Social visits

My van is outfitted with two decent sized crates and a large open space in the back, which generally holds a big bed for Della. I don't often use both crates at the same time but I did today. Quinn needed a parvo/distemper vaccine and a dose of de-wormer, so she needed to stop by Green Dogs. Adelaide needed to meet a cat so we were heading to town to meet Portia, Clay's mother's cat. Della wanted to go along because that's what Della does. 

I headed off with a full van and stopped first at Green Dogs. Erika had the wormer in Quinn's mouth before she even knew what was happening. The vaccine was just as easy. Their cat was present and she walked right up to Quinn and they touched noses. I got Adelaide out next and she also met the cat, not quite as close and Adelaide made no effort to pull me to get closer to the cat. Then I got Della out because there were people around who needed to give her attention, including Kevin who may be her favorite person in the world. Quinn and Adelaide were good about getting back into their crates, but Della did not want to leave because there was more excitement going on there than at our house, where I had been doing nothing but yard work all afternoon.

Next stop was Berta's house in Charlottesville, meeting Berta and Hugh (Clay's mother and brother), and the cat, Portia. I took Quinn in first and she was perfectly neutral towards the cat. Adelaide was too, really, she made no effort to get in the cat's business. Both the foster dogs were a bit shy in the new place and meeting the new people. After putting them both back in the van I brought in Della to say hello. Della enters every new place as if she owns it and as if everyone is there anxiously awaiting to see her. She did "sit" for treats, but when they didn't come fast enough she jumped up to grab them. The training failures are all mine. We don't do treats at our house as a rule, so I didn't even learn that Della would sit until someone else offered her one. She will not do it for free. The lack of treats may be Della's biggest complaint about her life as head farm dog around here, but if that's the biggest thing she has to complain about, she's not suffering too much.