… and Tilley has had her ups and downs. (And we love her to bits.)
We truly enjoy having her around, she is keeping Peli on her toes since she is spending all day at home with Tilley. She is cheekier, testing her boundaries like a true teenager should. We leave the room and up checking the table tops she goes and as we come back she is down on her mat looking like nothing happened (Peli even got this on video!).
One trip to the vet and her spay scar is much better. She loved it at the vet, though the journey to and from, less so. Her phobia of the car is growing, so we’re only doing essential trips now and we’re slowly working on habituating her. Softly does it. Though she does enjoy laying in the bicycle trailer, which we are hoping to use to explore the Dales with her.
We went to doggy school with her and, as this post explains, it was an utter disaster, she was not herself for a day or two after. We are still very careful not to make sharp noises or fast movements around her, following the unfortunate use of the rattle can by the trainer, and are carefully working on associating that type of action with good stuff, rather than bad.
Happily, we had a one-to-one training session with a different local trainer, who uses positive methods only, which went brilliantly. How we wish we’d heard about her in the first place! She and Tilley bonded right away and we’ve got loads of advice and tips to work on.
We took TIlley on a longish walk yesterday and today. As soon as we were on new ground and there were shops, people, cats (especially cats), Tilley became very keen to explore. Once in the dog exercise area of the park she had a good 20 minute run around off lead, well she had a 6-8 metres long loose lead after her so we had something to step on if she tried to escape the enclosed area. It was fantastic to see the joy on her face as she was able to just run, and run! Today’s walk went past the allotments to get to the same enclosure and there are chickens, ducks, sheep and a rather large horse. She did extremely well with no barking or growling, just loads of wags and curious looks.
She is now about eight months old and is somewhat dyspraxic, because she is forever falling over her legs! OK, she does have four and we all know how hard it is with only two but she does bang into doors, tables and is lacking spatial awareness. Hopefully she will soon learn where she starts and stops!