Hmmm, an update on Angel. At one year she is a lot like a one year old. We've kind of hit a plateau in development. She has learned our routines very well. My brother's comments are pretty accurate because he "watches from a distance" where I am dealing with the every hour every day of her life. He said, "She acts like she's still just learning how to be a dog." If she is mostly Border collie or one of those herding breeds it shows in her characteristics. She is very 'content' just to be at my heals or near by. She doesn't herd me but is always keeping a close eye on my every move. She should be a pretty good cook in another month or so.
I can wrap myself around her and snuggle, smooch, kiss her ears and nose with no problems. Ginger and her have a truce inside the house. Angel will voice her opinion if she feels Ginger is taking her "turf" which is the kitchen rug she lays on. Upstairs is Angel's, with all her toys and her bed. In the evenings Angel will lay on the dog pad beside the couch while Ginger hogs the couch and we sit where we can. Sometimes Ginger voices her opinion that Angel is getting too close to her things and I tend to scold her and have to do my alpha thing so she knows its my house first and she gets it only because I let her. It makes me feel better to think I'm conveying that anyway. Ginger pouts when we have these little discussions.
Angel is very amiable to her pen, rain, snow, night, whenever. If I either have a cookie or hook her up to her leash, take her little bed for inside the doghouse, she settles down before I've gotten in the car. I cannot go to the Post Office for 15 minutes and leave her in the house unattended. She inevitably gets into something. Chewing up my underwear seems to be a favorite. If Frank is in and out of the house and I am to be gone she will bed down with no problems. Her other favorite is to get into Frank's little office garbage can and eat the Kleenex he's tossed in it. Training Frank to close his door or put the can up out of reach seems to be a longer process
than I realized too. And she KNOWS she’s not suppose to do that. But she's quick too. I can be sitting at my sewing table and she'll sneak right behind me. She understands that she's done something wrong, just not why.
She is learning to play, but not well yet. She will roll a ball or Kong but with a very short attention span to it, but her favorites are her new stuffed star that squeaks and the two ladybug slippers I gave up. She does her little chew thing with such delight. She then tries to do that to me and I don't have a St. Bernard hide so we keep working on what she can chew on. She'll hunch her back and chew on something in that play mode. She mimics Ginger and gives kisses but she'll lick you then sit back and look to see what your reaction is.
On our walks every morning she is good on leash but is very thorough about her sniffing. Once we're out to the park I let both of them off leash and Gingers runs around for all she's worth. With Angel it may be a sniffing day or a day that running around feels good too. She'll come for a cookie if she chooses to listen to me. She does not respond when called by name, just when it suites her. Though when she does run up to me she does not pull away for me to put her leash back on. Her and Ginger play together a little bit. Ginger keeps trying to show her how to play and she's starting to get it but she doesn't trust when Ginger will pull one of her mood swings so she is very cautious. Angel is a riot to watch run. She can be really fast but when she's just running around or barreling back to me for a cookie her legs are kind of all over the place. I have started jogging stints of our walk to burn off more energy from them. Angel just picks up her trot pace and it doesn't even faze her. Ginger lags behind like it is a chore to have to "run". If I had a tread mill Angel could do miles without flagging.
I still feel I don't have enough for her to do but I'm hoping this spring when the weather clears we can work on some obedience and yard "games". She is much more relaxed now and enjoys being outside a good part of the day.
She is still tenacious. When she wants breakfast or dinner nothing else will do.
I haven't done anymore bowling pin games with her and I can't think of any other specific incidents so I guess she's mellowing into a pretty normal dog, although I am still looking forward to when more words connect. I
suppose if I were dumped in China and they talked to me in Chinese, I'd give one of her intent “stare and blink” routines that she does so well. Both my dogs kind of emanate energy of houghts.
Ginger's is, "Love!!!!" Angel's is "...What!?"
