Rain rain go away

It sure has rained a lot lately. Bubby goes and lays under the tree or in the back corner under a tarp shade area I set up for her when it is raining, but when it is really coming down, she is smart enough to come in and get me to towel her off. Yesterday for the forth, I was supposed to go to a friends for burgers and maybe to see the fireworks, but it was pouring down rain and I didn't want to put Bubby back out. I talked to my friend and she said I could bring Bubby over with me to her apartment. I didn't want to mess with getting Bubby in the car, so I opened the car back remotely and when we walked out into the garage, I just picked her up and carried her back there and put her in. She is normally way to slow and passively resists. We drove over to the apartment and parked under a cover. I took her for a brief walk to let her have a potty break and then we went in. She wandered around the apartment for a bit and then just settled down on the floor and hung out. She got up when people were moving about, but for a good bit she just hung out laying on the floor. My friend's son took her for a walk, but she went right to the door of other apartments trying to figure out where I was. I went outside and got her to come back in. We went home and she went outside while I was cleaning the pond from all the rain overflow, but when I headed back in, she came in with me because of the fireworks going off. She stayed in a for a good long time while I was napping on the couch and then she came to get me later and wanted to go out again to sleep. I let her and she was fine the whole night.

Mornings have gotten into a rhythm. I get up and let her in the back door. She is very excited to see me and wants to be petted/rubbed down. Then she excitedly dashes to the kitchen for food. If I am not trailing right behind, she dashes back and forth. She eats and then follows me around the house excitedly dancing waiting to go for a morning walk or run. She is looking pretty healthy and I weighed her yesterday and she is 66 pounds of happy dog.

Out and about for the weekend

Well, Bubby got out and about plenty this weekend. We went to the shelter on Saturday morning to pickup the stuff for the Petco adoption day and she got to hang around the office and go out to the playpen while I got stuff gathered and in the car. I took to puppies with me for the other 2 volunteers. Rosemary and Cilantro went in the crate in the back of the car with Bubby and she pretty well ignored them. We setup out in front of Petco Great Hills and that always gets us more foot traffic. Bubby was good, but panted and drooled the whole time we were there. The puppies were about 4 months old and are small breeds and I got applications for both of them, but nothing on Bubby. After adoption day, we all went back to the shelter and I put Bubby out in the playpen for the rest of our visit. We had a number of visitors, but no solid interest in Bubby.

On Sunday, I took Bubby for a longer walk (no run) and then we got ready and hopped in the car to go to Pedernales Falls State Park (well, I had to pick her up, she still isn't getting into the car by herself though she does jump up at the fence when I leave her in the playpen, so I know she can). We went hiking up and down the trails to the Twin Falls Overlook (there are a number of rocky areas and first she was afraid to climb up or down, but then she got the hang of it and was no problem. We hiked over to the main river overlook and sat there a few minutes. Bubby did well on the long car ride out there and back. After relaxing a bit at home, I noticed she was just napping in the yard and decided she could do that at the shelter. I packed her into the car and we headed to the shelter and I noticed it was drizzling a little on the way there, but decided to keep on anyway. I had to coax her into the playpen at the shelter and then I went inside. After about 10 minutes, another volunteer came in and said it looked like it was going to really storm, so we brought in all the dogs and the sky opened up and Bubby was the last dog to come in. She was a bit wet, but happy to be in with me. We hung out in the office and after a while she got bored and dozed off for a few minutes. The shelter was very quiet with almost no visitors and at 5 we packed up and went home.

Still outside

Well, Bubby has been staying outside without incident. We have been having a lot rain and she goes to the corner of the yard and stays under the tarp. She hasn't gotten too soaked. She comes in for dinner and likes to go out with me for walks. I have taken her for a run the past 4 mornings and she seems to do okay there though she can get spooked but doesn't pull at me hard when she kind of jumps at the end of the leash.

I started trying to take Bubby places as part of the 12 environments in 14 days training that Dana promotes. We went to a park on Tuesday and we went to a different park by car yesterday. Today,I was just too tired to get her out and about. Tomorrow, I think we will try another park and then on Saturday we have Petco.

She wanted to play this evening and I just am not sure how she likes to play. I haven't had any luck with her and a ball or frisbee. There is a soft pull toy with a squeaker in it that she likes. I squeaked it and she played tug a little with it in the house and then went to the door to ask to take it out. I didn't want it outside so squeaked it and threw it into another room. She finally went and got it, but fetch isn't her thing. She is still a bit timid in the house. Perhaps if I get the crate out of the dining room, that might help. She took the toy to the back door again and was jumping up and rearing up on her hind legs like she really wanted to take it out and play so I let her but she just ran out and then ran over to a muddy spot and lay down with the toy. I collected the toy and brought it back in, it is not a good backyard toy.

Saturday and Sunday at the shelter

Well, things seem to be going much better with the understanding that Bubby wants to be an outside dog. I keep the pond full of fresh water, I have a shade area setup in the corner of the yard where she likes to lay and I leave her out whenever I am not here or when she starts getting antsy. I took her to the shelter on Saturday afternoon and she did well in the outside run and seemed fine also in the indoor run. She almost jumped up in the car when we left the shelter, but just put her feet up and didn't jump. I took her by the Petco on the way home to pickup some food. On Sunday, I took her to the shelter again and left her there for while I did some stuff and she was fine outside and also when she was taken in and put in a large wireframe crate in the infirmary. On the way back from the shelter, she hopped up into the car by herself. She has been doing well working on her obedience outside. She does her down when outside, but just rolls over onto her back for belly rub.

Outdoor dog

Through numerous emails back and forth with Dana (thanks Dana),I think we are ruling out separation anxiety and are focusing on Bubby just having some negative association with being inside the house and being anxious in the house and wanting to be essentially an outside dog. Bubby's energy level is up from her being on the mend from HW treatment. Tomorrow is 6 weeks and she is supposed to be "okay". I have started to take her for walks on the leash and she seems to do very well there. She has nice leash manners and is holding her tail up and not tucked under so that is a positive sign. She does get a bit scared when dogs on the other side of fences bark at her, but she is doing better with that. I started working on Sit and Come. She sits quite well for a treat in the house and has already figured out that she has to sit for the leash at the front door, but she doesn't seem to be confident enough inside to do the come training. I did it outside on the back deck last night and she gave me good eye contact and pretty well came to me (I only moved from one bench to the other), but she didn't come and sit. Not a bad first start.

I guess it is just a bit of a different thing for me to have an outside dog. She spends most of her time in the yard. She comes in to eat and will hang out inside a bit, but spends all day and sleeps out at night. I setup a tarp in the corner of the yard where she lays against the fence when it is raining to provide her cover and it will be interesting to see how it holds up in the rain.

Saturday at the shelter / Sunday in the rain

Saturday was my monthly Petco adoption day. Since Bubby theoretically has 1 more week of "quiet" time (not sure how that can happen) and she is having some behavior issues, I decided it wasn't a good thing to take her. I discussed it with Monica and she thought I should bring Bubby by the shelter to see how she would do with a confident dog as a run-mate. I brought her by and left her in the large play area out back and went off to my adoption day. When I came back, I heard she did fine in there and then they needed the area for a "meet and greet" with a pair of dogs and they went to get her and she rolled over. The volunteer who tried to get Bubbette didn't know what to do so went for help from Monica and somehow they got Bubby to get up and move. They didn't know what specifically they did, so I didn't learn the trick to doing it instead of lifting her up.

It is 6:20 on Sunday morning now. Bubby came to see me upset about 5:40 and I heard the rain. In my groggy state, I went to let her out so she could do her business in the rain and come back in. Well, she didn't come back in. What to do, I thought. I went and switched into a swimsuit and flip flops and went to see where she was. I found her just laying there along the back fence line as calm as can be. As I approached her, she rolled over to show me her belly, but I declined to give her a rub. I figure, a little rain won't hurt her, she needs a bath anyway, so I am just hanging out here waiting to see when she decides to come inside. The wait is killing me. I have the urge to go try to coax her inside, but she does seem to be relaxing out there as far as I could tell and everything I read about thunder/lightning (which we aren't having, just plain old rain), says that you should make a "safe - place" for the dog and let them go there. Since she didn't look panicked out there in the rain, I guess it is best to just let her be there.

Friday and some time outside

Friday I worked the morning from home. Bubby seemed okay most of the morning but when she seemed to be getting a bit anxious, I let her out and she went and hung out (laid down and just hung out) by the side fence. I thought that was fine until I started to hear a bit of thunder. I went and picked her up and brought her in just in time for a downpour. I gave her 2 benadryl and she was fine for a while. She wanted to go out a bit after the storm and when it was time for me to leave to go by the office for a bit, I just left her out and told Ben to let her in later. No problems there (other than me waking Ben up which didn't sit well with him).