Last Updated on: 26th March 2014, 02:59 pm
I just love writing these updates. I think they’ll be neat to look back on as time goes on. So here are some new things I’ve noticed about Trixie.
She’s very very very picky about her toys. She will not play with the same toy twice in a row. There are certain toys for certain times, according to the Trixie way of thinking. If I offer her a toy she does not approve of, she sniffs it and walks away. But she doesn’t go far, as if to say, “try again.” I pull out another toy, and she’s happy as hell to take it. But she has no problem playing multiple tug games a day.
While we’re on the subject of tug toys, the toy is still alive. It’s looking like it’s been tugged on a bit, but it isn’t showing signs of dying any time soon. It’s funny when she starts to play. She doesn’t just run with me and the tug toy, she bounces! Straight up! When she gets excited in harness, sometimes I can feel her bucking and bouncing too. This usually means there’s something exciting across the street that I should be aware of, or it’s food time and she knows she’s almost home.
She loves our downstairs neighbour. If I get off the elevator on her floor, Trixie knows exactly where we’re going, and wastes no time to get there. It’s like she’s spring-loaded. It’s cool, because when I first got Trixie, my neighbour was afraid of black dogs, so I was afraid I’d never walk with her again. But Trixie has broken her of her fear.
They talked so much about how long and hard we would have to work to communicate with our dogs. But Trixie makes it easy. She’ll tell me if she wants to play, she’ll tell me if she needs to relieve and we’re not going anytime soon, she’ll tell me if she’s completely full of energy and could use a walk. She’ll tell me if she has to relieve when we’re walking. Sometimes, we get our signals crossed, but not very often. Most often, I just love watching her tell me how happy she is with that wagging tail!
I meant to put this next thing in my last installment of Trixie’s brain, but I forgot. It was so funny that I have to put it here. She ran into a whole new thing the other day. She met a radio-controled car. It was funny to watch her thought process. “Is it a car? It’s awfully small. Do I run away from it? Towards it? It has flashing lights and a beeping horn. What do I do? Aaa!”
I eventually got her to turn and face it and have a good look at it. Then I asked the person to drive it out of our way, which they did, and then she walked right past, completely unphased.
I think she was a tracking dog in a previous life. One time, Steve was hiding on me, so Trixie just walked right into the room where he was and found him for me. Busted! Another time, Steve and I were goofing around and Steve grabbed me and made it look like he was dragging me somewhere. Trixie started chasing both of us! It was hillarious!
She really cares about me. Sometimes, I can be a bit over-dramatic when I’m talking to someone. The other day, someone said something really disgusting and I slumped over as if I were fainting. Poor Trixie got all worried and I had to tell herI was ok. When I got my hair cut, I had to have her a bit of a distance away from the chair so the lady could work her magic. For most of the session, Trixie just lay there like a little angel. Then, they broke out the blow dryer! In a flash, she got up and ran over to me, as if to say, “You’re not hurting mommy, are you?” I told her it was ok, and got her to lay down. But it was so cute to see how much she looks out for me.
It’s amazing what a difference I can see in Trixie’s work. She’s always been good, but every day, she gets even better. I had a lot of trust issues to work through with her. Babs put me through the wringer, so Trixie had to help me get over my fear that she would do the same. It wasn’t something I thought consciously, but it was under the surface. For a long time, I was nervous taking her into restaurants, following people if I was in a place where I didn’t know where I was going, I didn’t feel that sense of freedom everyone talked about. In a way, I felt more restricted for a while. Now all of that is melting away. She’s really good at following people if we have to, I know she’ll stop at steps, she really looks out for me. I don’t have to put the gental leader on her nearly as much. I only have to do it when temptation is staring her right in the face. She’s awesome!
I sometimes wonder who has been trained to whose needs. I have become a bit of a doggy robot. When I first get up, I feed her right away. Then, it’s down to relieve. When I come back, I groom her and do her obedience right away so I don’t forget. AT the specified times when I give her water, feed her, take her to relieve, etc. I will get the urge to check my watch, and of course, it’s that time, so I’ll stop what I’m doing and go do what has to be done. But I figure it’s better that way than me having to remind myself constantly of what has to be done.
I’m such a goof. Time is measured in doggy things. Tomorrow, I will give her her sixth heartguard pill, apply the sixth tube of flea and tic-preventative stuff, soon she needs new food, new toothpaste and her toenails need clipping. It’s really weird to see physical signs of the passage of time in her doggy things. Her food and toothpaste are almost gone, again, the thing of baby wipes I use for cleaning her ears is definitely less full, toys have died, but that roll of poop bags still looks like a monster! When that thing dies, we’ll know time is marching on for sure.
I think that’s about it in the Trixie department. I should go, my doggy radar says it’s watering and relieving time. Must do that now…resistance is futile!
