Doggy Update

WE HAVE A DOG!!

Clearly last night went well. When we met Pepper and her foster parents we were very moved with her. The first thing she did when she met us is stick her face in our necks and hug us. We asked for an affectionate dog -- and we got one!

Pepper is very very well trained. She's crate trained and listens to spoken command. She loves it. It's like a game. Because of the crate training we had to make sure we got our crate out of storage last night before we got home. We hit a little snafu when getting the dog crate. Apparently at closing hours the storage place actually puts up a big huge iron gate to keep people out. With Pepper and I in the get away car Eric climbed the fence and snagged the crate out of our unit. Luckily, no arrests were made and we got home safely.

She did really well in the car. She's a car fan. And she got to sniff around both the front and back yards and the entire house. After all the smelling and getting used to all the new noises (ceiling fan, TV, cage construction) she put herself to sleep in her cage! It's like we have a robo dog that turns herself off!

This morning she was very excited to get up. I opened the back door, expecting her to just dart out and go to the bathroom, she didn't. She stood there waiting for me to tell her what to do! Like a command. I tried, "Go!" and "Go get'em Pepper!" and "Ready! - Set! - Go!" and none of them worked! I tried very active hand gestures too. Still nothing. I was clearly not speaking to her in a language she was used to and she just didn't get me. Finally I put her on the leash and took her around the back yard. Kinda like a guided potty tour. We had success but I'm hoping she gets the idea about yard time real soon. If not, I'll just be the weird neighbor that walks her dog on a leash in the back in her robe. =) Anyway after that she split her time between laying with us on the bed and checking out more of the back yard.

Tonight I'm hoping for a nice walk!