Tansy Updates, Great and Small, Part II.

Last Updated on: 1st September 2013, 10:38 pm

Geesh I’m tired after writing that first giant post. But if I stop, I’ll never get started again. Really need to write these when they’re more manageable.

I notice how much I learned from Trixter, and to some extent Babs. The way I react to the curveballs Tansy throws me sort of reminds me of the way I hear about how parents are when they have a second child. They’re not uber concerned if things don’t go just so, and they realize that the kid is more resilient than they thought when their first kid was going through this stuff. I see similarities with the way I am with Tansy. Not every little thing needs an emergency trip to the vet. You just sort of watch it and if it changes, alrighty off we go. Routines don’t need to be iron-clad. Just as long as there’s something resembling routine, cool stuff. I have learned to watch Tansy and learn from what she does. I realize that different dogs need different styles. And I wasn’t nearly so wiped out the first few weeks she was home like I expected, partly because I guess the basics were in place.

Tansy has started to figure out who at work are the ones I work closer with, and who are just other people. She does funny things. For example, at lunch, when one of the ones I work closely with gets up when they’re done, she’ll stand up for a second, assuming we’re getting up too.

She’s done goofy things at work, so she must be feeling at home. For the most part she just sleeps on her little bed. But every now and then, she shows her maniac stuff.

For the longest first while, I didn’t let anyone pet her. Then eventually, I would let a few pet her. Most of them, she was quite calm with. But there’s one guy who just makes her go absolutely batshit nuts. Even he’s blown away by how much she loves him. But at least she can contain it mostly when we’re working. The occasional sniff gets by, but nothing nutty.

Last week was the funniest and most embarrassing. It had unexpectedly started to pour as we were walking to work, so she was absolutely soaked. There’s another girl who works there and has a puppy in training, and had a blanket I could borrow. I stupidly unclipped the leash before trying to towel her off, and when I started, she tore away from me and started doing labby loops around all the cubicles! Thankfully not many were at work yet, and she did come when called, but man that was quite the interesting little morning surprise. Thank goodness my coworkers love dogs.

When we get home and she sees Steve, it’s as if she’s a kid wanting to tell their mom all about their day. It makes me giggle.

There are little things I’m still getting to know about Tansy. First, when I got home, I noticed that every couple of days, she would have little goobers collecting on her eyes. I asked the vet and they said it was nothing, maybe a wee seasonal alergy. So I would pick them off. Then, at the beginning of June or so, there were no more goobers, but she developed some hives once. The vets thought these were also something seasonal, so I discovered Tansy can take human Reactine. Very very wacky. I now have the dosages written down that she can take. Thankfully, after that one episode, there have been no more bumpies.

You know what I said about her not dream barking as much? I have noticed a lot more dreamage. Hopefully that means she’s starting to feel more at home.

I have also discovered that Tansy needs a waaaay stronger flexi than Trix ever did. Holy crap. For a while I wondered if I was able to take her for runs. But Brad showed me a super strong flexi, and that thing gives me the ability to control my supercharged maniacal kangaroo when she’s romping in the park.

Since Tansy’s collar is a different style than Trixie’s, I have had to learn a valuable lesson. When removing the gentle leader, DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY UNCLIP THE MAIN COLLAR. Anyone who has seen these is probably giggling thinking of where this is going.

We were at a conference, and I was hurriedly taking her gentle leader off so she’d pee faster. In a slip of the hands, I unclipped the whole enchalada. And…zooom! My dog took off across the university lawn, sprinted into a garden and watered the flowers, tore back through the lawn before she could be called, captured and contained! I don’t blame her, she thought she was being given the ultimate in playtime, and decided to unleash some sillies! But now, I pay very close attention to that collar!

Another thing I have learned about Tanseroo: if given the chance, she’d run like hell! Once, I went to leave the apartment when I was doing laundry. Tansy had her nose by the door, and that should have been a clue. I opened the door, and Tansy shot out of the apartment like a bat out of hell. Thankfully she didn’t cause any trouble and came back, but holy crap that dog can move!

I can tell she’s learning. She’s really starting to get to know our home bases. Sometimes I’ve gotten confused in our office building, and I can trust that usually she’ll get me back to something familiar so I can figure out the rest. She has shown me that she has a clear understanding of where our buses pull in at the terminal, to the point that she showed me a stairwell that others hadn’t pointed out, and once, I tried to turn the wrong way, and she went, but you could tell she was sure this was not the correct direction. Going through the mall is a breeze because I don’t get tangled up in side halls, and if we’re going to a popular destination of ours, I can tell she knows exactly where we’re going.

She ducks her head a lot less when I try and put the harness on. Awesome. She’s figured out that we never want her in the kitchen, ever. Even when Trix came over and was being a spoiled brat and went in the kitchen, Tansy respected the line of the doorway and didn’t go in. Good girl!

It must be showing that she’s learning a lot because I don’t often get asked if she’s new. I often get asked how long I’ve had her, and then notice the surprise when I say about five months. Cool!

We had our meeting with Chuck back in May, and he thought we looked awesome, and I looked more confident than ever. I think I agree. I think I walked poor Chuck’s head off. It was good times.

I think I should probably wrap this one up, but here’s a funny story. Tansy must sleep really deeply. Every day, I get her a bowl of water and put it on her bed where she sleeps in case she needs a slurperoo. Once I got her up and noticed the end of her ear was wet! Yup, she had fallen asleep with her ear in her water bowl! Wouldn’t that be cold or something?

And that’s another installment of Gees Carin, write more or you’re going to drive everyone nuts. I have more. Must…do…better.