Last night - night two of hurricane Leeloo - was interesting. We had our first walk on lead which, in retrospect, was maybe not such a hot idea considering the freezing rain/mist/snow thing we had going on. With a non-lead trained puppy and a pulling sniffing Raimi it was a recipe for slippage and broken bones.
Leeloo was very good. I had treats to lure her but I only needed to employ that a couple times. What is it with puppies and their inexplicable need to put the 'absolutely no damn way' brakes on when you're crossing the street? She followed Raimi happily most of the time but a couple blocks from home she got a bit cold and tired and was braking pretty often. Fortunately she responds to treats in almost every scenario.
She is the very first puppy who has happily gone down the flight of stairs into my suite. I carried her the first night home however yesterday she trailed behind Raimi like she'd been doing it for years. The entrance to my suite is a flight down to what would look like a dead end to a dog but down she went and into the house no problem.
It sure is simpler with Raimi for her to follow and learn from. She cues off Raimi for most things like going out to pee, waiting for food, relaxing on the couch. I have never owned a puppy without another dog to learn from ... ever in my life. There has always been an established dog to teach the rules of the road to a puppy.
Bedtime was a bit interesting. She seems to be unsure of what she wants. She dug around by the pillow for a few minutes so I pushed her underneath and she lay down and went straight to sleep.(Yes - I did blog some time ago how I just could not have a dog under the covers but ... she's a baybeeeeee ... we'll have to see how it goes.) I could tell she was hot but she stayed there, gradually working her way down to my feet and then through the night she moved back up the bed to the pillow.
That's when things took a turn. For whatever reason in her puppy brain she could not get comfy. Again with the moan groans and shifting every couple seconds, then a huge sigh, then more whiney moans, then shifting again, then sighing ... then ... I sat up and took stock.
Problem: she loves the pillows. Love them. When I sat up she threw herself down onto the pillows the second I was out of the way. I get it ... okay I get it. They are down pillows, the good fluffy awesome warm kind. I can understand why they would have a lot of appeal to a little baby seeking ultimate comfort. However, I can't have her sleeping on my pillows because she will quadruple in size so I picked her up and popped her next to Raimi and miracle ... she fell straight to sleep again.
She has the same lack of contrite expression that Raimi does when she's being told off for something except hers is more "Why?" and his is more "Guh?" Although, Christina, with Leeloo's sister Boo, commented that her other Ridgeback Arwen gets upset when Boo is disciplined and Boo just goes "What?" Raimi is the same way ... his expression is a mix of "But but but but ..." and "You like her more than me." I am trying very hard to give him big loves since he sees her as a bit of a usurper.
Leeloo thinks he's the greatest ... so we are in agreement on that point anyway.
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