A new Member of the Family

[Daisy]

Eva was a really good girl at the vets yesterday. I was a bit worried she'd be terrified and not keen to let them handle her but but she was very relaxed, and we were able to pick her up again at 4 pm. She was very sleepy all evening, but this morning her first port of call was her food bowl! Business as usual, then, Eva!

[Gemini]

Aww,,what a little star Eva is

✴

[Clover]

What a good dog you've got there Daisy. Glad she recovered well. I bet she was hungry! She certainly landed on her paws when you chose her. (Or did she choose you!)

[Daisy]

Clover - Eva chose my OH! Although OH likes dogs he didn't have one until we got married, so didn't grow up with them as I did, and he's always left the choice, care etc mainly to me. But when we were introduced to Eva after seeing her on the Rescue Centre's website, she made a bee-line for OH and it was love at first sight for both of them. She follows him everywhere!

[Clover]

Eva knows a kind heart when she sees one.(Not saying you haven't got one too of course )

[Daisy]

I don't know about a kind heart - I must have a soft one though, looking at the mud she's tracking through the house at the moment!

She had her 48 hr check up at the vets today, together with lots of fuss which she loves. We bought her a new training lead (a strong one!) and a stiffer brush. I asked the vet nurse about furminators and she said they were more effective on longer coats so we just got her a slighter firmer one. Very soon our house will disappear under a mountain of furballs!!!

[Gemini]

The plus side of that Daisy - you could start collecting it now to stuff cushions to give away as Christmas presents next year. I know how you like to get ahead

[Daisy]

[Daisy]

I've just read through this post about our early days with Eva, and thought I'd update it.

Eva recovered very quickly from her spaying op and now treats her 'babies' like naughty children. She loves squeaky toys and we've got used to hearing the sound of her latest treasures going EEEEEEK-EEEEK at full volume. She isn't too destructive with her toys (unlike some other GRU doggies - but they are much younger), but she does chew the ears off animal toys.

On Friday we left her overnight for the first time - our friend who used to look after Rusty and Clyde came and stayed. Eva behaved perfectly and certainly didn't sit at the door pining for us, although she did give us a good welcome when we got back last night.

But we still have one quite big problem with her. I thought over time she would be calmer when she's out for walkies, but she is nearly as bad as she was when we first got her in December. She pulls on the lead and is still frantic to get to any dog she sees, no matter how far away it is. This is excitement, not aggression. She's very strong and I have to be on my guard all the time because she can suddenly veer off in a different direction. The Forest is still a sea of sticky mud, and it's hard to keep your balance when she pulls like that. The trainer who has been helping us with her has suggested a specialist trainer to work out why this keeps happening when she's so good in every other way, and to try to improve things. She made a home visit on Friday and asked us loads of questions about Eva, what we want and how Eva fits in our family etc. She was very thorough, and made some good points and thinks we've almost got to to treat her like a puppy and start from scratch. She did a bit of training with Eva, (Doggy Zen) and showed me how to do it using a clicker. She agrees with us that Eva is a fantastic dog and very trainable so the result is we're joining a small class (4 dogs) the week after next but have some 'homework' to do in the meantime.

[Plantaholic]

Hope Eva enjoys her training class

[Nanto2girls]

Eva does sound adorable, hope things go well at the training class.

[Pearl5]

Eva sounds a right cutie Daisy, hoping the training goes well, I bet you can do without her taking you for a walk...

[MillieB]

Daisy, we had the same problem with you last two 'adopted' labs. Millie had been bred from and hadn't been walked out on pavements. She lurched and barked at lorries going past which was dangerous. I cured her by using a water spray bottle carried in my pocket. She didn't know whether to bark or expect the spray. I rewarded her when she stayed calm. She still looks at me for a treat two years on, when lorries pass.
She also pulled and barked at other dogs in excitement when they were the other side of the road. I am still working on this with rewards!
She pulled on the lead too and I got a canicollar which is great and much better than a halti as it pulls their head down and not sideways.

[Daisy]

MillieB - many thanks for the very helpful tips. It sounds as though Millie had very similar problems to Eva. You've done well to get her to stay calm. Part of the trouble is when Eva gets into 'I want to see that dog' mode she doesn't make eye contact with me. I cease to exist, I'm just the encumbrance at the other end of the lead. I haven't heard of a canicollar, so I'll check it out. At the moment we use a well-padded harness which OH uses with a double ended training lead, but I can't get the hang of that and just use a longish lead so I can feed a bit out if she pulls me too hard. She's not bothered by traffic or bikes. The trainer has suggested practising walking her on a loose lead in the house and garden - but she'll do that really well. It all changes when we get out onto the road!

The trainer thinks she's lived alongside her previous family rather than with them, ie they were too busy to give her much attention, and she needs to learn to look to me or OH for instructions.

[Clover]

I do hope Eva enjoys her new classes. She seems a very bright young lady and I'm sure when the penny drops she'll be perfect.