Monday, November 29, 2010

Lessons for Lucy and Pups on the Move

Lucy has been going for daily walks, expanding her horizons daily. This morning she made her first trip to the seawalk and along the beach (sorry, no photos as it was raining). She did very well. She handled the metal grid at the entrance to the seawalk without hesitation, showed some anxiety walking the seawalk as the tide was right in and there was water on both sides (so it was like walking on a bridge), and loved investigating the interesting beach smells. And unlike a certain collie named Sadie, she did not try to gobble up all the crab, prawn and oyster shells.

I decided to try her on the looooong flight of stairs coming up from the seawalk, and she handled it quite well. Again, she was not bothered by the metal grid (I'm trying to expose her to different types of surfaces), though she did balk about halfway up the fifty-something stairs when she suddenly realized the ground was down below us. The stair treads are solid, but the risers are open so the dirt and bushes are visible below as we climb higher and higher. Still, a little encouragement and she soon made it to the top, through a neighbourhood with cats wandering around and vehicles coming and going, and back home. The biggest distraction today was a large flock of crows - Lucy wasn't sure whether to be scared of them or to chase them!

This week I will start Lucy on lessons in the car - taking her for short drives that end in pleasant experiences, and leaving her in the vehicle for increasing lengths of time while I do some errands - safely secured behind the doggy barrier, and with a stuffed kong for company so my relatively new-to-me van doesn't end up minus seatbelts, seats or floor mats.

In other news, the pups are going fast. Deli, Peanut and Pumpkin have all gone to their new families on foster-to-adopt (pending their spays/neuters), Summer is spoken for, two or three other applicants have had homechecks and been approved but still have to select their puppy, and six of the pups will be going for their spays/neuters on Thursday.

3 comments:

Bree said...

You are such an amazing foster parent.. wow. You rock! Lucy is lucky to have you. :)

Anonymous said...

Great that you are working with her. When are you able to have her spayed? Also -how is Hubbard doing? You were a litle concerned about him.

Big Sis

Jean said...

Ms. Lucy is scheduled to be spayed December 21st. Good thing I don't have plans for Christmas - by the 25th she should be feeling much better and bashing around in a cone to stop her pulling out the stitches.
Hubbard appears to be doing much, much better, but he has an appointment this week to have the primary SPCA vet check him over.