Saturday, January 28, 2012

Life with Anna

Anna, our new whippet adoptee, has been with us a week now.  She is a few months shy of her second birthday.  The breeder's hobby is coursing (chasing a lure which is a plastic bag on a sort of a conveyor belt).  She was not a good choice for the sport evidently and we were able to adopt her.
  It's been many years since I've had a dog this young.  Even though she is "full grown" physically, she is still a puppy mentally.  As someone once said to me, "they don't get the wiggles out until they're three years old".  Anna is no exception.  She has a wonderful curiosity.....she wants to inspect everything.
  She is easily distracted by all the new things in her life.  So far she has only had one accident in the house....that was in the kitchen the first day we had her.  Of course, she has us well trained......we let her out quite a bit and she seems to be getting the hang of relieving herself outside. 
My husband who has trained sighthounds for years says she needs "shaping".  Just getting her to walk straight and not pull on the lead is the first major shaping she is getting.
The first day I had her to myself my handyman came by to take care of some things in the house and I was a little distracted.  In that time she:
1. Jumped the baby gate
2. Knocked over my coffee on the counter
3. Knocked over my dish with two vitamins in it.  Probably ate the vitamins.
4. Jumped up on Mike's bird cage on the patio.  (She is obsessed with both bird cages, so I can see that's going to be a problem)
5. Jumped over the open dutch door.  In my trying to catch her, I fell and hit my head on the wood siding on the garage.
I can see I'm going to have to crate her when I can't supervise her every move.
Ahh, life with a puppy...............
Getting a decent photo of her is a challenge as she can't be still long enough.
She is so cute and loving, it's hard to get upset with her.  She just needs to grow up a bit.



11 comments:

libbyquilter said...

Anna is beatiful~!
i've just recently (the past six months) adopted a dog (River). it would really be more appropriate to say that she has adopted me as she was a stray and i could not locate who's she was or where she came from. during the time that that process took i fell in love with her . . . and she with me.
the vet put her at approximately two years old and i'm thinking that's about right. she still has lots of play/wiggles in her yet although sadly, at first she was very withdrawn and had no spirit. i think i'd much rather the infrequent 'trouble' than an unhappy dog.

Anna looks happy with her new environment and boy oh boy ~!!~ that's a big happy basket full of toys~!

:-)
libbyQ

Kathleen Botsford said...

What a sweetie pie! She does sound like a handful! I cannot believe how far you have come with your digital art. It is fabulous! I have been trying all morning to get my Rosetta Stone loaded and am totally clueless. Computers and puppies all seem to have a mind of their own!

Carole M. said...

......and I bet she looks the perfect picture when she's snoozing. Take one for us!

Evelyn ~ Indigo Beach Art said...

She's lovely and I'm sure she'll do just fine with lots of TLC from you and your family!

A Creative Grace said...

She's so adorable, please give her some fuss from me :)

The Artful Diva said...

I can see you are going to have a loot of fun with Anna - she'll keep you hoppin' for sure!

Patrice said...

She's a beauty!

Jude said...

She's a beautiful dog....and that 1 thru 5 stuff...well, she's just being a puppy ;) but I do hope your head's ok.

Leovi said...

Yes, a very naughty dog, but very nice as white. you will have work with it.

Barb said...

Oh Maarilyn,
Anna is adorable, congrats on your newest family member. Ü
Barb

Laurie said...

She's a beautiful dog. I've only seen a whippet once, years ago, brown. Anna is pure white-pure innocence huh?! I hope you are okay after hitting your head. She does sound a handful. What kind of birds do you have?
Good luck with Anna.