Little Dog in a Big World

The Veterinarian was concerned about the initial bruising Misha suffered from her first shot, so she decided to do her puppy shots over 4 visits.  On September 14th, she finally got her rabies shot.  Misha became legal

I had been walking Misha on leash in the backyard.  I also kept her on leash in the house to assist with dog training and potty breaks.  So, Misha was fairly comfortbable with the leash.

I had been walking her out front while carrying her since day one.  She was getting more and more used to the happenings out front and wasn’t as skittish.

Walking on leash out front was a whole new ball game.  It took Misha awhile to learn heel.  Then she had a funny way of going about out walks.  She would walk behind me, sometimes being dragged when we walked away from the house.  But when we started heading home, she did the last few houses on two legs as if we were in a marathon and needed to sprint to the finish line.

It took a couple of weeks of stop and turn and pulsing the leash to get her to go in the same direction as me.  We’re still working on it.

It’s been an adjustment for me.  I am used to a 75 lb dog whose head is near my hand.  Any time I needed to get her attention I just needed to tap her.  She also understood my moves.  She’d untangle herself from poles, walk around gunk on the ground, and do other things with simple commands.  I understood Sierra’s different moves.  I knew when she found food on the ground or when a cat was close by.

It took me awhile to get it into my head that Misha was not Sierra.  I could not expect a 4 month old puppy to know the things that a 13 year old dog knew.  We’re getting there.  It’s taking time, but we’re starting to understand each other.