Training Bella

Just like she's taken over my life, it seems Bella is taking over this blog. It's amazing I get anything done, yet I do. The highlight of my week was scoring first row tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld here in Roanoke. I arrived before the box office opened, thinking I would be waiting on a line. There was only one other person there to get tickets. He got the first row center on the left, and I took the seats across the aisle from him. "See ya at the show." That, my friends, is one of the perks of living in a small Southern town. Of course it helps that the performer is a Jewish New Yorker, and Roanoke is only on his map due to it being his manager's home town.

The expression on the woman in front of me's face when she was asked if she was there for the Seinfeld tickets was priceless. She rolled her eyes as she replied, "Alan Jackson." She stopped short of saying, "Duh!" I swear, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't sell out. Just as long as he doesn't cancel. I've never forgiven Dwight Yoakam for cancelling when I had 7th row seats. He couldn't sell out the Salem Civic Center and he's not been back. These seats are even better. This is first row, in the pit. I'll see Seinfeld's sweat.

Anyway, back to Bella. After watching my husband "play" with her, I had a major breakthrough this week when I figured out why she was being so aggressive. He's the classic example of "what not to do with a new puppy." He didn't even realize it until I pointed it out to him, but now that he does, he's changing his habits. Now if only I could get Bella to change hers.

She's still not quite getting the go outside all the time, and not anywhere you want inside, concept. When she does her business outside she's gotten the "mommy gives me a treat" concept. "Look what I did, look what I did, look what I did! Now, where's the treat, where's the treat, where's the treat?"

She's quite the jumper, and extender. In one week, she's grown to be able to look on top of the bed. If I run inside a second and leave her outside alone, she panics. She searches for me on the chair I was sitting on. Now, it's a folding chair, so clearly if she can't see me, I'm not in it. But, she thinks there's a possibility I may be sitting on that chair and she just can't see me. She tried jumping onto the seat from the back and got her head caught in between the top and bottom of the chair, her little legs dangling off the ground. I rescued her.

Later in the evening I thought I hurt her. She's always under my feet and so quiet. When I stepped down the stair into my bedroom she got under my foot and I stepped on her leg. The yelp she let out! I thought I broke her little leg. She walked around on three legs, dangling the fourth one. Again, luckily her bones must be made of rubber because there's nothing wrong with it. The way she reacts to any sort of "injury" no matter how minor, I wondering if it's possible a puppy could already be a diva dog through instinct. Malti-Zhus are way different than Corgis. Or is it a female/male thing and it has nothing to do with the breed? I dunno.

I did teach her one thing this week...how to play Fetch. The goal is to wear her out and get her to drop the ball in front of me. The first part works, the second, not so much. She sometimes refuses to bring me the ball, prefering instead to lie with it in her mouth, squeaking away, and attacking it as it rolls from her jaws. She's even pushed it through the bottom of the fence, more than one time..

She was making no progress trying to chew through the metal chain link fence, so once again, mommy came to the rescue. No wonder she's always around me...I'm like her superhero.

Yeah, she's cute, but needs a bath. A white dog? In this household? What were we thinking? For that matter, a puppy, at my age, what was I thinking?