The visit with friends seems to have taken the edge off Ziggy's workedupedness. Thank goodness. She's not so spun out this morning. She didn't force me to wake up early, she just snuggled a bit and then went outside for quite a while. Long enough that I was worried that perhaps she'd gotten out of the yard, but she has never tried that. She did at my old house because there was a huge gap in the fence that I hadn't noticed, and then a big gap underneath the house that I'd missed. While Ziggy has the potential to climb right over my fence now, a 6' wooden fence, thank goodness that she doesn't have the desire. To play with the two dogs in adjoining lots (one is only very rarely out), she's fine with seeing them through the fence and running with them, no need to get actually face-to-face. Which is good.
We need more good dog friends, with weekly dog play dates. Maybe I go back to my idea of fostering from the shelter, but Ziggy is still just too wound up. Yesterday her barking at Roux when she got overstimulated reminded me that while we've come far there's still distance to go. A few times of her getting to that point and then being removed from the situation should do it. I need her to become the calm dog, as any foster dog would have its own issues that she would need to help calm and not agitate - which is what she likes to do now. She can be such a sassy pants and egg other dogs on.
I have so much reading and writing to do today which I'm having a really hard time focusing on. Maybe we'll start with a long walk. I need a productive day and that's a good start for us both. I would love to take her out somewhere to run off-leash, but I still haven't found a place near enough for that. I'm hoping that in September we can go back out to that cabin where we went before, though we'll need to find a tick preventative that doesn't affect us both so badly. Such a shame as it works so effectively. Oh well.
There is so much wonderful about my life here in New Orleans, but I still dream of a day when I'm finished with my degree and perhaps can get a different job that is nearby national forest land, where we can hike and run with wild abandon because I won't have homework and by then her manners will hopefully be to the point that I won't worry about a chance encounter with a person and/or dog with Ziggy off-leash. I stand by my assessment that Ziggy is not aggressive, but I recognize that she can be unmannerly, which can agitate other dogs.
All right, she's giving me all indications that we need to get out - bringing me toys, chasing her tail, standing and yawning at me. "Move, person. There's a world out there for us to explore." I think we'll drive out along some railroad tracks - unlikely to find any shade so we won't want to walk far, bt perhaps there's some potential walking there, maybe some shell roads (what we call gravel or dirt roads here, because they were traditionally made with crushed oyster shells). Maybe not. Won't know until I check it out. Ziggy has been wanting to take a ride, so let's do it.
***
We took the drive and found a spot that had some cleared area like a levee near some swampland so I let her off leash twice. Unfortunately, my catahooligan is very interested also in the housing across the street. She is a savvy street dog and knows houses = people = love and treats. Fortunately I was able to intervene when she thought about crossing the street and she was all, "Oh, I wasn't going to go over there, I'm just here to poop in this area near the road." Yeah, ok. Just like when I said, "Hey Ziggy, want some water?" and was able to convince her to come to me and I could grab her to releash her, she was like, "Yeah, ok." She knows my games, I know hers. We live in a mutually feigned belief in bullshit society, and so long as she comes when called and doesn't run in front of cars, I'm perfectly fine with that.
Unfortunately the road I really wanted to drive down was blocked off, all access restricted to active construction. Boo. While I did see a number of vehicles I didn't see active construction going on, so maybe next week we'll go even earlier and see if we can sneak that way - if traffic is blocked and nobody is around, it's a perfect place for Ziggy to run free. But their signs are pretty onerous, requiring hard hats and safety gear to even enter the area where I want to let her run. Maybe it's not a good spot after all. We'll see.
The things I do for this dog ...
We need more good dog friends, with weekly dog play dates. Maybe I go back to my idea of fostering from the shelter, but Ziggy is still just too wound up. Yesterday her barking at Roux when she got overstimulated reminded me that while we've come far there's still distance to go. A few times of her getting to that point and then being removed from the situation should do it. I need her to become the calm dog, as any foster dog would have its own issues that she would need to help calm and not agitate - which is what she likes to do now. She can be such a sassy pants and egg other dogs on.
I have so much reading and writing to do today which I'm having a really hard time focusing on. Maybe we'll start with a long walk. I need a productive day and that's a good start for us both. I would love to take her out somewhere to run off-leash, but I still haven't found a place near enough for that. I'm hoping that in September we can go back out to that cabin where we went before, though we'll need to find a tick preventative that doesn't affect us both so badly. Such a shame as it works so effectively. Oh well.
There is so much wonderful about my life here in New Orleans, but I still dream of a day when I'm finished with my degree and perhaps can get a different job that is nearby national forest land, where we can hike and run with wild abandon because I won't have homework and by then her manners will hopefully be to the point that I won't worry about a chance encounter with a person and/or dog with Ziggy off-leash. I stand by my assessment that Ziggy is not aggressive, but I recognize that she can be unmannerly, which can agitate other dogs.
All right, she's giving me all indications that we need to get out - bringing me toys, chasing her tail, standing and yawning at me. "Move, person. There's a world out there for us to explore." I think we'll drive out along some railroad tracks - unlikely to find any shade so we won't want to walk far, bt perhaps there's some potential walking there, maybe some shell roads (what we call gravel or dirt roads here, because they were traditionally made with crushed oyster shells). Maybe not. Won't know until I check it out. Ziggy has been wanting to take a ride, so let's do it.
***
We took the drive and found a spot that had some cleared area like a levee near some swampland so I let her off leash twice. Unfortunately, my catahooligan is very interested also in the housing across the street. She is a savvy street dog and knows houses = people = love and treats. Fortunately I was able to intervene when she thought about crossing the street and she was all, "Oh, I wasn't going to go over there, I'm just here to poop in this area near the road." Yeah, ok. Just like when I said, "Hey Ziggy, want some water?" and was able to convince her to come to me and I could grab her to releash her, she was like, "Yeah, ok." She knows my games, I know hers. We live in a mutually feigned belief in bullshit society, and so long as she comes when called and doesn't run in front of cars, I'm perfectly fine with that.
Unfortunately the road I really wanted to drive down was blocked off, all access restricted to active construction. Boo. While I did see a number of vehicles I didn't see active construction going on, so maybe next week we'll go even earlier and see if we can sneak that way - if traffic is blocked and nobody is around, it's a perfect place for Ziggy to run free. But their signs are pretty onerous, requiring hard hats and safety gear to even enter the area where I want to let her run. Maybe it's not a good spot after all. We'll see.
The things I do for this dog ...
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