GRAELEE'S FIRST WEEK

This week has been busy with alot of new experiences for Graelee.  We have been to the school field with the long leash and she had a blast.   She runs like nobody's business.   I get the impression she would stick nearby and come when called but she hasn't shown me a clear sign yet that she would be a candidate for off leash just yet. 

Monday was her first day of dog daycare and I didn't get the first day report that I was expecting.  I would have thought she would have been play play play all day.   Apparently she was a little bit nervous because the daycare is undergoing some changes and there was some construction going on outside.   Maybe just too many new things at once.  New people, new dogs, new environment and me leaving her after only getting to know each other one day.   She did play for some of the day though and she of course chose TG dogs.  Whether these dogs have been together up North at the same time or not, they seem to just 'know' each other.   So she played with TG alumni Ruedi and with foster dog Freeway.   Here's the couch experience after dog daycare....

Each day since Monday I'm hearing that she has been playing more but she's also getting a few nicknames.  One of the staff at Playful Paws now calls her 'Spider Girl' for her ability to get up onto one of the temporary half walls and tight-rope walk along it.   Graelee is not escape-from artist.  She will however go to some lengths to escape-to.  She wants to be with you so if you leave her behind and she sees a way to follow she will go for it.   For such a little thing she's so gutsy.   We were actually taking our last walk of the night a couple of nights ago and we got to the edge of a garden filled with some kind of ivy ground cover.  It's probably 1 1/2 feet deep in some parts and she wanted to know what was going on in there so she jumped up and out and landed right in the middle of it all.  She made half of her body disappear in there.  I laughed out loud because the whole thing looked so funny and also because she didn't even take a tentative step forward to test it out first.  

We went for a walk at the beach on Tuesday and she was however very hesitant about the waves.   Not sure what to think about them just yet.  We love the sand though and that triggered some funny zoomies.   She is good with other dogs but when she sees a bigger dog approach from down the beach she barks ahead of time just in case they might notice she's little.   Once the dog gets up to her she's all bluff and she will meet them quite nicely.   She stops barking when you ask her to and it doesn't hurt that when she barks at a dog I for sure make her go up and meet them.  She seems to be learning that I'll look out for her and she is learning that new dogs approaching are okay and I'll keep her safe.  

Graelee has no limits with her back right leg.  This doesn't slow her down at all.  Sometimes she lifts the back leg for a bit and sometimes she runs on all four.  She does not appear to be in any pain and she can jump up and down on to anything you ask her to.   She is smart as a whip and is learning new things so quickly.   She will sit, lay down and stay on command.  I suspect she was learning the basics at TG already...because she already seemed to know what to do.   She waits at open doors for me to give her the sign to go through.   She is also learning to jump up high enough for me to catch her and hold her.   At the end of the night, after a good walk and sleeping on the couch we head out for her last P and then she gets a second wind, jumps on the bed and wants to play.   So we now spend a few minutes playing fetch.  We can use just about any toy for this...she loves almost everything!   She loves the stuffies, tug toys, balls, and one of her standbys is the few bones that all of the other TG fosters have knawed on.

Tonight was curling night and she had to be alone for a couple of hours.  I left her in the truck with bed and blanket and she was absolutely quiet when I walked away.   When I came back after my game she was standing up watching for me, but still silent.  I certainly hope that at some point she layed down and slept a bit.   I took her into the curling club with me and everyone oohed and awed over her.   She likes people and some of them she runs and jumps up to and others she is a little tentative.  I can only imagine when you're as little as her how intimidating people can be since we all tower over her.   She layed on my lap and fell asleep and caused no trouble.   She's very easy to have around.  She jumps into the truck and rides along side you like she has been riding in the truck all her life.  I'm sure Dave at TG has taken her on many trips and it shows by how much she loves coming along.  

We have an interesting weekend coming up with many more new experiences and hopefully we'll have some good weather so I can get some great pictures of her.  I'm not sure though if any photo will show just how much personality there is in her little furry body.