Foster Dog: Keisha - First day

such a dainty little lady

"I call shot gun"

I just picked up Keisha from Wayside to be our new foster dog.  She is a 6 year old black lab pointer mix.  I can already tell she'll be a bit easier to handle than Noah was.  She is super smart and catches on to things quickly.  On the way home she did pretty well being in the car with just me since Matt is off on business. Though when we stopped at a light she decided she just had to be in the front seat and sat up there with me.

Once we got home I showed her around the back yard on her leash and then let her run off leash while I kept an eye on her.  We don't want another fence jumping problem or digging problem, so I want to make sure to nip that in the butt if it ever happens.

She catches on to things really quickly.  She responds better to using the sound Caeasr Millan uses more than Noah did.  I took her into the basement for a bit and when I would go up the stairs she would want to run up before me, but I made the "tsh" sound and said stay a few times and she eventually just say there and waited for me.

 Even though she is 6 years old she still has a lot of energy and wanted to play outside.  I also introduced her to the Gentle Leader since she did pull a bit on her regular collar.  She of course tried pulling it off, but once we started walking she tended to leave it alone.  We went to visit Mark and Linda and they thought she was pretty awesome.  She was such a good girl I would almost forgot she was there.

She reminds me a lot of my family dog Nikki, who recently passed away.  She does the same thing where she'll rest her head on your hand until you pet her and then nudge you if you stop.  Once we got home we went up into the rest of the house where I showed her around.  She tried to jump right onto the bed and couch but I corrected her and she hasn't tried it again since.  I did discover she has some separation anxiety though because when I closed the door to the study to give the rats their meds, she whined at the door.  She also follows me everywhere I go in the house.  Hopefully this will get better with time.

We practiced a bit with going into a kennel since I don't have a baby gate yet. She did really well and didn't seem to be afraid of it at all.  Hopefully she will go in easily in the morning and be ok when I come to check on her at lunch tomorrow.

So far is has been a good first day.  Let's hope the rest to come are as well.