It is just shy of one week of Belle’s adoption! She is doing very well! Still lots of adjusting going on but she is taking it in stride! She has had 2-3 times where she got upset and nervous; the first time I sat on the floor and hugged and consoled her for about 20 minutes. The next time it was about 5 minutes. The last time, she came to me for a little reassurance and off she went!
Cat and Belle are now taking naps together with Carl during the day! Belle still lusts over Cat’s canned food but she likes Cat also…. LOL!
Skye (our African Gray with the vocabulary of 400+ words) has not yet used Belle’s name. I am sure this will change! Skye will be giving Belle instructions to “cross” very soon! Skye lives in a cage (for protection since the macaws don’t like a snitch) and I have learned to move Skye and his cage outside to the gazebo with Belle on leash. This was a mess the first time we did it but now Belle and I have this figured out! Skye just watches us!
Belle learned a lesson from Seymour (Blue & Gold Macaw) that I doubt she will ever forget! When macaws are walking on the floor from the outside kennel to their perch in the house, DO NOT SNIFF them! They will lunge at you with wings extended and beck open! She darted into Carl’s bedroom and watched both macaws from there. The next night, Belle tried to follow them to their perch and sniff a tail….. She accidentally stepped on the long tail feathers which caused the scarlet macaw to screech! Belle ran to Carl’s room again! In the morning, the macaws fly from their bird room perch to the outside kennel room (I leave the doors open for this). This is a noisy process and Belle stays in Carl’s bedroom door! However, once they are out in the kennel room, she is not afraid to go out there with the parrots. They sometimes throw her toast! Belle is figuring out the dog door; Emma showed her how to come in but Belle does not realize yet that she can also go out!
Belle and Emma are getting along better but this relationship needs more time to smooth out. Both of these girls want me all to themselves! Carl sees no issues at all while I am gone to work. He says he thinks they are even playing together. I would love to hug them both but I am not hugging when anyone else can see it. Last night, they got into it when I was about to climb into the shower. I tossed my towel on them, they both froze! I scolded them both and made them both leave the bathroom. When I came out, they were both sitting outside the door waiting for me. They ignored each other for the rest of the evening and night. Sometimes I will see them in the mirror silently showing each other their teeth! Belle is taller than Emma but Emma is a about 10 lbs heavier so they are pretty close in size.
Emma loves to chase the ball and bring it back to me. Belle has started swiping the ball! Sometimes she takes it to Carl’s room and puts it in her kennel and sometimes she drops it by Emma and guards it! Emma waits for her to step away from the ball to take it or she goes in and raids Belle’s kennel!
Belle has been working on “wait” and “cross” this week. She is catching on. She must have permission to cross the door threshold to enter or leave the house. She must have permission to enter or leave the vehicle. She must have permission to enter or leave Lois’s house. Emma has this down….. The door can be left standing open and she will not cross without permission. Belle is catching on but has to be reminded to “wait” and she does not instantly react to “cross” yet. I think she will be pretty strong on this in two weeks. We do the command every time we go in or out so it is constantly worked on!
Saturday morning, Belle and I will start working on “heel”. I expect to have three lessons each day this week end and one lesson daily after work during the week. I have been brushing up on my notes so we do this as perfectly as we can for each of our 5 minute lessons. Emma will stay in the house while we work. Belle is ready for this! She wants to walk next to me but she must stop walking ahead of me and looking back! I have really good treats lined up to reinforce this new command! She is wearing Emma’s choker chain right now. The one I bought for her is too heavy so I will exchange it this weekend. Belle has been wearing the choker for a few days now and I use it for her leash. It gives me greater control and gives her audible hints….the sound of the links moving makes her pay attention! I always make sure it fits loosely when I take her leash off.
Belle is a very strong dog! I was going to have her stay in her kennel while I took Carl to the doctor (her first time home without us) but I quickly realized Emma’s kennel was not strong enough to contain her. I brought in Enga’s heavy duty kennel and put it up. Once Belle’s stuff was moved to it, she moved right in but when I closed the door, she got distraught. After five minutes, I made the decision to leave her loose inside the house. I had thought she was used to being kenneled but Belle told me otherwise! We will work on this while I am sitting on Carl’s floor brushing Emma and Cat. Then I will put Emma in the kennel and brush Belle until Belle can handle being in the closed kennel (I hope) with me sitting nearby. I patrolled the house for shoes, etc. before we left and found no damage when I got home! I did watch her through my surveillance cameras and she was clearly agitated that we were gone! Emma was calm and laid on the bird room floor watching Belle run past to Carl’s room, out to my desk and then I would see her at the front door looking outside. She did this many times but not the entire time. I could tell she was in Carl’s bedroom and I found footprints on my bed so at some point she was on my bed too! When we came home, she wanted to be loved up for five minutes and then she was calm and ready to go walk around our yard.
We have been taking a ride daily to Lois’s house (6 miles away) and running loose in her fenced in backyard. Belle uses this opportunity to poop and pee! This is good but it could be better! I now have a retractable leash and tried it out this morning. Belle peed in our yard! I am hoping this area improves soon! Belle and Emma both love this part of the day! The putting on of their leashes, the kenneling up in the vehicle, the ride! Getting to Lois’s house, getting the ball and heading out the back door! Belle whines in route….”hurry up”! She sleeps on the car seat on the way home!
Belle is doing well with getting her “foot” on! If she leaves the kitchen before getting it on, we just don’t go outside until she decides to come back to me. She is wearing it in the morning before I go to work and then when I come home, until bedtime. She does not wear it while home with Carl alone or at night.
Carl has been feeling even more tired than usual since we came home from Tennessee. I took him to the doctor and they did bloodwork on him. He needs to have some IV treatments but he should be feeling better soon! Belle spends her days with him but once I come home, she switches to me. Once he feels better, I expect her time to shift back to him. She gets all silly with him during the day, laying in his bed! They snuggle a lot! She brings him happiness! He and I have discussions on her training and what new things has she learned! Carl is also hugging Emma a lot for me! That is good! Carl felt Emma blamed him for losing Enga so this is making him feel better too!
Well, I wanted to bring you up to date on how Belle is doing! She is a sweetie! We went through the drive thru tonight at the drug store and then to get Carl something to eat at Burger King. Belle was well behaved at both places but she was making puppy dog eyes at Burger King employee hoping for a hand out! I think she’s gone thru a drive thru before! LOL
Thanks! Suzanne
SuzanneReinhardtJones.com 