot of cajoling, and at some point usually turns around and wants to go the other way. When we finally do turn around, she sprints home.
And now she's up and I should take her out.
Eating (food): She's not scared of the food dish anymore, nor does she wolf down her food. In fact, usually, she leaves some in the bowl to snack on later. She's eating 3/4 c 3x a day more or less. I'm going to call the vet today to see how much he thinks she should be getting. I can't tell if we're over- or under-feeding her.
Eating (non-food): I *think* she's attempting to eat slightly less inedible items when we're outside these days. Unfortunately, once she does get something in her mouth she shouldn't have, she's a lot more feisty about keeping it.
Biting: Better with us, usually, although yesterday was not a good day for not biting. She seems to get very excited with people (or animals) who aren't us, though, and doesn't do well not biting them.
Leash: Although she doesn't object flat out, she's not very good on a leash. She wants to chew it, first of all, and she doesn't like going where you're leading. She can't walk a straight line to save her life.
Coming when called: This morning, she impressed me by charging right at me three times in a row off-lead when I called her. However, she usually goes selectively deaf when she's called.
Name recognition: I think she's getting better with this. Glen says (and I quote), "No fucking way".
Housetraining: Little headway in this category, with the exception of at night when we're now only taking her out once overnight. She gives absolutely no indication of when she's about to pee, nor does she go stand by the door. Yesterday, her newest trick was being able to piddle in the house without us noticing until after the fact.
Crate training: Pretty awful, but getting better. She now seems to lie down and fuss as opposed to climb walls and scream. Still haven't left her for more than half an hour. Today, I plan to crate her and go shopping at the grocery store just down the street. Glen has started to tape her crate sessions with an MP3 recorder, and then we look at the waveform to see when the flipping out starts.
Basic obedience: She is managing to sit on command approximately 80% of the time. Part of this is helped by her propensity to sit down all the time anyway... "Lie down" isn't working yet, but this morning she went into it better than I've ever seen her do. (In other words, instead of really leaning on her, I only had to push a little...)
Grooming: HATES the brush. Any brush. Absolutely hates it. Loves being petted, hates being brushed. Will run away, or when restrained, will cry and twist and bite the brush as well as the holder. I think it's the SOUND she doesn't like though, since merely brushing my leg will have her going nuts. She's okay with her nails being clipped, although she likes to chew the nail clipper. We've been making a huge attempt to handle her feet and toes a lot.
Car rides: Moderately okay in the car if there's a passenger. Miserable and dangerous if it's just her and the driver. Working on it.
Nights: She was always pretty good about going to sleep at night. Last night was pretty near perfect on that account. We now have our heads back up at the head of the bed while she sleeps at the foot. Glen took her out at 10:15 PM, I took her out at 2:45 AM, and she slept until 6. It was lovely.
Naps: She sleeps a lot during the day, interspersed with brief periods of (sometimes frantic) activity. Yesterday, we took a nap together in the living room. I lay down on the couch and had her lie down under the coffee table, and, although we woke up several times, we got in a good hour and a half.
Play: Anything she can chew on, she loves. Her rope ball contraption is great, particularly when she wants to lie next to you and be petted, but can't control herself not to bite. She chews her Nylabone in the crate, as well as chewing on/shaking her bunny/dog. She also loves chewing on towels, like the one under her crate and the one that had Mocha's scent on it. Last night, she went absolutely beserk chewing her bedding. She totally does not understand what to do with balls. She'll chew on them, maybe pounce on them, but never chases them, and certainly never brings them back.
Vocalizing: Doesn't much. Only barking she does is at the "puppy in the window" when she sees her reflection in the sliding glass door and wants to play. (This happens just about nightly.) Whining and whimpering frequently happen in the car, and then there's the extreme noise of crate trauma!
Health: Been to vet, received kennel cough vaccine. Glen gave her her Heartgard on Monday, and removed a tick from her on Tuesday.
Fears: Traffic. The train. The garbage truck. She's fine if they're background noise, but just about refuses to walk in that direction. This is going to make walking her difficult. I've been trying to get her down to the end of the road each day, but she takes an awful lot of cajoling, and at some point usually turns around and wants to go the other way. When we finally do turn around, she sprints home.
And now she's up and I should take her out.