must love baths

We got to pick her up today!!!! Yay!!!!

We drove all the way to San Marcos (the halfway point for us and Helen, from the rescue). Gabriel kept complaining about how long the drive was (he wore his Spiderman suit, by the way - talk about weird). Then he said, "Gosh, where is this dog? Peru?" He is 4!!! Of course he knows about Peru because of his best cousin, Sofia. So it wasn't completely random - but still...

Here are pictures from our first meeting. Helen, me, Gabriel and Sheila - Ethan was fastened to his car seat and Brandon was at work.

We went to Pet Smart where we met the most awesome volunteer who also works at Seaworld. She told me they were hiring and I got to thinking how fun it would be just to tell people that I teach Yoga and Pilates part time -oh, and also train dolphins three days a week. Ha! Of course, that will never happen. C'est ridicule.

Sheila smells bad. There is really no other way to put it. She is not into baths. Yet. She tried escaping the tub numerous times.

While at Petsmart, I bought her a harness. Tonight I took her for a mile and a half walk. We walked pretty briskly. She followed well at a light jog but pulled a lot when walking. We passed some other dogs. She barked but didn't seem too phased...

...then we passed a cat. uh oh. She looked hungrily at that cat! I kept thinking, "go away cat. can't you see this beast is more than twice your size?" The cat taunted us on the corner. It just wasn't going to budge. It looked at us with the nonchalance of the french as if to say, "if you have a problem zen you can walk elsewhere, non?" Eventually we passed a few feet away from the cat and even though Sheila might have signed away her life savings to me (if she had any) for one chance at that cat, it was without incident. I'm proud of her on her first walk. Her unhealthy lust for feline blood is troublesome as we have a feline family member.

Then there were the cars which totally spooked her when they went by. She tried to run towards the houses when she heard them coming. I kept telling her that we were on the sidewalk and the cars would stay on the road but then I realized I was trying to reason with a dog which is just as preposterous as reasoning with a 2 year old. So I gave her a treat for walking even though she clearly considered giving up the whole "domestic pet" scene on account of the cars in my neighborhood.

Last comments about her behavior:
-she is very polite with the children. Perhaps a future nanny is in our midst.
-she sat in the living room staring at us while we ate dinner in the kitchen - I am very proud of her for not begging at the table.


Anybody have name ideas? I quite like the name Sheila -like the song. It also seems so appropriate since Blue (and red) Heelers are from Autralia, but B isn't crazy about it (the name or the song). We have a very small window for change bc since I have jumped in trying to train this girl, she is learning her name as Sheila.

If I had a boy dog, his name would be Harley, like the motorcycle. Or Doug, just to irritate my brother, Doug. ;-) But for a girl? I don't know...

As I write she is asleep at my feet in my office - my dream come true! But in my dream, she smelled much better!