Fantine

This pretty girl is Fantine, and we are puppy sitting her until late next week. She's over a year old, and is due to go back to Boring in about a month or so. She's a perfect dog in public and has some pretty good house manners. I'm having to separate Ardella and Fantine because they like to roughhouse, although when Fantine first got here, Ardella wanted nothing to do with her. Ardella seems to have a "thing" about black Labs and somehow associates them with boisterous, pushy behavior that can overwhelm her. Fantine was rather polite with Ardella initially and I think that helped Ardella get used to her. Now I have to either separate them or keep them on drag lines to keep them from playing. This is good practice for Ardella - plus she needs to get used to black Labs.



Yesterday Keri came over and we went to Kohls for some baby gifts (for a friend of Keri's) and to Red Robin for lunch. We took Fantine and she was fabulous. She went straight under the table, lay down, and didn't sniff or hunt for food at all.The waiters loved her and came over to see her and to show us pictures of their dogs. Red Robin is a great place to take dogs in training. Fantine didn't even react when the waiters were clapping hands and singing a birthday song. We went for coffee at Tully's after lunch and once again, Fantine had great behavior. Fantine has a bit of hesitation about relieving herself, although I haven't had a lot of trouble with that. It is nice to know that she won't relieve on outings and I feel confident taking her out in public.

Another thing I'm impressed with is that I can give Fantine the "Down" command from a stand position and she does it.



My favorite thing about Fantine, though, is how she reacts to cats. She's great! Especially with Willow. Willow loves to chase and play with Fantine's drag line and Fantine will just lie there patiently while Willow tries to "kill" the line. The other cats aren't afraid of Fantine, either, but Willow especially likes playing with Fantine.



We're really enjoying this puppy sitting experience. Having an older puppy in the house has been a good situation for us.