Heeeeeere's Billie!

Ok, so every farm needs a dog, right? Or maybe it's every dog needs a farm? Regardless, two weeks ago we decided to take another flying leap and get ourselves a puppy. Paul had been keeping his eye on the local animal adoption agency site, and when he forwarded the pictures of three rolly-polly black fuzzballs, I caved and said 'let's go see them'. And from there, you know our fate was sealed. Billie looked up at me with her bright black eyes and stole my heart. She and two brothers were being fostered, and although the smaller boy-pup was also a darling (they'd named him Brian), I kept coming back to Billie.
She's a collie-shepherd-lab cross, and yes we'll definitely be going to puppy training school! I haven't had a dog in, well, donkey's years, and so of course, being me, I hit the books before our scheduled pick-up day. I read Cesar Millan's How to Raise the Perfect Dog in two days, and coached Paul on do's and don't's all the way to Nelson. Big don't: if she's whiny, no eye contact, touch, or voice contact. Of course, she howled in her crate most of the way home in the car, but Becca (who had come along to see the pups and promptly fell in love with Brian-- they're taking him home next week[!!]) did a great job of just sitting beside her in the backseat and generating calm energy, only talking to her when she was quiet. Two days of doing that at home, and she's practically whine-free (gosh, should I be trying that with my clients??). The book said to not let a new puppy have the run of the house, so she's either outside with me, or in her roughly 60 sq.ft. pen in the workshop living room. She has lots of toys to play with and chew on, and can see us at all times. She's in her crate at night for sleeping, and after ten days, there is barely a whimper anymore when she's shut in at night.

I may be making it sound easy-peasy, but there are definitely challenges. Our property isn't fenced, and a brief chat with the puppy-training lady revealed that I shouldn't be letting her off leash until she is very, very good at responding to the 'come' command. Well. So far, she responds very, very well to 'come' when a) I am standing in her pen with her, about five ft. away; and b) she can see from there that I have a treat in my hand. Actually, to her credit, there has been big improvement on that score and she's now enjoying some off-leash romps outside, staying near the house.

Having said that-- right outside the house may not actually be the safest place for her-- check out this shot I took two mornings ago:
Aren't they supposed to be hibernating by now?! The tracks showed that the bear came around the corner of the workshop and strolled right between my car and the front door. That's very close. Twice now Billie has stopped playing and stood staring at the riverbank, nose quivering, then made a mad dash for the front door, looking back at me as if to say 'Hey stupid, can't you smell that? You're the one with opposable thumbs--open this door quick-like!'

In the first week we had her, I ran around to pet stores making sure we had everything we needed to bring home our precious bundle. Dog bed, indoor pen, chewy toys, big bag of food, treats. Hanging around pet stores has given me an inside view of the huge industry that caters to dog (and other pet) owners. For example, I grabbed a few doggy biscuits on sale at the front counter, only looking at them closely once I got home. 'Apple Crisp Flavour'? Give me a break! Aren't we getting just a wee bit confused, people? If we were honest about marketing to dogs' tastes-- rather than their owners'-- we would see treats such as Deer Poop Pops, Decaying Mouse Flavoured Biscuits (yes, this is currently her favourite outdoor attraction, thank you Cassius), Smelly Boot Chewy Strips, and Good Ol' Plain Dirt dog food. Earlier today I found myself watching as Billie rooted out of the melting ice one of those decapitated mouse heads, to which I treated you, the reader, to a fuller description in a previous posting. As I watched her munch and crunch away on it, a number of things went through my mind:
1) how very far away from 'Apple Crisp Flavoured Biscuit' a desiccated mouse head is
2) that dogs are carnivores
3) that she might ingest some hideous parasite with it; and
4) that there was no way on god's green earth I was going to fish it out of her mouth. By the time I'd processed all this, she'd polished it off. Oy.

Here's another picture of Billie, one very relaxed pup. I'm looking forward to enjoying her company for many, many years to come.