Abbey goes in for her second Distemper shot tomorrow---she's been doing really good since Round One. Still, there will be one more to go in a couple of weeks after tomorrow but I think we got to her health problem early enough. Now, if I could only get her to stop barking
I'm not saying anything bad about Abbey so try not to take this the wrong way because I knew no matter which dog I brought home from the shelter, there was bound to be a transition that I would have to get through, or overcome---no matter how little or how much time had gone by with Sadie being gone. And I also know that it isn't fair to compare a dog I had for 13 years to a new puppy only 6 months old. There obviously is bound to be a few major key (and expected) differences. I never realized just how much I depended and counted on Sadie knowing what she knew---constant reinforcement to the rules wasn't an issue with Sadie, or necessary. She just knew what to do and how to be a dog. In some respects, Abbey sometimes reminds me of a train wreck just waiting to happen---God forbid she ever gets a hold of any of the animals she tries to go after. I'm not used to dealing with the alpha mutt of the litter. Her fear aggression sometimes is off the chart and she challenges me on nearly every. single. thing.
I know about the behavior she's expressing and how I'm supposed to deal with it. Having an alpha dog is a job and a half and Abbey needs to learn that she's not the pack leader between the two of us. Some days with the training are better than others but it is a process. Come hell or high water, it will happen. I may at some point need to put her in some type of training class to teach Abbey some socialization skills with other animals but she's just not ready for it yet. With the kind of sensory overload that would be for her right now, she would probably explode. lol