Isabel: Piper x Deacon Puppy Report
Isabel:
Hi Michele: I hope you are settling into a quieter routine and not missing the little monsters too much.
I thought I’d send you some snapshots of Miss Isabel as she settles in here. She is a delightful and comparatively easy puppy – good on house training about 90-95% of the time, responding really well to cues and working out local routines and possibilities intelligently and with good humor. As you noted she is indeed an independent soul and while affectionate and biddable in most things, she has also let it be known that there are certain conditions on her end:
- she is NOT going to be penned if we are home and prefers open door policies. I wondered if she could handle it – but it is working surprisingly well because she is a smart creature and likes to be near us.
- she IS going to do things the way the big dogs do – even if the arrangements made for her are really more convenient (e.g. she climbs up to get in their water dish rather than use the one placed on the floor for her).
- she is going to offer love to every person of every size, age and color she can. Her mystification when a stranger passes up the opportunity to engage with her is quite comical. She is the friendliest puppy I have ever had and recovers very well from just about everything that startles her (except the regrettable shepherd down the road who is tied out, stressed out and lets the world know how much it all worries him).
You have done such an amazing job raising her and her canine parents have passed on some first rate smarts and a super engaging temperament – she is just great. She is also soaking wet as often as she can be. It took her a day to figure out how to get past the flowers and to the bubbling fountain in the backyard frog pondlet. On day 2 she mistook the floating planters for terra firma and fell in, but on day 3 she worked out how to place her feet to get a drink from the bubbling spray. She is in the paddling pool everyday, and on her maiden visit to the river she bounced straight into the water before the big poodles had followed the first tennis ball in. I kept her leashed of course, but that didn’t stop Izzy from exploring and within a couple of minutes she had a balled up pair of socks that some fisherman must have dropped. You should have seen her capering in triumph – if she’d landed a prize winning catfish she couldn’t have been more proud.
Anyway – she is settling in beautifully and we are very grateful to have her – thank you again for the care that has gone into producing such a wonderful wee beast. And now – to some pictures from week 1 of Isabel at home…
