Ziggy and the truck god

I don't want to compare Kira and Ziggy in a way that says one is or was better than the other, but I compare them to note that they are very different. I love the differences. One of the most noticeable differences is the way they are (were, in Ziggy's case) about the truck. Ziggy loved the truck. He could not get enough of it. Kira likes riding in the truck, too, but it's just a ride for her, just a means of getting someplace new. For Ziggy, it was all about the truck. It must be a guy thing. Even after a long drive, if you came home and made him get out of the truck, Zig would sit by the door waiting to get back in. He absolutely adored the truck and the truck god. Ziggy examined every single move H made, cocking his head left and right, trying to figure every thing out. When H put the key in the ignition, Ziggy watched intently. Whenever he buckled the seatbelt or rolled down a window, Ziggy watched his hand closely. And every gear change was of great interest. One day I told H to keep an eye out, because Ziggy was learning how to drive the truck. Someday Zig would just take the keys and drive himself to the dog store, the doggy park, and back home again. At least I HOPE he'd drive himself home again. You know guys and their trucks...they can just go and go and go. As I mentioned before, Ziggy would have been happy to just stay in the truck all day. ..put him in it in the morning, leave him all day with the windows wide open so he could take in all the scents, and come get him at night, and he'd be happy as a clam. Of course, we'd never do that, but he would have loved it.

Kira, on the other hand, gets into the truck, happy with the knowledge that we are GOING someplace. And she is just as happy to get out when we arrive at our destination. Yesterday, before I went to Lea's for our walk, H put Kira in the truck and lowered the window a little for her while I gathered my purse and coat. H stood on the porch talking to me, and before I could get out of the house, Kira had jumped out of the window and up onto the porch. You have to understand that this is a Dodge Ram 2500 pick-em-up truck! Humongus! The bottom of the window is at my eye level! And the window was only half opened when Kira jumped out! A lesson to us: never open the windows more than about two inches for her. Yikes! Scarey!

Right now, she is downstairs whining and whining because I am up here writing on my blog and she is down there. H is working on a project that requires him to come and go from the house. Kira wants us all to be downstairs in the living room with her. When we are there, she is so relaxed and happy on her comfy bed. It makes it very hard to write in my blog because the computer is upstairs. But I don't want her upstairs. Not yet...she is not quite trustworthy yet. She still doesn't get it about pooping on the grass. In her other home, she used the paved patio in the postage stamp back yard. We have had three accidents on our tile floor in the family room. It could have been worse: she could have used the new Persian rug. And really, she is a little bit of a brat. She really wants to be in her crate at night (it's her security blanket), but when she hears us upstairs, she starts her "woof woof wooooooooo" wolf howl. It's very soft, and actually rather sweet, if that makes any sense. You can't get mad at her. But I'd like to have a little more control over that. I'd like to be able to say "Quiet" or "Settle" or some other cue and have her stop making the noise. I know it can be done, but I don't know how to do it. I'm sure we are doing things wrong right and left. And still, she is a wonderful dog. We are very patient with her, and we believe everything will work out in time.

Anyway, my blog entries may be hit or miss for a while, until she understands that, even though we are not all together all the time, we are still a pack. She still has us. Forever.