What I've Learned About Spirit

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My new pointer, Spirit, came to me the night of Dec. 6th.

So I've had her here with me for about 3 weeks.

It takes a little while to learn things about a new dog in the house.

Spirit and Dexter have gotten along pretty much from day one.

So that's why it didn't take me but about a week to decide to adopt her.

I've never had a female dog.

(Unless you count a female cocker spaniel my family had when I was growing up.)

I think their personalities are a little different but I haven't had that much experience.

Here's what I've learned about Spirit so far.

• She's a gentle soul.

•She's house broken (Yeah!!)

•She knows her name.

•Her recall is pretty good.

•She doesn't know "sit" or "stay".  We're working on that.

•She has 2-3 fatty tumors and a little growth on one of her third eyelids.

•She likes to cuddle.

•She is not aggressive so far with anything, including food.

•She is not birdy at all.  I haven't even seen her point.

•She's not interested in my chickens.

•She doesn't chase the barn cats unless Dexter does.

•She naturally holds her ears back.

(she brings them forward only when she is very interested in something.)

•Her tail is always wagging.

•She pulls on the lead but is now getting used to the Gentle Leader and is doing better.

•She steals things from the garbage!

•She has chewed up several things that weren't toys. 

•I'd say she was destructive enough that I crate her at night and when I leave the house.

•She willingly goes into her crate with a little food bribe.

•She is fine at night but cries when she sees me leaving the house.

(I'm hoping the crying doesn't last very long.  Dexter is in the same room with her)

•She has, so far, torn up their wicker toy basket, eaten a fabric cover off a toy plus my handmade bunny, and yesterday, 1 Handi-wipe that was hanging on the sink!

(I'll be watching for the blue Handi-wipe!)

•She's afraid of the squeakers in the toys.  

If she makes one squeak, she drops it and runs the other way!

•She keeps track of me.  If I leave the room, she's right behind me.

She is a sweet, sweet dog and I call her "little girl" a lot because she is so girlie!

I'll wait till Spring to train her to the Invisible Fence.  

Only because I'm not keen to be out in the winter weather especially if it gets slippery.

She will love running with Dexter when she's trained.

What a cute pair they make.

And that's what I've learned so far.

Shirley

Added Note:
Shortly after the above picture was taken, Spirit went out again.  It's cold so they only want to be out about 10 minutes.  I looked out and caught her eating the yew branches off the bush right by the back door!!
Now, I know yew is toxic to horses so I thought it was probably toxic to dogs too.  She came in and immediately started retching and vomited two huge piles of all this yew!  I called the vet and gave her a tablespoon of peroxide.  She didn't throw up immediately so I gave her another 1/2 TBSP.  She vomited a couple more times but no more yew.
The vet said to come up to the office.  Luckily she lives 2 minutes up my road.
Even though we were pretty sure we cleared her stomach before any got any further, she gave her a couple meds and dosed her with a big amount of activated charcoal.  (Boy did this bring back memories of my job  as a nurse in the ER!)
Little Spirit was very brave.
But she sure didn't feel well all evening and drank a ton of water.  I had to finally take it away from her and only give her small amounts.
She finally settled down and slept about 8:30pm.
She seems just fine today.
I can handle most anything with people but with my pets, it's an entirely different story!
I was a wreck!!!
I'm taking her to the vet for a recheck tomorrow and maybe have some blood work done just because!

Shirley