Saturday, January 9, 2010

In which Penny and I bond, buy supplies, and contemplate obedience classes

So, last night I got to the house at 11:30 PM. Needless to say, no pupply product shopping happened! She did spend the entire night in my room on the blanket I bought last time I was in Mexico. I think this will be her bed and I'll find another one sometime for my own personal use.
So today I got up, fashioned a makeshift leash out of ribbons, and we set off to Petco (it's where the pets go). There, we got Penny a new collar, a new leash, a new license, a crate, food, a seatbelt harness, pick-up bags, a Kong ball, and some treats.

Here she is in the car and happy (I had just stopped her from trying to get my food and we were at a red light).


Then I figured it would be nice for her to stretch her legs, so we headed off to the dog park. Penny is not quite sure what to think about other dogs yet, especially ones that are really happy about showing off their frisbees and puppies who are almost her size. She stayed on her leash the entire time and we ended up leaving pretty quickly. I noticed, however, that she was VERY interested in this adorable dog's frisbee, so I thought it might be cool to see if she likes them.
I also realized we didn't have everything I wanted to get for her, so we went off to Petsmart. There we got a training treat and ball bag, some different treats (the first treats were freeze-dried chicken breast, and they feel like styrofoam and she lost interest really quickly), a frisbee, and a never-ending-treat-ball (which she LOVES!). I also talked to one of the dog trainers about classes, and I think we're going to do the beginner obedience class. Because I observed a lot of fear towards other dogs, I want her to socialize in a safe environment, and this program is perfect for that. I'm still working with her at home, though!
For crate training, I got a plastic crate (after a bit of research I decided it was best for us) that just BARELY fits in my trunk when it's disassembled. My next car will need to be bigger. Because I taught her to use the Mexico blanket for her bed, I put the bottom half out on its own with the blanket in it. I am periodically leading her onto it with a treat and rewarding her for being there. Her neverending treat ball is in the crate as well.
Well, a few hours later she hadn't gotten a treat in awhile and decided to get in there on her own! This of course was greeted with rousing choruses of "GOOD GIRL!" and a few treats (these treats by the way are tiny so I'm not going to make her humongous).

GOOD GIRL, Penny!

2 comments:

Miss Willow said...

She's SO pretty, Kate...I absolutely cannot wait to meet her :)

skatej said...

isn't she? Vet (who is from A&M and displays it proudly in his office, in the exam rooms, in the waiting area, and on his scrubs) says she is 9 pounds overweight and needs to get down to an even 50. Definitely think she's a Golden Retriever mix!