Domestic Disturbance

If you've been reading at all, you now know there is a new dog in the house. New-er even. She is bigger and younger and a tiny bit more damaged (emotionally) and therefore even more work then the last new dog was. Fortunately a lot of energy is burned by chewing on her brother, so we have that going for us this time around.

Very early into the game we had a moment of realization of something that had never crossed our minds. This younger, bigger dog was going to take cues from the smaller dog. She's learned things like jumping up on us to get our attention. Not a big deal when you're dealing with a 13lb dog. Kind of a big deal when the dog is 35lbs on a skinny day.

So, dogs don't understand that the size difference means there should be behavior modification?
Right.
Ok.
They don't reason through things the way we do.....
I knew that.
Damn.

Another super fun thing she's learned is to have a total mental breakdown every time we pull out the harnesses and leashes for a walk. Again, not that big a thing with a small dog- mainly just annoying. When you're a big kid, that episode you have can mean things being knocked off of shelves and carpets being tossed around like so much garbage.

We go through this EVERY day, at least twice. Once in the we hours of the morning, which is charming beyond words, and once after work. The good thing is the after work walk is usually tempered by a play session in the yard, making it marginally easier to get the 2 dogs all pulled together and out the door. But first thing in the morning, when I have literally just rolled out of bed to take them, it is absolutely insane. They're both hopping, whining, twisting, and in general not staying still. This makes it almost impossible to do the things they are so excited for us to do. I have been bruised, and knocked in the teeth in my efforts to actually get them out the door.

at 6am
are you serious?
come ON! Just stop moving for 40 seconds.

There is a LOT of yelling in our house at 6am these days.

She responds pretty well to approaching her with a calm energy, it calms her a bit. You can get her to at least sit down that way.

Then, out of nowhere, comes the tiny firecracker of a dog.

He's all wiggles and excitement and "YAY OUTSIDE!!!" and then She's gone again.

Into the mental zone.

I had her.

for 20 seconds, I had her.

Basically, we've both been a little beat up by this exuberance. Our throw rugs have been more then a little beat up. Our schedules have been eternally disrupted, with a new walk schedule, and everything taking twice as long to accomplish. I'm considering rearranging certain things to make it harder for a much bigger dog to get to. To say our domestic bliss (such as it was, granted) has been upended is a mild description. Not to mention my sleep schedule. If only she knew, the last thing you want to do is mess with my sleep schedule.....