More doggy time

Thanks for all your suggestions on dog names and where to find them! We're still thinking of names. Ian's considering Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All ("Stormy", for short), which was Alfie the baby's name in a Doctor Who episode. That could work, although it seems like a pretty complicated name for a dog. He's also suggested Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal because Fizzgig was a cute fuzzball.

Speaking of our soon-to-be furchild, I went to visit her today and spent a good amount of time visiting. In addition to sitting with her, I took her for a bit of a walk. The person who put her on the leash for me told me that there was a nice path over by the dumpsters, which I would find if I walked around the center. Well, I walked around with the furchild but couldn't find this path so I walked back and around again. This time I went the other direction around the center and ended up walking by a number of cages, setting every single one barking. Oh, the noise!

The dog doesn't pull too much at the leash although she does walk much faster than I do. I tried jogging a bit with her and that seemed to be about the right speed but it wasn't something I could keep up. Clearly she needs a fair amount of exercise and I think we're both going to lose weight by walking her. She prefers to go her own way when she's walking although she usually responds to a light pull on the leash.

At one point she wanted to head up a path that was marked "Private Property" - unsurprisingly, her reading skills aren't all that good - and she wouldn't respond to a tug on the leash. In fact, she tried to flatten herself to the ground rather than turn around. Fortunately, when she stopped to sniff something I stood in front of her so that she couldn't continue and she turned around. When we went back into the center she was bound and determined to go and visit the lovely black kittens and didn't respond to tugs on the leash then, either. She's definitely in need of some obedience training. I ordered four books today from different authors on training dogs; they should arrive before she comes home.

She's very smart, too, I think. When we were sitting in a privacy room to visit, she went to look out the window to see who was there. I pulled down the roller blind so that the view was blocked and she figured out how to look around the side so she could still see out. Even if she isn't smart, at least she's not a "slow" dog.

I hope to visit her again tomorrow. While we were visiting, I petted her and it occurred to me that I could brush her while I was doing that. Although they trimmed her facial hair a bit, she's still got some matts and tangles in her body hair. They said that I was welcome to bring a brush and brush her if I want; I think doing that would be a good way to let her get to know me better.