“So what’s Photon really like?” I hear you ask (well, I don’t really. I just like writing about our dog.) “Does she have a personality to match her inestimable cuteness?”
Oh my, yes, but maybe not for the first few days. She started off scared, somewhat wary of us, and suffering from the tail end of a GI bug. So she spent much of the first week being sluggish, mainly sleeping or snuggling. Cuddly, but not very exciting. We started thinking that we named her wrong and that she should really be called “Inertia”…
L: Ain’t she cute? R: Our view of her for the first few days.
After she got better, got her bearings, and learned to ignore that @%#&!! collar instead of scratching at it every 10 seconds she started to perk up. Incredibly fast “puppy zoomies” would occur throughout the day instead of a couple of minutes morning and evening. She now likes snapping playfully at people, a nasty habit that we’re clamping down on.
Our view of her now. She’s kind of hard to take pictures of.
She’s definitely differentiating family members: I’m the cuddle lady—if I sit on the floor, boom! she’s in my lap, snuggling. Peter’s the fun uncle, with puncture marks on his fingers to prove it. She doesn’t quite know what to make of Jon yet, but she tries to be gentle and cuddly with him (except when she’s in the throes of the puppy zoomies.)
Actually, I suppose “Inertia” technically is still an appropriate name for her, except now it’s because once she starts moving you can’t get her to stop!
Housetraining has been essentially fait accompli since about Day 3. When she has to go she always goes to the back door and waits; the only times she’s had accidents lately have been on other levels of the house where she can’t get to the main floor in time and we’ve been inattentive (stairs are still difficult for her). Now we just have to wait until her bladder capacity increases a bit—the getting up at 4 a.m. gets old really fast!
We never really had to condition her much to using a crate to sleep (Thank you Sue!!) There were a few minutes of crying the first night or two; then she settled down. Unfortunately, during the day she associates being crated with being alone for a few minutes (e.g. when we take Jon to/from the bus), and starts to cry. Aussies truly live up to their reputation as “velcro dogs”; I could see them as a spectacularly bad choice for people who are away from home for most of the day. But at some point we’ll have to work on this separation anxiety thing or we’ll never get out.
Obedience training has just started to take off. She’s currently learning to come, sit and lie down; she’s very good—sometimes! We’ll have to expand to “settle” and “off” pretty soon; our pincushion hands will appreciate it! Photon and I start “Puppy Preschool” at a local obedience training centre next week. Basic commands are covered, but it’s really more of a chance for her to play with other doggies (until her shots are finished in March she can’t go out on public streets or parks because of parvovirus).
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David "Art Critic" Barker says:
January 24, 2007 at 4:03 pm (UTC 0)
Cute as a cutie, but I still don’t think God finished drawing her.
David "Bark Trek" Barker says:
January 26, 2007 at 5:37 pm (UTC 0)
Wow! Look at her go! Hmm. She moves like a rocket, no, a missile, no, a – a torpedo.
A – ahem – photon torpedo.
(Somebody had to say it…)
Debbie Ridpath Ohi says:
January 29, 2007 at 7:52 pm (UTC 0)
Aw, sooooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ruth O. says:
January 30, 2007 at 9:15 pm (UTC 0)
Photon is way cuter in person (and that’s saying alot since the photos are super!).
And I definitely can’t get a dog now since you took the best name ever.
I’ll tell the kids to blame you. 🙂