Pearly's on the website!

Pearly's bio up on website

Pearly is shopping for her forever home. You can see her bio here.We've talked to a few possible adopters, but the more I talk to people the more I'm defining what would be a good match for her. Even though she's a puppy, still, she's bossy. So many dynamics to consider. I don't have a lot of experience with female dogs, even though my first collie was a female and she got along with other dogs, I don't remember her being much of a diva, although we were pretty much attached at the hip. We lived in the country where she was able to run loose, so she probably drained a lot of her energy.

Pretty much on a daily basis, Pearly and Brett get into a squabble. It's not serious, but one of them starts it and the other fights back, which is easily stopped by me, but it's still happening. They even do this sometimes at the dog park. It's just the two of them, no other dogs. Pearly gets along great with the other dogs. She loves to run and is absolutely joyous when another dog takes off running. She will come from the other side of the park to chase that dog if she sees a runner. Brett will then plow into her and she will lay into him. I don't blame her.

Thus, I have decided Pearly probably needs to be an only dog, unless the adopter is willing to work with this possibility. Having more than one dog is like having multiple children. They get into fights. My own to get into it once in a while, but not often. I have two males. I think two females in one house is more volatile.

Pearly is still a very sweet dog. She loves to half climb in my lap and will stay there until I make her get down. Snapped this picture last night of her and Brett, proving they do get along most of the time. She actually plays with Brett more than Woodson.

Dog Park test

Pearly's Big Day

Pearly is a lot like a human toddler. She gets into everything and wants something to be happening all the time, even if she has to make that happen. She pushes up against Woodson initiating play constantly. All three dogs will play, and when mine stop, that's when Pearly gets into other stuff. Yesterday she dragged the bathroom rug into the hall. She chewed up a bandana that said "Rescued by Love".

I needed to drain this restlessness out of her, but wasn't sure if she could go to the dog park, yet, with her spay being only a week ago. Her stitches are fine, she's licking, but no redness and she hasn't pulled any out. I was watching the Packers' game, getting up to check on her every so often, or when they were in the same room with me, I'm constantly saying, "stop it', 'enough', etc. Finally, it's almost halftime and the Packers have lost their back-up QB, and the back-up to the back-up just threw an interception in the end-zone. A college friend posted on his facebook page: Imagine coming to a Packers' game and being asked to play quarterback! I literally laughed out loud, jumped up and shouted "let's go!"

The dog park is probably less than a mile from my house. I layered up, t-shirt, Pullover and jacket, grabbed a hat and gloves, loaded the dogs, Pearly is almost jumping into the Jeep on her own, and actually did jump in for the trip home. I love that my dogs teach the fosters how to do everyday stuff. 

As I usually do with a new foster, I kept Pearly on the leash while Brett and Woodson took off into the park. Our dog park is wide open, completely fenced and I can see the entire area if I stand in the right place. I let Pearly off her leash after giving her a minute to access the area and she took off running. She was polite to the other dogs there and, of course, wanted to play. She dealt with Brett's obnoxious bossy roughness that I find annoying. Brett is an Aussie/Catahoula mix and he grabs while herding, and has no problem just plowing into another dog. Some dogs will turn around and start fighting with him, which, then, Brett fights back. He does better if I stand away from any groups of people. 

I've maybe said it before, several times, but I love watching the dogs at the dog park. Pearly was no exception. She clearly enjoyed herself. Woodson is always the first one to let me know he's done and ready to go home. After about a half hour of chasing and playing and once he does his perimeter check, he comes up to me and wants to jump up on me, then just kind of hangs around me, wandering off but coming back. Brett always goes off and comes back constantly. He'll go with Woodson on his perimeter check but always comes back before Woodson does. On Sunday, both Woodson and Brett were ready to go, but Pearly was still off doing her own thing, with no sign of slowing down. I was able to brush her out earlier as she's still shedding her undercoat. She finally came up to me and I said, okay, time to go. I was pretty cold after 1.5 hours. 

We got home and I thoroughly enjoyed the next seven hours of passed out dogs!

Pearly Update

Pearly Update

Pearly's spay surgery slowed her down big time. I took her in Monday morning and picked her up Tuesday afternoon. She was so happy to see me, and was so annoyed by her stitches. Got her settled in at home, with instructions for KJ to keep an eye on her and headed for the pool. She acts like she's trying to run away from herself. She keeps darting to the other end of the house, then sits down and starts to lick her incision. Which we have to stop her from doing. I have a cone I can put on her, but she's fine so far. 

As we were leaving the vet on her exam day, we were in the lobby setting up her spay appointment and a man came in with his mom and her cat. He was probably in his 20's. Pearly about ate him up, acting like he was her long lost friend. His mom asked me if her previous owner was a man, and I said, yes, actually, which then made perfect sense why she was so excited. I've never had this happen before.

I took this picture of her last night about 15 minutes after giving her a pain pill. I noticed her trying to stay awake, tongue hanging out a bit. She plopped over right after taking this.

I will be getting information to the bio person and taking more pictures. 

Notes: 

• Pearly is a very sweet dog, but definitely still a puppy at a year old. She's housebroken, but has had a couple accidents, which is more my fault than hers. I have to be very patient with her when we're outside. She can take a long time to do her business at times. There are times when I can't wait, thus the accident. That said, she is getting quicker as we settle into our routine. Being young, there is just so much to investigate when we're outside and she is more interested in what's going on, than she is in going potty.
• Very tender and loving when receiving attention.
• She definitely needs to be crated, at least for now. I've been feeding her in the garage, away from my dogs. She shows no aggression when I set her bowl down. I will put my hand in her food and mix it up in my fingers just to show her I can do this and it's nothing to worry about. When she's done eating and I haven't let her back into the house, she gets into stuff. Little stuff, like pulling a plastic bag off the grooming table, or digging in an open box. I crate her when we're gone and won't even test her on being loose at this point. She'll dip into a wastebasket right in front of me.
• She would probably chase motorcycles or buses, if she was off-leash.
• She needs leash training. Can pull pretty hard and very determined to get her way about getting to where she wants to go, not where I want to go.
• Loves to play with my dogs!
• Possessive of the bone she came with. I put it in her kennel, so she has it and my dogs can't steal it from her. 
• Extremely interested in the cats. She will try to corner them and chases them if they run, but hasn't been aggressive toward them. There are times when they allow her to be nose-to-nose with them.
• Friendly with strangers and thinks everybody wants to be involved in her fabulousness.
• Tolerated brushing.