Let the Romping Begin

We've all started to really enjoy Kira, our foster German shepherd puppy. She is so sweet and incredibly smart. And I don't think I heard a bark from her all day--what a huge difference from 5 days ago! In this photo, there's a cat on the other side of the fence--I know because I heard it hissing. Whenever Kira has stepped in my flower bed, I give her a verbal correction, "ah-uh!" I didn't have to give the correction here--even in the excitement of smelling a cat, Kira was being so careful not to step on my flowers! Is she a great dog or what!

Kira has been trying to get Cabana to play with her for the past several days, but Cabana hasn't been willing. Aleksandra, from Love and Six Foot Leash, is a veteran foster mama and takes the most GORGEOUS photos of her fosters. She commented yesterday that I should make sure to give Cabana "top dog" status, along with plenty of alone time. Tonight, Cabana and I had a mini date in my sewing room, where she got to chew on a special bone treat. When she came out of the room, she was ready to rumba! Talk about instant results!

Here are a few short videos of Cabana and Kira playing. In this one, Cabana entices Kira with an orange monster toy, one of her favorites which has seen better days. I know dogs are somewhat color blind, but the interesting thing is that Kira digs down into the toy box and pulls out her own orange toy, one that is most similar to what Cabana has. I wonder if it's coincidence or deliberate?!



In this video, a few times, Kira pretends to be interested in another toy momentarily, only to make a sneak attack on Cabana. This time, I know it was deliberate.



Now Kira is fully engaged. Cabana doesn't seem to know what to make of Kira's unleashed energy. I just hope Kira sleeps well tonight!

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Cabana's Wonderful Weekend

On Saturday, our puppy raising group had a booth at the Bodega Bay Fish Fest. Cabana got to hang out for a couple hours, getting admired and petted by lots of people. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

While there, Cabana got to play a bit with big boy Dagan, a 6-month old puppy-in-training.

She also hung out with retired breeder Trent. Here's the top of his big ol' bison-y head.

On Sunday morning, the weather was gorgeous, and we took a 2.5 hour walk.

I didn't mean to walk that long...but we met such fun dogs along the way that we kept stopping to play.

Toward the end of our walk, we crossed paths with the GDB trainer that lives in our neighborhood, along with his wife and career changed German shepherd Dillon. The trainer commented on how settled and well-behaved Cabana seemed now. In the past, we ALWAYS seemed to cross paths when Cabana was lunging and carrying on like a wild lunatic--QUITE embarrassing. I told him that she might seem much better today due to the fact that we'd been walking for 2.5 hours! Still, Cabana was well-behaved enough that we let Cabana and Dillon romp around off-leash for a while. It made me realize that Cabana HAS come a long way. Even a few months ago, I wouldn't have been able to do that, fearing that she wouldn't come back to me--and might embarrass me further. But she had a great time with Dillon, who is huge but as gentle as a kitten.

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Coming Along

Although I wouldn't call them best friends, Cabana and Angie are learning to get along. If it were only up to Cabana, I might find the two of them cuddled up on her dog bed together, like in cute photos you see in calendars or on coffee mugs. But Angie is the one who'd have none of that. She's 14 years old and quite set in her ways. She tolerates Cabana, but she won't put up with Cabana's eagerness to sniff her posterior orifice.

Still, the fact that Angie is staying put on this lounge chair while Cabana sits beside her on the ground is tremendous progress in my book. And I didn't even put Cabana in a sit--she sat there completely on her own. We've come a long way since this photo, where Angie would beat a hasty retreat whenever Cabana was in the same room.

It seems like Cabana has learned to pay less attention to cats on our walks. In the past week, she either hasn't seen them or hasn't cared enough to see them. I hope it's the latter. If she can be less distracted by cats, MAYBE there's hope for her being less distracted by dogs.

I was pretty discouraged by a recent post on the Guide Dogs blog about career changed dogs. Sharon Davis of Aurora, CO, describes her feelings after her puppy Argos got career changed. She is a puppy group LEADER (i.e., she has much more of a clue about what she's doing than I do), and she was not able to help Argos overcome his dog distraction. She says, "...he just wanted to play with those other dogs." I know there's nothing more that Cabana would love than to play with the other dogs we see on our walks.

Still, I know it doesn't help to dwell on what may or may not be. I need to focus on doing the best with the puppy I've got, and I do feel encouraged when I see the teeny tiny baby steps of progress that Cabana is making.



Speaking of which, I've noticed my garden is progressing very nicely. I planted the veggies in this planter box on June 22. Click here to see how they looked just over a month ago. Last night, we had homemade pizza and salad. I used tomatoes, basil, lettuce and arugula, all harvested from my little garden. My zucchini plants are the huge leaves in the back. I think we're going to have zucchini coming out of our ears in about a week!

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