So, never having actually had a puppy before, I'm finding it absolutely amazing just to watch Betsy grow and learn and discover the trials and joys of life. We're discovering each other, which is immensely fun! With help, I've narrowed down the breeds I think she's composed of. Australian shepherd is definitely in the mix, as is Rottweiler. Probably chow, as well. There's almost certainly nothing in there smaller than aussie, as her feet have come close to doubling in size in the three weeks I've had her. I took her to the vet's and she weighs thirteen pounds. Fairly good sized for a 9-week-old puppy, wouldn't you say?
She's also got quite the interesting personality. She's quite shy when being taken to new environments or being exposed to new people and dogs. But she does not run away, whine, bark, or bite when she is shy. She sits and watches. (A rott thing, I believe.) If she sits there long enough, and nothing extremely bad happens, she eventually gets up the courage to investigate things, usually by trying to eat them or play with them. (A puppy thing.) She was extremely good at the vet's. After her initial fear of the building itself, she only wanted to play with the vet. Even after having the shot and her temperature taken! She's also made friends with the dogs next door, all except an extremely ugly chihuahua mix, who tries to attack everything. She loves the labs, and tries to get them to play games with her through the chain-link fence. The younger lab will sometimes oblige, while the older one supervises, and disciplines the younger when he feel things are getting out of hand.
I also gave her a bath last weekend. She didn't care for the whole idea, but once her initial attempts at escape were foiled, she sat and took it. And then compensated by trying to get as dirty as possible immediately thereafter while giving me dirty looks.
She's also displaying distinctly aussie characteristics. She loves to hide her toys, and I have yet to find her cache. I think she's buried them. She herds me, as well as attempting to herd such things as ants, and she herds her toys as well. She collects the toys, and they must be within a certain distance of each other. She believes herself to be a mighty hunter. Her favorite toys are those at least twice as large as herself. There's this pillow that Bo used to sleep on that Betsy loves to pounce upon, shake, and drag about the house. It's at least three times her size. Weren't rotts cattle dogs at some point?
As with all puppies, once she has chased, played with, and chewed on all things she can locate, tried to behead them, and put them in her special spot, it's nap time!
6 comments:
Get a load of those feet! :)
Yep. Now, I think, they officially qualify as "foopy, foopy feet."
Glad to see your updates, and that you're blog's appearance has returned to normal. Love the the "foopy feet!"
Yes, the foopy foopy feet are there, as is the lil' nose. What a cutie! I'd love to see her herding ants. I'm so glad you have her, and it looks like she feels the same -- except immediately post-bath. That's truly a dirty look! One would expect a little more "how could you do this to me?" as opposed to "I'm gonna get you for this" in one so young. You're right, she has quite the personality.
Yes, she does have quite the facial expressions. There's a mischevious one that she wears a lot, but I have yet to capture it. It says, "I'm going to do something you don't like, will you stop me?" Usually she wears it when about to attack my toes or my pant-legs or shred something she found on the coffee table. I'm having a little harder time reading the expressions of her ears. I think because hers are so floppy and Bo's were very pointy. (She doesn't do Yoda ears.) But I've got the main ones figured out. It's the nuances I don't quite get yet.
She's only about 10 weeks old. How could she need a bath so soon, she's almost brand-new to the planet! : )
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