Hokay. So we've had Sunny fooorrrr ... ten days? And in those ten days she/we:
1. Has somewhat learned the commands "Go Potty," "Leave it," "Touch," and "Down," and she's getting better at not going all "BARKBARKBARK" at people when we're outside at night. On that last thing though: I don't personally mind a dog who's going to give a bit of a defense show towards strangers when I'm alone walking her at night (and it;s usually late, somewhere between 11pm and 1am). However I'd prefer if she refrained from it until getting adopted. If she was my actual dog, I'd be down, but for now we're trying to teach her to not do that.
2. Perused UC Davis Picnic day like a CHAMP. We didn't -- and still are not -- letting her meet other dogs, however she did extremely well at that chaotic event. Throngs of people, food, animals, loud music, really weird drunks, strollers, babies etc: she handled them all like a pro. Except for the squirrels. She definitely has a total hate for squirrels, which I think is a sentiment shared by all dogs, honestly. At this event we learned that she gets really... excited? towards small dogs, and then will ignore the vast majority of dogs larger than her. Since, as I said, we haven't had her interact with other dogs, we don't know how she actually is with them though I could say that all the behavior she displayed was not of the aggressive sort (that I could tell). Which is good for her. I think she's just a dog who has very little knowledge of doggy manners and etiquette given that she's a) a teen/pup and b) didn't exactly have a stellar upbringing until she was brought to the SSPCA and then us. So for now I'd say she's be OK in a home with another well-matched, preferably male, dog who's AT THE VERY MINIMUM her size but preferably larger. Cats = no. Small dogs = no.
3. As of today she has had two baths. Kailey did the first one last friday, I did the second one today after we came home from a hike at Lake Natoma. She cowered the first time, but while she was nervous the second time she did pretty good. God I love short haired dogs... so much easier to bath compared to the walking furmenator my family has.
4. She has been accepted to come onto the couch... though I think we've created a monster now. She will try to ever so sneakily crawl onto the couch when we're not looking (or even when we are looking) every chance she gets now. She isn't grasping the concept that she's only allowed up if we say so. Her sole goal/mission in life is to be next to you on the couch. Tonight she has achieved that goal and is currently snoring with her head smashed against my arm and breathing on my foot. Awkward to type like this.
5. She's definitely getting over her kennel cough and in doing so she's gained more energy and quite the stubborn streak. Now I have experience with stubborn dogs (AKA Harley), so it's not that bad, but going on walks can sometimes be draining. I've taken to carrying a bag of treats with me now so that I can once more get her attention.
6. Sunny = pretty damn good at fetch. we never had to train her to bring balls or toys back after throwing them, now have we actually had to technically train her to come back when called in general. With more training she'd probably be a dog with pretty damn good recall, though I think her prey drive might disturb that. Dastardly squirrels..... ruin all.
7. We need to work on her impulse control, not jumping when overly excited and to stop being mouthy. Most of these a puppy traits though, but they're things that need to be corrected etc at a young age otherwise they can become problems and easily be misinterpreted. Especially the mouthing. Her's is never aggressive, just pure excitement and she doesn't know how to contain it. But with an inexperienced owner or passerby, it could be sadly seen as 'OMGTHATDOGISTRYINGTOBITE.' And since she's a pit bull.... yeah, there's not good from that.
8. She's finally accepting her crate. She'll regularly go in on her own now to sleep during the day, though we still have to shove her in at night and when she knows that we're going to be leaving. Kailey thinks she may have started accepting it because I crawled in there on wednesday or something. Heck, if I had known that that was the trick then I would've done that the first day. darn.
Soooo that's been it for the past 10 days. I think within a week she'll probably be over her kennel cough fully, though that presents a different dilemma: do we see if we can continue fostering her until she's adopted or do we take her back to the SSPCA? It's a decision that I actually thought wasn't going to be hard, but the thought of taking her back to a cold concrete run after living in a house with love 24/7 is depressing. ... And I'm still emotionally compromised after watching Water for Elephants last night (great movie, though; highly recommend seeing it).
Lame post is lame. Whatever, it's late and there's a dog impeding on my typing ability.
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