Tuesday, April 14, 2009

visitors and doggies

It's been a busy couple of weeks. After Cleo arrived, we made a trip to Prince George. We took the mini-van because we were getting some plywood and also so that we could take both dogs.

Cleo travels differently than Xena, in that she pants heavily ... and continuously ... in my ear. Eventually, we had to clip their leashes to the rear seatbelt holders, just to keep them at the back of the vehicle.Viki warned us that Cleo likes to bark at oncoming vehicles as they pass. She did do that .... once .... to a cop car. Yikes!

We got a present for Cleo while in PG. A heated bed for her dog house.Art also lined the bottom with some thick foam. She seems to like it.It was such a busy day, that Art didn't notice this until he got home. Do you see it?Art's been very busy in the shop, building a birthday gift for his brother. Until Cleo is shop-cat-trained, she's not allowed in there, but is VERY curious about what goes on. She just lays outside the door waiting for Art.Sometimes, she goes over to the makeshift cat door and sticks her head in.Xena wonders what she's doing."I don't think you should be doing that...."From the inside .... Boose is not too amused.Our friends from Prince Rupert .... RT and Rhoda with their dogs Tom and Molly .... came to spend the Easter weekend. It must have been confusing for Cleo because everything is still so new, but hanging out with a "pack" was good, I think.

They went for many long walks ........ and played a lot. Many naps ensued. If you look carefully you can see Molly sleeping behind Art's chair.The day that RT & Rhoda decided to leave it was doing this.As for the cats, there was one unfortunate incident where Cleo went after Ewie (my little white kitty) out in the yard. It scared me, so am making it my mission to acclimatize Cleo to her new feline family members. Blackie is clearly annoyed ........ but did not strike. Just layed down, but Cleo is DYING of curiosity.Normally, to avoid hysteria, I feed the cats before allowing Cleo into the house. This morning we started a new training idea. I want her to know that the cats are part of the pack, not something to chase and/or eat. She must integrate with them. So, after I prepared everyone's meals, Art brought Cleo into the room (on a leash), had her sit beside him at the table while I fed the cats in front of her. Of course, convincing the cats that it was safe took a little doing, but 2 of the 3 did come and eat. Cleo just watched. When they were done, then I fed Xena .... then Cleo. She is definitely not a dumb dog and is catching on quickly. I'm very pleased. When she does something right, we lavish her with praise and "scrootches". She knows.

The other thing we are having success with is that she must sit and wait while a door is opened and does not go barrelling through until invited. She just doesn't know her own strength, the big lug. We now spell the word W-A-L-K.

3 comments:

Viki said...

Oh goodie, just what you needed--another project. Huge warning: Cleo drags everything out of her dog house and chews it up. I had mats in there for her, and blankets, and towels. All ended up in the yard in shreds.

Denise E said...

Seems Zena has adapted well to the new member of the family. The cats will need a little more time to trust her. As for Arts foot wear, bet nobody noticed. Now if they were different colours like my son does with his socks occasionally when clean laundry is slim pickins.

Carol Browne said...

I love the shot of all the dogs and people just laying around sleeping. Hilarious!