Pastimes
Wow, what an experience this has been. We adopted her from the pound when she was around 1 year old [20ish months now].
- Food - This was an issue early on but at first we didn't know if it was due to food insecurities from being in the pound or the breed. Turns out to be both. Results, she is a big chubby even after daily walks and we did cut back on her food. Good thing is she is now comfortable around an empty dish and we don't have to create challenging food tasks anymore.
- Energy - wow. We will take her for either walks or walk/runs everyday [wife goes with us, walks. By myself, she will run most of the time until she sees someone she wants to meet]. We will run/walk 8-15 miles a week and I still can't quit wear her out. Yeah, I gave up cycling because of her and I still can't wear her out.
- Friendyness - I have never come across a dog as friendly as this one. Usually our daily run/walk will take us by the park with dog watering station. Kids know her by name and will line up to pet her. People outside of restaurants/bars downtown know her by name as well and will also take their turns petting her. Strangers will pet her more than we are 'allowed' to by her. Never met a stranger and loves kids.
- Smart - We have started spelling in front of her but she has figured that out. Thinking about picking up a second language just so that we can communicate to each other without Izzy figuring out what we are talking about.
- Training - Mixed bag. We went to a trainer for 6 weeks and she will follow all of the commands that she learned there with my wife. Me, we have added running/walking commands [left, right, stop, cross, leave it] but will tend to forget all of the other training. Took her to the pet store the other day and was using my running commands [Izzy, left] and people were amazed. Got to the check out and sit/down was just too much for her and people were snickering at our lack of training.
- Barking - Rarely barks but has picked up bad habits from my step sons German Shepherd/Husky. She has a demon growl that is almost amusing and frightening all at the same time. Almost always aimed at evil squirrels.
- Guarding - If it is those evil squirrels attempting to overtake the world, we are good to go. If it is someone coming up to our house, that might be a friend. She will bark at other dogs walking past our street but our post woman is a friend. I will catch the mail lady flirting with our dog through our Ring.
- Cats - she want to play, our cat thinks that she is the Spawn of Satan. Owners of cats beware.
- Size - when we adopted her, she was a skinny 45 pounds and both our vet and the pound thought she was done growing. They were wrong. She now weighs 65 pounds and is 24 inches tall, 24 inches long which is an additional 4-6 inches from when we got her.
- Biting - not a problem. She will get excited if she hears one of the trigger words [walk, run, outside, toy, ...] and bite but not hard enough. She will pretty much nibble on you just to get your attention.
- Car rides - She loves my car [small convertible] but tends to complain with my wife's SUV. Apparently, she likes sports cars.
- Looks - Black, short hair with brown spots that show up in the summer. Her ears look like Yoda. I picked the wrong name.
2 years, 10 months ago