Joy is Truly a Joy

What a sweet dog! She is great with my kids and greets them with kisses when they come home from school or when they wake up or when they enter the room.  Her first meetings with my cat Pumpkin went very well too. Although she was a little nervous when Pumpkin was rubbing up against her. She looked up at me like, "What is happening right now? What on earth is this dog thing doing?" After a few minutes she got some confidence and tried playing with him by play bowing and bopping him on the head. Pumpkin let her know that he didn't appreciate the paw to his head by smacking her a little and then when she didn't get that he bit her ear a little. Then it went back to sniffing by the both of them and Pumpkin rubbing on her. I told Joy it was ok and what a good girl she was being.  Now they snuggle on the bed at the same time.  If you have a cat, I can't promise the same will happen. My cat is used to dogs and isn't afraid of them since he thinks he's a dog himself.  If your cat runs I'm pretty sure Joy or any dog would chase. You would need to train the dog not to chase the cat. Sometimes it just takes a few swipes from a clawed cat to let the dog know that chasing isn't an option or possibly a spray bottle but it is work. Constant work. In my case I am lucky because I have a cat that isn't afraid or is just so used to dogs. My other dogs do chase him and we remind them that is not acceptable. He is also declawed so that's why he felt the need to use his teeth a little.

As I write, Joy is napping on a rug near me. 

 We have been outside a few times already today and every time she has gone potty outside. She is almost totally potty trained. Her signal is when she starts sniffing around a lot. So pay attention or take her out every few hours.  She loves to be outside and will go from the sun to the shade all day.  I had off from work yesterday and she was a great helper with weeding. I pulled and she either laid on the pile or sniffed and chewed the pile.  She's a good girl in that she sticks around and comes when called. Peace puppy knew when he wasn't hooked up to the rope and loved to just run. He wasn't too hard to catch though.  

Joy loves to snuggle just as much as her brother did. She also loves playing "fetch" with the frisbee. Sometimes she runs back to me and it's covering her eyes. It's a pretty funny site.  I took her inside the pool fence area and started teaching her that she can not just go in when she pleases and that the solar cover will not hold her.  We will work on that more as it warms up. Dogs are not allowed in the pool since we got the new liner. Claws and liners don't agree.  

She also loves to chew on hooves. She will just carry one around until she finds a good chew spot.  She is also learning pack mentality. She doesn't mind the other dogs and will run with them but I feel like she has started to guard me. We are teaching her that the other dogs can get pets from me if she is sitting at my feet. Peace puppy was this way too. He seemed to have a strong connection with me and didn't want me giving affection or attention to anyone else. He had to learn and so will she. I don't think it will take much but if you are thinking of adopting her and you have another dog you will want to be aware of this and work on this.  It takes time. Sometimes a lot of time and hard work. So be prepared. 

Enjoy the pictures and the video of Joy playing frisbee fetch and thanks for thinking rescue. 

Tuckered out after playing frisbee.

Morning tea with me.