things i did not know about girl dogs
so i ended up taking home this girl yesterday just to see how she did in my house, and i was right about the yard situation. the gap from the fence to the ground is wayyyy too big in some places and she’ll just escape from her cement prison if i leave her out there all alone. it’s been interesting cuz i haven’t had to take care of a dog in a while so it all sorta feels vaugely new, and then i realized i have never ever ever had a girl dog. i’m sure some of the differences between her and my previous dogs are just personality differences, but a key one comes from being female.
i walked her before bedtime, and she sniffed all over the place - but she didn’t mark any bushes!! i was so confused as we walked past the first bush. she is insanely curious and thoroughly inspected our house when she came home, and apparently she did that on the outside too. but she didn’t bother lifting her leg - she just continued walking on. WEIRD!
speaking of lifting her leg, she also doesn’t lift her leg to go pee. i guess this makes sense cuz even human males and females pee in different positions, but i had never just thought about it before. she hunkered down and so i thought she was gonna poo and then she got up and walked off and i’m like… huh? where’s the poo at?!? i can’t see it!!! apparently she had just gone pee.
she didn’t try to cover her poo by scratching the grass either… is that a male thing only or a breed thing?
and apparently if she’s not fixed she will have her time of the month - about 2 times a year. i think she’d have to get fixed to be able to stay here cuz i dunno if i can handle a menstruating dog.
other than that, she’s definitely curious, yet she’s still… shy? is that the right word? skittish would be more accurate. every new person that comes into the house she wants to approach and sniff, but if they act like they want to pet her, she will run away! maybe that’s because of previous owners or something, but at least she has -always- opened up eventually and let that person pet her. she’s very loving and affectionate.
and smart. she’s very smart. or at least, very obedient. every time i have said no to her she has listened. there’s already parts of the house that are off limits to her (like my walk-in closet) and after my first “no”, she sat outside it patiently watching me, waiting for me to come back out. i taught her to climb our stairs and she seemed scared of it at first, but after the first time up, she has gone up and down no problem. i even taught her the command “stay” today when i was leaving for work. she tried to follow me out the door and i told her “sit”. she sat, but then stood up as soon as i turned away. i said no, and she sat right down when i said stay, and stayed there until the door closed. she’s already potty-trained (which i’m sure is due to the previous owner) but man… it is just a joy to have a tiny “puppy” in your house that already knows all of that stuff! she seems like a puppy cuz she’s brand new and so tiny, but i’m sure she’s much older than that.
i know i won’t have her for very long, apparently we’re just a foster home, but still, i wanna teach her some tricks and be her foster mommy and her babysitter. silly, is it?
anyways, here’s a photo of her looking like a kangaroo asleep on our couch. enjoy!
by that way, any suggestion for names? we haven’t come up with anything fitting and we’re just calling her “doggie” or “baby girl”.
looks like a kangaroo so “joey”
Posted by on 11/16 at 11:30 PMoh man, gary beat me to it.
i concur with him, joey sounds goodPosted by on 11/18 at 03:45 AMooh! i like that! ever since reading ‘little women’ i wanted to have a daughter that i called joe. probably the tomboy side of me… seems like it captures her mischievous side too =)
Posted by on 11/19 at 04:15 PM
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