Saturday was an accident free day. However, she still adamantly refuses to go out on her own if it is light outside. There has to be something driving this behavior. I am sure it will get better with time, but it is puzzling.
On Friday, we turned my closet in the master bedroom into a little dark, quiet den for Lizzie. Removed the clutter from the floor, moved a perfectly sized orthopedic bed in, and placed a floppy, but thin bed on top of that so she can “nest” (it is adorable, she nests like a greyhound). She quickly took to it, and on Saturday, except for about 10 minutes she was in her crate, she slept and remained in her new den.
One thing to add, on Friday, she went out, and played/did her business on the back lawn while the sprinklers were running. I am truly astounded that she doesn’t recoil from the spraying water (for the record, all the dogs I had hated the sprinklers, and would hold their wee for days if it was raining…)
This morning (Sunday, April 29) started as usual. At exactly 3:00 AM she wakes, and me, being a sucker for a pretty face, get up with her to make sure she has an unencumbered route to the back yard (we do not let her roam the house yet while we are sleeping, wanting to ensure that we can somewhat control the accidents).
The playing was a little less intense today though. A positive, but still some horseplay. I even got down on her level for some wrastling. All in good fun.
Yesterday, I bought her a step-in harness, in preparation for the leash training she so desperately needs, and I got it on her this morning. She clearly associates the harness with bad things in the past, so I took it off as soon as I had it adjusted. I will work on normalizing it, putting it on with lots of positive reinforcement, and then removing it after increasing intervals.
Thursday, we will have some visitors, as Falcon and Clara will be here while their parents are moving, and I am hopeful that they will get along (not really worried about that), and they will show Lizzie the joy of playing outside during the day.
Quirks – Lizzie is a tag killer. If a toy has a tag (or label), she will make sure she chews and tears it off. First thing she does. Then there are a couple of throw blankets that we had relegated to pooch use (originally to keep the low body fat greyhounds warm on cold nights) and – you guessed it – she has torn the tags off.
Weirdly, in her “den” I found a Ralph Lauren Polo tag. Not sure where she found it, because neither me nor the missus own any RL garments.
How the hell does she know it is 3:00, and why does she wake up at exactly 3? Does Siri set an alarm for her?