Life with Lily is going well. She's adjusting well to the Keep, is starting to misbehave on occasion, and still loves going on long walks.
I'm happy to report that she's misbehaving some. I take it as a sign that she's comfortable enough to take a risk and see if something she wants to do is acceptable. Granted, that means that I'll probably end up with a chewed shoe at some point, but the alternative is a dog that's afraid of her owner, and that wouldn't be fun.
Anyhow, for good behavior, I took yesterday (Columbus day had me off work) as an attempt to see if she could behave on her own in the apartment, rather than just the bathroom. My first test was leaving around lunch time. When I came back an hour and a half later, she'd knocked a stack of mail off a table, and decided that my bed was more comfortable than the couch she's allowed on. I walked in the apartment and told her to get off the bed, and then picked up the mail.
Thinking that wasn't too bad of an outcome, I later put up the Murphy bed and left for dinner. This time, I came back to find even more mail on the floor... and a shredded plastic bag in the middle of the room. I thought it was weird that she would go for the empty bag until I saw another shredded bag with 1.5 hot dog buns remaining in it on the couch. Lily had the good sense to be away from the scene of the crime... but her lethargy the rest of the evening was almost as good an indictment as catching her red-pawed.
So, while I'm at work today, Lily's chilling in the bathroom. I need to re-think my pantry decisions as I keep a lot of food within reach of a hungry-determined pup. Once that's done, and my massive stack of mail is cleaned up, we'll try leaving her out again. But for now, her home is in the bathroom.
Lily notes:
On Saturday, Lily got her first bath (with the special medicated shampoo the vet gave me). She did not like it and trembled throughout, but she stood still as I lathered her up and washed her off. I was supposed to use some medicated cream to help her dry skin, but I forgot. She's supposed to have another bath for each of the next two weeks, so we'll get it then. Her general bravery was thoroughly appreciated as I don't want to get in the habit of employing a dog groomer if I can help it.
Lily doesn't really like the dried Science Diet. She ignored her food for about 24 hours on Sunday and Monday. I want her to eat the kibble, so I didn't give her any cheese, as she has given in and eaten the Science Diet before, but I finally got tired of her not eating and mixed in some cheese with her kibble. The last time I did that, she picked all the cheese out of the bowl and only ate two pieces of kibble. This time, she picked the cheese out, but then ate about half a bowl of food. I was feeling pretty good about getting her to eat. Then I left for dinner, then she ate half a package of hot dog buns. Oh well. I emailed the PAWS people and we're going to try a mixture of wet food and kibble.
For Catherine (of Boston): On feeding Lily a natural diet - Terrierman is my new dog mentor. He seems very knowledgeable about dogs, and his post here (Are you killing your dog with salt?) is a perfect summary of why I feel like I should go with a bagged diet for Lily.
