Drum roll please..................
WE ADOPTED A DOG!!!!!
Yep. It's been a bit of a whirlwind the last few weeks as we've been looking at different pups in adoption shelters and foster homes online. I would email one to Mike and he would email one to me... we both had mostly the same thing in mind with a few slight differences. I was scheduled to have a phone interview with an adoption center last night when Mike emailed me a listing for this sweet face:
He really liked her, so I postponed the phone interview for the other pup and we drove to West Hartford to check out this little girl, Darcy. She's a year+ old, a little skiddish, but gives lots of love. She aims to please and looks often for your affection and approval. We spent about an hour with her at the shelter and told her foster Mom we'd think about it and call her today.
We no sooner got 1 mile down the road and wondered why we'd left her there and why we hadn't just taken her home with us. We answered ourselves with: 1) We don't even have food at the house, 2) We don't have a crate, 3) We're going to VT this weekend, 4)???? we ran out of excuses. And alas, on our left was a PetCo, with their blue and red light shining bright in our direction.
We pulled in, got the necessary goods, called foster Mom back, and asked if we could come take Darcy Dog home. She said YES! So, in a fit of excitement and a little fear of the unknown, we packed her up and headed home for Milford.
Like anything, this will take adjusting on all our parts. We'll have to teach her and train her, and she'll have to train us too. Within 5 minutes of walking in the door, she broke a candle holder accidentally because she tripped on an electrical cord that was not-so-delicately placed between the candles. It's my fault, but it scared her pretty bad. After that, we had some treats and cuddled on the floor under blankets to settle in. I'd say night #1 went well considering 2 hours beforehand she was tucked into her own crate in West Hartford instead. It's clear that she's never lived in a house nor been house trained. She doesn't even know 'Sit.' Poor girl. We'll get her all learned up. :)
We're now accepting any and all dog training tips from getting her not to beg for food, to not inhaling her own food, to getting more comfortable on the leash/harness (Amanda... I'm looking to you on this one!). Send your thoughts, suggestions, tips my way... we sure could use 'em. Also, what shampoo, food, supplies do you love?
And now a few more pics from Miss Darcy (Kind of like Miss Daisy, except for no opposable thumbs and a tail).
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| checking out the kitchen... aka.. .where's my food, lady? |
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| skinny girl |
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| checking out the backyard |
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| Mike assembling her 'crate' to spend her days in |
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| afraid of the stairs. I swear it was her first time on them. Going up was easy-ish, coming down took about 3 minutes. |
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| Harnessed and ready for a walk |
So on that note, treat yourself to a puppy!
yours in puppy love,
whitney
Hey Whitney!! Congrats on the new addition to the family! My biggest tip for you guys is to always have treats (i usually just keep extra dog food in my pocket). Make sure to reward her every time she does something good....if she sits without you telling her to, make sure to say "sit" and give her a treat. That way she will get to associate the word "sit" with what she is already doing. Same thing with come, or down. Also...every time she goes the bathroom outside make sure to use the same word. We use "go potty". Every time Scooter would go to the bathroom, while he was going we would say "go potty" He now associates this with going outside...so every time we say "go potty" he knows what to do. Last....the best way to train a dog to stay is when you feed her. When you put the food down for her have her sit and hold her collar...I put my hand in front of Scooter's face and say "stay". When we were first training him we would have to hold on to him until we said "ok". It only took a few times but now he sits and stays every time we put the food down. Once we say ok he eats. It was helpful because now in any setting he knows "stay". Just make sure you reward her lots and lots every time she does something good. Good luck!!!! - Ashley
ReplyDeleteYou didn't consult with me on this - Zoey
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