Day 5 of the Rest of Her Life

So, I can't help but wonder...if I've had Zada for 5 days, and dog years are 7x that of human years - have I had her (in her mind) for 35 days? That would mean that by the end of next December, I'll have had her for a year (or 365 calendar days), but she'll have had ME for 2,556.75 days in her universe. Is her universe the same as ours?

Whoa. Nevermind.

Regardless, she's changed QUITE a bit since the first photo I ever saw of her (taken at 11 weeks and available for viewing in the posting labeled "Zada" below). The breeder says she'll get darker as she gets older...I think she's gotten darker since I picked her up on Saturday!


Yesterday was a trying day - for both of us - as we're both leaping over some hurdles. She's doing wonderfully for a pup who (before me) had never been walked on a leash, but in my mind I keep going over the same thing over and over...don't PULL me! I've switched from her choker to a Halti because I've seen it used/used it myself on numerous dogs and it's great. Growing up with horses you learn quickly - if you have control of an animal's nose, you have control of its body. Generally speaking, of course.

So she's MUCH better with the Halti, but still pulling...part of it is she wants to go faster than my power-walk, and part of it COULD be she's trying to assert herself as the "leader." Yeah, good luck with that. We'll see what the breeder can do with her for the 2 weeks I'm in Mexico (starting in ONE MONTH!) and then after that, I plan on enrolling her in a Level I puppy / obedience class.

Ideally, I'd win the lotto and have the time to badger Cesar Millan into taking me on as an apprentice, but oh well.

One thing about this dog - she's chock full of personality and fully loaded on 'tude. I wouldn't accept anything less :)