Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Another "awwwwww" moment !


This new picture of Ivy (now Sheba) should bring a tear to my friend Debra's eye.

What a joyful picture - I'm so happy for Sheba and her new family. It makes me want to foster another puppy even though I swore I would take a break for the summer. (Loralee and Julie, no matter what I say, don't bring me another puppy until September!!) (Well, maybe August.)

Thanks so much to Sheba's new mom for recognizing what a sweet friend she's going to be!

Sheba-Ivy and her new big brother


Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Ivy has been adopted!

Here are Ivy and Ginny, waiting for Ivy to be picked up to go to her new home. Both of them are very excited!

Ivy (whose new name is "Sheba") is excited because she is going to live on an acreage near Golden, BC, and she will have an older brother with four legs and a tail to chew on.

Ginny is excited because Ivy is going, and Ginny's four legs and tail can have a rest.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Leaps and Bounds Part 1


Ivy loves to sleep between walks, and you can imagine how irresistable is a sleeping puppy.
A couple of days ago I started sneaking up and snuggling her before she had time to wake up, which made her go all tense and grumbly. But she wouldn't move away because of the tummy scratch that went along with the snuggle. (With Ivy, when you scratch her tummy, she just tips over like an outhouse in the wind.)
After a few of these snuggles she seemed to expect them, and even get to like them. And then ...

A Leap and a Bound Part 2


Here she is now!
It started this morning when I was sitting on the couch talking on the phone. Ivy clawed her way up and curled up next to my leg. She stayed there the whole time I was on the phone. Then tonight she climbed up again and snuggled in with Megan to watch Wipeout.
So there. Ivy is officially a Snuggle-Puppy.

Waiting for Supper Part 1


This is how Ivy used to wait for supper. This is her Oh, Poor Little Me. I am so hungry and it's not fair that I have to wait pose.

Waiting for Supper Part 2

Now she has learned to sit and wait politely.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Ivy Update

Ivy is just fine, and getting better every day. She now comes when called, and runs away only from sudden movements. She can claw her way onto the couch now, and does, only to be overtaken by sudden confusion: what am I doing here, and why are the humans so close? But a little scratch on the tummy will win you a snuggle. She's a happy, animated little girl who loves her walks, sleeps through the night and sometimes pees on the floor.

Okay, so that last one isn't in her favor. But she's learning.

I, on the other hand, am decidedly not getting better every day.

Case In Point: I read the most interesting article today while waiting to pick up my daughter from an appointment. In fact, while reading it, I actually thought to myself, What an interesting article this is! I'll have to tell Don about it. I even went so far as to think, Waiting is not so bad. Were it not for waiting, I would never have read this article.

Tonight, while leafing through another magazine, I remembered this event. I said to Don (as planned) "I read the most interesting article today."

And then I realized I have not a clue what the article was about. Not only that, but a few moments of pondering failed to bring it to mind.

Which raises questions, in addition to the obvious Do I have Alzheimers? one.

Why read articles at all?

Why do I have so many books when one will obviously do?

On the good side of things, I recall that I didn't get to finish the article because the waiting period ended suddenly and my mind was taken up with other things. Secondly, a number of unrelated, stressful events popped up between the reading and the failed telling, which could account for the missing data. At least I remembered that I read an article and that it was interesting.

I have also heard that old people become cantankerous. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone, and have conversations like this:

I had an interesting day.
What did you do?
None of your business.




Friday, June 12, 2009

A Message from Ivy's sister's new family

I thought this comment should be part of the main blog...

Hi! My name is Amber and we adopted Grace(ivy's sister) just two weeks ago. Looking at that picture is like looking at Grace. Your stories sound very familar as well!! She was really really shy when we first met her but she has turned into a terror when she wants to be. Crazy dog and then instant sleep!! But she is a very very funny dog to watch especially when she starts chasing her tail and doesn't stop! I hope that Ivy comes out of her shell a little more and can be as entertaining as Grace is!!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Lounging in the grass


Stealing a pet


Ivy will always come for a pet if she can keep Ginny between her and the human attached to the petting hand.
We took her for a long walk today because her endless energy drives poor Ginny around the bend. To make it as much like an off-leash experience as possible, I just let her go and kept up as best I could. She had a great time and fell asleep on my lap on the way home.
Maybe tomorrow she won't be as hard to catch at walk time!

Ivy after her bath

Here is Ivy drying off in the afternoon sun. It took me a long time to catch her for the bath, because she has decided that every time I catch her something bad happens.

And it's almost true... yesteryday she went to the vet and had a thermometer pushed up her little wazoon. This morning I had to put ointment in her eyes, and of course there's bed-time, which means going into the crate.

But she didn't seem to mind the bath very much. As with everything else, once she's in tow she settles in and puts up with whatever comes next. Now her pillow is in the laundry and the floor is about to be washed so that everything gets cleaned up at once.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Before and After



Deb thought I should post the "pre-happy" picture so you can see what a difference a day makes in a puppy's eyes.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Ivy's First Day

Ivy had a perfect day. Perfect means:
(1) She still smells like puppy pee and poo, but so do we from carrying her in and out of the yard this morning; and so does the TV room, from having her and the crate in it for 24 hours. So we don't even notice it anymore. As long as we don't have any company, it's just perfect. And tomorrow she'll have her first bath.
(2) She's free to run about now without her leash. She likes to come back in the house with Ginny, so we don't have to worry about losing her under the deck. And she'll let all of us approach her as long as we do it slowly. That means she doesn't fall down anymore from tripping over her leash, which is perfect.
(3) She pooped in the yard! And not in the house! You can't get much more perfect than that.
Tomorrow she's going on her first doggy walk. She'll have to go in the carrier, but I think she'll relax and enjoy it after the first little while, because she seems to love any kind of activity.

Ivy and her leash


Ivy and the drawing table


Ivy and air


Ivy taking down something wild

Okay, not wild. A stuffed sheep.

Ivy and Ginny's tail


Ivy and her sheep

This puppy loves to play. The only time she stops playing is when she collapses for a nap.

Ivy's first tummy rub

Ivy seems to trust Megan more than the rest of us. Here, she's saying, Okay, I'll let you rub my tummy as long as I don't have to look at you.

A Growing Inventory


As the day wears on, Ivy collects more and more toys. She doesn't spend much time in the crate anymore - maybe because it's just too crowded in there.

A Secret Nap

Here's Ivy after a very busy morning. Notice that she's more "behind" the pillow than "on" the pillow, but she's in my space by choice now instead of hiding in her crate.

She did a whole bunch of puppy bounces (at me, strangely, instead of at Ginny) this morning and lots of "Let's play!" barks. But she wouldn't come any closer than about 3 feet away.

She's really happy to be in a house. She races from one room to another and I can tell she no longer thinks something bad is going to happen. She still runs away from us, but it seems like more of a game now, and I think it will be gone in a couple of days.

The Toy Store

Earlier this morning I left Ivy's door open while I worked in the other room. I could hear her scuffling about, and when I to check on her she was in the crate as usual... but she had made at least three trips out to collect some toys from the puppy toybox.

In this picture you can see what a good-looking girl she is.


Hmmmm, THIS smells good!

Here is Ivy on one of her Big Explores. She has free reign of the house this morning, because she just can't get enough rambling and sniffing in. Plus, she needs lots of space between Ivy and any humans who might wander by!

She's come a long way in the past few hours - all that puppy stuffing keeps bursting out and taking over.

She's going to be a beautiful BIG girl!

Baby Steps


Hey, it may not look like much but it's something! Ivy is now facing the front of the crate and she has been going in and out of it all morning. She sticks to the periphery of the room where she can safely dive under the table or the coffee table or the plant stand, or - if the way is clear - back into the crate.
Last night was a trial and error night.
Trial: I decided to let her out of the x-pen, because she loooked as though she wanted to play with Ginny.
Error: I didn't put a collar on her first.
The result was a wild puppy running frantically through the kitchen (at least I had the sense to put the gates up). The corner cupboard has no door on it, and of course Ivy immediately shot into the cupboard, sending the pots and pans into a tizzy. She finally came out and lodged herself between the couch and the wall, and I was able to clip on a collar and leash.
For a small puppy (she only looks big because those sad eyes make her look like an adult) she has a very big woof. It woke me up in the middle of the night, and out of habit I was down the stairs and carrying her outside while still half-asleep. Of course she didn't do anything except stand on the grass and shiver, but it's all practice.
By this morning she had used the pee-pad (no poo yet, though, so we're in for a big explosion at some point today!) and she gobbled down her breakfast with no hesitation.
We'll see what the day brings. Ivy desperately wants to play, and every little while she falls into a few seconds of normal puppy-action, like a tail-wag or a toy-chew. Things are looking up!

Sunday, June 7, 2009


Our New Little Lamb

All right, so this isn't the bouncy ball of fluff you usually see on DogSpot. This is Ivy about four hours after she arrived. She hasn't talked to us yet, or had anything to eat or drink. But she did go to sleep for about an hour, which meant she had to close her eyes and stop watching for trouble. And that was a big step for Ivy.

I set up the X-pen around the crate, and put in some of water and a tiny dish of puppy food and rice. I think maybe she'll come out and have a drink once we all go to bed, and maybe a bite to eat. And for the first time, I bought some of those puppy pee-pads and put one inside the pen because I think it's best not to disturb Ivy until she's feeling a little braver.

Ginny has been very respectful - she doesn't go too close to the crate, but kind of looks in from a distance with her head tipped to one side. I think it will be Ginny who brings Ivy out of her shell, but all in good time.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Back to Business: IVY

Okay, so much for the yard work.

This is Ivy, who is three months old and a little bit (okay, a lot) sad and frightened. She will arrive on Sunday, and my job is to introduce her to home life, which she hasn't yet experienced.

Keep an eye on this one! My goal is to turn her into a happy, friendly little girl who would like nothing more than to belong to a human family.