Queeny & Novelle

Well, Novelle escaped again.  She slipped right between my legs as I was trying to go out to the garage.  My first instinct was to freak out, because she wasn't wearing a leash...how would I catch her!?  But then I thought of how well she listens when I call her in from her potty breaks, so I put on my cheerful voice and called her to come back.  Sure enough, she did!  It was a very happy moment for both of us!  She definitely earned herself a treat for that!

Yesterday was bath day.  I was going to work my way from smallest to largest, but as soon as Hardy hears the word "bath," he takes off for cover.  And Novelle followed me into the bathroom when I was setting up, so she ended up going first.  It was her first bath with me.  She was terrified.  I have glass doors on my shower, so I thought I could close them enough so that I could reach in but she wouldn't be able to jump out...I was wrong.  I ended up having to roll up my pants and climb in with her.  She calmed down a bit with me in there, but the poor girl was still scared.  She was very good about letting me lather her up, though.  She lifts her paws when I ask her to and she loved getting the free back and tummy rub!  As soon as I opened the shower doors to let her out, she was out!  Luckily I had also planned ahead and shut the bathroom door, so she was stuck in there with me until I could dry her off. 

 Here's my girl showing me she still loves me after I made her take a bath!

Queeny, on the other hand, actually loved getting her bath.  She stood right in the middle of the tub and let me spray her, lather her, and rinse her with no problems.  I sure did learn how much hair she has though! 

 

 Queeny after her bath, before she dried off.

Some bonus pictures:

 Queeny and Novelle in their nightly sleeping spots.  Novelle is laying on my slippers, and Queeny is in my nightstand cubby.  Hardy is sleeping in his bed just on the other side of the nightstand.  Speaking of Hardy's bed...

Novelle attempted to sleep in it last night.  Read on for comparisons of Novelle's & Hardy's sizes for why I thought this was cute and funny...

 Hardy in his bed (and my boy, Irvine! Also on my slippers...is there something wonderful about my slippers?).  Do you see a difference in Novelle's and Hardy's sizes?

And not a great picture for this purpose, but this gives a bit of an idea on size comparison among Novelle, Queeny, and Hardy.

Novelle

This weekend was a big one for Novelle.  Friday after work we (me, Hardy, Queeny, and Novelle) packed up and headed off to Peter's for the weekend.  1st off, let me just say that it is not easy getting 3 dogs packed up and in a car.  It doesn't help that Hardy gets excited every time he sees me packing things, so he riled the other 2 up.

I fully expected Novelle to sit in her crate all weekend, being that she is so shy around people.  Boy was I wrong.  I guess the bond we had formed in those 2 days was enough to glue her to my hip!  As soon as we got in the house, she was standing right next to me wherever I went.  If I sat down, she was on my lap (including while I was trying to eat dinner...she's a little too big for a lap dog).  She allowed Peter and the kids to pet her without getting scared and running away.  By the end of the weekend she was laying next to Luca (11yo high energy boy) on the couch.  The only issue she had all weekend was with Chevelle (male Golden Retriever).  She would growl if he would get too close, but she never snapped at him.  To top the weekend off, my dad stopped by my house yesterday afternoon, and Novelle came right over to him and let him pet her on the head!  Talk about improvement in only a few days!

She's also getting better in her everyday activities.  When we go outside, she doesn't pull away from me when I try to put her leash on.  She's also coming when I ring the bells on the door (as is Queeny).  She did get away from me when I got home yesterday, but she was more interested in exploring than running away.  She stayed in my yard until I tried to grab her leash, then she thought we were playing and we ran all over mine and my neighbor's yards.  

I was for some reason not thinking, and forgot to take pictures of her this weekend.  But Peter and Luca are planning to come visit this weekend, so hopefully I'll get some good ones to post.

Queeny and Introducing Novelle!

I've had Queeny for about 2 weeks now.  She is responding very well to her potty training.  I hung jingle bells on the door knob, and every time I take the dogs outside I ring them.  I used to say something about going outside when I would want them to go out, but now I just ring the bells and Queeny comes running.  She also has not had an accident in the house since Wednesday!  I've been making an effort to let the dogs out more frequently, since she doesn't let me know yet when she needs to go out, and that's obviously helping.  Hopefully she continues to improve and will start to let me know on her own when she needs to go out!

 Here's Queeny "helping" me paint!

I picked up Novelle on Wednesday evening.  She is such a sweet girl.  She was part of a hoarding group, so she is very shy around people.  When I first brought her home, she wouldn't come near me if I was standing up.  If I wanted her to come over, I had to sit or kneel so I was on the same level as her.  She's still a bit scared of me, but she's starting to follow me around the house.  She's getting comfortable coming to me if I call her, but if I walk to her she runs away.  

Novelle was a bit afraid of Queeny and Hardy the first night, too.  They are very active (I have a video to upload that shows them play fighting on Wednesday night...very cute), and I think they just overwhelmed Novelle.  But she's gradually getting used to them, and this morning she even made some playful movements toward Queeny.  Of course, Queeny's high energy immediately turned Novelle off that path.

I'm not sure yet if Novelle is housebroken.  She has had a few accidents, but that's normal coming into a new house.  She goes outside with the other dogs and will do her business.  So we'll have to wait a few more days for her to really settle in to find out where she's at on housebreaking.

Novelle loves being in her crate.  It is her safe place, and she likes to lay in there when we're relaxing at night.  She does growl at me and the other dogs when she's in there and we get too close, but she hasn't nipped at any of us.  I think this may be another thing that she just has to get used to for a couple days in the new environment.

Here's Novelle sitting in my flowers!

Queeny

She is not housebroken.  We are working on it, and I think she's understanding what needs to happen.  She seems to know already that accidents in the house are naughty.  I take that as a good sign!  She hasn't quite figured out how to let me know when she needs to go out, but I think she'll pick that up in no time.  She is very good on a schedule though, and she doesn't have any accidents in her crate while I'm at work.  It's just our schedule-less weekends that are the problem right now.

As I said before, she is very good with other dogs.  She and Hardy (my Yorkie) get along very well.  Here's a picture of them cuddling one morning while I was getting ready for work.

She also gets along with my boyfriend's Golden Retriever.  This is Queeny jumping all over him the first time they met.

I did manage to give her a full haircut!  We got the body in one sitting, and because she was getting nervous we had to do the head this morning.  But she looks great, and I think she likes her new summer cut!

Here's just a fun picture of Queeny with a few of her favorite toys.  Every night I put them away, and every morning she pulls every single one out and plays with them.  She especially loves balls.  We have several types (tennis, squishy, the kind that hold treats), but she always brings them to me while I'm trying to get ready.  She's pretty good at fetch, usually she will bring it back, and she will drop it if you tell her to.

Irvine & Queeny

Irvine has been adopted!  He met his new family this morning, and they were such a perfect match!  I'm sure going to miss him, but I know he's going to be so happy at his forever home.

I picked up my new foster today.  Her name is Queeny.  She is a Shih Tzu, like Irvine.  I've only had her home for about an hour, and already I know that she loves to play!  I thought my Yorkie was active...he's already worn out!  But they do get along, which is great news since they'll be living together for a bit!

This is a picture pre-haircut.  She was a little nervous getting groomed, so we didn't get to finish her.  But I'll get her all trimmed up once she's comfortable with me!

I'm going to try to be more active with Queeny's blog...we'll see how this goes!