From Laura K
And now for the continuing adventures of "Pippa of the North."
May 1st of this year, Pippa moved north with foster dad to the summer home in the country, just outside of Tower, Minnesota. And Pippa couldn't be happier. FD is around the house all day, either working remotely on the computer, or working on the house and yard. So Pippa gets company 24/7, which is OK with her because she loves her people.
Since moving up here, Pippa has been working on walking with the Gentle Leader and is doing great. She doesn't pull much at all now and seems to be more relaxed and enjoy her walks. Pippa loves rides in the car, but especially loves the truck. Something about dogs and trucks. She is supposed to stay in the backseat, but when we make a stop at the store or something, she sneaks up front and watches for my return. When she sees me coming, she hops back and acts all innocent about being in the front seat.
One thing about the north country, there is lots of wildlife. We have deer come around all day long, often very close to the house. Pippa is really interested in them and would love to chase them down, but FD won't let her off the lead. There is a big picture window in the office where FD works during the day and Pippa spends a lot of time watching out the window. She goes a little nuts when she sees the deer go by, sometimes as close as 10 feet from the window. Not sure why she wants so much to chase them; they are 4 times her size and I don't think she would know what to do with a deer if she caught one.
Besides the deer around, we have bear, wolves, and the occasional cougar (or so the rumor has it). Have seen one or two bears, not close to the house, so when Pippa is outside in the yard, she's closely watched. When going out at night after dark, it's especially important to turn on the lights, make some noise, and check the yard before taking her out. The property is large, about 7 acres, so there isn't a fence. Pippa spends her time on a tie-out just outside the window of FD's office. She seems to enjoy being outside and frequently spends time out, especially when FD is working on something outside.
FD has noticed that Pippa is a little startled by loud or strange noises. Lots of work to do on the house and yard after a long winter, so FD is out with the power tools a lot. Pippa isn't loving the noise the power tools make. She also doesn't like a stern "no" when she is getting into something. Could be a hold over from her first owner abusing and injuring her. She responds much better to kinder, gentler correction when she's getting into something, like the garbage.
Pippa has been kenneled a few times, for practice, while Dad is out running errands. She does well, but whines a little about not getting a ride in the truck.
FD is looking forward to getting out on some of the area lakes when the ice finally goes off them, and wants to see if Pippa enjoys the boat and fishing. Her previous foster had her out in a boat, so I am hoping she enjoys it.
About other dogs, Pippa has a reputation for not liking smaller dogs, probably not cats either. However she does get along with larger dogs. Last weekend, some of the family came up for the weekend and brought the "grand-puppy," Raven. Raven is 7 months old and already a little larger than Pippa. After a slow introduction outside, we took both of them inside and the multi-hour playtime/wrestling match began. Not sure where they get all that energy, but we all got tired just watching them play. By the end of the weekend, they were BFFs. I'm sure Pippa is looking forward to her next visit from Raven. We took a lot of pictures of the two, most came out blurry because of the constant motion. But it was great to see her enjoying herself.
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Well, that's all for now. Pippa is snoozing beside me as I write this, getting that pre-bedtime nap in. Let me say that despite the few small faults she has, which are correctable when some love and training, Pippa is a real joy to have around. Some lucky family is going to enjoy adopting this little ball of energy. If you think you are that family, contact your placement advisor. Don't worry about needing to take a trip up north because Pippa comes back to the home in the cities every week or two for a few days while FD takes care of business.
We are teaching her a bit with fetching a stick. She does bring the stick back to us at times but she'd rather keep it and chew it up.
Pippa has had another exciting two weeks with the addition of 4 more people at our home - 2 adults and 2 teenage boys! Arriving at 2:30 amwe provided a slow and easy introduction after springing Pippa from her kennel. She warmed up quickly to additional feet moving about and enjoyed the additional pets and treats that humans provide.When we were preparing for this visit, we noticed her perception of things to come. All that cleaning and bustling around gave her suspicion that something was up. She kenneled herself in her open kennel without a word from us long before we were ready to leave to pick up our house guests at the airport. FD noticed that she kennels herself also when she hears the hairdryer. Maybe it's a signal from her past that people are about to leave.She is a very good watchdog as she hears any footsteps on the porch steps and of course the doorbell. She doesn't get onto furniture unless invited. She loves garbage cans especially if meat wrappers are present. So best to keep those behind fixed doors. She likes to get up on low window sills to check out the outdoors. Her favorite laying spots are either at FM's feet, between FM & FD or beside the french doors looking out. She will trust you implicitly not to step on her wherever she lays.
Pretty Pippa is quite settled here and has calmed down considerably since her arrival. Pippa still gets very excited about extra activity around her but will behave so well to "lay down" or "kennel up" which settles her down.
Speaking of predators, we were all out on the family deck enjoying the evening when suddenly Pippa noticed a striped chipmunk go under the air conditioner unit a few feet from the deck. The gaps between the deck posts measure about 6 inches and she took off between them to go after this critter with the tie out line attached to her. She jumped down and it was a good thing that she had plenty of cable to reach the ground or she would have been hanging there. And oh, what a barking followed! But of course, the chipmunk was safely hidden.Pippa is at war against bugs, particularly ticks! We try to keep her away from the taller grass but inevitably on our walks she has to investigate something in the roadside ditch. It only takes a mere brushing and she's covered with 5-10 ticks at once. Good thing she's on Frontline! She and FM work fast to pick the nasty ticks off and we give her a thorough working over when she returns home. Thereafter she is constantly inspecting her legs for the creepy crawlers even jumping up in the middle of night to check out an itch.We know she loves the water. Taking her down to the beach, we watched her in the waves where she fetched sticks. And she also doesn't mind getting baths. Afterward of course she sun dries and takes another nap.
Pippa is becoming sweeter by the day. We very much enjoy having her with us.
