Logs and Streams

Yesterday, Jenny and I took the pups to O.O. Denny park (forest) for some exercise. It turned in to agility training for all of us, and a confidence boost for the pups. We walked down the stream jumping from rock to rock, crossing the chilly water, and over and under logs. The pups were in tow and did a lot of problem solving to navigate the course. Eater really got comfortable with the water - Tilly never minded it. Later we found some fallen trees and walked across them. Some were pretty high off the ground. The pups followed without question. They were excited. Tilly fell from about six feet onto the forest floor and seemed like she wanted to do it again. She is rubber, a very light rubber that springs rather than walks.

Training:
Potty: It's going really good. In three days now there has only been once near accident. She now goes through the door when I open it and proceeds down the stairs and does business. Then she bolts back up and waits by the door for me to come up. Lord, I hope you are not playing a joke on me. And this morning at 5 am she woke me by whining to take her out.

Crate: I decided to try and crate train her though I hate the crate; it seems cruel. I put some treats around the crate to show her it was safe, then placed the treats in the crate, slowly, front to back. She went in to get them.  Then I put her toys in there. She just grabs them and comes out, but I have a feeling she is gonna learn to like it. Door always open policy for now.

One Week Birfday!

It's not really Tilly's one week birthday, but she thinks it is. I've had her for a week. I'll let her think it's her birthday.

Yesterday had its struggles with socialization. We walked on the BK and she stopped so many times fearing people, kids, buggies. She hid in the grass once and I had to pluck her out. It was almost 3 hours, and we did not walk very far. Progress here is slow. Met Jenny and Eater and decided to walk her in the dog park. She was friendly with all dogs and was confident with Eater in most situations. A couple times in tight situations she froze and I had to pluck her again. But she had fun and Eater made her smile. She has a habit of jumping on me and tugging at my shirt or grabbing onto my pants. That is the next habit to break her of.

We had another accident free day in the car and I even had my eye off her last night for a while. I had not felt that relief in a week. And last night this happened: I took her to her bed an hour after doing business 1 and 2. She did not lay down right away; I had to encourage her, and many times she tried to get up and walk around the room. I don't allow that. She was determined to do it, and I thought she was just wanting to play. She whined a bit too, which was peculiar. About 2 am she tried again and I watched her walk around the bedroom and bathroom, trying to understand what was wrong. She tried to do business on the bathroom floor and I caught her and ran her down stairs. She went immediately and then went again and again and again. She was sick and she had been trying to tell me to let her out. She is amazking! We got back up stairs and she laid down and did not stir until I got up. What a sweetie.

A Good Day

We had an accident free day yesterday, not even a threat of it. Followed routine B, and that seems like the one we are settling on. I open the door; she goes down stairs to the "evacuation station" and within 30 seconds she does business 1 and comes back to me for a treat; then she finds a spot for business 2 and comes back for a treat. Now, here is where it gets interesting. Twice yesterday she ran back up the stairs when she was done. Are you kidding me? I thought to myself. Okay, well, not so fast. She knows she gets a treat when she follows me up the stairs, so what she did was run up the stairs, take a treat and then run back down and tried to repeat the process. Pretty clever.

Otherwise, she is doing good staying in the car. I had her in there for about three hours yesterday. She doesn't cry in there, just lays down and waits for me to come back. She has also made choices to not evacuate in the car. As soon as I open the door to let her out she finds a spot and does business.

She doesn't seem to be afraid of traffic anymore. We walked along 85th in Redmond and she was fine. unless she is with Eater (her leader) she still gets shaky around people. I had her in Idlywood and on the BGT yesterday. She pauses when people come and then moves on.

Magnasun park was a riot for her and Eater. They are getting along good. he plays hard she tolerates it and sometimes plays back.

So far this morning has gone well. She wants nothing more in the morning that to sit with me on the couch. She's a good one.

When She's Ready

Routine is the key. Yesterday and today we proceeded immediately outside after waking and she evacuated almost immediately. Then I put some food out. She picks at it and then jumps up on the couch with me while I check mail. Then I take her into the bathroom while I shower. She just sits there and keeps an eye on me. We then return to the couch and she reclines on me while I try to type. She is great about that. She also holds her business at night for 12 hours.

She chilled in the car yesterday while I met with Eric for an hour or more. She also met Kevin and Eric. Then we went to Idylwood. She loves to play when there are no people around. When she sees someone she either bolts or freezes. She eventually starts moving again if frozen. I just keep the leash taut; I don't force her unless we really need to get going. She also went from the grass to the gravel beside the road, which she could not do up to this point. That was good. I'll take the ball with today to see if she will play. 

Evacuation: 

Morning was good: 1 and 2 immediately. 

Afternoon:

1 and 2 at Idlywood.

Evening: She tried to pee by the window. I caught her and ran her down. she went right away. I caught her trying to go right after by the table right after a drink of water. Caught and she went downstairs. 

Crate: Did not use it. Door is open if she wants to go in. I leashed her to the fridge while I cooked. She did okay with it. Lots of treats.

Growls and Bowels

Tilly growled at Scott King last night. Well, she didn't know it was Scott, so I forgive her. It was really a good thing; I am encouraged by it. It wasn't a fearful growl; it was an "I am threatened" growl. It was dark out; she and I were waiting in the light and his dark shadow came walking up toward us. You could only see a figure. She growled. He eventually came close and she stopped and allowed him to pet her. That was pretty cool. I did not expect that. So, during practice she waited in the car for about two hours. She had moved from the front to the back. In the driveway at home she go spooked and ran out into west lake samm. parkway. I had to flag down cars so they would not hit her. I was shaking. It sucked. I'm not sure what spooks her. I think it is vibrations.

Our walk with Jenny and Eater was great. Eater was all over her; he was relentless. She sent her message over and over for him to back off. He did not listen; he loves to play. They both chased me around the playground, but they were not ready for the slide. They got along really well. It was nice. Looking forward to more of it. And Tilly gets a lot of confidence from him. He likes showing her the way.

She got pissed at me in the afternoon. I had her in the crate for about two hours. When she got out she ignored me. She is better now, snuggled up on me as I type.

Evacuation: Last night she did both businesses around 8.30pm. She has gone under the stairs pretty consistently. This morning was really good. She went both businesses within 5 minutes. I took her out first thing.  I guess I don't get my coffee first for a while.

At Home: She is getting around better. I think I have been too careful about noise and footwork. I'm not anymore. She chewed on the rawhide for an hour. That thing is awesome.

Crate: Two hours yesterday afternoon. She cried. Later she went in it and played with the food ball for about a minutes before rolling it out.

So, you wanna be the greatest dog in the world?

Evacuation routine had a set back this morning, but it was my fault. She slept through the night without moving. This morning I watched to see if she would go immediately from the bed to the couch. It's funny: you watch every move just hoping they do what you expect, for a second you feel at ease...then, they squat and you run hell for leather after them to interrupt their business. Well, I should have taken her directly outside when she didn't jump up on the couch to chill. She is there now, though, tucked in next to me. She's great that way. So, tomorrow morning we execute a evacuation plan B: wake, put on coffee, go out for business, buddy up on couch and drink coffee. I hope I can get the coffee on first - need to figure that one out. Note: After treatment, I put coffee grinds on the carpet where there are former pee stains. Drug dealers use coffee to mask the scent of cocaine from police dogs. It's gotta work!

Yesterday I took her to Idylwood. She is really frightened of people. It took us a long time to get down to the water, but we made it. She would stop and shake nearing people. There was some leashing tugging, coaxing, strong vocals. We got to the beach and and three kids came up to pet her at once. I held on to her while they did because I did not know if the fear would result in aggression. It did not, thankfully. We walked around people for two hours, and then I had her sit with me near the playground where kids were playing. It's funny because the sound of kids and traffic scare the hell out of her; but when I play those same sounds in the house, she's fine. I think she understands the difference. It's not about home territory either because she is still not comfortable here. Nonetheless, I will keep playing these sounds from here: http://www.freesound.org/tagsViewSingle.php?id=34

Okay, so we were under the house last night for a pee and she went nuts. She started darting around and chasing rocks. She is fast and agile. It was cool to see (I may not think that later.) She is pretty fearless too. She also played in the house last night with the food ball and wood on string. She peed on the pad twice, which was great. But then I interrupted a poop and ran her outside. She did not finish the job and still has not. I have got to fix the deck today. That is the plan. I think there is too much latency putting on my clothes and running her down the stairs. She won't get it, I fear. Gonna increase crate time today to 2 hours. I just have to not look at her when she's in it. I hate seeing that face staring at me from in there.

The First Full Day

Tilly had slept beside me on the floor the night before. She did good, making no noises or moving from her spot. She just turned a few times and once or twice wanted to get close to me. At 7.00, when it started to get light, I got up to make coffee. She stayed in her bed. Eventually, I had to get her. She retreated most of the morning to her "mama blanket" in the corner of the living room behind the couch. 

Since she came to me so timid nervous to the extreme, jumping at every sound or movement, I decide we needed to gently introduce her into an environment of some chaos. I kept the nature sounds playing over the speakers, and now and then tapped with care or cleared my throat and made gutteral noises, as these made her run - and they still did. 

Around 10 it was time to go to Idylwood park for a walking and to see where she stood socially. Since she absolutely froze in every situaltion the first day, I expected the same. I carried her from the car and set her in the grass. She was very interested in the area, the smells, and followed me as I walked in the damp grass. She kept an eye on me and explored the new world from between from legs. I had her off leash. When we got near our first human she bolted for a tree. I got kinda nervous 'cause she was going for the road. She stopped about 15 feet from me and panted and shook. I got to her before any real trouble. We met a boxer later, Jax. His master Ben and I talked for a while. Tilly did good, sniff and whiffed Jax. He was a beauty. We ran into a few more people with the same result. 

After the park we went to RTC to buy pup supplies. I walked around with her. She was scared, especially by Chinese people. Their language was very coarse. In the afternoon we had the "big walk" with Eater, who suddenly looks huge against Tilly. He plays hard; I am partly to blame. They did good. Scrapped a bit to establish dominance. We did not give them freedom to play, fearing a real fight, which would not help Tilly's recovery. The dogs did well. They were mostly distracted by the walk and for the first time I saw Tilly's tail up and wagging. And she loves Chloe. She doesn't know Jenny well yet, but that will change. I think she and Eater will become buds. They don't have a choice. 

When we got home she was still nervous and hid. After a while she came to eat while I was in the kitchen. That was good. She kept an eye on me the whole time, though. I made noises while she ate. Then she plopped on the couch; from there I can do anything and she is not scared. I did some laundry. Then I sat with her on the couch and noticed fleas. We took her straight to the bath. I got most and then picked off the rest. She was thankful. She doesn't mind baths too much. She just shook. Later, about 6pm, she sniffed her pee pad and then walked across the room and peed; I caught her and took her under the house. She did not go in the gravel. She jumped from a plank of wood across a ditch to a railing and the dropped off into darkness. I listened and think I heard her pee  strike the ivy. I had hoped she pooped too, and was very nervous about the night, fearing some accidents. But I wanted to establish a pattern so that we could make it through the night. I put barriers around her bed on the floor and a pee pad a couple feet away. If she could not hold it her choice was pee in her nest or the pee pad. I reckoned she would not pee in her nest and would go to the pad. She was still all night and seems to like sleeping alone, which is good. So, this morning I got up. She tried to come out of the room on her own but got scared. I pulled her from her bed and was going to take her out. When she jumped up on the couch I decided it go with it, and had my coffee and worked on the computer, where I am now. She has shown no interest in eating or evacuating. But I will get her out there soon.

The name Tilly seems be be sticking to the pup now.