Greta update...

I just noticed... "Greta" is an anagram for "Great!"


As I put this together, Greta is lying on a dog bed next to my bed letting me rub her with my foot, something Ptolli would have NEVER allowed.  Tonight I started teaching her "down."  It didn't help that Tosca hovered and offered the correct behavior in the same space, but we made a little headway.  Her one trick is "sit" and "paw" so we have to overcome those as being the only possible behaviors to offer.


So, after two weeks, we have narrowed her "issues" down significantly  She was supposedly reticent with men.  When she first came, I had to escort her to a spot sitting with John and then she tolerated it while not making eye contact.  Then we had a LOT of people here, in and out, for the 4th of July festivities and she discovered that all men are not like men she had known and she began going to them for loving.  Supposedly she likes children a lot.  She pays no attention to ours whatsoever, unless they're eating.  Whatever.  She tolerates hugs from them and doesn't chase them and that's "good with kids" in my book.


Really, the one thing that one has to remember with Greta is that if she sees a small dog, especially a small dog barking at her, she goes ballistic back.  But even this problem is relatively manageable — don't just stand there!  WALK ON!  And request her attention and praise her with food when you get it.  And if possible, once she's stopped barking, let the dogs meet each other.  That's not going to be possible often, though.  The small dog going ballistic tends to continue going ballistic until out of sight.  But once there's any distance, Greta quickly comes back — "you were saying something?"


I take her to the field and turn her loose with the others and she's fine... She streaks around like a border collie — zip, zip, ZOOM!  But she doesn't take off and she's fairly responsive and when everyone's "done their thing" and I've cleaned up, I can get everyone back on leash for the balance of the walk.


Someone is going to get a really great little dog.  She sits on feet, especially of women.  That's just how she says, "hello, love me?"  She turns into them and sits on their feet.  This makes most everybody fall in love with her immediately.  She's very companionable.  When I take her to work with me, she goes into the space under my desk for my feet, curls up and lies down.  I haven't had a footwarmer since Tycho (who died in 1998).  And her BEST feature is how she'll come up and punch you with her nose.  The other morning, she was all happy and hoping I'd get out of bed now that clearly everyone was awake thanks to some kid-generated disturbance, so she came over and punched me (gently!) in the ear with her cold, wet nose.  It's very funny.

Tosca bullied her a bit when she first came but that hasn't happened for a while and Greta has also found her spine, now that she's been with us for over two weeks, and so doesn't let Tosca push her around too much.  They charge through doors together and if they bump as they go through, they don't even bother to grumble at each other about it.  Tosca is clearly superior on the status totem pole, but they've settled into their spots and don't have to argue about it.  At the field, when they're all loose, the three dogs all get some good running around and are happy even if they don't necessarily play WITH each other.


I took her to meet horses on Monday.  That was clearly a first for her.  She was a little intimidated by the giant nose bending down to check her out.  She occasionally would bark to release some of the stress of the situation.  I circled her around and around, slowly getting closer to one horse, and then we were able to stand by the fence and speak to the horse.  Greta looked the other way, which is her way of avoiding something that worries her. All-in-all, a good new experience for her.  She was happy to be out and about, whatever that might mean.  And of course there were women with feet she could sit on who would tell her how wonderful she was.


We've met several people who know people who have recently lost their dog and think Greta would be perfect for those other people, but no one has called me yet — it's not too late to adopt this wonderful little dog!