At six months Maggie has finally learned that the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room is not a barrier for her. It happened one day when we were eating in the dining room. We saw her nose push the door and before we knew it she had joined us in the dining room. She was sooooooo excited! Happily she has been house trained and I can only hope this will continue. She loves roaming around the house and smelling things that are new to her.
On the negative side my freedom has been compromised. Maggie follows me throughout the house and at night she loves to lay in bed with me and watch tv.
It is a struggle to get her off the bed at night and put her downstairs in her crate for the night. We will see whose will is stronger, but I have a feeling I already know the answer to that!

It's been awhile since writing in this blog. Maggie is approaching the six month mark. She is acting like a big girl, really understanding what is going on around her. We have started to let her roam more freely around the house. I kinda wonder if she is thinking, where did this part of the house come from???

She certainly likes having more freedom and likes to be with us more then sitting in the kitchen by herself. We have not gotten to the point of letting her wonder the house if we are not home. I would be afraid that she might make herself too comfortable and get used to sleeping on someones bed. So I checked on her when things got a little too quiet and discovered her eating my dried flowers in the living room. I can't imagine they tasted good, but she decided that it was her afternoon snack and I had quite a mess to clean up!
So much for giving her some freedom !!!

We took Maggie to the dog park in Radnor today. I have seen this park for quite some time and decided that Maggie was ready for the socialization and the running that comes with the territory. When we got there Maggie was a little unsure at first but quickly realized that she was free to run and sniff the dogs that were there.
There were a lot of dogs. Most of them were larger breed dogs and full grown. At first Maggie went after the larger dogs but quickly realized she was not the leader so she made her way to a different area that was occupied with smaller dogs. She made friends with one particular dog, a small white one named Dexter that appeared to be a mixed breed. They ended up running around together quite a bit.
I grew tired and sat down on the grass at one point and many different dogs approached me, dropped their tennis or football and waited for me to throw it for them to chase. Well, how can you resist these adorable and playful animals so before I knew it I had a game with two different dogs going on.
We had a nice hour and when we were ready to go I could tell Maggie was disappointed. We then took her to the pet store and bought her treats. I now realize we will have to visit this park on a regular basis

So I took the plunge and bought a harness to use when we walk Maggie. She is getting bigger and stronger and tends to pull on the leash. Even though we are in the midst of training Maggie to walk besides us instead of pulling us I decided to give this a try. So this afternoon I took Maggie for a walk. She didn't love the harness but she didn't hate it either. But I did notice she was unable to pull the leash like she has done in the past. It is a little confusing how to place it comfortably onto Maggie, but I hope in time it will become a no brainer.

How can one dog get so dirty? I know stupid question! Maggie was just at the groomers. She came out with a nice haircut and CLEAN fur. Today she spent a good part of the day outside and of course most of that time digging in the dirt (not to mention eating everything in sight). So once again we are faced with the dilemma. Do we give her a bath? She is getting bigger and it is harder to get her to stay in one place as we bathe her. I know dogs don't care if they are clean or not, but it would be so easy to have her shower or bathe by herself once a day like the rest of us humans. Wishful thinking!!

I was talking with a friend yesterday. We were discussing how much a puppy's life is like a child's. I realized that with Maggie we are out of the baby stage and more into the toddler stage. At five months she has grown tremendously and learned a lot. Her training is going well and she looks to us for direction. A good natured puppy she still gets a little hyper at times (just like a toddler) and has to be reminded to behave properly. But all in all it is hard to believe she has only been with us for three months. It feels like she has always been a part of our lives, and I can't imagine life without her.

I'm really not liking the restrictions put on me for the hidden fence training. And of course since I KNOW Maggie is brilliant I decided to take matters in my own hands. I was sitting in the front yard with Maggie. She had her special collar on and was not on a leash. I was told to give it a couple of weeks before letting her loose, but I nixed that as well. She was doing really good when all of a sudden two dogs passed by our house and she ran right through the hidden fence. The sensation she felt was a slight buzz from the collar, but it didn't seem to phase her at all! I guess she isn't really ready to be on her own.