Archive for the ‘Molly’ Category

Bone-A-Fide Happy Doggy

May 5, 2008

Molly just got dropped off from her weekly visit to the Bone-A-Fide ranch, and I’ve never seen her with a bigger smile on her face. She loves that place for doggie daycare!

We checked out some of the in-city options (Barking Lounge, Downtown Dog Lounge, etc…), but got such a better feeling when we headed out to Snohomish to do our visit with Bone-A-Fide; it is a huge open area (as opposed to indoors), the dogs all looked like they were playing the full time (as opposed to some play, some crated, as the others have due to numbers of dogs there), and even better – they do pickups and drop offs, along with having boarding available.

Ian, the driver, says Molly is really cute during the whole experience.

She loves running around in the van – there are 12 dogs together on the ride up (which takes a half-hour) – and is one of the best of the bunch – she stares out the window, then plays, then goes back to staring out the window – just like at home.

At the ranch, she’s apparently quite a digger (which we’ve also seen at the local dog parks – we’ve gone to Golden Gardens and Woodland Park) – she loves digging up a pile, than jumping back trying to catch the dirt – I’ll have to get a video the next time she does this at the dog park. She’s apparently quite the teacher, and gets other dogs excited to start digging as well! It’s pretty cute :)

On the way back, she tends to sleep a bunch, according to Ian, but as soon as they turn into Queen Anne, Molly perks up, seemingly saying: “I know this place!” and gets pretty excited as they approach the house.

She also runs around a bunch while she’s there – which explains why she just ran into the house, came up to me, licked my face, and immediately jumped on her bed to go to sleep! As they say on the Animal Planet shows – “A tired dog is a happy dog!”

Highly recommend any Seattle dog owners check out this place.

These are my favorite things!

April 25, 2008

Molly again. As I’ve gotten to know Aaron and Joelle better, I’ve let them see some of my favorite things to do. I’d thought I’d share them with you as well. For all the pictures, feel free to click on them for a larger version.

  • I love to stand up and look out the window at what’s going on outside. But, I don’t like letting them take a picture of me doing it – I jump down as soon as I hear the camera.. So here’s Aaron showing you how it’s done:

IMG_4020

 

  • I really like playing with other dogs, but so far, they’ve only allowed Ronin and Shay into the house. That’s okay. I like them!

IMG_4031 IMG_4032IMG_4033 IMG_4034

  • We got a fun rug. It sort of looks like it’s outside, so I like to sniff around in it!

IMG_4030

  • Most importantly, I don’t like chewing on things I shouldn’t. But I do love shoes. I just think they should be moved around the house. So I pick them up and put them where I want them, usually on my bed or on my blanket. It’s a fun game to play with the humans: “Find your shoes!”

IMG_4035 IMG_4038 IMG_4036

It’s Molly Again: Fun weekend!

April 6, 2008

IMAGE_007

Hi. It’s Molly again! I like when Aaron lets me blog.

I had a really busy weekend so far, and I’ve made a bunch of friends.

First, we went over to Jeff and Erica’s for Shabbat dinner – I really liked being part of the group when we all stood around and did Kiddush. I was such a good girl praying with everyone! Their cat, Sam, was a little afraid of me, but it wasn’t my fault – I didn’t even go near that thing! I tried putting on my best face though – everyone was petting me, I played nicely, and it was the most fun I have had in a long, long time though! One thing I loved was when Jeff pulled out his laser pointer. The red light on the floor made me go crazy! I pounced on it whenever I saw it.

Saturday, we walked down one of the main streets – and I was pretty good for a while, but then we got to Queen Anne Ave, and I got really scared.

Later, we went to a big lake (I think they called it Green Lake). I had a lot of fun, but it might have been too much – Aaron and Joelle had a hard time holding on to me, since whenever I saw the ducks, I wanted to do my acrobatic moves and lunge after them. I think they are going to work with me to make those pesky birds a little less appealing!

Finally, Greg and his dog, Shay, came over for dinner and to play. (Clodagh was out of town) It was the first time another dog came into the house with me! We got along pretty well, though there was some initial playful growling. I really liked spending time with Greg – it was fun to fight for his attention with Shay! But we tired ourselves out as well… so we got a nice nap in before going for a big walk. It was good to walk with Shay – having another dog showing me not to be afraid of streets and parks definitely helped me get over some fears, but Queen Anne is still really scary – we’ll have to keep trying before I become okay with there!

All in all, it was a really fun weekend so far! I can’t wait to see what else is in store. I hear a rumor that a bunch of people are coming over for a meeting tonight – this should be fun!

Things we’ve learned: Week 1 of Molly

April 4, 2008

A few thoughts on things we’ve learned after one week of having Molly as part of the family:

  • Dogs are hairy! She definitely has a lot of excess hair that needs grooming, but she’s not quite trusting of us enough to allow much brushing. She’s totally cool with grabbing her skin and hand-removing excess hair, though, so at least it is cleaned up a bit. I think she’ll enjoy baths more than the brush, so hopefully that will help. We’re waiting to talk to the vet first though to find out  more.
  • String cheese is your friend. We took our first obedience class this week with Paws4Training, and they suggested string cheese as a great treat for training purposes (since they can taste without actually eating the whole thing), and for those rare cases when you need to bribe her to do something (i.e. get into crate)
    • We have noticed one caveat: Once you’ve used it as a treat, Molly does not like when you grab another string cheese for yourself – she wants it to be doggy-exclusive! Joelle ran into this last night.
  • She’s scared of most things, but getting a bit better for all of these, I think day-day. It is going to be a long haul, though:
    • Men (she’s more okay with women it seems) – she’s okay with me though
    • Major roads (Queen Anne Ave, etc…)
    • Big buildings
    • going into anywhere – the pet store freaked her out
    • large dogs – she likes to sniff, but submissive urinates as soon as she’s around them, especially if they are fluffy and white
    • buses and large vehicles
    • getting into her crate – she’s okay once she’s in there during the day, but man is she hard to convince to go in – treats or not (we’re getting a daily dog walker, by the way – a local middle schooler is looking for work and is great with her dog – Molly and her get along, for everything but getting into the crate)
  • She eats all up pretty darn quickly. We’ve been researching food quality guides – here’s a good link to a good grading system (similar reviews on other sites as well): http://www.thepetpedia.com/article_view.php?articleid=6
    • Water she’s not so quick on. We need to figure out how to trick her into drinking a bit more.

Video: Molly and Steps

April 1, 2008

Not the most exciting video, but here’s Molly running up and down the stairs…

(If you are viewing this in email or in an RSS reader, you’ll likely be able to view it correctly only by visiting http://averbuch.net/2008/04/01/video-molly-and-steps/)

Hi-Tech Doggy!

March 31, 2008

I (Molly) want everyone to know that I didn’t just get a bone as a gift – I got my first email! I am so hi-tech for a dog!

Hi Molly,

My mom told me that one of her friends got a new dog that I can maybe play with, but she said you’re a little scared right now.  I know what that’s like, I got pulled off a farm and brought to the city by this blonde lady, but turns out she’s pretty cool, so hang in there. :)  Mom tells me your new people are great and will give you a wonderful life!  I hope this bone will help you feel a little more comfortable while you adjust.

Can’t wait to meet you!

- Balko

(Aaron says – thanks Lauren!)

Hi. I am Molly.

March 31, 2008

(I am sitting next to Aaron right now, who came home early from work to play with me, since I am still a bit scaredy-cat; it is the first work day for my people, after all. I really like the toy Balko left with Aaron to give to me though – thanks Balko!)

Now I have something to say, so I will type with my paws instead of just speaking to Aaron and having him type for me:

“po,khhji”

That’s all. I don’t like typing, apparently. It’s not nearly as exciting as licking myself :)

Molly: Day 1

March 30, 2008

As I mentioned in the previous post, yesterday was our first day with Molly. Now time for a rambling post on our experiences with her in our first day:

We started by meeting her foster mom at PetCo to do a drop off, and Molly immediately was ready to jump in our car and go. She was a quite good girl on the whole drive, pretty inquisitive, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Getting home, she was freaked out about coming up the stairs, but nothing that a treat and warm praise couldn’t solve. She loves exploring the house, but so far, definitely prefers to be in the same room as one of us (I think she’s partial to me, but that could just be the fact that I am awake more hours of the day!)

So far, she doesn’t seem too interested in toys, but she loves to eat her food! She wasn’t in the mood to go to the bathroom yesterday, which Kelly (the old foster mom) informs us is normal for a dog switching homes, but so far today she’s done both the #1 and #2 outside (she was already house-trained), so problem solved! We even figured out her sign for bathroom – hang out by the front door, slight wimper.  (she’s not a barker by any stretch)

While she doesn’t seem to be a huge toy fan, as of yet, but man, she devoured her bone this morning (actually a Flossie, but same basic idea). It was actually really cute – she walked up to the bedroom (Joelle was still sleeping), quietly grabbed it, brought it downstairs to our living room (where I was), and just started chomping down. I was enthralled to watch!

Speaking of sleeping, she made it through the night on her bed (she’s used to sleeping in a crate, so having a bed-area is a great new find for her!) She was unsure of what to do in our room at first, but then quickly settled down and laid on her mattress and slept until about 6:30 this morning – only waking up when I walked out the door.

We were told she was a scaredy-cat, but so far that doesn’t apply to other dogs- the two dogs she’s met walking she walks up to sniffs around – they seem to get along with any sign of aggression – one in particular I am very happy they get along; as they are a couple doors downs dog, we will see them quite a bit…  She is definitely scared of everything else though – birds, squirrels, loud noises, rooms, etc… If not scared, just not understanding what these things are.

One thing we’ll need to work on, though, is she’s very scared of entering new buildings – we tried walking her into the Pet Store to get her a name tag, and she wanted nothing to do with it. I think that’s just a socialization issue though – she hasn’t had a lot of experience on loud busy streets like Queen Anne; in our neighborhood, noises are everywhere, so over time, that will get much, much better!

Introducing Molly!

March 30, 2008

Joelle and I have been talking about getting a dog for a while, and yesterday was the day Molly joined us in our family! She’s quickly adapted, even having a Facebook page already (really, a dogbook page, but same basic thing!)

We started our search at the Seattle Animal Shelter last weekend, but weren’t immediately drawn to any of their dogs. We quickly jumped on Petfinder.com (great resource by the way!) and did a search for other dogs available within a 3 hour radius; Joelle really wanted to find a dog from a rescue league or shelter rather and I agreed – adult dogs are much easier, plus it’s nice to be able to do a good deed by finding a dog who needs a home!

We were drawn to Molly immediately by her Petfinder posting (her old name was Mama, but that was only her name for 2 months), a rescue dog housed with the Washington German Shepard Rescue League (though she is not a German Shepard) and had a great series of back and forth emails last week with the League, the Foster Mom, and and the house-checker-outer, and last Tuesday, we drove up to Marysville to meet her; We were smitten right away by her looks, good behavior, and other temperance. She was going to be our dog!

Joelle had mistakenly called her Molly instead of Mama when we saw her, and was fixated on that name from then on. I really wanted a name with a Hebrew connection and sort of wanted a grandmother-esque name for some reason, so Molly works – while not the most Jewish name in the world, it at least tangentially comes from Hebrew – according to naming web-sites, it means wished-for child in Hebrew, so at least it is something!

Pictures obviously! Next post will be a write-up of our first day together… (Click on the picture for larger pictures)

Copy of Molly 003IMG_4008 IMG_4009 IMG_4010 IMG_4011 IMG_4015

Here are some pictures her foster mom (Kelly – thanks for everything!) had sent us of her playing with some other foster puppies on Friday:

april pics 007 april pics 008 april pics 009 april pics 011 april pics 014 april pics 015


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.