Coco's Scary Big Adventure
Today's big challenge was to go to town to hang out. Yeeks!
I'm still WAY behind on my work, so we spent the morning in the studio as usual. Pogo (who's been on the injured non-walking list for a couple days) was driving me to distraction by 11:30, so I judged him well enough to have a bit of a lure-pole session, and Coco opted to come along to the yard with us. After he played his Game for a bit, we leashed up, and went for a stroll on the property.
I've said there are firsts for her every day. Today there were several. This was the first time she walked loosely on the leash all the way from the yard, almost back to the house. She didn't zigzag wildly, lunge, or cut across in front of us ... though there was a bit of a playful little romp right at the very start. While on the property, her unpredictable leash action is more about interest, and just not being used to being attached to someone, with all that implies about freedom of motion. Coming back to the house, she always gets to lunging and pulling, but we're working on that. She did really well today, with little correction. I didn't even need to pull her back from the door so I could pass through.
Once they'd had a bit of an outing, they were willing to let me work a little longer before we saddled up to go to town.
I enlisted my good friend and her mellow little silken windhound to give us both some moral support, left the greyhounds home so I could have both hands free, loaded the treat bag with smelly bits of dry brie, carrots and kibble (variety!), and off we went.
We parked by a large grocery store, in a slightly quieter back-edge parking area, got out, and walked up to meet my friend and her lovely little guy. They did a quick sniff while we humans hugged hello, and both dogs rejoiced in my friend's home-made chicken jerky (we're sure Coco thinks of her with love as the Chicken Lady!)
Coco was showing her nerves right away, and I kept her leash wound around my hand tightly, but giving her just enough room to cross behind me. We stood on a patch of grass off the sidewalk, and let people and cars go by for about 5 minutes, and Coco was able to take treats most of that time. Then we moved down closer to one of the other stores, where the cars were parked right up to the sidewalk, and foot traffic had to go past us fairly closely. That was interesting. She would reach out to sniff at children, but still considered adults to be potentially threatening, and all parked cars to be potentially safe havens.
We moved back up to our patch of grass for a few more minutes when we thought she'd had enough of the store, then moved over closer to the grocery store, on a busy corner with foot and car traffic, but plenty of room for them to move around us. My friend and her silken worked on some moving around objects (poles and bike racks), while Coco and I just stayed in one spot watching. At one point, a man carrying a toddler passed about 15 feet away, and that was just about it for her. The dreaded two-headed man-monster, again! I was getting ready to go when another friend appeared. She didn't recognize me at first (in my heavy winter disguise), but was asking about the dogs. I introduced her to my friend, myself, and Coco, from about 20 feet away. When she recognized us, she started towards us in what would be a normal human enthusiastically friendly greeting. Unfortunately for Coco, that was well over her limit for the outing. The Chicken Lady intercepted my other friend, who had already stopped and turned quietly sideways at my urging her to go slow. We made plans to meet on home ground, and called it done.
Poor thing, it was all we could do to get all the way to our own car safely. She was lunging hard enough to take me nearly off my feet, even though I had her so close she could barely take a step and a half before hitting leash. She wanted to get in every single car, or even the random grocery carts left along the way (looks a little like a crate, I guess?) She gratefully jumped up in the car, I gave her some more praise and treats, closed the door and went to Phase 2. I took the silken, while my friend went off in search of Starbucks. While we waited, the handsome boy and I walked around a bit, wandering out of Coco's sight a couple times. She watched from the "sphinx" position until we went out of sight, then got up to see better, but never seemed panicked. When my friend returned, we stood there chatting for some time, until her husband showed up.
Now that was cute! He really wanted to meet Coco, but we started with just chatting near the car for a bit, not paying any attention to her. Then we opened the door, and I tried to coax her up close, but she was having none of that. She eventually did take a piece of Chicken Lady's chicken from him, and came close to sniff noses with the silken, settling down as we continued to chat while I sat in the open door (she was clipped to a short lead inside the car: no escapes!) Eventually, she was willing to be coaxed out with my last crumbly handfuls of treats, and I walked her in a little circle where Mr. Chicken Lady could see her. He was completely smitten! By the time she got back in the car (very ungracefully, I might add!), he was ready to take her home! Well, almost. He said, he loves ALL dogs, but her FACE! He said he just looked in her face and felt a connection. Awww! This is one of those rare guys that you can tell has no tough-guy thing about being in love with dogs.
As my fingers had become hard red icicles, we finally parted, and Coco and I went home. We were greeted with joyous abandon by the boy-dogs, which Coco joyously returned, and all went out to the yard to run it off.
Another first: Out in the yard, Coco is still fairly uneasy, but slowly inching towards normal dog-ness (sniffing around a little, wandering about even though she'd already gone potty, showing some interest when the other dogs would take off on a tear, or bark at whatever needed barking at). As the boys did their thing, I went to the far side of the yard, and crouched down. I called to Coco, not knowing if she'd come to me, and pretty curious. She did! She very nearly romp-trotted over, right up into my arms for a full-body hug and rub. We stayed like that for several minutes, sharing the love with the boys as they came up to investigate, then all happily went back to the warm house.
We work on tricks-for-treats a few times each day. Coco's "tricks" are still pretty basic, but I've actually captured a couple that are getting a little more reliable; catch (she's really good at that) and "hippy-hoppy" (a little front-feet-off-the-floor hop). We're still working on "spin" (she will follow the bait about to her hip before backing out for another approach), but "sit" and the other basics are a complete mystery. She's also learning to wait her turn, though that's a tough one!
The other biggest news is that I believe she's approaching her proper weight. She has a waist! Her extra gooey soft padding is almost gone, and she's getting some tone in her tuck. Her fur continues to fill in, with long feathering showing on her tail, and somewhat sparsely still on her legs and undercarriage. It's luxurious stuff, her fur! Mmm-mmm!
She showed me her tummy today, and I'm adding to my hypotheses about her background that she was bred, at least once. It makes sense, really.
I'm being told by the cats that it's getting dinner time. Yeah. Sounds good.
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| Coco hears the neighbor dogs barking. |
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| Lookit that sweet face!! (You can just see Wabi's name carved on the bench behind Coco's ear.) |
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| Coco and Pogo in front of the Memorial Bench on the property. |
I've said there are firsts for her every day. Today there were several. This was the first time she walked loosely on the leash all the way from the yard, almost back to the house. She didn't zigzag wildly, lunge, or cut across in front of us ... though there was a bit of a playful little romp right at the very start. While on the property, her unpredictable leash action is more about interest, and just not being used to being attached to someone, with all that implies about freedom of motion. Coming back to the house, she always gets to lunging and pulling, but we're working on that. She did really well today, with little correction. I didn't even need to pull her back from the door so I could pass through.
 |
| Oh. My. Goodness. I have nothing else to say. |
Once they'd had a bit of an outing, they were willing to let me work a little longer before we saddled up to go to town.
I enlisted my good friend and her mellow little silken windhound to give us both some moral support, left the greyhounds home so I could have both hands free, loaded the treat bag with smelly bits of dry brie, carrots and kibble (variety!), and off we went.
We parked by a large grocery store, in a slightly quieter back-edge parking area, got out, and walked up to meet my friend and her lovely little guy. They did a quick sniff while we humans hugged hello, and both dogs rejoiced in my friend's home-made chicken jerky (we're sure Coco thinks of her with love as the Chicken Lady!)
Coco was showing her nerves right away, and I kept her leash wound around my hand tightly, but giving her just enough room to cross behind me. We stood on a patch of grass off the sidewalk, and let people and cars go by for about 5 minutes, and Coco was able to take treats most of that time. Then we moved down closer to one of the other stores, where the cars were parked right up to the sidewalk, and foot traffic had to go past us fairly closely. That was interesting. She would reach out to sniff at children, but still considered adults to be potentially threatening, and all parked cars to be potentially safe havens.
We moved back up to our patch of grass for a few more minutes when we thought she'd had enough of the store, then moved over closer to the grocery store, on a busy corner with foot and car traffic, but plenty of room for them to move around us. My friend and her silken worked on some moving around objects (poles and bike racks), while Coco and I just stayed in one spot watching. At one point, a man carrying a toddler passed about 15 feet away, and that was just about it for her. The dreaded two-headed man-monster, again! I was getting ready to go when another friend appeared. She didn't recognize me at first (in my heavy winter disguise), but was asking about the dogs. I introduced her to my friend, myself, and Coco, from about 20 feet away. When she recognized us, she started towards us in what would be a normal human enthusiastically friendly greeting. Unfortunately for Coco, that was well over her limit for the outing. The Chicken Lady intercepted my other friend, who had already stopped and turned quietly sideways at my urging her to go slow. We made plans to meet on home ground, and called it done.
Poor thing, it was all we could do to get all the way to our own car safely. She was lunging hard enough to take me nearly off my feet, even though I had her so close she could barely take a step and a half before hitting leash. She wanted to get in every single car, or even the random grocery carts left along the way (looks a little like a crate, I guess?) She gratefully jumped up in the car, I gave her some more praise and treats, closed the door and went to Phase 2. I took the silken, while my friend went off in search of Starbucks. While we waited, the handsome boy and I walked around a bit, wandering out of Coco's sight a couple times. She watched from the "sphinx" position until we went out of sight, then got up to see better, but never seemed panicked. When my friend returned, we stood there chatting for some time, until her husband showed up.
Now that was cute! He really wanted to meet Coco, but we started with just chatting near the car for a bit, not paying any attention to her. Then we opened the door, and I tried to coax her up close, but she was having none of that. She eventually did take a piece of Chicken Lady's chicken from him, and came close to sniff noses with the silken, settling down as we continued to chat while I sat in the open door (she was clipped to a short lead inside the car: no escapes!) Eventually, she was willing to be coaxed out with my last crumbly handfuls of treats, and I walked her in a little circle where Mr. Chicken Lady could see her. He was completely smitten! By the time she got back in the car (very ungracefully, I might add!), he was ready to take her home! Well, almost. He said, he loves ALL dogs, but her FACE! He said he just looked in her face and felt a connection. Awww! This is one of those rare guys that you can tell has no tough-guy thing about being in love with dogs.
As my fingers had become hard red icicles, we finally parted, and Coco and I went home. We were greeted with joyous abandon by the boy-dogs, which Coco joyously returned, and all went out to the yard to run it off.
Another first: Out in the yard, Coco is still fairly uneasy, but slowly inching towards normal dog-ness (sniffing around a little, wandering about even though she'd already gone potty, showing some interest when the other dogs would take off on a tear, or bark at whatever needed barking at). As the boys did their thing, I went to the far side of the yard, and crouched down. I called to Coco, not knowing if she'd come to me, and pretty curious. She did! She very nearly romp-trotted over, right up into my arms for a full-body hug and rub. We stayed like that for several minutes, sharing the love with the boys as they came up to investigate, then all happily went back to the warm house.
We work on tricks-for-treats a few times each day. Coco's "tricks" are still pretty basic, but I've actually captured a couple that are getting a little more reliable; catch (she's really good at that) and "hippy-hoppy" (a little front-feet-off-the-floor hop). We're still working on "spin" (she will follow the bait about to her hip before backing out for another approach), but "sit" and the other basics are a complete mystery. She's also learning to wait her turn, though that's a tough one!
The other biggest news is that I believe she's approaching her proper weight. She has a waist! Her extra gooey soft padding is almost gone, and she's getting some tone in her tuck. Her fur continues to fill in, with long feathering showing on her tail, and somewhat sparsely still on her legs and undercarriage. It's luxurious stuff, her fur! Mmm-mmm!
She showed me her tummy today, and I'm adding to my hypotheses about her background that she was bred, at least once. It makes sense, really.
I'm being told by the cats that it's getting dinner time. Yeah. Sounds good.
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