Cocoa one week in

I can’t believe it’s been a week since we brought Cocoa home. She’s a great dog to have around. Easy and fun.

Because it’s been a week I decided on Saturday to try to give her nails a little trim. They were trimmed some when she arrived in WI, but when they are really long you can only take a little off at a time. I was prepared for a fight, but she was great. She just sat in my lap, and licked my hand. What a good girl.

Her skin has cleared up nicely, and we are waiting for the fur to grow back. It also appears that she has lost some weight. I haven’t put her on the scale yet though. I will have to do that soon.  If you follow the blog, you have seen that she is moving around much better, and has accomplished the big jump onto the bed J. She is eating only high quality kibble, and has had no complaints about it, and there is no food aggression.

Housetraining is going really well. We had just a few accidents the first couple of days. We have be accident free for 3-4 days now and yesterday she went to the back door and asked to go out. What a smart girl.

Dogs are a little like kids. Once you notice something that begins to worry you, they move past it and on to something else.  Cocoa had definitely found a BFF, and it was me. She is always excited to greet my Husband when he gets home, and she loves it when he gets on the floor to play but she had decided to “glue” herself to me. She would follow me everywhere. When I worked in the kitchen she would be on the rug by the sink. When I watch TV in the living room, she would be curled up by my feet. If I get up to move to another room, she would jump up and follow. When I changed a load of laundry she would be between me and the washing machine. I even found her on the bath mat when I got out of the shower. I began to worry that she would become one of those Velcro dogs that would develop separation anxiety.

The last few days Cocoa has shown signs of more independence. I moved from room to room yesterday, and although she lifted her head to see where I was going, twice she chose to stay right where she was. Also, yesterday she suddenly started playing with some toys our Charlie left laying around. I was shocked. Up until then she had no interest in toys at all. I picked one of the toys up and threw it down the hallway….. and…. she chased it…. YAY for her. It took just a couple of practice throws and she totally caught on to “fetch”….. AMAZING.. I think she will never be one of those laid back dogs that watches the world go by, but I have no worries about her being a Velcro dog either. I think she will land nicely somewhere in between.