How can I sum up the last few days? Well, Luna is definitely coming out of her shell...maybe a little too much. She is in full puppy mode: exploring, jumping around, jumping up on us, wanting to play play play, running full speed in circles around our tiny apartment, peeing on the floor, peeing on the kitchen floor, peeing in the stairwell on the WAY to go outside to pee, eating cardboard, eating pillows, eating her hair from the brush, eating anything that falls on the floor...
Friday and Saturday were work days for us so it was a work routine day, meaning less time out with us and more time in the kennel, but she did well and I was able to come home on my break to let her out, which she LOVED. She was extremely happy to see me, like "Hey! I wasn't expecting you for a while! What a great surprise!!"
Sunday was a BIG day. I took her to the meet and greet at Urbanimal, which is basically a big play group. Everyone loved her and she tried to get all the other dogs to play by trotting alongside them and rubbing/bumping up against them to instigate. Pretty soon all the other greys were lying around and she was still going - little energizer bunny that she is - trying to get anyone to play with her. But she got plenty of attention from the humans, which she soaked up. She was also the only dog to "do the 2" in the playroom. Of course.
Lu pretty much copied whatever the other dogs did. Here she is up front greeting someone approaching, though I'm pretty sure she had no idea what she was looking for, just as long as she was standing attentively along with the other dogs, who seemed to know what they were doing. She's the black dog in the middle with the green collar.
After the "play group" she and I headed over to the Gassy walk at Lake Harriet, where she had a GREAT walk on the gentle leader (she and I have been working very hard on that - lots of practice paid off). She had so much fun and was so relaxed. I think she is her best self when she is at the Gassy walk. After the walk, I got her in the car and she flopped down and fell asleep before we pulled away. She slept all the way home, but I stopped by my parents' house on the way so they could say a quick hi and she did so great! She went right into the house and was a little tentative for a minute but warmed up very fast and approached both my parents for attention. She even did tricks for my mom (for treats, of course). She seemed to feel very safe.
Life is tough.
To top it all off, after a good hardy nap (for me and Luna), my sister came over in the evening to meet Luna and Luna did SO GREAT! She warmed up quickly and was very cute and relaxed, enjoying all the attention and cooing. We went to take her outside to potty and she stopped at the top of the stairs in the stairwell and peed on the carpet. We only had a dozen steps left to the door, of course. So I used the Mighty Bissell in the stairwell and the carpet there still doesn't look the same.
She just loves her new tank top from Katrina. Can't you tell? ("Why must you make me do these things?")
Pretty new collar, too!
Lu slept the rest of the day and soundly through the night. I even woke up early in the morning to find her "roaching" (or "cockroaching"), meaning she was lying on her back with her limbs sticking up, crumpled in the air. She has been sleeping soundly ALL NIGHT until we get up. Yesss!!
This is an action shot. She was half roaching, half pawing the air in her sleep.
Monday was another work day, though we got in a good walk (as usual). Tuesday was a special day because I got to spend the whole afternoon and evening with her all by myself .We snuggled on the couch (a special treat reserved for my alone time with her) and she slept with her head on me all evening. She was such a good girl, so sweet and affectionate. We really bonded. Later, around 10pm, she was kind of pacing around (which is becoming an excellent warning sign for us) and decided that right in front of the door looked like a great spot to pee. I jumped up from the couch and clapped loudly, yelling "AH AH AH!" She looked up at me and kept peeing. I lunged toward her and she stood upright, hung her head very low and evaded me as she scampered to her bed and laid down, looking up at me with those big brown eyes from under her eyebrows.
Girls night on the couch :)
Wednesday was a work day, but she got a good walk beforehand and I came home on my break to play with her and let her out. After work we did something very special to try to help with the excessive shedding and dandruff: HER FIRST BATH! We'd had her in the bathtub before to rinse her off (after she laid in the puddle) but this was her first real bath with us. She did VERY well. We could tell she completely trusts us. She seemed unsure but she completely went with it and she just...well...trusted us! She seemed equally fascinated and confused by what was going on but she was a champ. When we got her all dried off (she stood patiently while we did so) her alter ego, Spazzy, decided to pay us a visit. She TORE around the house, full speed, running in circles, back and forth, round and round, for a good 3 minutes. She would run full speed through the living room to the kitchen, then trot carefully across the tile floor, then tear through the living room to the kitchen again, then trot carefully across the tile floor, and so on. It is the second time we've seen her run in the apartment like that but it was NOT like this before. This was a full out Spaz attack.
She also took the empty paper towel tube from me while I was cleaning up the bathroom and trotted to her bed proudly, showing off her prize to Chris. Then she plopped down and started to eat it. Sometime in the window of 10 minutes after the bath, after the spaz attack, she performed the grand finale by peeing all over the kitchen floor. Ta da!
Big day.
She has definitely come out of her shell. She is a different dog every day. We still have to constantly work on things with her but it seems more and more like issues related to just being a puppy still. She still walks around and whines for no reason but usually responds to a "shhh!" We have also been giving her Rescue Remedy, which I got yesterday, and it seems to work nicely when she starts getting anxious around the time we leave for work or the time we are trying to wind down for bed.
This weekend Luna has a full social calender! Friday evening we have a playdate with Lori (her foster mom) and her two greys! We are very excited for her to reunite with her foster family and are looking forward to her having some time playing with her greyhound friends. On Saturday we are going to take Luna to the Richfield meet and greet from 12-2, though we will need to leave early because we have to work at 3. We are looking forward to her having the opportunity to observe her greyhound buddies letting total strangers approach them and pet them. She will catch on quickly. Letting strangers approach her is something we've been working on. She's getting it - slowly but surely. Then Sunday is the Gassy walk! Yaay! It's my favorite part of the week and I think it's hers too. She is the happiest dog on Sundays.
Home on my break from work to play with Lu
I can't believe we've only had her for a little over 2 weeks. It seems like months. I really is unbelievable. We love her more every day and we can see her trusting us and getting to know us better every day, too. You can just see her recognize us as "her humans" - her "pack". Whenever Chris and I hug she always tries to jump up try to get in on the hug too. It's very cute (but we still tell her "no" - through the giggles).
It's like having a toddler in the house and we get irritated with her at times (especially when she's being my shadow, following me everywhere, and knowing exactly where to be so she is the MOST in my way), but it's worth it. We're all learning. Tomorrow she will have the whole day with her Buddy (Chris). On a side note, Luna knows that Chris is called "Buddy". I tell her to "go find your Buddy", or "where's your Buddy?" and she goes and finds him wherever he is and goes right to him, then stares back at me proudly. I feel like it's less cliche than saying "where's daddy", which kind of makes me nauseated.
What a special girl. We are so lucky.
Pretty girl with a pretty new collar from my sister, Katrina
