Charlotte's a VERY TIRED DOG!!

Sorry, I HAD meant to take a ton of pictures today, but our camera really sucks, and the battery ran out.

So... Here's what happened to Charolotte today.

She slept like a log all night long, never a peep, never a snore. When I got up, I let her out of her crate, and immediately took all three dogs right outside to go poddy. Charlotte went outside and did her business. I have to say, she's had three pee accidents in the house, but our house was owned by ladies who raised puppies, so the carpet is kind of like written permission. I took her outside every time I thought of it today, and as of 11pm tonight, when I'm writing this, she has actually gone out on her own with the other dogs to do her business unsupervised!! What a smart wonderful girl!

Anyway, Charlotte got to play with Elise for almost an hour when we first woke up this morning. They had the most fun with the squeaky bone pillow - Charlotte keep chewing on it to make it squeak, and then tossing her head against Elise to get Elise to grab it back. They had some fun with the long rope, but the kitty who makes smooching sounds was an early casualty - Charlotte dropped it in the water bowl, where it stayed for a while. I didn't notice it until it gave me a huge scare. I was listening to something I couldn't quite make out - it sounded like a weird, garbled, high-pitched voice repeating something over and over. I got goosebumps, I got images of horror movies in my mind, and after about five minutes of sitting perfectly still trying not to freak out, I realized the sound was coming from the water bowl! It was the talking kitty, saying "smooch, smooch, smooch, I'm wild about you" or something like that. I picked it up by one leg, and the water just ran off it. I busted up laughing and set it on the counter to dry. Much later on that night, I heard this strange crackling noise, and again, it scared the crap out of me. I frantically called my husband into the room, thinking we had a short in the kitchen electrical and the house was going to burn up, until we both finally realized it was the smooching cat, whose talk mechanism was by this time on its very last legs. I finally gave up and threw it out, figuring Charlotte hadn't noticed it yet, so she probably wouldn't care too much. So far, she hasn't really paid too much attention to any of the stuffed animals, except the rope teddy bear, which she played tug-of-war over with Elise. She's been more interested in the animals that make squeaky noises, or the crackly bottle, or the rope toys that she could play tug-of-war with, or her dinosaur-thigh rawhide bone.

So anyway, Elise and Jeff went to lunch with some friends, and Charlotte and I went out to run errands, and go to the in-laws' house in the Saratoga foothills. Charlotte helped me water plants and chop up tree branches, and she got scared by crows (I think the whole concept of "Nature" was a bit trying for her) and she barked at the neighbors. She was noticeably jumpy the whole time we were there, which wasn't surprising - new people, new pack, etc... Her confidence level isn't what it will be as she gets older, and she needs more reassurance.

Okay, so then Charlotte and I came home, and I took a few minutes rest, then Elise and her friend Wynter and I all took Charlotte on a walk. We walked to a nearby playground where the kids played, and Charlotte sat down next to me and fretted a bit more about the wind and the kids running around and the planes going by overhead and the other dog that walked past. She barked at every dog we passed, but by the end of the walk, she was only barking once, and she was stopping when I asked her to.

We got up, left the park, and walked back towards our house, only we stopped in the grass "circle" at the entrance to the park, where we met a couple of different friends who happened to be walking there. Charlotte got to say hello to my best friend's kids again, and got to meet a new dog, Cici, and her owner Sue, and Sue's friend Debbie (whom I know from working with our Renters Association) and got to sniff the grass and edit the doggy newspaper on the bushes there. We were there about 40 minutes - I'd get ready to leave and some other friend would walk up, so we'd have to keep talking. By this time, it was about 8pm, so we walked to take Wynter home, then we walked home ourselves.

Right now, I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing this. Charlotte has had about five cups of kibble and is collapsed under the table, utterly exhausted, poor baby, but she seems pretty happy. She conquered a lot of new experiences today, and I think this is just going to get easier and easier for her. She's still awfully young, no matter how huge she looks, and like any baby, there are a lot of strange new things she'll have to deal with - she'll eventually learn that crows arguing in a nearby tree are nothing to be worried about, or that when something rattles through the dry grass, it's almost certainly way too small and harmless for her to bother about. She'll learn that she shouldn't chew on the kind of dog brush called a "rake" (she jumped about a foot when I first came towards her with it), because the teeth are too sharp and will prick her in the gums, which hurts, but that if she sits still to be groomed, it will feel really nice and will pull all the nasty dead underhairs from her coat. She'll learn that it's really not necessary to jump and start barking at every dog she meets, and that she'll get nice praise and petting for calmly watching the OTHER dog jump and bark.

Okay, one more time out to go poddy and then we're off to bed. She's been following me around the house all day, even waiting outside the bathroom when I go, which is a good thing - it means she now sees me as the pack leader. That means she's ready to trust me, and now all her doggy instincts regarding the pack leader can be used to help smooth her way into our household and build her confidence.

Example: since I'm the pack leader and I go first all the time, she can relax, because she doesn't have to make the decisions - I do. Since I'm the pack leader, when she encounters a scary situation, she can look at me to get clues how to act. I won't be nervous about whatever it is, so she'll do what I do. When she does something wrong, I'll correct her instantly, and praise her just as quickly, so she never has to worry that she's doing something wrong or that she's going to get into trouble. She'll trust me to let her know how to respond.

She's giving me the serious "Come ON, it's time for bed, I want my crate" look, so I'd better sign off.