Sheba

When we first brought her home, Sheba did little puddles and jobs all over the house.  I put puppy pads down, put her on one, and from then on, every little piddle was bullseye on the pad.

The little jobs were another matter.  Some were half on and half off the pad, and some missed it by 6 inches.

But today, it’s been bullseye for both jobs.

I am incredulous.  This is the first young puppy I have ever had, and I expected house training to be a very long drawn out, very messy affair.  But it’s a done deal after two days!

She is a funny looking little thing.  I don’t think her face looks like a puppy at all.  More like a little ape or something!

She has the sweetest disposition — very anxious to obey and please.  That’s another surprise.  I expected her to be a little hardhead that would take lots of patient training to teach her to be a civilized member of our family.

She has a very definitely expressed preference for Ron.  That works out great because Sunny is my dog and he is feeling a little insecure since she arrived on the scene.  So I can make a big deal over what a wonderful dog he is, while Sheba lies at Ron’s feet.

I tried to walk her on a leash for the first time yesterday.  No way was she going to have any of that!  She tugged, rolled and fought it with all her might.  So I remembered how my Aunt Dot told me that she got a puppy used to a leash.  She cut the leash to 18″ long, clipped it to his collar, and let him drag it around the house for a few days.  By then the dog had learned to completely ignore it.

So I cut an old leash last night and clipped it to her collar.  Today she seems to be totally unaware that it’s there.  So maybe tomorrow I’ll try a leash lesson again.  🙂

She does have a ferocious bark when she is playing with Sunny.  I think giving her some kind of puppy socialization classes will probably be essential.

It is so strange adopting a dog when we have no idea of her lineage and potential size.  I am hoping the lady we got her from did not tell us a fib about how big she might get (a little over knee high).  I am picturing her growing up to be an 80 pound dog (or 100?) and wondering how on earth we will fit her in the truck and in the Casita.  But we will find a way!

All we know is that based on what we can tell of her personality at this stage, we chose the right dog!