Maggie Update

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Sorry, I guess this is new Mommy brag............But I can't help myself.

Maggie is doing wonderfully. She is very smart, and I can talk to her like I do Molly. Of course now she only understands on baby level......but I can tell as long as I keep it simple, she understands me. She's almost like having Molly all over again as a puppy. She's a bit more for "let me chase you" play than Molly was at this stage.......but she adores her tennis ball and bops it around, chases it, and catches it. (molly wasn't even doing that at 6 wks)

I'm blessed that she actually LIKES her crate. It's where she sleeps, regardless of if it's a nap or for night. She's had only one accident and will yell the house down to get out and potty once she can't hold it anymore. If it's late at night, she'll potty and go right back in it to sleep again. No fuss. Last night she made it for 8 hours, no accident. But she was having a cow by the time I got up.

I'm also blessed in that she starts whining if she has to potty. She knows she's supposed to go outside. If I have Maggie playing in the livingroom with the door closed, she'll go to the door and whine. Otherwise she'll just start wandering around whining.......she hasn't found the front door yet......until I pick her up and take her out.

Molly did this too, and would've been broke by 8 weeks IF I didn't have a 11 yr old at the time distracting her. Nichole as a doting little girl made the house training take a bit longer than it usually does for me.

Without really thinking about it much, I'm teaching her quite a few commands all at once. I can't really help it, it's what I do because I "talk" to them, I don't really treat them like dogs. She's pretty much got her name down and comes to it most of the time.......unless she's getting tired and trying to find a spot to nap or gets distracted by something. She's learning potty. She's learning night night (means "go into the crate"). She's learning house, as she follows me into the house after a potty session. There may be others.........because I didn't realize I was teaching her the "house" one until this morning. LOL

I think she's figured out Molly is not up to playing with her, but Molly will.......if she approaches her calmly.......give her some affection. Bruce, who had a bout of jealousy with her and when she sniffed at his tail turned around hissed and swiped her claws out, in which mom whacked him one because he hurt her, she refuses to pay any attention to. But she will play with both Midnight and Minnie who are treating her like a kitten. They won't allow any strays into the yard when she's out pottying. lol

She's doing better with the puppy food dry than wet and eating more. So I didn't have to do the can. Which is good because she's still loose and I didn't want to make that worse. I'm going to call the vet here in a bit and stop by and pick up the wormer early, I think she needs it before wednesday.

Because Brandon was sick..........I watched the boys at easy child's house last night. This meant Travis had his first session puppy sitting. He did a great job. His only complaint was that while she would play with him........she kept looking for Mommy. I told him he'll have to come downstairs more to play with her on days I'm not working. She does like him though, quite a bit. This weekend I'm going to start her introduction to Rowdy, which is best done when she's this small.

Oh, she's also learned the boundaries of the front yard. I know this may change as she gets older and more curious. But I alternate taking her out with and without the leash so she learns to follow me and she gets corrected when she even puts one paw outside the yard. I alternate with the leash because I want her used to it, although she doesn't fight it at all. Little miss Mellow girl. :)

And thankfully.........weather doesn't bother her as far as pottying. She can potty in a raging thunderstorm as long as Mommy is there. :)

So nice to see that I evaluated her personality and intelligence accurately from what I've seen so far. I've been enjoying her so much. Been taking special time for Molly. But at Molly's age and health status, she doesn't require much. Maggie is that extra push to get out of bed, to clean (so she doesn't get into troubles), to go outside..... bringing me out of the social withdrawal I've been in since husband's passing. Sadie started it and Maggie is keeping it going.

I think Sadie came into my life so that I would find Maggie. Sadie has gone on into foster care and is waiting for her forever home. (yes, I still keep tabs on her)

A side note: Remember the neighbor's puppy who kept getting off her lead, which is who I thought Sadie was when I first picked her up?? Well, seems whenever Travis runs an errand for me they stop him and ask him if I've seen their pup. He told them tiwce she is at the pound. (technically she's at the pound, she's also in foster care) They kept telling him Oh, no, we called the pound and she's not there...... I told him to stop telling them where she is. That pup deserves a family that won't stick her on a lead and forget about her and not even notice when she's gotten loose. She's better off where she is. And as for Sadie.......the pound was accurate. In less than 10 days time they had like 5 dogs from the same house show up out there from people picking them up so they wouldn't get hit by a car. (busy road) Travis saw 2 more hanging out at the same house. I called the dog warden this time. I dunno how many dogs that guy had at the same time........or what the heck he'd have so many for......but I'm glad most of them are now either at rescues or in foster care waiting to be adopted.

And turns out Maggie's original owner is one of my good friend's neighbors. (it's her fb feed I saw the post of the puppies) She's working hard to get the woman to get Maggie's Mom Mary spayed so there will be no more large litters to find homes for.

I hate irresponsible people. :sigh:
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Im gonna be sad this weekend I think. Tony swears he is getting rid of Ziva one day this weekend and I know that Abby is going to be so upset. Abby is more like her mother when Ziva isnt with her. She is shy and timid. I told Tony I would rather keep Ziva actually because I dont want to go through attempting to train a dog who wont even listen to me again. Ziva is a live wire who already knows her name and is understanding me when I call her. Abby stares at me like Im stupid. Unless Ziva comes running. Tony refuses to change who we keep. He thinks Abby will be quieter for an inside dog. Maybe. I want them both. They curl up together so cute with their heads on each other on a towel with a little stuffed animal. I have even tried crying. Its not working.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
That's true IC. I didn't think of it that way. And Sadie is on her way to getting a loving forever home, which if I hadn't picked her up, heaven only knows what would've happened to her. Plus all of Maggies siblings have found homes as well. Owner was lucky that her neighbor/my friend was such a huge help in finding them all good loving forever homes so they won't have Sadie's experience. But at 2 yrs of age, she should've had Mary fixed already. Yet then I wouldn't have Maggie. Yup. Catch 22 there.

Janet, I'd opt for the more intelligence. Sounds like Abby is going to be difficult to train. Someone else may have wonderful success with her on her own in a different environment. But as you said, Ziva is outgoing and you're already seeing results. You may eliminate the issue of vanishing dogs by having one smart enough to be trained to stay within her boundaries as well, plus smart enough not to be lured into wandering off. I see less behavior issues with smarter dogs too.

Maggie is, of course, learning the word no, and I have to use it fairly often. But she responds to it due to the tone of my voice. I've had lower intelligent dogs where seriously I could've stood on my head to get their attention and they just stare at you with that blank stare. It actually drives me a bit nuts. Which is why I'm careful when I'm picking a puppy to adopt. I don't want to take one home, bond with it, only to discover that I can't do anything with it........and later have to rehome it. When I adopt every intention is for Life. It's like giving birth to a child. (yeah maybe I take it a bit seriously, but a dog/cat is not just a pet to me)

The last really timid dog I had turned at about age 3. While it turned out she had health issues which probably contributed to her personality and timidness, I now avoid timid dogs. She was rehomed to a middle age couple who had no children and did well in that environment. They also opted to invest in the expensive medical treatment of her issues.

I prefer confident/trusting puppies. But then I also want them as protection and you just don't have high odds with that if you bring in a timid dog. I don't want them afraid of the intruder, I want them to go after them. Know what I mean??

Which just made me realize I'm teaching Maggie another command, "watch 'em!". This one I taught Molly through play with a stuffed dog toy or bone or whatever......sort of a wrestle game thing where the toy sneaks around and "gets her". While the toy is sneaking....I tell the dog to "watch 'em". I did this by accident with Molly. (shows how smart she is) I *thought* it was just part of our game. But soon found out I could give the command for anything from an ant crawling on the sidewalk to a grown man and she'd watch them with an eagle eye. Next command was "get 'em". That's her command for I want what I had her watching stopped NOW! I won't teach a dog to attack in an upfront way. Molly is taught to STOP/hold, not attack. (although if she felt the threat was serious enough she'd attack on her own)

Katie's husband thought Molly was Miss Laid Back until he kept smarting off on how tough he was with dogs one morning and peeved me off. I told Molly to "watch 'em" and she came running from one room into where he was and stared him down. He was terrified to move. I just grinned at him. LOL That moment was priceless.

Molly is smart enough that I don't have to say her commands. I can snap my fingers and point a certain way and she does exactly what I want. This wasn't deliberate either. I do it with children. I'm doing it with Maggie. It's just something I do. It spooks people that she can "seem" to read my mind.

Betsy is not nearly as intelligent as Molly. But she's not dumb either. (although sometimes she pretends to be) She'll follow the same commands and can even manage some of them with hand snaps and pointing, although is not quite as accurate as Molly. Precious, her mother, was dumb as a box of rocks. She was sweet through and through (thank heavens or she'd not have anything going for her) but just plain stupid. Took 2 yrs to get her house trained alone. And the only other thing she learned was to sit up. It was supposed to be "sit" mind you, she just turned it into "sit up" because she'd sit on her haunches and beg when she did it. (Betsy does the same thing, but it's to the correct command and she can just "sit" too) And I'm so proud of Betsy. She's really come "into her own" since joining Nichole's family. She takes her role as protector seriously and has really stepped up to the plate. She's been great for them and behaves wonderfully........now following even some commands she pretended not to know here. lol Nichole keeps her crated at night, but Betsy has shown her that if she feels it's necessary.....she will break out of her crate. (necessary as in a break in, or a potty emergency)

Rowdy is just plain amazing, especially for a dog with no "official" training. He responds to hand snaps/points better than spoken commands......but was actually never trained to do either. I regret leaving his training alone trying to "force" a bond between him and Travis......because had I started him young he might have surpassed Molly by leaps and bounds.

I know people that enjoy dumb goofy dogs. When I was a kid I had a few of them. But once I found my first really smart one........it was a whole different thing and I've never been able to go back to dumb and goofy.

Janet, I'd really push the good points to choosing the the smarter puppy, and the cons of choosing Abby who might just wander off one day like her mom seems to have done........Maybe that will work. If you're keeping one, what's the difference which one? You're going to be the one home with it all the time, not Tony.

And just to add, husband would never think to tell me I couldn't have something I wanted. Every time he did, it came back to bite him in the rear tenfold. He was my best friend and my husband, not my boss, not my father. He forgot that briefly after we first moved into this house. When I brought home Lil Bit it made him furious. He demanded I not bring home anymore animals. Ha! That summer alone, I rehomed at least 10 rescued from the no kill shelter. (at that time adoption was free) When he finally came to me and apologized and told me I could do what I wanted, I stopped.

I hope you get to keep Ziva. I know you love Abby, but Ziva sounds easier to train and that you'll be happier with her in the long run.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Here are some photos of her playing. :)

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd204/Lisaisqueen/Maggieandball6wks.jpg


And her with her hedgehog

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd204/Lisaisqueen/Maggieandhedgie6wks.jpg

Proud to say, Maggie has already learned the House command. Soon as she's done going potty, I tell her "house" and she runs like mad to the front steps. LOL

I'd like a photo of her sitting next to something for scale/size......getting her to sit still for such a photo is a challenge.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I may have him convinced to keep them both. I keep pointing out how much more happy they are together AND how much I have come out of my depression with my baby girls. Should he take either of them from me, well, we just dont know what would happen again. I went and got all the dogs the Comfortis pills for fleas yesterday, collars, leashes, bowls, beds, more toys.
 
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