The last time I was at the Vet to get TAZIE'S shots updated I also had a DNA test done to see what breeds were mixed in. One side of the tree was a mix/Saluki line, and on the other it was Anatolian Sheppard. We had assumed she had some Saluki in her just because of her appearance, but I had never heard of an Anatolian Sheppard. The Sheppard is native to Turkey, and is another pretty old breed.
The fence has finally been installed. They were supposed to come last Wednesday to begin installation, but the materials had not arrived. Monday the materials arrived, and they began to install the fence. I immediately started working with her on "come here" when she is outside, and she does pretty well. The freedom she has off leash makes it a little difficult to have her come back to me the first call. One of the things that I did was get on one side of the yard, had my Mom on the other side, and we would just call her back and forth having her sit and stay until one of us called her back. She did great for the first time that we had worked on it.
This morning when I took her out, there were 3-4 squirrels in the yard and once she caught eye of them she was off. We have a swing in the back yard and she jumped up on the swing and then jumped over it going after them. She wasn't quite sure what to do with the squirrels when they were 20 feet in the air, and eventually she went back to just sniffing around and exploring her new domain.
TAZIE has been doing great with other people and with other dogs, as long as she is on a leash. My brother came to the house this past weekend for Easter, and I had no idea that he was home. I came downstairs and saw him and thought that I might be in for a little bit of trouble. TAZIE ran towards him and just started licking, sat down next to him, and I know I was pretty relieved to see that she had remembered him and not shown any signs of aggression. There is a little dog that lives on the corner and every time she sees TAZIE she goes nuts. TAZIE is always curious and wants to meet other dogs, so I walked her towards Milly. Milly can't weigh more that 7-8 pounds (that is being very generous) and just will not let up on the barking. TAZIE just inched her way closer and closer with this little dog barking like crazy just inches from her face. Once we figured the little dog was not gonna shut up, we parted ways.
When the men were here installing the fence on Monday, one of them came up to the back porch to unplug something while they were getting ready to leave. We were getting ready to eat dinner out there and TAZIE bolted, the hair on her back stood straight up and I thought she may even go through the screen door. I nabbed her and got her under control. It was just a good reminder that even though she has adjusted very well, that I can not get complacent and need to keep a watchful eye on her when she is around people she is not familiar with.
