A Wonderful Day, Part II: In Which Ava Tries, And Penne Tries... Not To Do Anything

I mentioned that Ava and Penne met very politely. It was a very hot day, so after meeting in my yard we all went inside to enjoy the cool of the house. It was there I watched the true dynamic of Ava and Penne's relationship unfold.

I know many of my readers aren't familiar with dog behaviour, so I have included a couple of translations for you. However, I'm new to this too, so if you have an alternate interpretation, please share!

P.S. In case you were wondering, Penne can actually let herself out of the situation as she can go freely over the little black fence on the far side (Ava isn't tall enough to follow). Penne's bed and toys are on the other side, but she actually chose to stay and try to catch her nap on the Ava-side all afternoon!

A Wonderful Day, Part I: In Which Ava Meets Penne

As you know, Ava’s development and training are going well. The other day her owner expressed concern about Ava’s socialisation to dogs as the only dogs she’d met were the ones who bowl her over at puppy school. So I set up a playdate with Miss Penne.

See this good little puppy lying calmly in her crate? Well, it wasn't like that at all.

The morning did NOT get off to a good start as Ava, normally very calm in the car, kicked up a fuss which would make any sugared-up toddler proud. Thinking it was the “unmistakable” ‘I need to go’ signal her people had told me of, I decided to let her out when I stopped at my friend’s house. Of course at that moment my friend called to cancel her assistance with dog introductions, but luckily we were still welcome to use her yard as a potty. Ava, however, was only interested in jumping and following scents, so back in the car we went.

Ava was, thankfully, quiet and well-behaved for the rest of the morning (including the remaining car trip, naturally!), so I plucked up my courage to fetch Penne from the neighbours'. Penne’s people had driven off with her leash, so I carried her back to my house in my arms. (Had she gotten bigger?) Dad once again rigged up a makeshift leash with cord and carabiner, and we were good to go.

Everything went picture perfect from there.

This photo might look like trouble, but it wasn't. Just goes to show you can't judge an interaction by one 'still' capture!

I expect most of you can see that this is a very polite, well-mannered introduction between dogs: circling, reciprocal butt-sniffing, no hesitancy to lie down. What the photos don't show is a confirmation of what I'd read just the other day in a book called Dog Speak by Christiane Blenski: dog introductions are completely silent. These two had absolutely no problem with each other so they did the ritual canine meet and greet in complete silence. Preparing myself for any possible issues or altercations, I hadn't expected the meeting and establishment of peace to strike me as so beautiful -- I think because it all happened in complete silence.

Stay tuned for Part 2: where I have video which reveals the rather interesting dynamic between Ava and Penne!

If a Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words...

... I come bearing a video to remedy my recent absence!

Penne was only with me for a week, but you all know training is my favourite part of working with dogs. "Sit" is the only command she knew, so while she and I sheltered in the house from the sweltering temperature outside, I tried to teach her "Down". Not being very experienced with luring, I must have done something wrong because she kept raising her paws... so I went with it and it turned into this!

And yes, I am very pleased. It's turned out to be a real crowd-pleaser -- I showed it off to her family's kids when they returned, and now they are teaching her new tricks! That, to me, is the biggest success of all.

Wordless Wednesday

The Moral: In Which Melon Learns That Everyone Likes Puppies (Which Everyone Else Knew Already)

Penne stayed with me for a week. It took less than that for this little girl with a big head to win everyone over.

The difficult part was that being a cavoodle and only six months old, she could fit through one of our property gates and -- even more worryingly -- the fence surrounding our pool. So I could only take her outside on leash. To top that, this past week turned out to have either scorching temperatures (40°C / 104° F) or pouring rain, so we had to be inside all the time.

The easy part was that she's a very, very well-behaved puppy. She was shut inside all the time and never once asked to go out. In fact, once in a while we would suddenly remember that she toilets outdoors so I would leash her up and take her. And once again -- no accidents inside.

This, along with her cute face, meant that my parents loved her. Mom told me she was cute, and if we were relaxing she'd suggest we join Penne in the living room. I went downstairs every morning to find Penne with a new toy -- usually a ball Dad had dug up from somewhere.

Sure, they liked Gatsby fine. She was well behaved when she was here too.

But I knew Penne had hit the jackpot when one day I ducked out for a quick lunch and came home through the front door. I didn't hear her alert bark, or the jangle of her tags from the hallway. She wasn't at the little gate when I reached it either. The baby gates shut her into that area; there's nowhere she can go by herself. I was too puzzled to think of panicking -- and then I spotted her on the other side of the glass door, sitting calmly on the patio watching me with that cute face. My eyes followed her leash to see it secured to a verandah pole with a professional-looking rope and carabiner.

Another glance showed me Dad doing his gardening. I was so surprised I asked him if he had leashed her himself. Of course, he said.

There hadn't been anyone else home, it was true. But I never would have guessed he would figure out a way to secure her on the verandah so she could be outside and watch him garden. Those of you who have family or friends who don't 'do' animals, who don't touch them or handle them, will understand my surprise.

And me? Well, I'm not a puppy person. I'm really not. I am drawn to larger dogs and older dogs. I always thought I'd adopt an older dog -- I don't think I'd ever want a puppy. But last night, just after Penne went home, I didn't hesitate to agree to help with something puppy-related, which is still in the works (nope, I am not telling yet!).

And if you asked me to comment on Penne, my automatic reaction is: she's cute. So cute. I mean, look!

So, I guess everyone likes puppies.

An Introduction: In Which Melon Finds Her Newest Victim

This is Penne.

This little cutie belongs to my neighbours. She's a six month old cavoodle (Cavalier King Charles x Mini Poodle). I met her the day she arrived home when I dropped off my 'welcome, new puppy' present. To be honest, I was a bit concerned because I wasn't sure her peeps knew what they were getting into with a puppy! My welcome present consisted of two dog training books -- one a comprehensive guide for the teens/adults and the other a Usborne children's guide to dogs and puppies for the younger kids -- and a homemade toy I whipped up out of fleece. 

Timid pup the day she arrived, all of 7 weeks old

Luckily, Penne is a sweet, happy-go-lucky dog who has settled in well to her new family. She even still has the toy I gave her on day one -- intact!

And yes, as you may have guessed, her people are on holidays so I've dognapped her for the week to love on, practice my training experiments on play with and pretend she's mine. Her family (except their oldest teenager) have gone away twice this month and the first time I went over to 'entertain her' (as requested) as much as I could when he was out. The second time, though, I've just dognapped her to stay at mine! Her parents are happy, teenager is thrilled to be relieved of dog duties and, well, do you think I mind this cutie living in my family room?

We are moving!

Have you ever done dog training atop a ladder, pausing your drilling of the roof while you dig into your pocket for treats? While the dog is on the other side of a fence to you, visible only from the top rungs of the ladder? I did, recently, and we are both alive to tell the tale, although I admit I'll need to improve my treat-throwing aim if there is to be a repeat performance!

To hear how it happened, and for more stories like this...

Stay tuned to Melon's Animal Adventures, which is starting up again. (Hooray!) Our new web address from Sun 13 Dec will be http://melonsanimaladventures.blogspot.com. If you are visiting through a feed reader like Feedly or Feedspot, you might need to add the new URL to your reader as the old link won't work anymore. Please check this - I value all of your comments and friendship and don't want to lose touch with any of you!
 

Don't make me come over there!