Abby Part II

 It's been three weeks since Abby came to live with us...three weeks in which I have seen the sunrise from the front yard every single morning.  My life is not my own these days, it revolves around a puppy's schedule and needs.  She is getting more acclimated to life in the household, and seems to be a happy dog who has adjusted to the frequently chaotic life here on our Taylor hillside.  At least for now, her corner of the world has structure, order, and consistency: morning walk, breakfast, play-time, nap; noon walk, lunch, play-time, nap; evening walk, supper, play-time, nap; bedtime walk, bed.  Like clockwork, at 9 pm every night, she conks out and is gone for the night.  Most times, she falls asleep next to me (like she does every other juncture in the day) and I have to pick her up and put her in the kennel because she doesn't want to get up and get in her box.  Treats are used with the phrase "Abby in the box" which we started when we had Jack, and Jack-in-the-box became the magic words for bedtime.  She will happily run into her kennel, and is even now beginning to go in when she hears Abby in the box, and then turn around and wait for her treat.

 She has entered her "terrible twos" stage where everything is a game of defiance requiring consistent redirection until she settles.  She is learning her cues: off, down, sit, her potty words (I figure you don't really need to see them to get the gist), paws up, release, and leave it.  She is really smart, and when she wants to go outside, she runs to the door, puts her paws up on it, and then turns around and looks at you.  If you say "outside" she then runs back to you to wait for her leash.

 The second or third day she was here, she almost pulled a vase of flowers off the table, so I moved those.  She still likes to pull on the table cloth, but is slowly learning to leave it.  She came to us with two toys: her piggy, which had little chenille strings all over it, and her alligator.  The alligator was the first to go after she performed a squeakerectomy.  Miss Piggy has had to be retired as those strings are just too tempting to rip out and chew on.  Substitute Piggy--just a little pig head--worked well, but suddenly Piggy has disappeared.  I can't find it under the chair, cushions, etc, but one day she was playing with it and then I could not find it.  I am certain it is under something in here as it did not just roll itself on out the door.

Last night after she successfully opened up Miss Hippo and was in the process of destuffing in search of the squeaker (and yes, all four of our other dogs have been successful squeaker-surgeons as well), Miss Hippo has now been retired.  Abby has graduated to Baby Kong and a very tough-skinned squeaky bone, which is already showing signs of wear and tear around its edges.

And now, Miss Abby is ready for her nap.