Lockheed's Second Chance

Today is Lockheed’s first full day at home!  Yesterday was jam-packed with craziness.  I met her at the Humane Society a little before noon yesterday.  She was laying calmly on her bed, but wagged her tail and smiled when I stopped at her kennel.  She was quiet and friendly and adorable, even with a big, giant cone on her head, so I asked to meet her.  We hung out together in a little fenced in yard.  She wobble-hopped around, happily sniffing and exploring.  She came when called and sat on command and snuggled up right away.  It was love at first wibble.  So I asked them to put a hold on her while I ran to Petsmart to pick up some supplies.  I came home and put up her new crate, some baby gates, etc.  Robot the cat was not too excited about this.  Then I picked her up from the shelter!

We rode to Petsmart again to pick out toys and such.  She was really good in the car, though she needed a little help getting in, unsurprisingly.  But she proudly hopped out.  There was a pitbull rescue at the store, and she was friendly and curious about the dogs there.  She’s unique (three legs, giant cone…), so every kid in the store wanted to meet her and she was equally patient and friendly with them.  A little foofy dog–maybe a Wheaten Terrier?–growled at her, but she just wagged her tail and sat down.  The only difficulty we ran into was that she was afraid to cross the street part of the parking lot, which supported my theory that she had probably been hit by a car.  Fortunately, she’s a petite pup, so I can carry her pretty easily when necessary.  (And she doesn’t seem to mind when I do–I think she gets that that’s the only way she’s going to get some places right now.)

Speaking of which…I live on the third floor of my building.  After walking a bit for potty purposes, we got to the stairs.  She just kind of looked at them and wagged her tail.  Looked at me, wagged her tail.  So I picked her up and carried her.  I am going to be like Xena by the time Lockheed gets a little older!  In her new home, she was curious but not crazy.  We hung out in the kitchen, which is where one of the baby gates is.  She drank some water (it’s infernally hot where we live) and snuffled around.  Eventually, she had an accident, but I expected that since I have no reason to believe she’s potty-trained.  We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening together.  She experimented with going down the stairs a little.

On walks, she’s pretty great.  She doesn’t really pull, though she walk-run-wobbles faster than I do!  She’s responsive to redirection and soaks up praise like a sponge.

I didn’t expect to see Robot at all last night, but he eventually ventured out and peered into the kitchen, where she was sleeping.  He didn’t approach, but he did hop up on the counter to get a better look.  He’s pretty shy with animals and actually completely lost his mind the last time he came in contact with another cat.  (No, that’s not him–Robot is a tiny, black munchkin.)

I crated her overnight.  I knew that might be rough, but potty issues and baby gates that are fairly vulnerable to cone-head bashes (unintentional so far–she just, like all cone-wearing pooches, has absolutely no spatial awareness or depth perception right now) meant that I couldn’t leave her out.  She’s not a fan of going into the crate, which seems to be because the cone makes it hard for her to do so without getting stuck.  But the cone has to stay on because she still has stitches in til the 9th.  Still, with some treats and praise, she settled in.  She fell asleep pretty quickly (long day!) and didn’t make a peep all night that I heard.  What a champ!

Robot was his usual lovey self overnight, so that’s good.

This morning, she was all smiles and wags when I came out to take her out.  She happily tromped down all of the stairs!  Up, not so much, which is fine because I don’t want her hurting herself, obviously.  I would never try to make her do something she’s not ready for.  And who knows–maybe up will never happen.  That’s alright.  I’m a badass doggie carrier.  Now she’s hanging out in the kitchen while I type this and listen to the Neko Case station on Spotify.

I’m excited to figure out how she likes to play.  She enjoyed puzzling with the stuffed Kong yesterday, but nothing else we picked out has really captivated her.  She just prefers smashing her cone into my legs and trying to be a lap dog.  Here she is, sprawled out after dinner last night:

Tags: first day, lockheed, robot

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