The Crate

For some reason, Zuzu has decided that she hates her crate.  Not dislikes, HATES!

It all started when we moved it from the kitchen to our bedroom upstairs.  I thought it was because it was warmer up there and because she was no longer in the center of all of the action.  Before we moved it upstairs, she would go in it to take naps on her own. She seemed very happy with it.  Upstairs, however, she would cry and bark and she even scratched up her nose, trying to get out of it.

So, we brought it back downstairs.  She was fine for a little bit, as we fed her treats and made it fun, and should would lay in it with us in the house with her without much complaint.  On Monday, she a short stay in it while we were out without a problem.

Then on Tuesday, we went to a baseball game, and when we came home, the crate had moved across the floor and she had scraped up her nose again.  The kong that we left in the crate with frozen hamburger, was untouched!

We spent Wednesday at home with her again, and she stayed in the crate three times without incident, but we were home.

On Thursday, I promised Tressa that we would go shopping for her birthday, so we went out.  I left her treats, and water, and gave her calming drops before we went, and made sure she was happy and settled in the crate before we left.  When Jim came home (we got caught in 90 minutes of horrible DC traffic), he again found the crate across the kitchen, the tray outside of the crate, and Zuzu with a scratched up nose.

She had bent most of the metal bars, trying to get out!

This is what my poor baby did to her nose!

I felt horrible for leaving her in that crate, and I knew there was no way that I could leave her there again.  So, we did some research and went out and bought a new crate to try.

Here Jim is, introducing her to her new crate.  With steak, of course.

She didn't love it, but she didn't seem to hate it either.

Today, I put her in it this morning and she was okay.  She had to be coerced inside, with lots of treats and a final shove, but she hung out for a little bit without any whining or panicking.

I let her out and put her back in later to run an errand.  When we came home, she was super happy - laying on the tile in the front entryway. ?????  The crate was where we left it.  The water bottle was right side up on the kitchen floor, and the gate was wide open.

Nothing in the house was messed up at all.  At least if we can't contain her, she seems okay for short periods of time.

I'm sure there will be more to follow!

Insanity

My dog is craaaaazzzzyyyy today!

She slept all day yesterday, and I swear she woke up bigger.

Since she woke up this morning, she has been all go, go, go!  She thought she was a bloodhound on our morning walk, sniffing the whole way, then giving a bark and trying to run.  I don't know what she was smelling:  maybe a chipmunk, maybe a friend, maybe a cute boy dog.  Who knows?  But, she wanted to chase after that smell.

When we stopped for training on the basketball court, she would only "stay" if there was something interesting to watch. That interesting thing was never me. It's a good thing she knows verbal commands too, or we wouldn't have gotten anything done.

On the way home, it was all pull, pull, pull!

Normally after our walks, I sit and read and she naps by the door.  There was no napping this morning, and very little reading (or a lot of reading, if you consider how many times I had to read each line to make sense of it between puppy antics.)  I kept having to take breaks and play chase and toss and wrestle, or my feet and the sofa would become chew toys.  I finally gave up and went out back and tossed balls and sticks and she ran and ran! And then we played 'attack the water' until she was soaking wet and very happy.  And this was all before 8am.

I think one of her brothers' spirits inhabited my sweet little girl overnight!

Morning

Daddy got up at 0520 this morning and let me out and fed me breakfast.  I love Daddy so much!  Then he left for work, and I had to wait for Mommy to wake up.  I poked her with my nose every fifteen minutes to make sure she knew that I was still here and that I loved her, but I let her sleep the rest of the time. I'm sweet like that.

Then, we went for a walk.  I love walks!

When we got back, Mommy had stuff to do, so I found Koshka.  I decided to follow Koshka EVERYWHERE!

Koshka! You're not allowed to mess with Mommy's stuff!  Get out of there!  I got her out of the kitchen too, by showing Mommy that she was in there. We're not allowed in the kitchen.  I was a good girl and sat outside and barked once and looked for Mommy to show her.  I'm the good one.  Honest.

I will follow you anywhere.  I love you, Koshka!  Wait, where are you going?

Okay, I will not follow you up the stairs.  I do not like the stairs.  And I do not like up the stairs.  It's hot up there.  I like the floor here.  I'll wait for you here.  Besides, I hurt my nose on Saturday, so I shouldn't walk up the stairs back to where I hurt my nose.  Can you see my owee?  I did it upstairs because I do not like upstairs.

But I'm still cute, right?

Darby, why can't I bark at the door?  The cat will not come downstairs and I am bored.  I want to guard the door.  There might be people out there.  And dogs.  I like dogs.  I want to say hi.  There are windows to say hi from.  If I'm not supposed to bark, they should not have put windows next to the door.  That makes no sense at all.

Can I bark at you, Darby?  Woof!  I barked at you.  Oh, I see that you do not want me to bark at you.  I see by your face.  woof?  Okay.  Fine.  I will not bark at you.

I like hugs.  I love Darby!  I love Darby hugs!  This is fun.

I will lay here forever.  I love Darby.

I will give Darby kisses.  I like it here.  I love Darby.

I will sleep here.  I love Darby.  I will stay here forever.

Darby?  Why did you get up?  I am sad now, Darby.  I love you, Darby.  I miss you, Darby. Why oh why did you leave?  I wanted to stay here forever.

I will wait for the cat.  If I stare at the stairs long enough, she will come back down.  I just know she will.

I will wait here forever.

Good night.

Rawhide Utopia

Oh my gosh - she is cracking me UP this morning!  She has gathered most of her rawhides into the living room and is chewing, tossing, pouncing, catching.....tooooo funny!!!

I need to get her a bigger rug that doesn't slide all over the wood floor!

Zuzu's New House - When did I lose control?

Zuzu's new back yard. "Tressa, Tressa!  PLAY!"

Zuzu's bedroom. "I have my ball AND my bone!"

"See?!"

"Hey!  How'd my ball fall out of my mouth?"

Zuzu's Kitchen - Plenty of water

"If I leave a toy or chew in EVERY room, I will NEVER be without!"

Zuzu's Living Room

Zuzu's Front Entryway

Zuzu's Dining Room

Zuzu's Family Room

Zuzu's screened in porch

Zuzu's hose.  "Om nom nom!"

Zuzu's crate and BFF.  Why? Because they could.

New Favorite Game

Zuzu's new favorite game is seeing if she can eat my shoes and socks, before I can get them on my feet.

She begins trying to grab them when I take them out of the closet and drawer.  Then, when I sit down, it's really Game On!

Socks are for tug of war, then they can still be nibbled while on feet.  Shoes must be grabbed, and shoelaces are for flossing.

If I look like I'm going to win, she sits on my legs so that I can't get to my feet.

I don't think it's occurred to her that this game delays her walk.  Or maybe, she just doesn't care!

The Bubble Bath

I finally got to take a swim in my new tub last night and loved it.

I'm not sure if Zuzu had ever seen a bubble bath before. My new bathroom is big enough for an Estrela to spread out in, with double doors that are always open, and she was fascinated.

First, she barked and growled as the bath was being run and the bubbles grew. When I climbed in, she cocked her head like I was crazy, then happily began to eat all of my bubbles!

It's a little hard to relax when you have a giant puppy trying to lean over the tub to sniff, sneeze, and eat bubbles!

Virginia People

Darby and I have decided that people in Northern Virginia are too busy, and not nearly as friendly as people in California.

When we're out walking Zuzu, people will cross the street to the other side, or put their noses down and walk faster.  It's just weird, and sort of rude.

I have started taking great pleasure at slowing down a little, staring at them, and saying, "Good Morning," or whatever appropriate greeting comes to mind. If they have a dog, I make Zuzu sit and stare too. Haha! I know, annoying, right?! Sometimes I crack myself up!

People are starting to say hi back though. And they smile! They're not so mean after all, they just require some obnoxious prodding.

Yesterday, a man came out of his garage to meet Zuzu. Last night, a couple walking their Golden that I had greeted a couple days in a row actually smiled and waved first, and this morning a woman crossed the street with her dog TOWARDS us, just to say hi!

It's still not California, but Virginia, I'm starting to see hope for you!

Lake Mercer

How do you make a dog happy? Get 'lost' in the woods!

Darby and I decided to walk Zuzu to the neighborhood lake and see what it was like. I was told that there was a nice trail around it that people walked and biked.

I should have done more research. I didn't realize that at the far end of the lake, the trail followed the creek that fed into it for a really really long way before a little bridge crossed the creek.  We ended up walking about five miles.

It was actually a nice cool morning, and Zuzu had the time of her life! She pranced ahead, nose in the air, tail wagging, the entire time. She even started giving occasional, happy sounding, single barks into the air. She was queen of the woods!

When we got home, Darby and I were exhausted. Zuzu ran around the house some more.

Zuzu the DESTROYER

Zuzu's new nickname last week was Zuzu the Destroyer. If she wasn't sleeping, she was destroying.

I began noticing her need for constant supervision early in the week, but I rarely let her out of my sight for any length of time, so it didn't strike me as too odd.

Then, I realized that NOTHING was safe around her anymore.

I woke up one morning, looked at my floor, and after my eyes adjusted, realized there were rope toy fragments covering most of it.

If I let her outside, she went straight into digging mode, or chewing on the bases of bushes, or rearranging the firewood pile to decorate the yard.

She turned the screen door on the porch into a doggy door - twice! Jim has given up on that repair until he can find some plexiglass.  We may install an actual doggy door in the side of the porch.

Her favorite toy of all, Piggy, met it's demise one afternoon. Instead of the tossing and cuddles and slobbers that piggy normally got, she got all paws & teeth and ended up in pieces all over the living room carpet.

I immediately ran to PetSmart for more toys & rawhides. I was amazed how many toys say, "Not a Chew Toy." I got her super tough chew toys, "guaranteed to prevent boredom and the urge to chew". Hahaha! The collossal rope lasted two minutes before I had to take it away. She was shredding & eating it!

The plastic/rubber toys have worked better, as have the giant, braided rawhides. So far....knock on wood...I have only lost one plastic end cap to my bed frame. Oh, and some firewood & acorns.

This week seems to be going better. There are times when she's awake when she will watch out windows or cuddle or wrestle (without teeth) or just sniff around and explore.

I like this week better.

Zuzu Bear

As I let Zuzu out back the other morning, a squirrel jumped from our deck to a tree.  

Zuzu ran down the stairs as fast as she could, and LEPT into the air and hit the tree with all four paws, about four feet off the ground and tried to climb it!  Her arms fit almost far enough around the trunk to hold on, and I’m sure if her “claws” were just a little bit longer, she would have been able to.

Fortunately, she slid right down and had to be satisfied with barking ferociously up the tree at the squirrel that escaped.

The chipmunk soon after, was not so lucky.  We’re not sure if Zuzu was the cause or not, but she was seen trying to get the chipmunk to play and rubbing her face on it.  Jim quickly disposed of the poor critter and Zuzu got her face washed.  

There were mouse traps in the basement when we moved in, and my first thought was that Koshka would have fun and put a quick end to any rodent problem that might exist.  Now I’m thinking that the mice might have two hunters in the house and had really better beware!

Status Updates that never got updated

I love when my puppy trips over something, or runs into something, then jumps around and barks at it. Really? Did it move? Did it trip you on purpose?

Will someone please teach my puppy that, just because my husband gets up at 0530 to get to the Pentagon, that dies NOT mean that I need to be out of bed too?

This morning my puppy stole the cat's toy from her and ran away with it, then tried to give her a dog toy instead.

My dog, who's afraid of her own shadow, loved the fireworks last night.

If my dog continues to bark at everything I change in the house, it's going to be a REALLY LONG MONTH! No, my towel was not hung there yesterday. I'm trying something new today. I'm allowed. I might even put it back tomorrow. Get over it!

No More Hotel

We're finally in the house full time. Yay! Most of our furniture has been delivered. They did lose one or two crates of furniture and boxes (bummer) but hopefully they'll locate it and deliver it this week. Either way, we're in our home, and that makes us happy!

Zuzu loves it so far.

She loves that only half of our bed showed up and she can lick my nose in the middle of the night as she stands next to my mattress (no boxspring) on the floor.

She loved when we opened a box and found some of her toys in it today. She threw her stuffed piggy high in the air and chased it and threw it and pounced on it and chewed it and threw it some more!

She loves that the previous owners left the yard in serious need of cleanup. There are sticks and wood piles and pretty tall grass plants and dirt to play in and completely rearrange. No more crying at the door for Mommy and Daddy! She runs and barks (a little too much) and grabs a piece if split wood off the pile and sprints around the yard with it, before settling down to chew on it.

Yesterday she had her first real thunderstorm. She was curious at the noise and flashes, but relatively unimpressed.

Today, she had her first Fourth if July. It was WAY more exciting!  Tons of neighbors set off hundreds of loud, bright fireworks. She barked a couple of times, but mostly just sat by the front door, looking out the window. Jim and I took her outside and sat on the front step to watch them with her. She sat between us and cocked her head and looked around trees to see the pretty lights. She didn't bark, cry, jump... none of what a normal puppy would go through with fireworks. We had her on her leash and we were ready to bring her right in if she seemed frightened, but she just sat and watched with us. It was really neat. Now she is asleep on the living room floor, even though the explosions got much louder outside.  I think she'd make a great war dog... but I'd never let her. It's ok if I go, but I don't like when my husband is deployed and I'd never sleep at night if my children or animals went!

Her only issue in the new house is the stairs. She's no longer afraid of them and runs up and down with no real problems, but she's about as graceful as ....I don't even know.  As my husband doing ballet? As an elephant trying to hula hoop? Anyway, she's NOT graceful. I bust out laughing every time she runs up or down. She is such a clutz! It's a good thing she doesn't have an agility show coming up anytime.

Maybe she would not be the best war dog after all.  :)