We're at three weeks and counting! Jewel has fit into our little lives here rather nicely and we're starting to work on some of her dominance issues. So far everything is solvable, even though Carol is still a little nervous with Jewel around a couple of her house dogs. Star is Carol's princess, and while Star hasn't hesitated to tell Jewel when Jewel is being annoying, I think Carol is still afraid that they'll butt heads. So we have to watch that. And Jewel seems to have finally gotten it through her head to leave Blackberry alone. Blackberry isn't an aggressive dog and doesn't tell Jewel very forcefully to go away. So Jewel had started nudging Blackberry too much. This took intervention from Carol, and Jewel seems to have gotten the message.

All is well between Jewel and each of my two dogs. Mardy, my old biddy Irish Shedder, just growls at Jewel when she gets too close and Jewel understands. Mardy isn't much of a dog dog, preferring to be a people dog. Izzi, my little playgirl dog dog, is getting along famously with Jewel, often growling and playing in the yard. Jewel doesn’t keep it up much though. But I'll frequently find Jewel and Izzi curled up together in the crate I keep in my office, so they are quite comfortable together.

Jewel came housebroken and with basic commands, so now that things are settling down we're working on things like Come. She's doing great at it, but we've not been doing it long enough for me to feel comfortable letting her loose even in the yard. (Actually, I tried it once and it took a while for Jewel to come into the house. So I'm waiting a bit until we trust each other more.)

We did have one scary episode a couple of weeks ago. I was taking baby steps at leaving Jewel chained in my dog yard. When the dogs had to go out I tried chaining her and going into the house, watching from the window. It went okay a couple of times, so I tried turning away for a minute or two at a time. The first time I did that I turned back to find a chain and collar lying on the ground and Jewel nowhere in sight. Aargh! Fortunately I live well away from busy streets and found her on the next road over, and she jumped right into the car. Whew! So now she's on a limited slip collar, which is working well. Now we've worked up to where I leave all three dogs in the yard all the time when I go into town, two loose and Jewel chained. That has made life easier, particularly since Jewel has not proven to be the best car dog. Just a bit too hyper for that.

Jewel continues to be thinner than I'd like, but isn't unhealthy. I'm feeding her the high octane Annamaet Blue, but she just isn't the most focused eater. I'm trying various things, but as long as she doesn't get any thinner I'll let her eat what she wants.

I also need to get her more exercise. She gets some when we go over to Carol's tearing around the dog yard playing with the other dogs. I've been using a Halti on walks and runs, so we're getting that routine down. I'm looking forward to being able to walk or run with her loose, when she'll stay close and come when called. It'll be a while before I do that, even under controlled conditions!