Abbie

My first post of the new year. And the first post in nearly a month. I'm not even going to try to catch up on the happenings the last month. Maybe in another post. For now, it's all about Abbie.

first day
We brought Abbie home on Friday, January 1st. It was the day after we got back from Napa. I wasn't very prepared with supplies, hadn't put together the crates, hadn't bought dog food or a collar, etc. However, it all turned out just fine.

The ride home in the car was uneventful until about 2 miles from home. She started to whine and squirm in Mom's lap. We kept going. Not only were we almost home, but even if we'd stopped to let her out of the car, we didn't have a collar on her. What if she darted away? You can see where this is headed. Right as we pulled into the garage, she pooped on Mom and parts of the seat. Fortunately, there wasn't that much in the car. The rest ended up on the garage floor. As gross as that was, it was understandable.

For that afternoon, she spent much of her time alone on the back deck. She was very calm. I showed her the bed and rewarded her for getting on it. We tried to play with toys, but she was still a bit unsure and was therefore quite sedate.

That night, we couldn't get her into the crate due to whining on her part, so she slept on her bed by our bed. We got up periodically throughout the night to let her out. Getting her to pee and poop outside was not successful.

potty training
Potty training is coming along. She still has many pee accidents in the house. Sometimes she'll just squat and pee right in front of me, so I know she hasn't connected the dots that it's bad. However, this morning she went outside and promptly peed. She the immediately came back in for praise and a treat. Then she asked to go right back outside and pooped, turned around and came right back in for her second treat. And on our walk this morning, she peed and pooped. That is the first time she's done either of those things on our walks, so it's progress.

socialization & training
On Sunday afternoon, we went to a puppy playgroup socialization class. I messed up the time and went to the 25-50lb puppy class instead of the 12-25 lb (she's about 22 lb). I figured she'll be 25 lb soon anyway. I should have gone to the smaller dog group as her confidence around other dogs isn't as high as it should be. This Sunday we're going to the group with the smaller dogs to build her confidence. She doesn't mind meeting dogs, but when the big ones jump on her, she cowers a bit (not too bad, but enough that we want to break her of this underconfidence lest we end up with bigger issues).

I tried to sign up for puppy training classes through the same place I am doing the puppy socialization playgroup, but all the current sessions are full. I'll hopefully get into a February class. In the meantime, she's got the sit command down during low-chaos moments. Still working on it when there are more distractions.

daily schedule
For the most part, I take Abbie with me wherever I go. When Avery's in a class (kung fu or dance, e.g.) I take Abbie for a walk. If I have to be in the class with her (new piano lessons - she's still hesitant with the teacher), then I leave her in the crate in the car. I guess it's good that we got her in the winter since I wouldn't be able to do that in the summer. 

The vet encouraged exposing her to as many new things as I can right now. German shepherds especially need exposure to all sorts of new things when they're young to help in socialization and getting them used to things.

her personality

• She's a calm dog. When she's in puppy-mode, such as first thing in the morning, she's a bit crazy and mouthy. But most of the day, she's very calm. 
• She's a natural loose-leash walker! I've never experienced this! She just doesn't pull. She'll start a little bit as we get closer to home, but it's nothing compared to Turtle or Eddie. I LOVE walking her. It's a joy. 
• She has separation anxiety. We have three crates for her: my office, our bedroom, the car. If I crate her when we go to bed, she might whine for 30 seconds, then goes to sleep and doesn't wake us up until about 6:15. If I crate her in my office when I'm in the office, too, she's the same way. If I leave, even for a 30 seconds, she's yelps like she's being tortured. In the car, I crate her when I drive. She sometimes whines for 5 minutes or less, sometimes is just silent. She doesn't whine when I leave her in the car. I know this because I left my phone in the car during an Avery activity to see how long she'd yelp/whine. Turns out almost not at all. I figured, OK, she just needs to know I'm away from the house/car. So I finally left her in the crate at home yesterday. I was gone for about 2 hours. I left my computer recording audio for that time. She whined cried for almost the entire two hours. And she pooped a little from the stress. So yeah, a bit of separation anxiety. 
• She jumps up on the kitchen cabinets and the couch, so we need to work on that behavior. 
• She has almost no reaction to any loud noises (other than dogs barking). Sudden noises don't startle her either. Also, yelling "No!" at her when she's jumping on cabinets or the couch does absolutely nothing to stop it. Nor does spraying her with a water bottle which she loves oh-so-much. 
• She's smart. I have no doubt that once she's tall enough, she'll easily be able to open the door in and out of the house (to the back deck). She already tries to jump to it with her mouth. Eddie never got that far. He always seemed to randomly try with his legs, but never figured out all he had to do was bite and pull the handle. Another indication of smartness is how quickly she figures out what will get her treats, such as getting on the scale at the vet's office. We went to the vet and I coaxed her onto the scale. The receptionist gave her lots of treats and praise. She gets off, thinks for a moment, then gets back on it and sits looking up expectantly. They reward it again and again because they want dogs to get on the scale easily. We go into the vet's office for 1/2 hour or so. When we came out, she immediately made her way to the scale, got up on it and sat looking up expectantly. 
• She loves shoes, underwear, and tissue paper of all kinds. The other day I saw her pick up my right shoe. I said "ah ah" in a loud voice. She drops it and walks over to get the left shoe. That was adorable. As was her grabbing the end of the toilet paper on the roll and running. But I must keep in mind that what's adorable in puppies is what's frustrating in adult dogs, so I'm being diligent about stopping such behavior. 
• She follows me around and sleeps by my feet in my office. I love her so much. :) 
• She's, so far, a free feeder with no issue. While she loves treats (doggie treats given for training purposes), she doesn't have any interest in cleaning her bowl. She's pretty skinny, but I figure she's not going to starve herself, right? So I'm just letting her eat without standing over her making sure she's eating enough.