Liberty

For the past week, we've been doggie-sitting Liberty while Jeff and Jeanette were vacationing in Maui. It's been fun having another dog in the house. I'm not sure Tachi would agree with us, as he's gotten quite used to being the king of our little castle. But it's good for him to learn to share his toys, water bowl and our attention. Having Liberty live with us for a week has given us a chance to get to know her better. Some observations (in no particular order):

• She doesn't simply walk; she sashays. Liberty shakes her boo-tay when she walks.
• She has no concept of personal space and likes to climb up on your legs when you're sitting on the couch. She'll walk right up to you and start panting in your face.
  
• She's an attention whore. Whenever we play with or pet Tachi, she'll come over and push Tachi out of the way or climb on top of him to try to get to you. When you push her off, she just tries again. She probably thinks it's a game. She'll also climb up on the bed in the morning to see if you're awake. If you try to push off the bed, she'll just climb back up. But if you roll over and ignore her, she'll go away...eventually
• She leaves pools of water on the floor when she drinks from the water bowl. I'm not talking about dribbling water here and there. I'm talking about leaving a trail of puddles around the water bowl, down the hallway and finally dripping some onto your foot in the living room.
• She got used to being crated when we weren't home. I'm sure it helped that we threw her favorite treats into the back of the crate to lure her in and that we'd feed her in her crate too. She barked and whined a few times as we'd leave the house, but by the time we got home it was quiet...no barking or whining.

Having Liberty for a week has also helped me appreciate how well trained Tachi is. It's so much easier when your dog actually responds to you say, "Sit." "Off." "Down." or "Drop." We've enjoyed having her with us. She's back home now with Jeff and Jeanette, but I have a feeling Liberty might be staying with us again sometime in the future.