Posts Tagged ‘dog adoption’
Training Begins
First of all, yesterday’s antics dealing with our first day introducing Asher to our house and property were more tiring than I’m used to lately. Thankfully, it was all good. Asher’s energy is overflowing with playfulness and happy curiosity. Our reference for every situation quickly defaults to the way Delilah behaved differently. We discovered several things that Asher wants to do that Delilah never showed any interest in, like getting up on our bed.
The couch was allowed at his foster home.
We are leaning toward discouraging couch access and hope to hold out entirely against allowing him on our bed. Both Cyndie and I are wrestling over our tendency to refer to Asher with feminine pronouns after our ten years with Delilah. Maybe we should just switch to the non-binary alternatives.
He showed normal curiosity about our explorations on the trails in our woods. We very quickly discovered his ability to dig is magnitudes beyond what we were used to with Delilah. Three quick strokes created a massive canyon in the dirt. Asher dug up several old bones that Delilah had buried in and around the outdoor kennel.
Pulled from his usual surroundings to a world where every sight and sound was brand new, we were unsuccessful in even coming close to getting him to process and obey a “STAY!” command. Asher did great on the zip line in the backyard. He LOVES to play ball and is a great catcher. He got me laughing over the way he would nudge the ball with his nose so it would roll to me as a way to get me to play with him.
Ash showed little in the way of interest in the horses. They were more curious about the new canine leading us around than he was about them. Our treks through the woods revealed several new tree tops that have broken off and fallen to the ground. Yesterday was very windy. Today we may need to learn whether Asher is bothered by the noise a chainsaw makes.
The foster mom warned us he is not a fan of the vacuum.
Whether we intend it or not, training is already underway. It will be a contest to see if Asher is training us more than we are training him. The official obedience classes don’t start for a couple of weeks. Helping him to master the “STAY!” command before then would be a big surprise.
Last night before we retired to our bedroom, we heard a couple of snores coming from his crate. A wonderful end to a super first day.
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Tried Telling
It’s difficult to tell how much the horses grasp the variety of things I find myself trying to say to them. Yesterday I decided to give them a little warning about the pending arrival of a new dog who will be living on the property.
Swings behaved as though she just didn’t want to hear it.
Light remained entirely indifferent to my words.
Mia didn’t look away but she didn’t seem happy to hear anything I had to say.
Mix was too preoccupied with finishing her dinner to participate in my attempts at communicating news about Ash.
Cyndie and I were talking about what nicknames might evolve from such a short name as Ash. One way to play with a name that is too short to trim into a nickname is to lengthen it instead. Our son, Julian, suggested “Ashford.” We like that a lot. Cyndie is prone to adding “bert,” as in Dogbert. Ashbert? I’m okay saying that.
I have come up with Asher. That’s one that we both feel could work for us. We just need to find out what the pup thinks about it.
A little research last night has us thinking the mix of breeds that visually matches his features and coloring are German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, and/or Rottweiler. The mash of breed names becomes Sheprador based on the images Cyndie found that looked most similar to Ash.
All our wondering about what is to come will soon be replaced by real experiences. Today is the beginning of our next adventure of having a new dog. Huzzah!
Bark! Bark!
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Relative Something 