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| Saturday, July 19, 2008 10:23 AM |
| Dog Update |
 by Fëanor |
I feel like the dog is really settling into the new place now. We were really getting to our wits' end on the whole peeing in the house thing, but he turned a corner last weekend (perhaps because we gave up on the idea of trying to get him used to staying inside for long periods and holding it, and just started taking him out all the time, especially right before we left and as soon as we got home), and this week I don't think he had one accident. Thank God.
On the other hand, his eating problems have now become more pronounced, in that he'll often show reluctance to go to his bowl, or to eat near it, instead furtively grabbing a mouthful and then running back to a rug or the carpet to eat it. He seems to prefer to be totally alone when eating, with no one in the kitchen or nearby rooms. This means he'll often leave food in his bowl for long periods of time. It's worrisome, but he's not starving, so we're just living with it for now.
He also seems to have established his Forbidden Zones for the house. He has never liked wide expanses of hardwood floor, preferring carpeted surfaces or rugs. This is probably because he slips on the hardwood and can't get traction. The dining room, living room, and entrance hallway are all hardwood with only one rug in the center of the living room, so he pretty much doesn't go in those places at all (although he is willing to cross the back corner of the dining room in order to get out back). He also continues to avoid bathrooms, and we've made sure not to let him try the basement stairs, because we're a little afraid he'll go tumbling down them. He definitely uses a lot more of the space in this house than in the condo, however, and of course he loves the yard.
When he goes out back, he likes to dash out the door and straight over to the back left corner of the yard, because that's where the creatures are most often hanging out. In this neighborhood we have lots of animals, including many birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits. The rabbit, of course, is a traditional greyhound target (it's a fake rabbit that the greyhounds chase around the track when they race), so when we first saw there were so many rabbits living so close to our house, we were a little afraid of what would happen. I was very careful the first couple of times I took Floyd out for a walk. Luckily (although it does also disappoint me a little), he's a pretty bad greyhound. Although he often perks up and becomes interested when he sees a rabbit (if he even sees it; he's often passed them by without even noticing), and will even pick up his pace a bit and try to trot after it, he never pulls hard on the leash or tries to break out into a full run. And when he's free in the yard and does take off after them, he's never fast enough or accurate enough in his movements to catch them. I like to think that pretty much every time he runs out the back door, dashes over to that corner, and misses another little creature, what he's really thinking is, "Curses! Foiled again." |
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