Chloe's First Walk

I have Thursday and Fridays off in the month of December. I started the day early with house cleaning and kept at it until mid-afternoon. I had sent the Danes and shepherds out to the pasture to run and play on their own, but not the new girl or Maya.

I don't trust Chloe any farther than I can throw her. She needs a few days to bond and "home" before I'll consider letting her out to the pasture. She's been doing the German Shepherd hunger strike, even though I'm giving her the exact food she had been eating, so I know she hasn't settled in quite yet. The best way I know to build trust is leash walking so that's what we did this afternoon. Maya and I took Chloe on her first hike.

She was excited and loved it right from the start. I used a martingale collar on her for a positive hold and she gave my arms and back a good workout. Her leash was tight nearly every moment we were out there. She didn't just pull forward either, there was a lot of back and forth. Mostly she had her nose to the ground and was very scent-oriented. She wanted to stop and sniff every interesting spot she came to, and she didn't want to move on. Maya finally explained to her that you can't stay indefinitely at every spot because Dad and the leash run out of patience. You stop, sniff, pee on it, and move on.

When I stopped she would turn around and look, but I had
to be very fast, and very lucky, to get the picture.

This was her most of the way, head down, at the far end of
a very taut leash.

I don't know how much hiking in the woods she has done,
but she clearly enjoyed it.

Most of my pics were of the back of her head, but
that's a nice view. Look at the pretty markings and
those ever-so-alert ears.

My little girl is all grown up now, beginning to show a fair
amount of grey. But she always wants to go along.

Chloe stopped to sniff, a lot, and this is
a lucky behind-the-back shot of her
catching up to us.

This says it all about her walking style: head down,
leash tight, and walking diagonally across the line of travel. 

Maya modeled lots of good walking
behavior, but I'm not sure Chloe noticed.

Towards the end of the hike I spotted a picnic table in a spot that looked like a dog standing on top of it would still catch the last rays of the setting sun. We made a beeline for that table and much to my surprise, Chloe cooperated by jumping right up on top of it like I wanted. Sure enough, we caught the last few minutes of the golden hour. The sun lit up her fur and she posed with that typical German Shepherd look of intelligent intensity. There are lots of similar pics here because how could I choose? This girl is pretty.

After I got the girls back in the van and we were leaving the park, we came across 7 or 8 deer who were out for the evening. I was very glad that both dogs were in crates in the van and didn't see them.

Oh, and when we got home, Chloe ate her dinner without evening thinking about it. The hunger strike is over and bonding has begun.

There's a new girl in town

Her name is Chloe. She's a three year old female German Shepherd Dog. She's spayed and up to date on everything. I just picked her up today from a nice young woman in a bad situation who couldn't give the dog what she needed right now. I felt bad for her but appreciated the fact that she was putting the dog's best interests in front of everything else.

Chloe is a nice girl. She's young and energetic. She loves to play ball. She's house-trained and crate-trained. She's good with other dogs off leash but is reportedly reactive and protective vis-a-vis other dogs when leashed. Everything I heard about her sounds like a typical German Shepherd.

She had a crash course in meeting other dogs around here this afternoon. She was naturally rather overwhelmed by it all, but everything was fine. The one I was most concerned about was Della, who acts like she owns the place these days.

I put the two Danes out in the pasture with Theo and Kaiser before even getting Chloe out of the van. My plan was to take Chloe into the house and introduce her first to Maya and Trooper. I did so and that went fine. Maya did her standing fur and tall tail thing, but Maya knows the deal with foster dogs and she's fine with them once she lays down a few rules. Trooper is always good with newcomers.

I didn't really have a plan for the next step but Della supplied it. Della had seen me take Chloe from the van. She waited a bit but then she jumped the pasture fence and showed up at the back door wanting in to meet the new dog. Della is a pretty imposing dog and she's easily twice Chloe's size and weight. Della was assertive but not aggressive. Chloe was scared and reacted but Della was cool about it and didn't escalate the tension. I was actually rather proud of how she handled it as she hasn't had a lot of experience with new foster dogs in her time around here.

Chloe was great and she is slowly settling in around here. She met Theo and Kaiser for a bit in the dog yard. We'll save meeting Max for another day.

My pictures are mostly blurred and certainly don't do her justice. She's a very pretty girl. I've used the pictures that the former owner sent to me yesterday to show what she really looks like. I'll be getting some new ones in the coming days.

Meeting Maya

Della

 

Trooper is always a calming influence.

Chloe in the left, Theo in the center, and
that's Kaiser on the right.

Thanksgiving, 2019

Reka in her favorite chair.

I got back home Saturday evening. We travel Tuesday and Saturday to avoid the two busiest travel days of the year. It takes a while to get back into the swing of things. I put work first, out of necessity, and let the blogging slide for a couple of days until I'm ready again.

Reka is a little suspicious of strange men at
first but it didn't last for long.

Not much new on the dog front here at home. Everyone is fine. Trooper is on a new NSAID that seems to be helping his mobility. Everyone is bored with the wet weather and happy to see the sun today. Here are some pics from my trip to Kentucky for Thanksgiving, mostly featuring the dogs of course.

Reka is a shepherd mix adopted as a puppy
from Promises Animal Rescue.

This is Bebe, the senior dog in the household.

Reka is on leash-only restriction because of
an injury to her back leg. It's healing, but it
takes a while.

Deborah is a family friend who spends the holiday
with us. The small dog on the left is Cache. That's
Deborah's dog Pixel in the middle, and Reka on right.

Pixel, Reka, and Cache in the kitchen.

Reka out for a walk.

Cache sits on the back of Reka's chair.

Reka and Pixel keeping watch out the front window.

This is my mother, Shirley, on the left. Clay's mother, Berta,
on the right. Bebe and Cache between them, Pixel on the
foot rest in front.

My sister Paula with Bebe.

My mother with Cache and Bebe.

Deborah with her lap dog, Pixel.

My sister Paula and her husband, Pat, holding Pixel.

This is not a good picture of her, but this is
my sister Kate's partner, Kim, with Pixel and Reka.

I didn't get any pictures of my sister Kate with a dog, but here she is
between Deborah and Paula as we raise a toast to Chimay, drinking her beer.

Clay sent me this picture while I was away. Serena and Della on their
shared bed and Maya in my spot.

Maya snuggling with me after I got home Saturday evening.