Jolly Good to be Home

She's baaacckkk!! Our handful of a whippersnapper puppy came home last night after the weeklong swap. The raisers who had Cabana were gracious in their assessment of her--but I'm sure it wasn't an easy week for them. That raiser had her wisdom teeth pulled and then had final exams during the time Cabana was there--stressful even without a high-energy puppy visiting. It sounds like Cabana didn't do well on tie down, which is to be expected because we rarely put her on tie down, and then only for short periods of time. And Cabana was a little overzealous with their pet dogs who weren't enamored of Cabana's overly playful overtures.



When we got home last night, Cabana was beside herself. She could not settle down and panted constantly. I think she could smell Persia and might have thought there was still another dog in the house. Outside when relieving, she sniffed every inch of grass, wondering what the heck happened while she was not here. Not only were there Persia and Woofers' smells, but we had also ripped out our old rotten wooden deck last week, leaving a big ugly expanse of dirt and trash.

I think that maybe the stressful part of the swap for the dogs is going back home, rather than going to the new person's home. Going to the new person's home is exciting because there are new people, new toys, new smells. But it's when they go back home that they realize that the rugs were pulled out from under their feet, and who knows when it's going to happen again?! And to top it off, Cabana returns to find there was another dog here in her absence, chewing her toys and sleeping in her bed! What the heck!

But today, we dove back into our normal routine. Cabana still seemed a bit weird and wired this morning, but in the afternoon, she crashed and slept a ton. I also vacuumed and washed Cabana's toys to help remove vestiges of Persia's scent. Tonight she seems back to her normal self.

I learned a LOT from the swap, and I will be putting my new knowledge into practice. I will keep Cabana on tie down more often, just so she will know how to behave when tied down. And I am working on getting her to entertain and settle herself better. Persia is so great at that, and I now see that Cabana is so NOT! Also, I want to work on Cabana's responsiveness to commands. When I would ask Persia to sit or come, there was not a second's hesitation--she reacted immediately. Cabana is slow to respond, and I sometimes still have to do a hand-placed sit with Cabana, especially if there are distractions.

For all my concerns before the swap, I definitely got the easier end of the deal. It helped everyone become better puppy raisers, particularly me, and better puppies-in-training, too. So it WAS a good thing--but we don't want TOO much of a good thing, do we? ;)