Day 4 - Monday,January 12th, 2009

After a restless night (must have been the full moon) I woke up at 5 a.m. to the sound of puking dog. Poor Lana had to throw up - I expected it after the food change, and luckily it wasn't much.

After the ritual of going outside, then coming back to pee on the hallway carpet while I was in the shower, we proceeded to the kitchen to pack lunches and make breakfast.

The cats showed up to be fed, and Lana started to go nuts on them again, when I remembered a "It's Me or the Dog" show where dog trainer Victoria Stillwell attached a leash to a dog and then to a person - kind of like an umbilical cord.

I thought I should try that so I'd prevent Lana from lunging at the cats and it worked! She felt safe with the leash and didn't even try to go for the kitties. She just followed me around the kitchen, like she would have done anyways.

After the cats were fed and went on their merry ways I detached the leash and Lana, after having her breakfast, quietly settled on the dog bed.

Yes!!!!

She also came with me into the dining room and layed down on the dog bed there while I was having breakfast. Double yes!!!!

After breakfast it was walk time. We walked around the circle since Hindenburg and Messerschmitt discovered us and decided to follow, so we couldn't go onto any side streets. That was just as well since Lana was very tense on our first round around the circle, but relaxed on the following 4 rounds and stopped to smell the grass.

Amazing what the neighbors are doing at that time of the morning :).

I hoped she was nice and tired and left her upstairs with my sleeping husband, with a Kong filled with Cheese Whiz cheese.

I called home around noon to see how it was going. Tom said she had vomited, peed, and pooped all over the place so he wanted to rent a Rug Doctor tomorrow and clean the carpet and rugs. We had planned that for the last two years and it took a poodle to finally get it done :).

Diapers are sounding better and better!

Lana displayed some shyness toward Tom; she followed him around and wanted to be close, but not touched. I told him to bribe her with treats, but if she's a little shy towards men it'll take a while for her to overcome it.

Lucrezia wanted nothing to do with Tom for over a year, before she decided he was really a nice guy and started licking his hand and doing her happy dance for him.

Tom took Lana on another walk and hopefully it'll take her less time to figure him out.

I had received an email from the shelter telling me that Lana would be checked by a vet on Thursday and to bring her over. She'd have a heartworm test, rabies shots, microchip, her teeth looked at and the vet would decide if she could also be spayed - awesome! Thanks, Humane Society!

When I got home there were three wagging tails and three happy faces - it puts me in a good mood every time!

The daily ritual is that I come home, then go into the spare bedroom to play with the dogs. The chis love digging in the clothes that Tom leaves there and there's also a fake tiger fur that they roll on, not to mention little squeaky toys.

Josephine has always played, but Luci has just started a few weeks ago. It's a sight to see how she runs around the room like crazy with her hind end tucked in, then proceeds to throw her squirrel toys around and dig in the dog basket.

Lana shows no interest in playing - she just paces from the bedrooms into the hallway, into the bedrooms, peeing on the way.

Playing is another thing she's probably never experienced, but if Luci can learn and enjoy it I have hopes she can too.

At feeding time most of the animals were present. I did the leash thing with Lana again and the cats were tolerated. I let her off leash later, and she still didn't react to the cats who were now lounging around on the dog beds. Messerschmitt even ran right in front of her, yet still no reaction. I was so proud of Lana!

We retired to the living room where the chis climbed up onto the couch (their favorite time of the day) and Lana immediately went to sleep in her dog bed - that is until Hindenburg showed up. One quick movement of his, and Lana was a furiously yapping ball of curls on a mission. Poor Hindenburg didn't know what hit him and flew through the cat door.

All I can say is we're working on it!