OK, this is more like it! This is Bob's Tilly and she is a pistol! I noticed her in the SEGA kennel earlier this week and she was quite interested in the goodies in my pocket.... very important. I had her doing sits within a couple of minutes and she appeared to have a good sit.... also important. Her size is also more in line with what I want. She might be a smidge shorter than Reagan, but she has more girth and meat to her.
I returned on Friday to take her on a field trip to PetsMart. PetsMart is such a great test for me. It provides a new and completely different environment with parking lot full of cars, automatic doors, shiny floors, strange looking dogs, chirping birds, and no other greyhound company for support. Bob's Tilly was very curious and brave. She checked out everything. One dog leaving the in-store vet clinic was very aggressive and vocal. He caused quite a commotion, but Bob's Tilly was unconcerned. She is a bull in a china shop and knocked stuff off the shelves of which none of it startled her. AND most importantly, she was able to eat treats. To me, if they can walk into a new situation, curious, happy, and hungry... I'm interested.
Next, I went to my agility field. I let her run around with a toy in a fenced yard. She ran and ran. She played with a toy for quite while. In fact, I finally decided that it was time to put the toy away. I love toy drive and energy. After all that, she still was extremely food motivated.
Today, I took her on a hike with Katie and Reagan. She dragged me the whole way. I am not a fan of being dragged, but I can appreciate her enthusiasm. I'm going to save my arm and use a prong collar next time. She plowed over logs and through creeks. She never tired or let up.
Other misc. qualities include quiet, travels fine, crates good, and has a hardy digestive tract. She was quiet in the van when I worked with Katie and Reagan. I really love quiet dogs as you know. She does not get car sick. My dogs spend half their lives in my van. Car sickness is not something I am willing to work on. She is an excellent crater. When I don't want to supervise her, she has not complained about being the only crated dog in the house. And sorry to be graphic, but they feed Science Diet dog food at the kennel. If that stuff comes out with any shape at all, I'm impressed. If she can digest Science Diet, she can probably digest anything.
Reagan is not impressed with our current guest and probably senses that mom likes her a lot. Katie is perfect, so she takes everything in stride. She is not jealous and she stays out of the way. So far I like what I see, but I will take a little more time before I decide.
