A New Day

No new pictures yet, but it IS only 8:30am :)

I was wondering how it'd be putting Zada into her crate for the night...up until yesterday, she'd never been in one and here she was going back in for the night in a new place. She whined a little bit, but (as far as I know) never made a peep the whole night.

When I got up at 7, still no sound and since I'd been planning my course of action I set it in motion - put on my clothes, unlocked the back door, got my slip-on shoes ready, put my coat on, and went in to get her. I carried her out (wagging her tail the whole way), she said "hello", pottied, and I think I might've breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.

Next, she got fed and then I decided to take her on her first walk. Remember, up until yesterday she'd never worn a collar or been on a leash...so since she'd had time to get used to the zip-line, I figured it was time.

We had a bit of a battle going out of the yard into the alley, she balked and didn't want to go...I tried coercing her with food, but she didn't want it. Since I didn't have a ball/toy with me, I decided to just "Cesar Millan it" and started walking. She'd either fight me the whole way or get sick of being tugged by the collar and follow. Thankfully, she opted for the latter action.

By the time we were 2 blocks down the street, she'd gotten the hang of it...of course, every few blocks it was re-learned that she had to stay by my left side and not pull, but overall, she's a CHAMP and learns very quickly.

I took her out early so that she could see her surroundings but it would be quiet - not many folks out at 7:15am in Minneapolis. No cars passed us until we got to the parkway, but they were far away so she got a good look at them. They didn't seem to phase her.

The only thing we'll possibly have problems with is other dogs - we passed by on the other side of the street and a dog in a yard started barking at us...she didn't QUITE bark but was very intent on heading over that way but again I just kept walking and after several steps she went back to focusing on the walk. She definitely needs to be socialized.

That's all for now...we've had another successful potty outing, so hopefully we can keep the forward momentum!