Sunshine SIT!!

Securing The Perimeter

What the HECK?! For two months we have been working on pottying outside, leash manners and sit. The photo to the left is what we have accomplished to date. Juno is more than willing to sit anytime, anywhere if there is food in my hand, Maya follows her big sister. As you can see we have one stubborn holdout of the bunch. This week Sunshine had TWO accidents in her crate. TWO!! We are not happy about that. She has had amply opportunity to go outside but is much more interested in sniffing all of the new smells from the emerging wildlife and melting snow. Too busy as such to waste time pottying…Until today.

When dealing with a Freegle you never know what they are going to respond to or how they will react. When I hold a treat in my hand Juno and Maya’s butts automatically hit the floor, cookie follows. They get it. Sunshine… well, clearly she has other things on her mind.

Each Freegle comes with their own set of training issues that are sometimes a challenge. Maya took all of her cues from Juno and learned to sit for her meals without me ever spending two minutes teaching her, but she is a submissive piddler. That is my challenge with her. We have spent a lot of time working on her confidence and she is doing wonderfully. We still have accidents occasionally and everyone in the house has learned to never try to chase Maya unless you are outside and it’s play time. If she jumps on your bed you best run to the other room and make a lot of noise playing with the other dogs so she comes running. If you try to grab her she will piddle, yes on your bed. If you do, it’s your own darn fault, you were warned!!

Sunshine, as many of you know, comes with several issues, subscriptions really! She still paces nervously around the house but it is getting better, in small doses. Back to those two accidents we are not happy about. She holds her pee because she is too busy when she is outside. She is such a scent hound and her desire to follow a scent very strong. If Sunshine ever escaped I am fairly certain she would end up somewhere in New Jersey or even Ohio without ever once lifting her nose off the ground.

Our morning routine is fairly simple and straightforward. Get up, go right outside for piddles, back inside for breakfast immediately thereafter, playtime outside before work. Sunshine almost never pees first thing but rather searches and secures the perimeter. Round and round she goes as the minutes tick by. Training tips suggest giving them 5 to 10 minutes to do their business and Maya can be pretty well trusted to go on command. Sunshine does not. If I tell her “Go potty” one of two things will happen. 1. She ignores me. 2. She looks are me as if I have wounded her deeply for interrupting her morning sniff-about. Today I took back the power. We went out as normal and everyone pottyed, except Sunshine. A lot of things must have happened while we were sleeping and she needed to be updated right away. So back inside we went and Sunshine was put into her crate. Knowing she peed in her crate the other day in this very same scenario I decided to change things up. I fed the other dogs but not her. I put her food in the table next to her crate and opened the crate door. I said, “Let’s go Sunshine. Outside.” She dutifully followed me but was unwilling to leave the deck, knowing her breakfast was waiting for her. It was a standoff. Me against the Freegle. She looked at me, wounded again by her mean foster mom. I looked at her and said in my usual stern voice, “Sunshine GO potty.” She stepped off the deck and walked about 10 feet circled and peed. Really?! I saved my incredulity for later on and praised her and immediately brought her in and fed her. Let’s hope this works tomorrow and the next day until we can safely get all of those 250 pennies in the jar. Until then I may have to continue to dream up clever ways to outwit our Sunshine. I imagine her secretly laughing at me behind my back as I try to keep up with her ever changing agenda.

Our time together is becoming shorter as it looks as though she will be going into a foster to hopefully adopt home in the coming weeks with a wonderful family who wants nothing more than to give her the time and space she needs to learn to stop outsmarting her humans. We will get as many pennies in the jar before passing it on to her new family. Keep your fingers crossed for our Sunshine.

Peace and Wanderlust,

Kate & Sunshine

Maya photobombs Sunshine’s glamour pose!

Bow WOW!!!

Spring fever has hit BeFreegle Central!! With temps above 50 degrees today the spring thaw has just begun. Along with the spring thaw comes what some of us dog people call the muddy season. Those of you who know are nodding your head yes right now!! The dreaded muddy season. The ground is frozen so as the snow melts it has no where to go but to sit in giant muddy puddles in the backyard. Undeterred by large vats of mud our Freegle girls romped and ran and splashed in the mud today like a bunch of three year old kids set loose in a summer rainstorm puddle! Zoomies throughout the yard, over the snow softening which at times gave way to their weight and caused them to tumble head over hiney until they were a ball of tangled up Freegles. I took a seat and quietly watched. Maya likes to check in to make sure I’m watching. She would at times come to me to engage in play with her. I would crouch low and hide behind melting piles of snow, she would hop (yes she hops) over cautiously at first to see where I went. I would pop out and she would gleefully hop away zooming to the other side of the yard. I also cleared the patio of snow today just because I will soon be dragging out my chairs to sit outside. Hurrying spring? You bet I am. As Maya and I played hide and seek over snow piles and around the tarp covered patio table a new player entered the game. As I rounded the table for our game of tag, there was Sunshine, tail up, eyes bright ready for action. She play bowed me! Yes, she did! I bowed back and chased her! She ran like the wind, I swear I saw the beginnings of a smile. The moment only lasted a few seconds but I feel that what she did today was cause for celebration. Every day gets a little better. All I want is for her to be happy and today I found a crack, although slight in the protective wall she has built up around herself. She’s getting it, slowly but surely she’s getting it. We had a little setback yesterday and she lost 5 pennies. Today she has already gained most of them back. Good girl!

As I cleaned up 16 muddy legs and paws, 4 wet bellies and a few mud covered snouts I hoped that the snow will soon melt and the mud to dry up so the girls can experience all of the wonders the spring and summer hold. Skunks and groundhogs will be on the top of their list, for sure. Heaven help me!

Peace & Muddy Pawprints,

Kate & Sunshine

Daisy the Snow Angel

On The Way

A funny thing happened on the way to the mechanic. Today was the dreaded, take the car to the mechanic for the few thousand miles overdue and much needed 100k checkup. Once you get to that kind of mileage things start to squeak and rattle and it’s best to have it checked out before you end up stranded waiting for AAA. There was a coffee shop with wifi a short 15 minute walk away and since it was the first day above freezing in a while and the sun was peaking through the clouds I figured, why not walk.

A few hours later my cell phone rang, it was the mechanic who is also a good family friend. My stomach did a little flip flop as I saw the number come up. Please nothing major, please nothing major. Good news, your car is done he said. The battery was bad and we did a tune up and oil change. Good to go. I packed up my stuff and headed back in the direction of the shop. I decided to walk along the other side of the street from my trip up, just for a change of scenery. As I came upon a brick building I happen to look up and read the sign. The name was vaguely familiar and as I took about 5 steps beyond I realized why it was familiar. Daisy’s new Mom and Dad’s business. Daisy goes to work with them everyday. Daisy was just beyond those front doors. I stopped and looked inside, several people stared back at me. I didn’t see any familiar faces. Should I? Shouldn’t I? What do I do? I stood there looking, I imagine, dumb for my indecision, standing there staring through the window. I’m pretty sure that this hesitation of mine was not as long as I was remembering it. Two steps up later I was inside. Two minutes later I was ushered into Daisy’s Mom’s office where there was a little Freegle girl curled up on the chair on her soft comfy blanket. She hopped down and sniffed, about three seconds later it registered who I was and I was bombarded with kisses!! How great Daisy looks and to see her smiling really made my day.

Daisy’s Mom and Dad are such fantastic people and as I apologized for being presumptuous they were so very gracious. She is such a very lucky girl and just got back from her very first vacation. I will save that story for her Mom to tell in next months Aarroosletter. In the meantime I got all the kisses I need to sustain me for a good long time. Thank you to Bill and Debbie for being so understanding and inviting me in. It truly made my day to see all of you, including Professor!!

On the home-front, Sunshine is doing really great. We had one little accident tonight. It was totally my fault as I was not paying attention to her signals. In hindsight I should have been more aware. For that reason I am not taking her 5 pennies away. I don’t want to damage her new found self esteem!

I recently took her crate away and put her in a pen without a top to see how she would do. At first she seemed to be very afraid but I climbed in there with a load of treats in my hand. Eventually I had all four dogs in there with me, well until I ran out of treats that is!! It’s so good to see her responding to the training and the holistic supplements. Every day gets better and better, but we all always knew she would. This little girl is going to make someone a wonderful and loyal friend one day. Until then I would have to say she and I are pretty tight.

Peace and Sunny Days,

Kate & Sunshine