It's All About The Dogs

What a first week and a half with our new dog Dexter, the
firsts were and still are amazing. In less than a day he mastered the stairs
and to look at him today you wouldn't have known he'd never walked up and down
them before coming to live with us. He's settled nicely with my existing dogs
and quickly discovered the big comfy beds were a much better place to lie than
the carpeted floor. He now walks well when leashed, a quicker study than my
other dogs or perhaps I've gotten better at training a dog on a loose leash.
Maybe the old cliché third times a charm is true.

Dexter loves going for his walks and he particularly enjoys
walking my youngest daughter to school and waiting for the doors to open. He
watches the boisterous young kindergarten boys run and slide their backpacks,
waits for the shy first grade girl to approach and bows his head so she'll pet
him. He's seen more in a week than he probably saw in his first three years at
the racing kennel. He's seen a fire truck race by sirens blaring, children, adults
of all shapes and sizes with and without hats. He’s met dogs of different
breeds, a cat which he's only sniffed and paid attention to because my husband
and I held him close enough to sniff. He's made friends at the grocery store,
hair salon, he's seen and heard a jack hammer and instead of running or shying
away wanted to move closer to investigate. And finally though I know I've
missed some things he's come in contact with people using various medical
equipments. Now if I could just figure out how to teach him the down command,
the typical lure that I used for my other dogs isn't working, but then my other
dogs don't have the long thin legs of Dexter.

Last Saturday I walked in the 7th Annual Walk for the
Animals an event put together by my local SPCA and sponsored by many of the
local businesses. That was a fun morning. My daughter's and I took our
Beagle/Basset mix, Josie on the two-mile walk and she was a well-behaved puppy,
though the two-mile walked definitely wiped her out and caused a little whining
from my kids. I have a hunch they won't want to do it with me next year.
Amazingly with over 75 dogs present it was a rather quiet event and Josie and
her big ears were a huge hit!

The last week was definitely all about the dogs!