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Jessica's
Girls:
Sadie
Trooper & Lulu
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~Click
Here to see the Photo Album~
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Lulu
Progress Report: 2-28-2006
Sadie got a new sister about
a year ago. Lulu was 9 or 10 years old when we got her. She
is the nicest little dog. She's a huge contrast to Sadie,
who is over twice her size, but they get along pretty well.
When Lulu came to us, she was very food aggressive, but she's
mostly over that. She's still very treat aggressive but we
closely watch what we give them and when so it's not really
a problem anymore. They get along very well, and since we
got Lulu, Sadie has completely quit her habit of destroying
things when we leave. All normal doggie sibling rivalry aside,
they seem to be very attached to eachother and are good companions.
They both have a newfound tendancy to sit in front of the
patio door and bark furiously at other dogs and people. But
other than that, they are adjusting to apartment life and
seem to be calmer and happier than ever before these days.
:) |
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Progress
Report: 9-16-2004
Sadie is doing well. She's
2 years old as of last week, and is a very happy, healthy,
beautiful dog. I
never get over how shiny she is all the time. Her studies
are progressing satisfactorily. I think I can say with some
certainty that she would like to be an Airscenting/trailing
dog when she grows up. She still has her boundless energy,
and enjoys playing "find" the most, whether it's
a treat, a toy, the cats, grandpa, or us. She is a good companion
for grandpa during the day, and also loves to go visit the
rest of her pack at my parents' house, where Sadie, Zoe, and
Hansel have a fenced in yard to play and run together in,
and the cats often try to join in too. All in all, I think
she's a pretty happy dog. She still does have separation anxiety
issues, but I figure if that's my only complaint, then life
can't be that bad :) Summer is ending though, and she won't
be able to be in her kennel outside much longer, so we'll
have to dog-proof again inside for the winter. The jury is
still out on the DAP plugin but I don't really know how well
that does when I'm not there to see/hear her. I keep thinking
that maybe she'll grow out of it with time. I leave the TV
on for her, or the radio, the 2 cats are there, but they don't
like her and aren't much help really. She just tears the place
up when we leave, even for half an hour. I hope she outgrows
this someday, because I know she hates her crate too, and
I hate leaving her in a crate when I know she'd rather stretch
out. Either way it seems I can't win. |
Progress
Report: 7-16-2004
Sadie is every bit as hyper and good natured as ever. She
will be 2 years old in September, though I'm still waiting
for her to calm down as everyone said would happen as she
got older. I wouldn't change her for the world though! She
gets along well with everyone she meets, though no matter
what we do she still greets people who are foolish enough
to bend down and talk to her by sticking her tongue in their
mouth if they're not vigilant. YUCK! She also knows the "stay
home" command, and even obeys it sometimes, though she
is not to be trusted 100% yet. She is grandpa's companion
while I'm at work and is a very good girl, if a bit, shall
we say, "spirited". She still has issues with being
left in the house alone: sometimes she's just fine and relaxes
and chews a nice nylabone, and then other times she acts out
and rips something to shreds. Were working on it at any rate.
I tried getting a DAP (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) plug in for
when we're away, but I don't really know if it does any good
at all for her.
Oh, and we fixed the problem with her being a pillow and bed
hog: we broke down and got a king size bed. Que Sera, Sera.
:)
Here is a picture taken on July 8th, 2004:
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Progress
Report: 9-21-2003
Sadie is just over a year old now. She is still a very
hyper, very friendly dog, and she just loves people
and other dogs! Her training is going well, and she she has
corresponding hand signals for every verbal command that she
knows. She is so gentle that a child can take a treat or food
out of her mouth with no fear, but the flip side is that she
gets so excited to see anyone who isn't us that her
first course of business is to jump on them and give slobbery
doggie kisses for 15 minutes before she settles down to something
close to normal. She has a few more playmates now, including
my parents' 4 month old German shepherd puppy Zoe. Poor little
Zoe broke her leg (she's a cute, clumsy little thing, and
she got her leg caught in the picnic table and fell), so Sadie
has been very frustrated at only being able to see Zoe from
a distance lately. She just got her cast off though, and when
the leg is stronger they'll be able to play as usual again.
Sadie does have one unfortunate habit, which is to destroy
the house if we leave her home alone for any amount of time.
If we lock her in the bathroom with food and water and a toy,
she's just fine. If we leave her in the whole house with food
and water and a bunch of toys, she runs around knocking everything
over, pulling everything off the counters, and in general,
running amok. The unfortunate part about putting her in the
bathroom is that, while it is a very large bathroom, she has
a habit of panting and barking and crying when left alone
for any length of time. She just won't stop. And with the
one small window, it gets extremely hot and muggy in there,
and I don't think it's safe or very nice to keep her like
that for any length of time. She has toys, treats, her favorite
blanket, her favorite snuggly toys, her food, her water, anything
she wants. But she won't touch a treat or a toy or any other
thing when we leave. She also tosses her food and water upside
down when we leave her alone for even just an hour, which
also bothers me. I don't like to picture her in a little muggy
room with no food and water while I'm working, shopping, etc.
It's very frustrating, but I don't really know what else to
do. I think she has separation anxiety issues because I was
able to work on my web design from home for most of her life,
and now I commute part time. I suspect she just needs to adjust
to the fact that someone isn't home with her every second
of the day anymore. But in the meantime, I feel bad having
to lock her in the (admittedly spacious) bathroom. It makes
me feel guilty. Sigh.
Other than that, Sadie is an absolute joy. She is sweet and
smart and affectionate, and very gentle with both of our grandfathers.
She seems to realize that they need to be treated much gentler
than Bob or I do and acts accordingly. She's still a total
pillow hog, though she has started to lay on the floor sometimes
of her own accord. I think she's finally starting to realize
that the bed's not big enough for all of us, and that mom
and dad have no intention of sleeping on the floor.
;) |
Progress
Report: 2-6-2003
Sadie is 5 months old today! She was born on September 6th,
2002. She's a typical labrador retriever puppy, super hyper,
easily distracted, and she lives to give doggie kisses. So
far she's doing pretty well at learning commands. She just
learned "roll over" yesterday and "front"
earlier this week.. To date she knows "no","sit",
"lay down", "gimme paw", "off",
"roll over", "front", "come here",
"kisses", "play ball", "jump",
and of course "treat".. for about half of those
she also knows the hand commands, so if she's paying attention
and not too hyper at the moment I don't have to say anything,
just give her the signal and she does it. We're still working
on "stay" and "stay home".. hopefully
she'll catch on to the last two soon and we can start working
on other stuff. She's really a joy to have around.. So sweet
and cute and affectionate.. She loves to give huge sloppy
doggie kisses and she cuddles every chance she gets. She sleeps
in the bed with us at night, and is quite a pillow hog! She
likes to put her paw under the pillow just like we do, and
I swear she thinks that she is "people" too. And
as far as I'm concerned, she is. :) |
~Click
Here to see Sadie's Photo Album~ |
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