Lady Belle - Adventures of a Blind Doodle #3

[Thomas, Chari, & Lady Belle]

Lady Belle here,

In my last post I filled you in on my first two days in my forever home.  Today, I’m celebrating my two week anniversary.  I’m proud of the fact that my blog has a lot of readers.  Many of you are giving my new dad advice on how to bring me up.  It’s funny to watch him continually reevaluating how he’s doing things.

I want to share a funny story with you.  I heard dad saying the other day that our morning aerobic walks are designed to build MY cardiovascular condition.  Imagine this?  Dad is 68 years old, overweight, and a cardiac patient.  I weigh 65 pounds, am 2 ½ years old, am now eating high-energy high-protein food, and am rounding into prime physical condition.  So who do you think is working out whom?

Seriously I enjoy our morning walks.  I could walk all day at 3 miles per hour with my nose in the air picking up interesting smells and sounds.  Our morning walks are through a nature preserve.  The asphalt path is about 8’ wide with 2’ of mowed grass on each side.  We walk past two ponds.  You should hear the frogs croaking in the morning.  We walk past woods.  I can smell the deer laying up in those woods.  I can hear the birds singing.  Rabbits hop by.

I trust my dad implicitly.  He’s not going to lead me somewhere I’m going to get hurt.  Besides, I have that walk mapped in my mind.  In fact I know it better than he does.  Earlier this week he went straight where we should have turned.  I tried to tell him we were going the wrong way but he kept going straight.  So I humored him but it was a bit scary.  First this owl screeched.  It startled me.  Then this big heavy truck came up behind on the road that runs alongside the nature path.  I didn’t like that either.  But I’ve come to realize that is our new route.  In the last two days, I’ve added it to my map.  It now feels like the rest of the trip.

So I feel free to prance alongside him and Chari.  I understand the morning walks are to get exercise.  There is almost always another activity each day where I get to explore, so I don’t mind that this isn’t a stop and sniff trip.

My favorite place to go is the dog park.  I know a lot of my readers don’t like dog parks.  They say dog parks are a place for dogs to mill around with nothing to do but get into mischief.  I’ve never been to those kinds of dog parks.  My dog park is huge, over 40 acres.  It has paths and a service road cut through the park.  My dad takes me there on weekdays when most people are working so there are never very many dogs and humans in the park.  Bummer.  I love meeting and greeting new humans and their dogs.

We’ve settled into a favorite walk through the park.  From the gate, there is a mulch path with grass edges.  The grass for me is like the warning track in a baseball outfield.  Go past the warning track and you are going to run into weeds and possibly trees.  So when I hit the grass I head back toward the middle.

The mulch path connects with a long gravel road.  The road allows trucks to get to a pair of communication towers at the rear of the park.  That road has to be at least ½ mile long.  It is probably 10 feet wide with an additional two feet of grass borders on each side.  We always take the gravel road.  Grass paths are used by most dog owners out casually exercising their dogs.  The gravel roads are used by owners who are runners or aerobic walkers.  If we run into dogs and dog owners, it is never more than two dogs at a time.  The encounters are fairly brief because the owners and dogs are headed somewhere.

The only place things get a little crazy are at the entrance/exit which is double gated.  Thursday there was quite a bit of activity when we were getting close to the end of our visit.  So my dad leashed me and we sat at a picnic table until the owners and their dogs cleared.  Then he walked me to the gates and we left.

When we first came to the dog park I was pretty skittish when a strange dog suddenly appeared and started sniffing my privates.  But dad starts repeating the word ‘puppy’ when he sees another dog approaching.  Imagine that.  Blind people have seeing-eye dogs.  I have a seeing-eye human.  How cool is that?  I’m getting used to the sniff private parts game and am startled less often because dad alerts me with the puppy signal.

I’ve taken the time to map the dog park in my mind.  This photo shows my mapping routine.  Because I have our route mapped, I’m feeling more adventurous.  I have run in the dog park briefly.  It is the only time I have run in quite a while.  I’m starting to feel comfortable exploring the grass paths that lead off the gravel road for short distances.  I know dad will be waiting for me on the gravel road when I get done sniffing.

My parents have taught me some new commands.  I mentioned ‘puppy’ which means approaching dog.  I get really excited when I hear that word.  I have now figured out ‘step up’ and ‘step down’.  They use it to get me into and out of the car and when I’m approaching stairs.  I’m totally comfortable with ‘step up.’  But ‘step down’ is scary.  After all, I can’t see how far I’ll be stepping down.  I trust dad not to ask me to do something that is dangerous, but it is still scary.

Yesterday dad’s daughter Izzy came to visit.  She loves dogs.  I guess she has a degree in behavioral psychology.  In one of her courses she worked with dogs at an animal shelter socializing dogs for adoption.  She taught me ‘lay’ in no time flat using some of those Orijen Beef treats.  Yesterday she started working with me on ‘roll over’.  I don’t quite have that figured out yet. But I’m working on it.  Last night was a real family night.  Izzy and dad took me on a stop and smell walk in the afternoon.  Then Chari came home and they cooked a meal, ate it, talked, and played with me a lot. 

Speaking of food, they are switching me over from Purina One to Orijen Adult.  I used to be a picky eater.  I didn’t mind the Purina One but I didn’t eat it unless I was really hungry.  The Orijen is so yummy.  Now feeding time is in the dish and gone!  I feel like I have more energy, almost like I’m on high-test fuel.

I know the downstairs of my forever home really well.  My favorite place to sleep is still the Coco rug.  His smell reminds me of my pack.  I bump into stuff every once in a while, but it is happening less and less often.  I know how to get to my dog yard.  Imagine that, a fenced area of the yard just for me.  I really like going out on the deck, laying in the sunshine, listening to the birds, smelling rabbits and raccoons, and turkeys and woodchucks, and sometimes deer.  I still need to figure out that deck place but I will.  The only thing I don’t like about my new home is the vacuum cleaner.  They use it a lot because apparently I shed more than they expected.  When I hear it I head for some other part of the downstairs.

I like to play the roughhouse game with my dad.  He gets down on the floor and we wrestle a bit.  Then he hugs me and tells me what a good girl I am.

Thursday I got a haircut.  A number of you assured me that Dad didn’t turn me into a freak.  Today they gave me a bath in my dog yard.  I like baths almost as well as the vacuum cleaner.  When dad was finished I felt pretty frisky and ran around the dog yard.  This shot shows me after the haircut and after my bath.

This is an end-of-day shot.  I’m pretty tired at the end of the day because they keep me pretty busy. But it is a good kind of tired.  After all, I’m a product of two working dog breeds.  Working dogs are supposed to be tired at the end of the day.  After eight hours of sleep my batteries are recharged by morning and I’m ready to go for another adventurous day.

I still miss my pack and Melissa although there are plenty of dogs to interact with at the dog park and on walks.  And it isn’t like I’ve never been in a single dog family before.  With my first family, I was the only dog.  The offset from losing the pack is I get a lot of attention and love.  It’s a pretty good life her and I’d be happy to live here the rest of my life.

Now that I have you caught up, I’m not going to post as frequently, maybe every week or two.  But I promise I’ll keep in touch and share my adventures.

[Debbie and Bentley]

It is amazing how well you have adapted to your furever home in just two weeks. It sounds like you are living the dream. Keep taking care of your dad. My Bentley is keeping this 62 yr. old moving and enjoying life so much more.

[Lisa and Tucker]

Belle you look lovely! So glad to hear about all of your adventures and that you are feeling more comfortable and realxed in your new home :)

[Robin and Libby Louise]

You look beautiful Belle!  Love hearing about your adventures!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I am glad things are going so well.

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

Lady Belle, I love reading about all your adventures and all the things you're learning!  It sounds like you're adjusting really well and you've got yourself a terrific new family! 

[Becka]

Lady Belle, you are even lovelier with your fancy new hairdo! I love reading about your adventures.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Belle, sounds like you hit the jackpot with your forever family.  Thanks for posting your update.

[Julie, Boomer, Milo & Casey]

I love reading about your new forever home. I'm so happy for you.

[Miss Ellie]

I am so happy for you sweet Belle...and so glad that you have found your fur-ever home...you so deserve all the love & happiness you can get...good for you for maneuvering around so well and becoming accustomed to your new surroundings so quickly...you are such a beautiful girl! 

[Gail and Bailey]

You sound so happy, Belle!  I am very glad you are feeling so at home and getting to have such wonderful adventures!  Looking forward to more pictures of you!