Sadie

Hello folks! Pardon the silence. Mark and I have been adjusting to our new lives as DOG parents. That's right! About a month ago we adopted a dee-oh-gee! So, if you're interested in dog stuff, read on! If you stopped by for travel adventures... keep an eye out for later posts and we'll catch you later!

Sadie is just over 1 year old (15months?) and she's an Australian Cattle Dog/Rat Terrier/Mix of Other shelter rescue. Like many rescues, she came home to us with many special needs and as time has gone on, we're getting to know just how much time and effort she is going to need to recover from whatever unknown life she had previously. Her biggest needs right now are being more socialized with people and other dogs and working on her fear reactivity (also known as fear aggression.) So far we're working closely with a dog behaviorist/trainer as well as reading a lot of books. We've seen huge improvements and our trainer has called her recovery "amazing." We are exhausted though! Who knew getting a dog would be so much more than walks and fetch? If you want to know more about her needs and rehabilitation, drop me a line and I'll be happy to tell you all about it. It's been quite a process but extremely rewarding.

Sadie models her gentle leader/ head collar (not a muzzle) which works to guide her similar to how a bridle guides horses. 

The longer we've had Sadie and the more she has learned to trust us and relax, the more we are learning about her silly personality. And wowie does she have quite a character! She has earned herself the nickname "Silly Sadie" in its full right. She loves to lay on her back for belly rubs, but she'll take it a step farther and fall asleep on her back. She'll toss her toys in the air and thinks rain is fun to play in. Sadie loves to climb in our laps if we're sitting on the floor and so far she has learned to stay off the couch--when we're not looking.

She is also super smart. Every day we try to teach her a new trick or reinforce an old one. Currently I'm working on roll over and Mark is teaching her "dance". There is a really fantastic book called 101 Dog Tricks that not only has a great assortment of tricks, but it has good pictures and step by step instructions for teaching them as well as beginning-advanced rankings. For dog newbies like Mark and me, this is awesome!

A lot of people have been asking us about how things are going with the cats. Well... to be honest the cats were never going to be thrilled about us bringing a dog into the house. Can you blame them? Another four paw-ed thing has taken their space and their humans! But mostly things are going better than expected, though maybe a little slower than hoped for. Sorry stereotypers... the dog does not try to kill the cats. While there certainly are dogs out there who need to be in homes without cats, in general cats and dogs can coexist given the right circumstances. So far we have a gate up so the cats can have a "sanctuary" where they can feel like they own the place. Most of the interactions have involved nose-touching and butt-sniffing. The main problem we run into is that cats and dogs speak different languages. When Mr. Finnigan puts his paw up, he's telling Sadie "GET THE FRAK AWAY FROM ME I'M GOING TO FIGHT YOU" Well... unfortunately in dog language, a paw-up is a friendly "hey, wanna play, huh? we could wrestle yeah huh come chase me tag you're it!" So, naturally, when Mr. Finnigan walks by and puts his paw up at Sadie, thinking he's warning her to stay away, Sadie thinks "ooh fun chase!" which only freaks the cat out. You can imagine this is not making budding friendships bud any faster. But on the whole, we see at the very least a lifetime of tolerance.

Sunspot for teh kittehs

I know I've been a bit dog-obsessed lately, so thanks to all who have put up with hearing me spout every other sentence beginning with Sadie! Life is actually returning to a new normal, we've been hiking and jogging despite the heat, and generally enjoying the summer. But we can smell football in the air!