Hi Sue!
We turned a corner and we're on an upswing this week! Bailey continues to grow like a Sunflower, bringing joy and laughter to our lives. Whenever I say "Hay!" and snap my fingers she somehow knows I'm talking to her and immediately looks to me for direction. She is using her "soft mouth" about 90% of the time. The only time she forgets is when she gets really excited, so when I see her getting amped up we head out for walk to constructively drain that puppy energy.
Most of our walks go really well. So well I've got Chica back on her regular leash with us instead of on her flexi-leash. Having her out front was instrumental in helping Bailey learn to walk so well on a leash and helping Bailey and Curley learn our usual routes. She mimicks Chica in all she does and wants nothing more than to please her, feelings that are not quite reciprocated yet (but we're getting there!). But now it has become more of a hindrance because Bailey is focused on trying to get up to her instead of focusing on walking by my side with Curley. That's when I decided the time had come to bring Chica back in with us and now I'm thisclose to looking like Cesar Millan. Not bad for three weeks!
This week she learned to play ball and conquered her fear of going down the stairs! She shows no signs of any sort of separation anxieties, taking many naps by herself or with Chica in the back bedroom where the air conditioner is. She never cries when we put her in her crate at night unless we've put her in there before she's finished doing everything she needs to do outside. She goes to bed at 10:00 and I follow a few minutes later, then Alex takes her out around Midnight when he gets home. Unfortunately, her internal alarm clock has re-set from 6:30 to 5:20, which is when we get up during the week. Saturday she got me up at our "usual" time, so I took her out then put her back to bed until 6:40. This morning she waited until 5:50 and Alex got up with her for a nice change of pace, letting me stay in bed until 6:30. It was blissful! And we no longer need to put her back in her crate during our dinner time. She has learned to amuse herself while we eat-before this week it was like a free-for-all when we'd try to sit down to dinner. Chica and Curley were so focused on us they were easy pickings for her. Nothing another week of maturing couldn't cure! She watched how they behaved and now she does the same thing-keeps a respectful distance and plays with one of her toys, knowing that when dinner's over, we're free to play with her again.
We just have a few small things we're focusing on. She is not yet big enough to walk up the stairs, she needs to get a bit of a running start then shovel her way up them. Since she beats everyone else to the top she still feels the need to let everyone know she's there, then go after the other two when they get up there. And for the first part of the walk, when she still has all that bottled up energy, she spends more time grabbing the leash and trying to sneak up on Curley than doing much else, but this only lasts a block or a block and a half before she settles down and starts sniffing around and following the rest of us. Then there's our continued work on potty training, of course!
We just love our little girl to bits!
Love,
Sarah
