Saturday, February 13, 2010

The problem with puppies


My daughter took this picture of Kada chewing on a thistle bush...


I have noticed that lately I seem to sound like the teacher from SNL's Gilly skits. Don't get me wrong I love the puppy. She is an 11 week old blue heeler /mixed daddy next door pup. I named her Kada (which from my understanding is supposed to mean "little dragon" in Japanese) But I might as well be calling her Gilly.



It's hard to get truly mad at anything that is so cute. Though I can't wait until she gets beyond the chewing on everything stage. So far nothing important damaged but I worry that she is going to be tempted by an electrical cord.

We are working on training her and she is so smart. I bought some Halo Liv-a-littles treats. She has decided that just coming in from outside deserves a treat...So instantly as soon as she comes in the sliding glass door she sits pretty waiting for her treat. Since she seems to have the sitting down pat we are now working on laying down now. I think that in another week she will pretty much have that down. Of course the one that is giving us a little problem is come. She is always so interested in what is going on around her.

We have 2 1/2 cats. I say 2 1/2 because Simba (a polydactyl long hair who is the boss of the house as his name suggests)has been with us for 16 years now and Isis (siamese mix) has been with us 3 years now are our full cats.

Heidi (Hide--eeee) on the other hand was named such because it took 6 months after she "moved in" with us before we ever saw her. Even now she will come around when my daughter is home but only comes up to me. She is always hiding and I haven't figured out where. I wasn't planning on keeping her. My daughters friends were moving and "forgot" to take her to the animal shelter before they left the state. They asked my daughter to do it and she agreed (sucker). I saw the cat and how skittish she was and kind of ugly and thought no one in their right mind would want to adopt this cat (me -more sucker). While now it has been about 1 1/2 years and she looks much better she is still here. Even with her "drooling" problem...I think I am stuck with her. Even then I think I only see her about 10 hours in a week.

I brought up the cats because they tend to "distract" Kada. Isis teases and taunts. She loves the attention and actually likes dogs. We got her as an 8 week old kitten and our dalmation-mix (Ambee) pretty much taught her right. When Isis wants petted she actually rubs right up against Ambee...and has now included Kada into that mix.

Until lately Simba has always been a most tolerant cat. My daughter used to dress him up in doll clothes and parade him around in a stroller. Of course this was 15+ years ago. Now he is a cantankerous old man. For a declawed cat he can get pretty vicious. If Kada comes near him Simba starts hissing, growling, spitting, and swatting. Of course this means that Kada has to push his buttons. She tries to see how close she can get before she triggers his response. Kada appears to be wearing him down. Each time she is getting a little closer. I think Simba is doing his own training though. I have noticed that instead of bouncing up to Simba she now walks more calmly towards him.

Heidi...the invisible cat...even Kada doesn't acknowledge her...Unless they have set up secret meetings outside that I haven't seen. I think Kada tried once at the beginning to approach her and actually gave up.

So the problem with puppies (at least this one). She is smart and determined and willful. Of course the benefits are that she is smart and determined and loyal.


Kada and Ambee

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