Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

A big weekend for Hershey! First she met Trinity, a friend's Schoodle on Friday night at home when her parents came by with her after the humans had a nice dinner out. She and Trinity got along okay - first outside, barking a bit and chasing, but Trinity was intent on playing the statue game whenever Hershey tried to smell her (which was A LOT) or if she got uncomfortable with Hershey. We forgot how much bigger Hershey is than other dogs compare to tiny Trinitiy.

The next day, Hershey had a play date with Trinity and her brother Scooter (who's a miniature Schnauzer). They met at the enclosed park where she often plays with Thilo, and boy did Hershey go crazy herding them and keeping them in a set space. It was quite remarkable to see her herding instincts kick in - doing the run-along-side thing and freaking out if anyone got out of place. For the most part the dogs all had fun, but at some points both Scooter and Trinity ganged up on Hershey and she felt cornered. A little barking match did occur, but for the most part, they were good with each other.

Today wasn't quite as good - she was scheduled to visit Brad, Christie, and Chantale's place and stay around for the rest of our friends who were to arrive shortly. She was very good with Brad at first who was sitting on the lawn when we got there. She took the treat from him and allowed him to pat her, but when Christie and Chantale came out of the house, she freaked out and lunged at Chantale and growled at Christie - even when Christie tried to give her treats. Luckily I still had her on the leash so she couldn't do any damage, but she sure did frighten the girls. After a little bit, Brad got up to give Hershey more water. When he came back to the yard with her plastic dish, she growled and then lunged at him too! I couldn't believe how bad she was behaving! I took her back home where Chris did lots of training with her for the rest of the day.

It was very upsetting to see her change personalities so quickly, but to think back to it, Brad must have looked very different standing up over her compared to when he was sitting in the grass; and the girls were also standing; this must have been too much for her, what with the new situations and relatively strange people. Plus, whenever she is on a leash she seems more feisty than normal, we have read that the dog feels trapped by the leash, which can make her feel even more uncomfortable.

Anyhow, this reaffirms the fact that we need to get her into an obedience class in the fall, and that we need to do more regular activities (like walks, play dates, and visitors) so that she can get used to obeying commands and become better with other people and animals. We've already started making plans; I think this is really going to help stabilize her mood and make her easier to control in situations that make her nervous.

Cabin Fever

It's been cold and rainy for the last 4 days and poor Hershey is finding it very boring to stay inside. We've been good about spending lots of time with her, I for instance, have spent the last two days at home with her, Chris spent Wednesday with her too.

Nevertheless, it seems as though she's really missing the outdoors. She's been a bit naughty - she ate some chicken bones left by Chris on a plate in the living room and felt very gross after that. She was also bad in that she chewed up some Blockbuster coupons (everything except September, October and December discount rentals, 2 Extra Night coupons, and 2 $1 off coupons) and on a seperate occasion she stole half a lemon of the kitchen table. She knows whe she is bad, she is much more quiet and reserved and walks slowly and very low to the ground in a submissive sort of way. Silly girl, she should just be good instead! I mean, what is she going to do with a lemon?!?

We have a play date with our friends' scnoodles on Saturday - they have two little dogs, so we will see how Hershey does - I wouldn't be surprised if she tries to heard them!

Wet Dog

In the past few weeks, it has been quite warm in town; some days it has been downright hot! We've been trying to spend as much time with Hershey as possible playing outside and enjoying the sun, but sometimes we forget how hot she can get - she is wearing a fur coat afterall.

We've tried to cool her down by spraying her body with water from the garden hose, but we've discovered that she has some type of built-in mechanism of drinking as much running water as she can anytime there is some present. It's quite funny to see her trying to eat the water and the hose. We've had fun with the different spray options; she especially loves the "mist" setting, she'll eat the entire spray gun and chug the water with that setting. She'll also chase spurts of water and follow an arch of water from the ground to the gun and then start over again.

She certainly gets plenty of water actually drunk too - poor dog has to go out about 3 times more than normal after one of these fun afternoons!

Now, if only we could have her enjoy her baths as much!

How does a dog think?

As a first-time dog owner/parent (and former psychology graduate student), I am often concerned about how Hershey perceives things, what she is thinking, and how she deals with different situations.

For instance, she will sometimes look at us with a cocked head and a quizzical look on her face. She loves watching us do different things like putting away dishes or working in the garage. She will also poke her head around the corner to watch us do laundry downstairs - but she seems afraid to come down into the basement (mind you our stairs are very rickety).

Hershey absolutely freaks out about the lawn mower, she barks and seems like she wants to play with it, but keeps her distance. When I put her in the house, she will actually jump on top of her crate to watch me mow the backyard through the window. She isn't' afraid of the vacuum per se anymore, but she will follow me around while I clean up - the Swiffer mop is similar even though it makes no noise.

We are letting her free through most of the first floor now while we are away - I wonder what she does when the answering machine picks up?