the crate...

So, our good friend P, gave Ely and I a dog crate. Originally I wanted to stick it in my room so Ely could be inside. Well, this this is Great Dane size! In fact, when trying to lure her into the crate, my roommate (officially world's best roommate) crawled in himself. He could sit up and Ely completely fit in there as well. I could have probably crawled in too! This thing is huge. Needless to say we've put it on the back porch. When she ran outside, after we placed the crate on the porch, she ran right into the side of it. Awesome, good first introduction. Then she turned around. And did it again. I don't think I'm too concerned about Ely being outside in the winter, she does have a fur coat and now a fleece lined crate blocked from the elements. When I leave her outside I give her a Kong with cheese whiz, a chewy, or her treat ball in the crate. She goes in there for the yummies.

Unfortunately, she's still been peeing in the house. The other night, Roommate and Tobey's Mom were in the living room, I was in the den. Ely mostly laid in the den with me and when I didn't see her, I would call for her to come. Yet, she still had time to pee in the roommate's room. TWICE! She had plenty of opportunity to let me know she needed to go outside and she knew not to pee in the living room in front of anyone. This makes me think she's doing this on purpose? We've been keeping doors shut. At night, when everyone goes to bed and I'm not home, Ely has been shut into my room, where she's never peed (knocking on wood). This is all puzzling to me! Though, she did eat a tube of chapstick last night before I got back from class.

Ely finished her medicine yesterday! I'm calling Dr. Eye to see what's next. She had said if it was going to improve her vision at all I would have noticed. I don't think it's improved, maybe she can see some blobs far away? We're just not sure. I keep waking up with her chin on the bed "staring" at me. Little creepy.

Tobey keeps trying to play with Ely. She's not so sure about all of this. Sometimes she walks right into Tobey and he takes this as a play invitation. She tries a bit, but not like they used to romp. Yesterday I was able to get her to tug with a toy and she even fetched it once! I threw it close to her and she heard where it landed. Then she ran over to it, found it when she tripped on it. Hey, whatever works...

Always Something New

I'm not sure where to begin this post, so I'll start with the thing that had me laughing the hardest this past week. My closet doors are on a track and open in the center. They were opened about a foot if not less. Ely, for whatever reason, stuck her head in the opening. I giggled and said "Ely, come back." The opening was just wide enough to get her head in, but when she turned it a tiny bit, she was stuck. Then of course she got scared (not as funny) and kept trying to back out but not being able to figure out how to move her head. I had to get up and open the doors for her.

Ely's been taking steroids and has been drinking at least three bowls of water a day! She'd barely get through two with another dog around. Since she's been having a peeing on the carpet problem, I've made her stay outside during the day. This, for whatever reason, makes me paranoid. I worry something with happen to her. In truth, it's probably the funnest option for her. I put a doggie bed under the porch, her water, and I've been leaving her with treats. For those of you that have known Ely for awhile, yes, she typically drags her doggie bed all over the yard in attempts to "get intimate" with it. For some reason, this folded piece of old egg crate doesn't tempt her so. (Thanks Tobey's Mom!) I've resurrected the Kong, something loved by dogs world over, except of course, Ely. Now that she's more food focused, she's a bit more into it, but still didn't totally clean the spoon full of peanut butter out of it.

After looking at barriers for our huge kitchen opening, I've decided a crate is the way to go. My darling friend P has graciously donated a large kennel to the cause, that I'll be picking up this weekend to get the crate training started.

We went on a couple of walks this weekend and little Ely is doing amazingly well! She stays by my side, listens to my warnings, and is very confident. It's such a joy to see her like that. Neither of us ran into anything! On one of the walks it began raining. Pouring really. She wasn't that pleased and stopped at first. I eventually got her to walk/jog briskly with me back to the house.

The other milestone this week was the first trip to the groomers, A.B. Luckily, we've gone there for years and Ely knows her well. I told Ms. Clips to call me if it wasn't working and feel free to muzzle Ely. No one has ever had to do that before, but I really just don't know what to expect. I waited all day without a call, when Ms. Clips called to tell me she was done, she said Ely was LESS anxious then she usually is! Go figure. And of course, as one of you commented, Ely is radiant.