Keeper, Day 1

Keeper hasn't been here even a full day, and she's already settled in very well. She let me sleep through the night, woke me around 6 am because she had to pee (she's used to being up at 5 or 5:30am), went out to the yard, did what needed doing, chased Sunny around in the nice cool air, then we went back inside and I conked for a few more hours- and she let me! Because I'm a pushy asshole, I moved her food bowl during breakfast, and got a "noooo" pitiful look and that was it.

She didn't mind Dad bringing in the 10 foot ladder, didn't even stick around to watch. She followed me into the kitchen, so she didn't see the ceiling fan come down. Came around the corner, saw it sitting on the ground, and walked up to sniff one of the fan blades, all casual like.

There's been a couple moments of perimeter checking where it looks like she's trying to find her people, but overall, she seems content.

The thing that's annoyed her most is wearing a collar. She whines and scratches at it like any puppy wearing one for the first time.

Did our first work with a clicker. I'm using about halfway between Sue Ailsby's Zen and Susan Garrett's "It's yer choice". Keeper's got such a soft mouth that while she was desperate to get to the Natural Balance roll bits in my hand, she never so much as pinched me hard with her teeth. By the end of the session, she was making eye contact with food open in my hand less than a foot from her nose.

I keep trying to lure a sit, and it's not happening. This may be the first dog where I shape a sit. She's soft, but she recovers well. Like I stumbled and kind of half fell into her, and she looked mortified, until I pet her and praised her. Repeat a few times, and she's standing there letting me gently bump into her with my knees. We'll work it up so she eventually can handle my usual level of grace.

She's choosing to lay near me, head on my foot. I keep working on her in short bursts, trying to get the underfluff off of her. I don't know if I'll ever completely teach her to keep her mouth off of me, but while she slimes me, it isn't stringers.

She's not sure cucumbers are food, but green beans and sweet potato totally are. Bell pepper is not (Duncan is very grateful for all her rejects). She's not used to looking for food on the floor. If I didn't need retrieving work, I'd work to keep that obliviousness. As it is, teaching her to look down and scan her environment is part of the rewards in the clicker work.

It's really hard to tell how smart she is, she's mentally passive, like she's never been asked to work out problems for herself. I think she's plenty smart, it'll just take a while for her to catch on to thinking for herself, and what that clicker noise means, anyway. She's not disturbed or put off by it, it just doesn't mean anything to her yet.

I'm so pleased with her.