lucky penny lane

When my parents were in town we walked by an antiques/vintage shop that had a pretty rad looking 50’s dining table in the window, so today we took a walk (just over a mile) back to the shop to take a better look.  The lady was really nice and let Penny come in to take a closer look.

A block or so farther was Porto’s, so we kept walking to get a smoothie for me (strawberry mango banana!) and a cup of water for the pup, but to my dismay we were immediately kicked out.  The employee who told us to leave felt so bad that he actually ordered for me, and brought the drinks outside.  Thanks, Porto’s guy!  Everybody loves Penny and she made lots of new friends on the trip.  One lady called her Prancey Paws and I think that’s a nickname that’ll stick.

Strangely, as I became more exhausted Penny seemed to get more energized and by the time we got home she was, literally, a blur.  She attacked, jumping and kissing and generally being a maniac.  Shortly thereafter she crashed, resulting in the photo below, and now (after dinner of course) she’s completely passed out on the couch.  I’ve got to let her out once more before official bedtime.

I finally got the timing down just right in the morning so there are no potty accidents and we can take a long walk.  Penny has a new harness and now when she sees it she gets excited and knows it’s walk time!  She also has discovered the magic of mirrors and when she spots herself she settles down and growls.  Not sure if she thinks it’s another dog or if she’s just very confused.

She still hates her crate though, and has established a pretty effective method of sitting with her back to it and adopting the most pathetic face she can manage.  I spent so long trying to nicely convince her to get in, eventually forcing her in, that I actually forgot to lock the dang thing and she was loose in the house all day anyway.  When I got home for lunch the first thing I noticed were that my blinds had been eaten.  Thankfully though, that seems to be the ONLY damage - no poo on the floors, no destroyed furniture, no jumping on the stove turning on the gas setting the apartment on fire.  I’m actually very impressed!  This is a good sign.  I’d like to believe she just wanted to look out the window and was trying to get the blinds out of the way, rather than destroying them for the sake of destroying them, but I guess we’ll never know.

Places that have allowed me to bring Penny, on leash:

• Pretty much every restaurant with outdoor seating.
• The Grove / The LA Farmer’s Market.
• Several places in Old Pasadena.
• Every pet store.
• The Verizon store.

Places I’ve been kicked out of because of Penny:

• Target, because they have a cafe apparently.  Screw you, Target.

Snuggling after work.  Nothing intelligent to contribute but these photos are completely necessary.

My parents were in town this weekend!  My mom loves taking photos (and she’s the only person who can make me look halfway decent in pictures, to be honest) so we ended up with a few pictures of me and Penny that are post-worthy.  I look a little drugged up in that second photo but hey, it was something like nine in the morning, so what do you expect.  (I have a pretty great one of mom and Pen too, but I don’t think she’d like it if posted her face online :P)

Me, Dad and Mom walked around all over the place and Penny walked with us, and for the most part she was great!  Being polite to strangers, walking well on the leash, and only pulling back when there was something especially interesting to smell.  There was only one incident when she freaked out at another dog, a little poofball Bichon Frise, and (as Dad put it) I don’t know who was more surprised - her or me!  She looked pretty shaken afterwards, as if she didn’t realize she were capable of such ferocity, however brief.

Unfortunately though, the weird schedule threw her housetraining off, and today (back to work) she had some issues.  (I’m sure it didn’t help that it was raining, either.  She refused to budge off the front stoop into the drizzle, and I had to carry her to her usual potty spot.)  So a word to any future dog owners in the audience… don’t adopt a pup unless you’ve got several free weeks - including weekends - in a row to dedicate.  I feel a little bit like we’re back to square one, but we’ll see how long it takes to get back to the level of training we were at last thursday.

Penny hates crates.  Really, really hates crates.  Everything I’ve heard or read says that your dog should, eventually, go willingly into their crate, either by lure of food or because they like the enclosed space.

These people clearly have never met my dog.

At the suggestion of vet-student-slash-friend-of-a-friend John I stuffed her Kong toy with peanut butter, rather than just kibble, and she LOVED it.  Much like her keeper, Penny will do pretty much anything for a spoonful of peanut butter, including launch herself headlong into the crate, tail wagging.  Victory!  …or so I thought.  This dog is too smart for her own good.  She has figured out that if she stretches one or both legs back out the door I can’t close the crate!  That evil little dog!

Her new crate (which was out of stock at the local pet store, so I had to order it) arrived today, so when I ran home at lunchtime to check on her we set it up.  Unfortunately the noise of assembling the metal sides scared her and she wouldn’t get anywhere near it.  Once again I found myself bodily shoving her into a cage - feeling horrible about her, myself, and the whole situation.  Someday the uncomfortableness of the crate will get ironed out… but until then, it’s a miserable process.