As I mentioned last post, Rich isn't home. I don't call people on the phone much and no one is around to talk about Duchess.
When we brought her home back in June, she was the perfect dog. So mellow. So calm. So sweet. Didn't react to anything. Didn't play with dog toys. Didn't play "Find Mommy" when I'd hide under a blanket Did not react to other dogs. We'd take her to the dog park and all she would do is sniff. She just was sweet and calm.
When we adopted her, they told us she was six. We doubted it as there were glimpses of a younger playful dog that we would see.
I should have known it would come to an end. She just needed to feel comfortable to come out of her shell. Over the past month or so, more and more of her personality has come out. My sweet calm dog is not calm. She's still sweet, she just can scare the bejeebers out of people.
Since I started this journey, we hadn't taken her to the dog park. We've been taking her on all our walks. During the walks, she easily ignores people. She'll try to go to them to get petted, but she is non aggressive. However, more and more we'd notice her reaction to other dogs. She's gets....I can't even describe the sound she makes. It's like a howl or growly whine.
I told Rich the other day we should take her to the dog park to give her some freedom. We did just that.
That dog that use to just sniff and nothing else. She still sniffs. In addition to that, she also wrestles with other dogs (her boy Brinks was the only one she did that with before) and ran. I have never seen her run as fast as she did at the park. She ran and ran. She and this other dog got into a wrestling match that made the other dog owners nervous (new dog owners, they don't know play growls). It's like a whole new dog. However if a dog is playful with her, she is playful back. If a dog is aggressive to her, she is right back at him. Both of those types of dogs get her wound up.
Additionally, out of curiosity, I took one of Sheba's old squeaky toys and tried to get Duchess to play with it again. This time she fell in love with it. She goes and gets it to play her version of fetch. Besides food & snacks, she now has an actual toy to toss around. It is very adorable.
And that game of find Mommy? IT's dangerous for me. She loves it and it gets her all wound up. I end up with a paw in the face. It really is quite cute. I've also realized she doesn't know the difference between a full size human and a tiny sized one (aka kids). When she sees them, she runs at them all barky and scary looking only to stop on a dime. The barking of course gives everyone a heart attack. Then she tried to get them to play by jumping up on them. Yeah, no ones ready for that.
Through all this though, I see she is younger and more playful than in the beginning. So we are probably right that she is younger than they said.
However through all that, she is still quite sweet. Sometimes I think more so than before. She just wants to play and we need to get her to be a little more gentle around people.
Sheba just knew and still knows that there is a difference between kids and adults. She's ever so gentle to the kids and protective. Don't know where she picked it up at but I wish she'd teach her sister. The little sister who adores big sis.
So that's it. That is my OT Duchess post. Thanks for letting me talk.
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