Hazel took everything very much in stride. She was snuggly with everyone, happy with her food, her beds and her toys. She loved playing outside with her ball and was fascinated by rabbits. I knew that birds were a strong distraction for her but didn't realize that she would love rabbits too.
During this week, I was the only one allowed to "handle" Hazel. I took her for walks, fed her, played ball with her and worked with her in the community. Josh and the kids loved on her at home but Josh wasn't supposed to be working with her until Kati arrived from Oregon that Friday.
We did have a busy week. It was full of therapy appointments, school for JJ and even a trip to Denver to visit the boys Neurologist. Hazel was a champ through all of it. There is a huge difference in her when she is working and when she is off-duty and it's a beautiful transition to watch. As soon as that pack comes off and she is told "Hazel, free!" she is rolling around on the ground on her back, running with her face on the carpet and generally just being a typical crazy dog! She loves chewing on her toys, has been amazing with leaving the boys things alone (including Lolly, JJ's alligator) and has just been so much fun to have in the house.
We are working on the not barking when people come to the door. I'm hoping that will begin to die out as she gets used to the number of people that come into our house in a week. However, I will say this that as a military wife, I appreciate a dog that will bark, especially one with a big bark like my girl Hazel. On Monday morning, she even barked at Josh as he came back from a run early in the morning. I thought it was pretty funny because he quickly turned the bedroom light on so she could see who he was but she didn't really know him at this point. She has since stopped barking when he comes home from work.
Hazel definitely has a curiosity about the family. She is very funny when I'm playing with the boys. My boys love to be tickled and they love having us blow raspberries on their stomachs (they ask for "belly!" all the time!) but Hazel just stands over us while we are doing it and she just has this look of "what on earth are you doing to them!?" on her face. She's pretty funny and we are completely enamored with her.
 |
| Elliott sharing his toys with Hazel. |
JJ seems pretty easy about Hazel coming everywhere. He still doesn't fully realize what her role will be yet. We are not beginning tethering until Kati arrives but he does understand holding on to the handle of Hazel's pack. He likes doing that and even without tethering we have seen a change in him. When we went to see the boys Neuro in Denver, we stopped at Red Robin on the way home and instead of putting JJ in a high chair, we allowed him to sit on the bench next to Daddy with Hazel on the floor at his feet. JJ was restless but there was no bolting or sliding off the seat! This gave me so much hope for the future for JJ, I hope that Hazel will give him an independence that will extend even to eating in a restaurant, or walking calmly with us when we are out shopping.
Hazel has learned the comfortable areas in our home. She loves snuggling with me in the mornings on our bed, she will curl up on the couch with me at night to watch a movie after the boys are in bed, but she minds her manners still and will wait to be invited up on the furniture. She does sleep overnight on her bed in our room still because we don't want her to get too used to being on our bed when eventually we hope she will sleep with JJ.
Over all the first week of adjustment has gone very very well and we are thrilled with it. Soon, we begin training with Kati here in Colorado Springs and I'm very excited to see how tether training goes!
No comments:
Post a Comment