Back in Action!

Abby and I have been reunited! I got back Sunday morning, and we've had a strange couple of days trying to get back in sync, but I think we're now good to go. The first day Abby was super excited to see me for and was jumping and dancing and spinning, and then she fell fast asleep. I think the excitement just knocked her out completely. The next day she was more standoffish than usual, wasn't following me around the house, and kept running into her crate as if I was about to leave the house (which I wasn't). When I brought her to the field she was more excited than she normally is (didn't know that was possible), and wouldn't stop barking. Luckily, today things are better.

Abby had an interesting 2 weeks, from the sounds of it. The first week she was very different from her normal self, which means that she was very well behaved. She was polite with people she'd never met, wasn't overly scared, and even jumped into Tycho and Zeus's grandad's lap to give him kisses! Normally she's scared of him.
The second week Abby acted more like her normal self. She was at our house with my roommate, and I think that made her confident enough to act like regular old NuttyMutt. There was one bad incident where my other roommate's sister leaned over and put her face close to Abby's, and thumped her rib cage (a major pet peeve of Abby's). Abby bared her teeth and snarled. Other than that, she realized the person to latch on to was my roommate, and she behaved well for her.

I'm going to teach Abby a 'walk away' command. My long term goal is to have the cue for the command be a situation that makes Abby uncomfortable, such as someone leaning over her. I basically want to teach her to resort to flight instead of fight, since she is never actually trapped when she feels she it. I'm going to start my having her walk away from treats, then from my roommates playing with her, then from other dogs. I haven't decided what to call the command yet. I want it to be something I can say easily when people are petting/approaching her ( I try to avoid that situation all together, but it isn't always possible to stop people from petting Abby the wrong way. Most people, I've realized, think that they are the one special person who can pet her in any way they want. Very frustrating, since Abby only tolerates all kinds of touch from me and maybe 2-3 others). Back to the command, though - I don't want to call it something like "Get away from that stupid person that you're about to snap at", even if I'd like to call it that. I'm thinking of "by me" and maybe clapping my hands as another signal.

Abby got lots of nice gifts this year, and so did I! I have a new camera that I still need to test for action shots. I really like the still shots so far, though (it's a Canon SD600). Abby got a new floppy frisbee that she likes to shake so that it hits her in the face, and a new folding crate. The crate is pretty small, but since she only curls up in the back of crates at trials, I think it will be fine. It's nice and light compared to the wire one I've been using (that is way too big for Abby). Abby also got lots of treats, and some packed rawhide bones. She used to like those bones, and I watch her very carefully the whole time she chews them since I don't trust dogs with rawhide (Sam once got a piece stuck in the back of his throat when he tried to wolf it down to avoid having it taken away). She doesn't seem to like these bones, though. In fact, all she does when I give her one is get a panicked look in her eyes and starts crying while holding the bone. She then tries to bury it in my bed, and even used her nose to cover it up with the blankets. After that she shakes herself off, as if she's relieved to have hidden it, and goes back to business as usual. She is one weird dog. Oh, and she also got a new collar that I made her her myself, with her name stitched into it.

Trying to bury the bone in her new crate

My roommate is getting her new foster dog soon! The dog is a 9 month old female. She looks very cute in the pictures, and is supposed to be good with dogs, cats and kids. I think Abby will be happy to have a younger sister to boss around. An older female might not go over so well with, but a younger dog that can be pushed around - perfect in Abby's mind. Hopefully they'll play a lot and use up some energy.