Went into Gina's kennel and she was very excited to see me. Putting the harness on her was no problem at all. With a couple of high quality treats and some affection she let me put the muzzle on her as well. And it didn't even take too long. Once we were done we started to head out. Said good bye to Sandra and then went for a full round in the field, although it was starting to rain. But the idea was to drain some of Gina's excess energy and to make the sleepover easier on her.
We headed over to the tram and again riding the tram was no problem for Gina at all. When we got of near my apartment I took Gina for a stroll around the neighborhood to make her familiar with the smells and sounds. After that we headed to my apartment.
I know introducing a new dog to your apartment can be tricky. But Gina just checked out the entire place. With a couple of goodies I showed her Daisy's doggy bed and the bottom portion of the Daisy's transport box that I had put into the living room as well, just in case Gina wasn't going to like the doggy bed. At first Gina just stayed in the middle of the living room. But pretty soon she found the perfect spot. Right in the middle of hallway. The prefect spot. Everyone has to go past her, if you were to leave. Once I settled down on the couch it didn't take long for Gina to join me. First she tried it on the floor right next to me and then she found her spot on the couch. Changing places between snuggling up right next to me and staying by herself, but still very close to me.
Our evening walk was OK. We did it without muzzle, since I couldn't convince Gina to put the muzzle on her. I tried for about 30 minutes. In the end I really didn't want to put it on her by force. This would be completely counter productive. So the muzzle is still a hot button issue and will require a lot of patience and a lot of work. Feeding her was no problem. Just mixed some dry food and some wet food put the bowl down and walked away. I know from the guys at the shelter that Gina is guarding food. And boy is she wolving that food down. So getting her to stop guarding food is going to be something that's going to take very long. But they way I fed her that was very easy and right now is just a question of how you manage it.
I really wanted to take Gina for a walk before heading to bed. But this time she completely refused it. She didn't even want me to put the harness on her. So I just let her be. Later it occurred to me, that I had never tried to put the harness on her just wearing my shorts. She has only experienced that me wearing my Camou-Pants.
Once I turned the lights off poor Gina got a little nervous. She wasn't whining, but just very unsure. Walked back and force and couldn't find the right spot. A couple of times it seemed as if she had found the right spot, but this only lasted for a very short amount of time. She didn't like the spot on the floor right next to me too much. But eventually she found a spot right next to me at my feet where she just curled up and stayed there most of the night. That is until I turned over. After that she spent some time on the floor right next to me as well. Around 5 am or so she jumped back into bed with me and slept right next to my pillow. This is the first time when I realized that this Aussie Shepard is slightly snoring. But it's cute.
So all in all this sleepover went very well. Much better than I actually thought it would be. There are 2 things that did bother her. The sound of the elevator stopping and kids running by the apartment door. Especially of the latter she really isn't a fan of.
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