A boy and his dog

For now, her name is Cindy Lou.  Cindy Lou Who.

Lots of suggestions have been tossed out there for names.  

Wren.  Sparrow.  Robin.

Wisp (with a lithp/lisp).  Whisper.  

Taffy.  Laffy Taffy.  

Millie (as in Maleficent).  

Kitty.  Bobcat.  Cougar.  Tawny.

Butterscotch (Carrie had a bunny named Butterscotch, though).  

Luna (nope, that's the name of my sister's family's dog)  

PhotoCindySis (photosynthesis)

Sunny (but it sounds like "Sonny)

Misty ("Mom, that's not a name for a boy's dog!").  

Sandy (it would be a perfect fit, but that's my Mom's name!)  ;)  

Farm dog side of things:

She has overcome her fear of the ducks quacking loudly in the echo-ey barn.  She now calmly and curiously watches the turkeys and chickens and doesn't hide behind my legs.  She has ventured near the sheep when they are on one side of the fence and I'm kneeling on her side of the fence (then she lays her nose on my knee and gazes at them).  She sniffs noses with bunnies and eats their droppings.  (Yeah, she's a farm dog.)  She watches the cows from a distance.  She is still understandably scared of the squealing and boisterous pigs, but will perk her ears towards them when she can see them and keep an eye on what they're doing.  Just today, she ventured to sniff the big pig's enormous fatty back when Bea flopped on the ground to get a scratch behind the ears.

She whimpers for Sly the cat and tries to chase the barn cats.  She rolled in some cat poo this morning.  Jeremy will not be happy about that.  First bath tonight, I guess.

People side of things:

She whines when Jeremy leaves the room and jumps up when she sees him coming back.  She trots happily along with any of us, snuggles up on Jeff's foot, falls to the ground for Michael to scratch her belly, comes running if I bend down to motion her over, and watches forlornly as everyone piles into the car to leave for school.

This past weekend, people were home all the time and she loved it.

Jeremy taught her how to go up the stairs, to get to his bedroom, and how to tumble down the stairs to get to where everyone else is.

She had one accident in the house within the first 24 hours.  No trouble since.

She doesn't like her crate, but is quiet when we put her in it.  She sleeps in the crate without whimpering, and Jeremy gets a full night's rest.

Dog interaction is getting better.  

Shadow has a problem with food aggression and got smacked hard on the rump (by me) for lunging at the pup.  We ended up at the vet's office the next day, because Shadow's back legs were acting weak, and I thought I had triggered the degenerative spine/vertebrae thing from two years ago.  Turns out that Shadow has some arthritis.

But Shadow and Cindy?  Shadow ignores her, and Cindy is to the point where she eagerly tries to follow along wherever Shadow might go out in the pasture.  Cindy will potentially be the one to engage Shadow in some sort of play, I can see it already.

Rocky...has a problem with not being the alpha-dog.  He was definitely brooding last week whenever he had to be in the presence of the little pup.  Didn't matter that she would cower back from his growling and glowering.  We watched them closely, and even kept them separate or only brought Cindy into the kitchen if Rocky was in his dog crate.

Rocky plays rough, like a foot-ball player who wants to tackle and crunch and pummel.  He runs full-speed and sideswipes.  He is like a speeding freight-train when he gets going and heads straight towards you.  

A slight-framed little puppy is just a bit intimidated by that sort of play.  Shadow and Rocky crash around together out in the pasture.  Little Cindy would peep out from behind me every time the two big dogs flew past.  And the "flying past" is always punctuated with their growls and snapping and snarling, not fun lets-play-together doggy play-dates.  It's power-playing, not friendly-playing.

(Neither of our other dogs would do well at a dog park, it wouldn't even be worth trying.)

But today....all 3 dogs were kind of waiting in the kitchen for something to happen.....  It was time to go out to do the rounds (feeding the animals, milking Bessie), but they wanted to run.  We went out to the pasture, with Cindy Lou on the short leash.  Shadow trotted around, sniffing.  Rocky picked up speed and swooped past, accidentally-on-purpose shoving his shoulder into Shadow as he went.  Cindy perked up her ears.  The next time, she peeked out.  Again, and she was no longer behind me but was out in front, watching the dogs with anticipation.  Rocky tried to sideswipe her, and she nimbly stepped aside but took care to stay close to me.

When the big brute tired himself out, Shadow enjoyed a more leisurely trot around the perimeter, and Cindy did her best to keep up and dash around at the end of the leash.  She even picked up an old musty tennis ball and trotted around with it.

I think that Shadow and Cindy will be fine.  Rocky and Cindy will work out some sort of understanding where she can feel comfortable when he comes up and rudely invades her personal space.  

Jeremy should tell some of his side of the story, but here's one fun moment they've shared.  

I told him about how Cindy loves the small hollow areas under the roots of the ancient willow tree.  He took her out there and ran with her.  Without warning, she would throw herself under the tree, peering out from between the roots and watching him intently.  He might peek in from the other side and off she would dash.  Both of them came in exhausted from playing so hard.

Watching them was like watching the perfect moment; a boy with his dog. 

And right about then, nothing else mattered except that Jeremy finally had the puppy he's been waiting for.  

 

Laura