Welcome May: New friends and more adventures

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  It has been an interesting week here for us with lots of fun and exciting things happening. 

We started our week by bringing in a new foster.  After a busy morning at work, I took the girls out to the shelter on my lunch to meet a couple of the boys who have been there awhile.  My intention was to to meet two dogs to make sure everyone got along and then bring one of them home with me after dog walking on Wednesday night.  We met Donatello first, a 9 month old German Shephard mix, and I knew he'd do fine with the girls.  I thought he'd be the one I would ultimately bring home with me, but in the event that he got adopted before Wednesday, I wanted to make sure we had a back up to bring home.  

Giotto, or Gio for short, came out second to meet the girls.  He responded really well to Peaches' old lady corrections and then they all just started to play.  They were having so much fun and Gio was struggling so much at the shelter that I knew he needed to be the one to come home with us and it needed to be that day.  Honestly, the girls picked him, and I'm glad that they did.  He is a really sweet boy and he and Mina have had so much fun playing together all week long.

Tuesday we continued to adjust to our new friend, and he continued to adjust to our routine.  He has done really well here, and I can't imagine he'll be here very long because he is such a good boy.  He and Mina will spend hours outside wrestling while I work, and Peaches sometimes joins in on some of their games.  On Tuesday morning the youngsters ganged up on the old girl, but she held her own and they are both respectful of her when she tells them she's had enough.

After work on Tuesday, I made a visit to see my dad, the girls came along for the ride.  I joined dad for dinner and we had a nice visit.  The improvements in his strength and ability to get around and do things for himself is so nice to see.  I left that night with the hopes that, if everything went according to plan, that would most likely be my last visit to him at the rehab.  

For their patience, the girls were rewarded with a stop at Magoo's Pet Outlet on our way home.  They had a great time sniffing around the store and I got some good deals on some bone broth for their meals. Gio stayed home for the night, but he did great in his crate.  He had energy to burn after we got home, so there was some fun wrestling with Mina before everyone settled in for the night.   And with that April ended and we were on to May.

Wednesday was a beautiful day and the perfect start to the new month.  The weather was so perfect and the dogs were happy to spend lots of time outside.  I love sitting at my dining room table working and watching them play.  Mina and Gio were having the absolute best time.

Wednesday night the weather was great for our shelter dog walk.  I was happy I got to walk Donatello.  I felt so bad for not bringing him into foster.  He had a great walk with me, and on a happy note, he was finally adopted on Friday.  He's such a nice boy and I hope he has a wonderful life.

The best thing about Wednesday, though, was that after 4 months of hospital and rehab stays, my dad finally went home.  While he still needs to use a walker to get around, he is doing pretty well and I know he is happy to finally be home too.  He'll need one more surgery in a month or so, but should only be in the hospital a few days then, and then I hope he'll be able to recover quickly and get back to normal life again.

After a busy day of work and a very nice and much needed lunch with a friend on Thursday, I decided to take the dogs to campus for our evening walk.  Gio has a fear of getting into the car, and I wanted to work on making him feel more comfortable with cars and understanding that car rides aren't scary, but can lead to lots of fun.  I did have to carry him to the car and force him in, but once he's in the car he rides so nicely.  I made it a positive drive by tossing him treats along the way and the girls thought that was pretty awesome because of course they got treats too.

When I got to campus and parked, I didn't expect difficulties in getting Gio out of the car, but it took a little coaxing before he felt comfortable enough to get out.  And then with all three dogs in hand, we were off for one of the worst walks ever along the Red Cedar.  The squirrels were out in force and Peaches and Mina were acting like complete idiots.  Gio was great, but the number of times I had to stop and untangle leashes or try to convince the girls that they needed to stop pulling me and not act like heathens was ridiculous.  

Luckily the pretty tulips and lilacs and all of the beauty on campus somewhat made up for the terrible behavior, but the best part was watching Gio as he explored the world.

I tried valiantly to get  a picture of the three of them together, but every time I tried, chaos ensued.  I guess the pictures I did get will remind me of this crazy night.

At the end of our walk when we arrived back at the car, Gio walked up to the car door and waited while I opened the it without backing away, and then he got in the car willingly with a little boost from me.  It was a huge success and I celebrated this huge accomplishment with lots of cheering, and I'm sure other people on campus thought I was an idiot.  But it was a big deal and I was so proud and happy.

After the walk debacle of Thursday night, I decided that Friday I would give each of the dogs their own adventure.  First was Gio with another trip to a different part of campus.  He got into the car willingly at my house and even tried to jump up on his own after our walk.  Such great progress in such a short time.

There were more pretty flowers and he enjoyed sniffing and exploring.  He is very interested in people too and nearly tripped me trying to say hello to someone.

But mostly he just walks really nicely and enjoys his time outside.  I keep saying that I can't understand why he hasn't found a home yet.  He is a pretty awesome guy.  I even overheard someone with a group of bike riders that went past us say "That is a really well-behaved dog."  I just had to smile.

After I got home with Gio, I loaded Mina into the car and we headed off for a trip to Soldan's.  She reminded me what a good girl she can be on this walk.  She is an amazingly good walker when she is walking without Peaches.  

She enjoyed the trip to Soldan's and even got to pick out a couple of treats for everyone.   Then we headed out for a walk around the neighborhood next to the store.  She was happy to be out on her walk and she didn't even go completely crazy when we spotted this cat sitting in the middle of the street.

We then headed home so I could get Peaches out for a walk around the neighborhood before sunset.  She loved her one on one time with me and I enjoyed our time together too.  

The evening ended with some time outside so that everyone could play before we settled in for the evening.  I really enjoyed this individual time with each of them and need to remember to do this more often.  I think it's good for all of us.

Saturday morning started with a dog walk at the shelter.  I had two walkers join me and after we got back to the shelter with the first three dogs, we decided to take a second group for a walk as well.  So I had walked just over 4 miles by the time I left.  It was so rewarding to get some of the dogs out who really needed the exercise.  I always love to see their happy faces.

I got home from dog walking and decided it would be a good day to head out for a visit with my parents.  So I fed the dogs lunch and then loaded them into the car for the drive.  I spent some time working with Mina on her recall skills so that some day maybe I'll trust her off leash there.  She struggled a bit with some distractions, but I'm committed to working with her more this summer because I know how much she'd love the freedom to run.  

Gio loved meeting my mom and exploring the woods.  He had a really great time and I was very proud of how good he was again.  

Everyone was pretty happy to be out in the country and Peaches immediately headed out to check out all of her favorites spots.  Unfortunately for Peaches, she made some bad decisions and decided not to listen to me so she ended up losing some of her freedom and got stuck on the long leash.  But she still had fun.

After a nice visit with both mom and dad and lots of fresh air and exercise for the dogs, it was time to head home.  On the way we stopped at a local geocaching event, and Gio got to make friends with a little geocacher.  He was very happy to just sit and get some love.  Finally we headed home in time to watch the Kentucky Derby and have dinner.  There was some after dinner fun outside for the dogs, and then everyone settled in for a quiet night.

We have had a pretty quiet start to our Sunday morning.  I'm working on getting Gio to understand our morning routine which includes some quiet time since I'm normally working in the mornings.  He is getting better at relaxing, but it's still a work in progress.  There have been some rounds of play both inside and out, and now the girls have come in for their mid-day naps.  Gio was trying hard to get Peaches to play with him, but has finally climbed up onto the couch with Mina and is snoring away.  

I'll be leaving shortly to do some clean-up along our dog walking club route with some fellow geocachers and some volunteers from the shelter, and afterward, I'll get everyone out for a walk.  Then I need to do some stuff around the house before the weekend is over.  And of course there will be tacos for dinner!  I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.