Harlow Update

Harlow is changing. Ever so slightly. Bit by bit. She's growing up. She is still mischievous, but she is maturing too. Yesterday I left her loose in the first floor (no crating) while I went off to yoga. I returned to find no damage or destruction. Progress!  A week ago I'd given this a try and failed to notice that I left Amanda's DVD which she'd loaned to me, on a chair. I returned to a destroyed movie, aptly name Despicable Me.

Amanda got a new movie with a carefully written pup apology.

Her vocabulary is interesting though (Harlow's, not Amanda's). Now when I ask her "Where's your ball?" or say "Get the stick!" she listens to me, then consciously turns and looks for the item I've just mentioned. That item specifically. It's pretty impressive. A few weeks ago we were in my room and she'd brought in purple cow. As we left the room, I noticed she'd left purple cow behind. I said "Go get purple cow!" and she went straight back to her bed where she'd left it and picked it up.

She has "leave it" and "take it" down solid. I often sue both when giving her a treat. The idea being that she learn she can't take something until she's given the OK. This is especially useful around kids who might be walking around with food. She learns she can't take it from them unless she's given the "take it" command.

She does seem to go in phases of weird traits though. Months ago, she was really into hiding her head under the curtains at bedtime. She doesn't do that anymore. Now, she talks. A lot. She barks when she thinks she hears something outside, and does her talky barky thing regularly. Where she sort of grumbles at me. For not getting out of bed. For not greeting her in the morning once I'm out of bed with the right amount of peppiness.

She has now figured out the couch. She can get up onto it with ease now, which she didn't used to. I think because I had rained her to stay off the couch. Now, I put a red blanket down and she knows she can join me. I love when she hops up and plops half her body across me, as if the couch is lacking space.

Here, she talks to me about her bone (or really, tries to get me to throw it).

Chatting it up about a soup bone from C.M. Scott on Vimeo.